(Recorded Course) Philosophy of God with Dr. Jean Rioux

While reason and faith are not incompatible, it is possible (and even necessary) for reason to come to an understanding of God and divine things on its own. Learn how much reason can know of God in this challenging, upper-level high school course. Answer questions about the reason for our existence, God’s nature, and the divine.

NOTE to Parents: There is an Answer Key provided for you to grade the Essays. Please page down to find this option.

How to get the most out of Philosophy of God with Dr. Jean Rioux:

  • Read the course materials below before viewing the first class lecture.

  • Read the assigned materials before viewing the week's video.

  • Have a notebook ready and available for class notes when viewing each video.

  • Finally, complete the written assignment for a given week.

  • Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Total Classes: 12

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: None

Suggested Grade Level: 11th to 12th grade

Suggested Credit: One full semester Philosophy

Instructor: Dr. Jean Rioux

Course Description: Philosophy of God (also called Natural Theology or Philosophical Theology) is that part of philosophy that addresses what we can know of divine things using unaided reason. Learning what we can of the existence and attributes of God is our primary objective. To do that well, however, we must first acquaint ourselves with the method of natural theology, especially insofar as it differs from that of revealed theology. While the focus of this course is upon coming to know God and His attributes, we will be looking at some arguments against the existence of God (atheism) or against our capacity to know God through reason (agnosticism|fideism). There is a good amount of fairly difficult reading required for this class. Weekly homework will consist of your careful responses to one or two summative essay questions on material covered in a previous class.

Course Outline:

  1. What is Natural Theology?

  2. The Logic of Existence

  3. Ontological Arguments

  4. Fideism and the Wager

  5. Other Forms of Agnosticism | Atheism

  6. Other Forms of Agnosticism | Atheism (continued)

  7. Teleological and Cosmological Arguments

  8. Teleological and Cosmological Arguments (continued)

  9. Teleological and Cosmological Arguments (continued)

  10. Teleological and Cosmological Arguments (continued)

  11. Understanding God’s Nature and the Divine Attributes

  12. Understanding God’s Nature and the Divine Attributes

Course Materials:  Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Book I: God, University of Notre Dame Press 026801678X. Selected Readings in Natural Theology (freely downloadable PDF)

Homework:  There is a good amount of fairly difficult reading required for this course. Weekly homework will consist of students’ careful responses to one or two summative essay questions on material covered in a previous class. Students can expect to spend one to two hours on the readings and approximately one hour on the written homework.