Impact of Human Worship on Supernatural Entities Theologically
The concept of the impact of human worship on supernatural entities is rooted in biblical teachings and has been developed throughout Christian tradition. According to Athanasius of Alexandria, idolatry involves giving the honor due to God to created beings, such as the heavenly bodies, elements, and natural objects [3]. In contrast, Christian worship is directed towards God and is facilitated by the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, which direct humans to supernatural happiness [1].
In Christian theology, worship is understood to be a means of interacting with the divine, and its impact is not limited to the human realm. According to Charles Hodge, regeneration is a supernatural work that involves the immediate agency of God without the intervention of second causes [5]. This understanding is in contrast to certain forms of mysticism that assume God reveals truth through immediate intercourse with the soul, independently of the outward teaching of his Word [6].
The Catholic tradition, as represented by Thomas Aquinas, understands the veneration of images as a form of worship that is directed towards the prototype, Christ or the saints [4]. This view is not without controversy, as some Reformed theologians, such as Hodge, argue that the veneration of images is a form of idolatry [4].
The impact of human worship on supernatural entities is also related to the concept of the supernatural. According to Hodge, the supernatural refers to the agency or volition of God without the intervention of second causes, and includes events such as creation, miracles, and regeneration [5]. The effects of grace, or fruits of the Spirit, are also considered supernatural, as they are beyond the power of human will or natural causes [7].
The understanding of the impact of human worship on supernatural entities has developed throughout Christian history. The early Church Fathers, such as Athanasius, argued against the worship of created beings and emphasized the importance of directing worship towards God [3, 8]. The Reformed tradition, as represented by Hodge, emphasizes the supernatural nature of regeneration and the importance of the theological virtues in facilitating worship [5, 1].
The differences in understanding the impact of human worship on supernatural entities are reflected in the various Christian traditions. While the Catholic tradition understands the veneration of images as a legitimate form of worship, the Reformed tradition rejects this practice as a form of idolatry [4]. The Patristic tradition, as represented by Athanasius, emphasizes the importance of directing worship towards God and rejecting the worship of created beings [3].
The biblical basis for understanding the impact of human worship on supernatural entities is rooted in passages such as Ephesians, which describes the power of God that raised Christ from the dead as the same power that quickens believers [2]. This understanding is developed throughout Christian tradition, with various theologians and traditions emphasizing different aspects of the concept.
Sources
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part (Prima Secundae), Of the Theological Virtues, Art. 3: Article: Whether faith, hope, and charity are fittingly reckoned as theological virtues? I answer that, As stated above (Article [1]), the theological virtues direct man to supernatural happiness in the same way as by the natural inclination man is directed to his connatural end. Now the latter happens in respect of two things. First, in respect of the reason or intellect, in so far as it contains the first universal principles which are known to us by the natural light of the intelle”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 140: were subjects of no other influence than that of moral suasion, which all more or less experience, ano which all may resist. The language would be incongruous to express that idea. Besides, the very point of the illustration would then be lost. The Ephesians had been quickened by the very power which wrought in Christ when God raised Him from the dead. This was the immediate power of God. It was not exercised through second causes. It was not a natural process aided by divine efficiency; much less was it the result of any form of 697 mor”
- CCEL (Patristic) “Athanasius of Alexandria, Select Works and Letters, section 54: §9. The various developments of idolatry: worship of the heavenly bodies, the elements, natural objects, fabulous creatures, personified lusts, men living and dead. The case of Antinous, and of the deified Emperors. For now the understanding of mankind leaped asunder from God; and going lower in their ideas and imaginations, they gave the honour due to God first to the heaven and the sun and moon and the stars, thinking them to be not only gods, but also the causes of the other gods lower than themselves 118 118 For the following ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 44: It would be hard to find in any heathen author such justification of image-worship as the Romish theologians put forth. What heathen ever said that the same homage was due to the image of Jupiter as to Jupiter himself? This Thomas Aquinas says of the images of Christ and of the saints. Or what heathen ever has said, as Bellarmin says, that although the homage to be paid 302 to the image is not strictly and properly the same as that due to its prototype, it is nevertheless improperly and analogically the same; the same in kind although not”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 42: agency or volition of God without the intervention of any second cause. In this limited sense, creation, miracles, immediate revelation, regeneration (in the limited sense of that word), are supernatural. As the sanctification of men is carried on by the Spirit by the use of the means of grace, it is not a supernatural work, in the restricted sense of the term. There are many theologians who do not adopt either of the philosophical theories of the nature of man and of his relation to God, above mentioned; and who receive the Scriptural do”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 7: be admitted by all evangelical Christians. And it is because such Christians do hold to this inward teaching of the Spirit, that they are often called Mystics by their opponents. This, however, is not what is here meant. The mystical method, in its supernatural form, assumes that God by his immediate intercourse with the soul, reveals through the Feelings and by means, or in the way of intuitions, divine truth independently of the outward teaching of his Word; and that it is this inward light, and not the Scriptures, which we are to follow”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 30: produced. It is due to the power of God over and above the power of the second causes concerned. The effects of grace, or fruits of the Spirit, are above the sphere of the natural they belong to the supernatural. The mere power of truth, argument, motive, persuasion, or eloquence cannot produce repentance, faith, or holiness of heart and life. Nor can these effects be produced by the power of the will, or by all the resources of man, however protracted or skilful in their application. They are the gifts of God, the fruits of the Spirit. P”
- CCEL (Patristic) “Athanasius of Alexandria, Select Works and Letters, section 72: §27. The refutation of popular Paganism being taken as conclusive, we come to the higher form of nature-worship. How Nature witnesses to God by the mutual dependence of all her parts, which forbid us to think of any one of them as the supreme God. This shewn at length. But perhaps those who have advanced beyond these things, and who stand in awe of Creation, being put to shame by these exposures of abominations, will join in repudiating what is readily condemned and refuted on all hands, but will think that they have a well-ground”