ChRs L1

• According to the materials presented in class, how many “acts” are in the Christian story? What act are we in right now?

  
  

  • There are 6 Acts in the Christian story, We are currently in Act 5
• The word "genesis" means beginning or origin.
• How many creation stories are in Genesis? How are they similar and how are they different?

  
  

  2 different creation stories:

  
  

  Same:

  • Both: the making of humanity, there was nothing before God began creating, God is the ultimate creator

  Different:

  • Genesis 2 names specific locations (rivers)
  • Genesis 1 says animals came before humans, but Genesis 2 says humans before animals
  • Genesis 2 emphasizes the forbidden fruit
• The root meaning of the word "spirit" is breath.
• The Hebrew word "Shalom" means wholeness, universal flourishing, peace.
• The imago Dei is the image of God

  • found in reason (substantialist)
  • found in humanity’s ability for personal relationality (relational)
  • found in humanity’s role to steward/foster creation (functional)
• Creation ex nihilo means that God created the world out of nothing
• Most theologians argue that the sin which resulted in the fall of Satan and the angels was a sin of pride.
• Original Sin is the act of humans falling to Satan’s temptation, and it is the absence of grace which we are born into.
• Dr. Lawson argued that sin is the estrangement from God, from others, from self, from nature.
• Catholics are not forbidden from believing in evolution, but they must also understand the immediate creation of the soul.
• Genesis shows that God (YHWH) is the ruler of all things.
• The name of the Babylonian creation story is Enuma Elish.
• The name of the god who won the battle in the Babylonian creation story and became the national god of the Babylonians is Marduk, (defeated Tiamat).
• The first murder according to the stories in Genesis is Cain murdering Abel, Adam and Eve's sons, Genesis Ch 3.
• Dr. Lawson argued that the stories in Genesis 1-11 reached their completed form during the Babylonian Exile.
• What does Creation ex nihilo mean for our understanding of evil?

  • God did not create evil, it is a result of humanity's misuse of freedom
  • evil is the absence of good
• How are the creation stories in Genesis a counternarrative to the creation story of the Babylonians?

  • After Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, Christians/Catholics needed a way to teach their children about their true God. 
  • Genesis shows that God (YHWH) is the ruler of all things.