Revision

• N&A of the Bible: liberal:

  • Those who wrote texts guided by God
  • Entirely human document, what writers believed about God
  • What individual authors wrote was a product of the culture and age each of them lived and their temperament and outlook on life
  • Not inspired but may be inspiring, e.g. Jesus saying those who draw the sword will die by the sword inspires some to adopt a pacifist approach to war
  • E.g. Sea of faith network, very liberal Christian, faith is a purely human creation, so Bible has no authority other than any that an individual might choose to give it
• N&A of the Bible: Neo-orthodox:

  • Karl Barth
  • Bible is not the word of God but it contains the word of God
  • The Bible is the way through which humans may experience God, realising their need for forgiveness and divine mercy shown through Jesus
  • Believed the Bible is not inerrant with respect to science, history and religion, as its writers were products of their time and subject to limitations of intellect
• N&A of the Bible: Conservative:

  • Fundamentalist Evangelical Protestants- infallible word of God, contains no mistake, apparent contradictions due to limitations of human intellect, two approaches of Genesis: old earth and young earth creationists
  • Catholics- bible inspired by God but written by human beings, Genesis 1 was never intended as a scientific or factual account of the origins of the universe; author used the genre of myth to convey truths about nature of God as creator, believe that guidance in interpreting the bible comes from tradition and the magisterium
• Young Earth creationists: literalist understanding, creation in six days means literally six days, creation occurred about 6000 years ago
• Old Earth creationists: acceptance of scientific dating of universe (circa 13.8 billion years ago), not literalist, creation in six epochs/stages
• Authority of the Church: Protestant:

  • Baptist- evangelical but not fundamentalists, combine sola scriptura approach with use of reason and conscience, New Testament takes priority over the Old Testament, reject the authority of the church as an institution, i.e. of religious tradition, creeds etc
  • Luther- sola scripture, believed Christians shouldn't say some parts of the Bible were true and others false, believed Bible gives standard of measurement for deciding on truth of church teachings, said that without the bible, there would be no church, salvation comes through faith not through institutions of the church, all Christians have equal access to God through prayer (called the priesthood of all believers)
• Authority of the Church: Catholic:

  • Bible passed on in written form by apostles and other inspired religious teachers
  • Tradition passed on in oral form (and eventually written down) by the apostles- known as the apostolic tradition
  • Apostolic succession- always in agreement with what is contained in the bible, though may contain truths not found in the bible. Is a living form of the truth in that it is added to by new insights, e.g. ethical teachings on bio-medical issues
  • The passing on and interpretation of the bible and tradition are overseen by the magisterium
• Jesus' authority as God's authority:

  • Traditional view as stated in nicene creed and is the official view of almost all churches
  • According to gospels, Jesus claimed to have divine authority which was seen in his teaching, the miracles attributed to him, and the titles used by and of Jesus, e.g. son of God, messiah, son of man
  • Matthew 28:18: 'all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me'
• Jesus' authority as God's authority- Jesus as son of God:

  • Phrase 'son of' means 'reflecting the nature of/like'
  • Kings thought to have been adopted by God at their accession- they were meant to reflect God's justice and mercy in their rule
  • By the time of Jesus, with was linked with the title of 'messiah', which also included the idea of being chosen by God on his behalf
  • Matthew 11:27: 'All things have been committed to me by my father. No one knows the sone except the father, and no one knows the father except the son'
  • New Testament indicates Jesus' unique divine authority: Mark's gospel, Jesus referred to as son of God and he is sad to be 'my beloved son' in the visions at his baptism and transfiguration
• Jesus' authority as God's authority- Jesus as son of man:

  • Jesus' preferred title for himself- its ambiguity made it less likely he would be thought of as a power figure and potential revolutionary
  • Used it to describe his role as the 'suffering servant' spoken of in the Old Testament and to hid God-given authority both in the present and the future
  • Humanises him, making him seem to Christians that he is the same as them, sharing their suffering
• Jesus' authority as only human- adoptionism:

