Exploration of the Christian Faiths
HIP_91
rel-150_pp6.pptx6. Outline of core Christian beliefs
Christianity: An Introduction
God
Israel’s identity of God: while many worshipped many gods, Israel worshipped the one true God; one with whom Israel could have a relationship
“Lord God of Israel”
TheTetragrammaton
The God who brought the people out of Egypt
Christians believe in this same God, who has been revealed fully in Jesus Christ.
Letter to Hebrews: Christian understanding of God is linked with the person of Christ
Apostles Creed: Christians believe in a God who is “Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”
God as Shepherd
Extensive imagery is used to portray God: shepherd, king, rock, father
Simile/metaphor
Does this mean God is identical to a Shepherd?
Does every aspect of the human analogy carry over?
Shepherds look after sheep
Shepherds protect their sheep against danger
Shepherds lead their sheep to food and water
Shepherds are human beings
God as Father
In the Lord’s Prayer/Our Father, Jesus begins the prayer “Our Father…”
1. Fathers are human beings
2. Fathers bring their children into existence
3. Fathers care for their children
4. Fathers are male
First: Not meant to be transferred
Second: Important: God is our originator
Gave life to use as human beings
Third: Child is dependent upon father and are close; a Father wants to give his child good things
Fourth: Male language common in Scripture
Neither male nor female language should be attributed to God.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my Son”
~Hosea 11:1-4
God: A Personal God
Prayer: expresses a gracious relationship which “is simply trust in a person whose whole dealing with us proves him worthy of trust” ~John Oman
Implies a person’s sinfulness can be reconciled like two people, such as a separated husband and wife.
“Person” – individuality of the human being; plays a role in social drama, relates to others.
Personal relationships include: love, trust, faithfulness; “Love of God”, “trustworthiness of God”
“Individuality” – does not imply relationships
“Impersonal God” -
God: God as Almighty
The Apostles Creed: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty”
Is God capable of anything?
Christian response: if God is almighty, God must be capable of doing anything.
Christian theology: God’s omnipotence is to be set within the context of God’s nature: a righteous and faithful God whose promises are to be trusted.
God: The Doctrine of the Trinity
Doctrine of the trinity: God exists in three forms: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Thomas Jefferson: “incomprehensible jargon of Trinitarian arithmetic”
Matthew 28:19: Baptize “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
2 Corinthians: Father, Son, and Spirit in “the grace”
The trinity identifies the pattern of divine activity in the New Testament: The Father is revealed through Jesus the Son through the Holy Spirit
God: The Doctrine of the Trinity
The visualization of the trinity is difficult, as it is complex and abstract
St. Patrick of Ireland: shamrock: a single leaf could have three different elements.
Robert Jenson: a proper name – a shorthand way of identifying exactly what God we are talking about
Creation
Apostles Creed: “creator of heaven and earth”
Genesis – “Beginning” or “origin”
Old Testament perspective: God is creator and sustainer of the world
Creation: Implications of Doctrine of Creation
1. Distinction between Creator God and created goods
Paul: Natural human tendency to serve “created things rather than the creator”
Task of Christian: distinguish God from creation while affirming that it is God’s creation
2. God’s authority over the world
Human stewardship over the world
Human beings are responsible for taking care of the world, in relation to ecological and environmental concerns
Creation: Implications of Doctrine of Creation
3. Goodness of creation
Humanity is created as a social being, and is meant to exist in relation with others
No place in Christian Theology that the world is an inherently evil place
Doctrine of sin: world departing from the trajectory in which it was placed.
4. Human beings are created in the image of God.
Augustine of Hippo: “You made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you”
Potential for full morality exists; must be realized
St. Augustine
Humanity and the Image of God
Though human beings are not divine, they possess a relationship with God unlike all others
The “image of God” is seen as both a privileged position, as well as responsibility and accountability
Humanity and the Image of God
1) The “image of God” can be seen as a reminder of authority of God over humanity
Monarchs typically displayed images of themselves as an assertion/reminder of power
2) “Image of God” can be taken to refer to correspondence between human reason and rationality of the creator
Augustine: Image of the creator is in the rational soul of humanity
Nebuchadnezzar
Humanity and the Image of God
3. The Image of God is a capacity to relate to God
God created humanity with a goal: to enter in a relationship with God
C.S. Lewis: If we do not have a relationship with God, we have an absence
4. (Not in book) Aquinas: The image of God exists in the human ability to use language and art
C. S. Lewis
Humanity, the Fall, and Sin
Humanity is sinful
Unwilling to accept the limitations placed upon them by virtue of being human, they choose to rebel against their situation
Humanity is “an eternal rebel, wanting more and constantly challenging boundaries”
Two Biblical stories offer a “superb commentary” on this human situation:
Adam and Eve and the “Tree of knowledge”
Tower of Babel
The devil made me do it?
