|
Dear Isaac,
We don't do people's homework assignments or papers but I can direct you to some sources that could help you.
If I understand your question, I believe you are referring to Vatican Council I, not Vatican Council II. The phrase:
the twofold order of knowledge
does not show up in any of the documents of Vatican II, but does in the documents of Vatican I, (1869-1870), under Dei Filius, Chapter 4. On faith and reason.
The first three of the fourteen paragraphs in the EWTN version of this document reads as follows:
Chapter 4.
On faith and reason
- The perpetual agreement of the Catholic Church has maintained and maintains this too: that there is a twofold order of knowledge, distinct not only as regards its source, but also as regards its object.
- With regard to the source, we know at the one level by natural reason, at the other level by divine faith.
- With regard to the object, besides those things to which natural reason can attain, there are proposed for our belief mysteries hidden in God which, unless they are divinely revealed, are incapable of being known.
|
That said, the twofold order of knowledge Vatican I is referring to are the:
- sources of knowledge, and
- objects of knowledge
The two sources of knowledge are:
- knowledge we obtain by natural reason (by using our God-given mind), and
- knowledge we obtain by divine faith (something that is beyond what we can rationally know; something that has been divinely revealed to us)
The two objects of knowledge are those truths we obtain through the two sources:
- truths obtained by natural reason, and
- truths obtained by divine faith or revelation.
These second set of truths (obtained by divine faith or revelation) are obtained through the Magisterium of the Catholic Church that Jesus founded on St. Peter and His successors.
What paragraphs five through seven say in the Vatican I document is key:
- Even though faith is above reason, there can never be any real disagreement between faith and reason, since it is the same God who reveals the mysteries and infuses faith, and who has endowed the human mind with the light of reason.
- God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever be in opposition to truth.
The appearance of this kind of specious contradiction is chiefly due to the fact
that either the dogmas of faith are not understood and explained in accordance with the mind of the Church, or unsound views are mistaken for the conclusions
of reason.
- Therefore we define that every assertion contrary to the truth of enlightened faith is totally false.
|
The documents of Vatican I were written from 1869-1870. If you want to go deeper and read something that may be easier to grasp, try:
- Faith and Reason, Fides Et Ratio by Pope St. John Paul II
[Vatican][EWTN] October 14, 1998
Pope St. John Paul II also references that phrase (twofold order of knowledge) in Chapter I, paragraph 9: The Revelation Of God's Wisdom — Jesus, revealer of the Father.
I probably broke my own rules about not helping people with their homework, but at times,
I'm a softy : )
Hope this helps,
Mike
|
