R.G. Collingwood on proof of God’s existence

Abstract

The creeds on which Christians began to confess their faith have never been limited to the formula «God exists»; Christians have always followed the «I believe» formula. The analysis of what Christians mean when they say that they believe in God can be carried out, according to R.G. Collingwood, only against a historical background after careful study of Christian theological literature, since for the Patristic writers the proposition «God exists» is a metaphysical one. Theology in relation to other sciences was defined by Aristotle as the First Science, the Last Science and Wisdom. All these denote the science which stands as an ultimate logical ground to everything that is studied by any other science. The ordinary name for that which is the logical ground of everything else is called God. Catholic faith means that we worship one God in Trinity which means the absolute presupposing that there is always and indivisibly one world which is nevertheless a multiplicity of natural realms, and this world is a world not merely of things but also of events or movements. To be saved in this world means to adopt the way of living based upon these absolute presuppositions. The concept of the absolute presupposition is a central concept in the work of R.G. Collingwood.