Jesus: Redeemer of all Humanity
Biblical motifs include:
Terms that the New Testament uses to refer to Jesus
Identity of Christ is interlocked with the achievement of Christ
Impact Jesus made during ministry
Resurrection Paul: demonstrates Jesus as Son of God
Islamic Approaches to the Identity of Jesus
Islam: Jesus was a prophet, messenger of God
“Jesus” used 25 times in the Qur’an
“Messiah” used in Qur’an (Old Testament notion)
Translations of Jesus on cross: someone else replaced him as Jesus went to heaven?
Jesus as “word of God” and “spirit of God”
To Muslims, Jesus is not God, but rather a messenger of God.
The concept of the Incarnation
The term “incarnation” derives from Latin term for “flesh”
Generally, the term means God becoming human
Doctrine of the two natures: Jesus is fully divine and fully human
Council of Chalcedon (451): stated definitively what the first five centuries of Christianity had established: in the face of Christ we see God himself
Not all embraced the Council’s ruling
Monophysitism – Only one nature in Christ: the divine one.
Jesus as Mediator
Analogy: Jesus is a mediator between God and people
What is mediated:
Revelation: knowledge of God
Salvation: fellowship of God
Logos-Christology- Word becomes flesh
Dorothy Sayers: “If Christ was only man, then he is entirely irrelevant to any thought about God; if he is only God, then he is entirely irrelevant to any experience of human life”
Jesus as Mediator
John Calvin: Christ’s work may be summarized under three offices or ministries:
Prophetic office – Christ is herald and witness to God’s grace; is a teacher endowed with divine wisdom and authority
Priestly office – Christ is able to reinstate us within the divine favor, through offering his death as satisfaction for our sin
Kingly office – Christ has inaugurated a kingship which is heavenly, not earthly; spiritual, not physical. Kingship is exercised through the action of the Holy Spirit
John Calvin
Salvation
Apostles Creed states:
Jesus was a real historical person who lived and died.
Jesus was a first-century Jew who lived in Palestine under the reign of Tiberius Caesar, and who was executed by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate
Christian faith holds that Jesus was a historical figure.
The interpretation of his life and death is of critical importance
“Theories of atonement” – theories surrounding the death of Christ
Christ the Victor: The Defeat of Death and Sin
“Veni, Vidi, Vici” ~Julius Caesar
Roman triumphant procession: included maps, slogans w/ achievements, treasures taken
Christus Triumphator – Early Christian writers use this image to show Jesus’ triumph over sin and death
Christ’s resurrection and opening of the gates of heaven were seen as something to be proclaimed and celebrated
Christ the Harrower of Hell: Atonement as Restoration
Medieval idea of “harrowing of hell”: after dying upon the cross, Christ descended to hell, and broke down its gates in order that the imprisoned souls might go free
1 Peter 3:18-22: Christ “preaching to the spirits in prison”
William Langland: Piers Plowman: Jesus to Satan: my tree brings life, though your tree brought them away from it
C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Aslan frees the enslaved souls from stone
Christ the Lover: Atonement as the Enkindling of Love
Theme of New Testament: death of Christ demonstrates the love of God for humanity; elicits a matching love in response.
Divine humility – God left the comforts of heaven to enter poverty and suffering of the created order, and to finally suffer on a cross.
The Christian view of salvation presupposes that something has happened, is happening, and something will happen in the future to believers.
Grace
God’s choice: Israel is chosen by the Grace of God
Grace: a gift not earned by merit or achievement
Affirms sheer generosity and goodness of God
Made possible to those who have neither the merit nor intrinsic capacity to secure it for themselves
Paul: Christians saved by the grace of God, not by works.
