1. INTRODUCTION TO THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD LO: I will be able to contrast two models of God; Biblical and Philosophical

2. STARTER 1. What is meant by the word ‘God’? Write your answers down individually and then share them with someone else. 2. If an atheist who has never heard anything about religion asked you to explain what the word ‘God’ means how would you do it?

3. THINKING ABOUT GOD What can you learn about the ways in which people have traditionally thought about God from the images below?

4. SONGS ABOUT GOD Study the extract from a traditional Christian hymn. What do you learn about God’s nature from it? ‘Immortal, invisible God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.’ W. Chalmers Smith (1825-1908)

5. CONCEPTS OF GOD Read through the article by Andrew Wright and answer the following questions (You can stop when you reach the section entitled ‘A marriage, a breakup … and a possible reconciliation’: 1. What is the key problem mentioned by Wright involved in engaging with theological debate? 2. What is the ‘God of philosophers?’ mentioned by Wright and how is this different to the God which Pascal believed in after his vision? 3. When referring to the ‘God of philosophers,’ which philosophers are specifically mentioned, and what did they believe about God? 4. What is the definition given for what a Deist believes? 5. What biblical examples are given for how God has ‘intervened?’

6. PASCAL’S DISTINCTION … What are your initial responses to Pascal’s distinction between the God of the Philosophers and God of Abraham?

7. SO WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD? Pg 73 of A2 textbook Religious believers are aware that the idea of God may be slightly paradoxical. There is a tension in asserting that God is both transcendent and immanent. However, many would argue that this is due to our human limitations. We are not able to accurately reason regarding the nature of God.

8. THOUGHT POINT Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones had a few things to say about the place of philosophy and reason when it came to talking about God. Analyse the quotes from the following slide, and work out your responses to him.

9. REASON AND GOD – QUOTES FROM DR MARTYN LLOYD JONES (1899 – 1981) ‘We are all born philosophers, and the trouble with philosophers is that they claim they can understand everything. That is why philosophy, let me emphasise it again, in New Testament terms, is always the greatest enemy of revelation and Christian truth.’ ‘Philosophy has always been the cause of the church going astray, for philosophy means, ultimately, a trusting to human reason and human understanding.’ ‘This is the trouble with the philosophers. They say that they do not understand how God can do this or that, they want to explain the mind of the almighty God with their pygmy mind and it cannot be done. And that is why the philosophers find it so difficult to become Christians.’ Do you agree/disagree? Why?

10. PLENARY 3-3-1