This discussion can be better started with a question that is related to the most important issues in theology and philosophy. Namely what are the mysteries of God and what is the place of a human being?
Moreover, it is important to find out what famous philosophers and theologians such as Karl Rahner, Brian Swimme, Saint Augustine, and Bernard Lonergan can tell about these issues.
This paper is aimed at discussing the works of these thinkers and their conception of God and an individual. Overall, these authors recognize the limits of human intelligence and cognition; therefore, the mysteries of God and the universe are not fully knowable.
In his work The Universe is a Green Dragon Brian Swimme expresses very interesting ideas on God, the universe and a person. This author compares the universe to a green dragon or a creature that cannot be fully understood by a human being.
God is the creator of the universe, but the language of this Supreme Being is not comprehensible to people. In turn, human beings strive to understand their place in the universe, but they cannot do it yet, even despite scientific and technological advances.
Apart from that, people have to accept that they are only an infinitesimally small part of the universe. In turn, St. Augustine gives a slightly different of interpretation of God. In St. Augustine’s view, this Supreme Being is the paragon of goodness and perfection.
The task of a person is to learn how to see this goodness in the things that he/she likes. These are the first steps that people should take in order to reach a higher moral level.
Brian Swimme emphasizes the cognition of a human being, while St. Augustine focuses on the person’s ability to recognize beauty and goodness. This is the main distinction between these theologians.
A slightly different interpretation of God and human beings is offered by Karl Rahner in his book Foundations of Christian Faith. This theologian strives to reconcile the theory of evolution with the main tenets of Christianity. In Rahner’s view, one should not see the existence of nature and living beings just as a blind accident.
This philosopher believes that lack of human understanding does not necessarily imply that the universe is driven by randomness. In his view, the idea of evolution and Christian faith are compatible with one another.
In turn, one should mention Bernard Lonergan’s ideas and his views on theology. This philosopher strives to develop ways in which people can understand God and the universe. One of his arguments is that a person cannot understand God and universe individually.
The intelligence of a separate person is capable of collecting and analyzing every piece of evidence regarding the laws of the universe. The author does argue that the mysteries of God are unknowable, but this task cannot be done by a single individual.
On the whole, there are several ideas that Karl Rahner, Brian Swimme, Saint Augustine, and Bernard Lonergan might have supported. These philosophers may agree on the idea that the cognition of a human being is limited.
Moreover, people have to recognize the limitations of their intelligence in order to understand the mysteries of God.
Secondly, they can accept the premise that God is the creator of the universe, but people should learn to see the presence of this Supreme Being. These are the main issues that one can identify in their works.