Grace
Augustine: We are dependent on God for salvation
Humanity is frail, weak and lost
Grace is unmerited attention, from which healing can begin
Free will: weakened by sin (though not eliminated)
Augustine on Original Sin
Not “a” sin in the sense of an act being committed
Augustine: Three analogies
1) Disease: passed down from one generation to the next
Through Christ “wounds are healed”
2) Power that holds us captive
Human free will is captive by the power of sin; may only be liberated by grace
3) Guilt: Judicial or forensic concept
Roman Empire: high value on law
Pelagian Controversy, Luther
Pelagius was an opponent of Augustine on this debate
“Pelagian Controversy”: Augustine’s teaching leads to laxity
Emphasized living a good life and moral integrity
16th Century: “justification by faith” vs. “salvation by grace”
Luther: simul iustus et peccador: “at one and the same time a righteous person and a sinner”
We are not made good; in being accepted by God we become good
The Church
Greek ekklesia –
Ecclesiology – study of the Church
Church:
Individual congregations
Whole body of Christian believers
The Four “Marks”: One, holy, catholic, apostolic
Just a building….
One: The Unity of the Church
While tension exists between the local and universal Church, it is resolved through the belief in one universal Church in individual communities
Eschatological approach: Disunity of the Church will be abolished on the last day
Development of branches on a tree
Calvin: visible vs. invisible Church
Visible: worshippers one can see at the Church
Invisible: communion of saints, etc. known only to God
The Holiness of the Church
The Church is sanctified and made holy by Christ
Always mass going on at all times to reaffirm this
Donatist controversy – whether church leaders were expected to be morally pure.
The Donatists believed that the entire sacramental system of the church had become corrupt on account of the lapse of its leaders
Augustine: Church is not a pure body, but a “mixed body”
“Strong overtones” of dedication to be set apart for and dedicated to the service of God
Catholic (lower-case “c”): The Universality of the Church
Catholic – universal
Cyril of Jerusalem: Church called catholic “because it is spread throughout the entire inhabited world from one end to another, and because it teaches in its totality and without leaving anything out every doctrine which people need to know relating to things visible and invisible, where in heaven or earth.
Four ways “catholic” is used:
“Spread throughout the entire inhabited world”
“Without leaving anything out”
The Church extends its mission and ministry to “every sort of person”
The church offers and proclaims a “universal remedy for every kind of sin”
Cyril
Catholic (lower-case “c”): The Universality of the Church
Thomas Aquinas: three main ideas of “catholic”:
Geographical
“Your faith is proclaimed throughout the entire world” ~Romans 1:8
Cultural
“There is neither gentile, nor Jew; slave or free, woman nor man” ~Galatians 3:28
Chronological
“I am with you always, to the close of the age” ~Matthew 28:20, and even after in heaven.
The Apostolicity of the Church
“Apostolic” in New Testament:
Someone who has been commissioned by Christ to preach the good news
Someone who was a witness to the risen Christ, or to whom Christ revealed himself as risen
Three ways the Church is Apostolic:
Historically – the origins of the church are traced back to the apostles
Theological – the Church is apostolic in that it maintains and transmits the teaching of the apostles
The church is apostolic, in that it is charged with the responsibility of carrying on the succession of apostolic ministry
The Sacraments
Sacrament: an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace
Lombard: bears its image and exists as its cause
Intended to sanctify and to sign
Luther: three basic elements:
Physical sign
Promise
Command from Christ that this physical sign should be used in this way
Baptism
Jesus: Go make disciples and baptize them
Baptism of infants vs. adults
Old Testament: newborns should have an “outward sign” of their membership with the people of God
Baptist Church: to be administered only when one showed signs of grace, repentance, or faith
The Eucharist
Jesus said to remember him through bread and wine
Eucharist: “Thanksgiving”
Last Supper/Lord’s Supper: Passover Seder
“This is my body”
Transubstantiation: outward appearance is bread; inward appearance transformed
Consubstantiation: Luther: remains bread; is additionally the body of Christ
Calvin: “efficacious sign”
The Last Things: Heaven
Greek: ta eschata “eschatology”: study of the end times
“Heaven” is used to refer to the hope of dwelling in the presence of God forever.
Christian vision of heaven is shaped by two themes:
New Jerusalem
Restoration of creation
However, these themes have a wide array of interpretations.
The Last Things: Heaven as the New Jerusalem
Early Christian writers: New Jerusalem is inhabited by disembodied souls
Physical body vs. spiritual soul; spirit remains after physical body leaves
Citizens of heaven would be naked, free of guilt or shame?
New body, without impurities?
Age of the resurrected?
30 as the perfect age? Age that people will be?
Catholicism: cremation formerly banned
Billy Graham: Christian hope of resurrection is grounded in the divine promises, not the precise circumstances of a person’s funeral arrangements
