God

• 10 marker - Info on God


  -        ‘Apart from me there is no other God’ Isaiah 44:6

  -        Classic statement of monotheism is found in the Jewish statement of faith known as Shema

  -        Ethical monotheism ties with CH beliefs about salvation
• 10 marker - Info on omnipotence


  .-        Some follow Descartes view that omnipotence means God can do anything

  -        Most believe he can do anything logically possible

  -        God made universe out of nothing (ex nihilo)

  -        3 Omni’s
• 10 marker - Info on God as transcendent and unknowable


  .-        God is eternal and limitless

  -        Catholic teaching refers to God’s aseity (it is in his nature to exist)

  -        Moses asked to know Gods name and the reply was ‘I am who I am’ meaning no one can know Gods name or nature 
•  10 marker – Info on the trinity

  .-        Trinitarian beliefs are implied in the OT

  -        Gensis 1 God as the ‘father’

  -        There are clearer hints e.g. ‘I and the father are one’ John 10:30

  -        ‘God is not solitude but perfect communion’ Pope Benedict 16th
• 10 marker – Info on the importance of the trinity 


  .-        Divine together with unity within creation reflects the diversity within the unity of the Godhead

  -        Connects CH with sin and atonement

  -        Exanplain God are paradoxical transcendent and immanent
• 10 marker – Info on Jesus as son of God


  .-        John 10:30 – ‘one’ could refer to being with the father, seen in Nicene Creed

  -        Or, it could mean unity of prupose, God’s purpose for humanity and jesus’ mission were in harmony

  -        Biblical support can be claimed for both these ways

  -        Points to consider:

  -        Jesus spoke in Aramaic so possible mistranslation

  -        Gospels written 60 years after crucifixion
• 10 marker – Info on 1 Corinthians 8:6

  .-        ‘Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist’

  -        Some CH believe the proposition of ‘through’ suggests that Jesus was God’s agent in creation but not in the sense of being divine

  -        Some think Paul was equating Jesus with God
• 10 marker – Info on God as personal

  .-        Humans can relate to God

  -        God is immanent

  -        God hears and answers prayers

  -        Seen in indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of a believer
• 10 marker – Info on God as father


  .-        God is seen as father due to a number of roles:

  -        Creating the universe

  -        Rescuing Israel when in trouble]

  -        Setting standards in behaviour, e.g. 10 commandments

  -        Exercising justice

  -        Jesus is often referred to God as Father

  -        Parable as forgiving father

  -        Jesus tells his disciples that their heavenly father will give good things to them in prayer

  -        Apostle’s Creed refer to God as father (as creator and as father of Jesus)

  -        ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty’ Apostle’s Creed
• 10 marker – Info on God as love

  .-        OT uses the Hebrew term hesed often translated as ‘steadfast love’ to depict Gods dependable commitment to the convent with Israel

  -        NT equivalent of hesed is agape

  -        According to writer of 1 John ‘God is love’

  -        Agape is part of the nature of the trinity
• 10 marker – Info on God as King


  .-        Isaiah saw God seated on a throne in the vision in the temple

  -        Jesus was associated with the inauguration of Gods kingdom

  -        It is a place associated with reality and the future
• 10 marker – Info on problems with anthropomorphic language

  .-        Using this kind of language puts limits on a God who believed to be transcendent

  -        Portrays a figure like us, changeable, and therefore not reliable

  -        Some argue the language is simply a means to understand God, it doesn’t limit God just helps others know him
• 10 marker – Info on debate about gender-specific language


  .-        Women feel excluded by the constant male pronouns used

  -        Some want gender neutral terms

  -        Male only language creates a wrong idea of God

  -        Hampson rather no gendered term for God

  -        Clement of Alexandria referred to CH nursing at the breast of God

  -        Eckhart refers to God giving birth

  -        The Bible deliberalty avoids God as a mother, this may be because near all the Bible composers were male and they could then use it as a means to see women as inferior
• 10 marker – Info on Process theology and God

  .-        Griffin rejected traditional CH beliefs

  -        He adopted an alternative translation of Genesis

  -        Believing the universe had always existed and it is uncreated and eternal

  -        Therefor it was not made by God

  -        God and the universe exist pantheistically

  -        God is not omnipotent, God just persuades matter
• 15 marker – Strengths of process theology

  .-        Support from quantum mechanics

  -        Fits with BBT and evolution

  -        Supported by a possible Hebrew translation in Gensis 1

  -        Give an explanation as to why God cannot control evil
• 15 marker –Weaknesses of process theology

  .-        Claims God is not omnipotent, going against Bible and common view

  -        Why is God worthy of worship then?