  • Jesus was not divine by nature
  • God adopted him as his 'son' at the baptism (Mark 1) in the same way as Kings in ancient Israel were thought to be chosen by God as his earthly representatives
• Jesus' authority as only human- unitarianism:

  • Adopts a deist view of the creation of the world, i.e. God created the world and then had no further connection with it
  • Jesus was just a spiritual leader so his teachings may contain useful insights, but there is no idea of divine authority attached to them
• Jesus' authority as only human- liberal Christian views:

  • Gospels were products of several decades of thinking about the significance of Jesus' life and teaching
  • Jesus' teaching and the stories associated with him had been passed down by word of mouth and would have been exaggerated in the telling, e.g. differing recounts of the resurrection story in the Gospels
  • Influence of Greek philosophy and mystery religions led to the human Jesus being transformed into a divine figure- reinforced by modern science, which rejects the possibility of miracles
  • Jesus was a human being like all other humans, though his deeply spiritual nature gave his teaching authority
• Christian response to Jesus' authority: Sermon on the Mount- Matthew 5:38-48:

  • 'if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek'
  • Jesus, intended his disciples to be pacifists- Christians should go against their natural instincts and show unconditional acceptance of everyone
  • However, can be argued Jesus didn't intend for his disciples to be pacifists as he used violence when he overturned merchants' tables in the temple
  • Encouraging an attitude that sought peace and love rather than revenge and hatred
  • He understood it was unattainable, it was merely a standard to aim for
  • Christians who assume Jesus teaches with the full authority of God follow the Sermon on the Mount literally
  • During the first world war, many Christians became conscientious objectors and refused to fight- example of taking this passage literally
• Christian responses to Jesus' authority:

  • Those who see his authority as God's authority will feel they should obey his teaching, but that may not be as simple as it seems; some of his teaching seems to be totally impractical and counter-intuitive
  • Those who regard Jesus' authority as only human are free to decide for themselves whether or not they should follow his teaching
• Jesus as a role model:

  • Whatever their view of the nature of Jesus, all Christians view him as a role model
  • They believe they should seek to emulate his life of self-giving love, which reflected his teaching that the two greatest commandments were love of God and love of neighbour
  • Many non-Christians, such as Gandhi, have been inspired by the teaching and example of Jesus
• (Christian monotheism) Jesus as the son of God- John 10:30:

  • 'I and the Father are one'
  • Two ways of understanding 'one': one as referring to common essence- idea of pre-existence present in John 8:58 where Jesus states 'Before Abraham was, I am'
  • Biblical support for unity of purpose, God's purpose for humanity and Jesus' mission were in harmony- John 18: where Jesus prays he and his disciples can be one. Jesus also says he is simply doing God's work in a discussion with the Jewish people
  • Jesus spoke Arameic, so what he said may have been distorted in the translation to Greek
  • John's gospel written probably over 60 years after crucifixion, another reason for distortion
• (Christian monotheism) Jesus as the son of God- 1 Corinthians 8:6:

  • 'Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live'
  • Parallelism, e.g. One God, the Father- One Lord, Jesus Christ
  • Some think Paul had the shema in mind and was equating Jesus with God
  • Others think that the use of the preposition 'through' suggests Jesus was God's agent in creation but not in the sense of being divine
• (Christian monotheism) Doctrine of the trinity:

  • God is three in one
  • Hebrew word used in Old Testament for God (elohim) is plural
  • Mark 1:11: 'You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased'
  • One God in three persons: father, son and holy spirit
  • Each person possesses fully all the attributes of the godhead: eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, etc
  • Relationship between the three persons is one of mutual indwelling
  • Pope Benedict XVI: 'God is not solitude but perfect communion'
• (Christian monotheism) Importance of doctrine of the trinity:

  • Those Christians who believe in the doctrine of original sin claim God sent his son to atone for that sin through his crucifixion and resurrection and so reconcile humans to God; the Holy Spirit works within believers' hearts and lives, giving hope of eternal life
  • Explains the otherwise paradoxical claim that God is transcendent and immanent
  • Moltmann- described relationships of Persons of the trinity in terms of mutual self-giving and receiving love, this is to be reflected in human relationships
• (Christian monotheism) Transcendent and unknowable:

  • God is beyond and outside the world of space and time
  • God is eternal and limitless
  • Catholic teaching refers to God's aseity- God's self-existence, it is his nature to exist
  • Call of Moses: Moses asked to know God's name, and the reply was 'I am who I am'. In other words, no human can possibly know God's name, i.e. understand what it means to be God
• (Christian monotheism) Omnipotence:

  • Some follow Descartes' view that omnipotence means God can do absolutely anything- raises issues relating to the problem of evil
  • Most Christian think omnipotence means God is able to do anything that is logically possible- this answers the issue of the problem of evil, but there are further issues regarding free will and determinism
• (Christian monotheism) Omnipotent creator:

  • Approach 1: minority of Christians think in terms of the universe coming out of God's own being. Most reject this as the identification of God with the created universe limits him
  • Approach 2: accepted by many Christians, universe created by God out of nothing (ex nihilo)- demonstrated in Genesis 1: 'Let there be... and there was...'
  • Approach 3: uses an alternative creation of Genesis and adopted by process theology, the view that the Earth was already in existence and in a state of chaos- God then worked at ordering it
• (Christian monotheism) Omnipotent controller of all:

  • Biblical references to God as king show everything is subject to God's control
  • Most believe he not only created the universe, he sustains it
  • The ethical teachings found in the bible show how God sustains human life in the spiritual as well as the physical sense
  • Most Christians believe that God is omniscience
• (Christian monotheism) Omnipotent controller of all- three approaches to omniscience:

  1. God knows past, present and future absolutely and in a causative sense- he controls everything that goes on in the universe, including human actions- known as theological determinism
  2. As God exists beyond space and time, spacio-temporal language is not appropriate in relation to him but we have to use it as it is all we have. He sees and knows all things, including the free choices humans make, but his knowledge is not causative
  3. Swinburne- God exists within time and knows all that is logically possible for God to know. This means he cannot be the cause of human future choices, because he cannot know them, though he might be able to predict them
• (Christian monotheism) One God:

  • Earliest centuries of Israel's history, Jewish people believed other Gods existed but shouldn't be worshipped. The Sinai covenant makes it clear that Israel's God, the Lord, alone should be worshipped
  • Classic statement of monotheism, Deuteronomy 6:4: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one'
  • Isaiah 44:6: 'I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God'
  • Ethical monotheism- means that belief in one God also includes following the moral codes linked to that belief, e.g. the Ten Commandments in the bible
• (God) God as personal:

  • Humans can relate to God
  • God is immanent, i.e. involved in the world and accessible
  • God hears and answers prayers
  • This is seen in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of a believer
• (God) God as love:

  • Reality of evil challenges claims that God is omnibenevolent, but Christians nevertheless trust in God's love from their own experience and on the basis of biblica teaching
  • Old Testament uses the Hebrew term hesed, translated as 'steadfast love' to depict God's dependable commitment to the covenant with Israel
  • New Testament agape denotes God's selfless, self-giving, generous and unconditional love for humanity
  • 1 John 4:8: 'God is love'
  • As humans are created in God's image, human relationships have agape at their heart
  • Agape is part of the nature of the trinity
• (God) God as Father:

  • Oldest male in family was responsible for, respected by and had absolute control over the rest of the group, so used Old Testament to attribute him to a number of roles
  • Attributes God to many roles: creating the universe, rescuing Israel in trouble and setting standards of behaviour, e.g. in the Ten Commandments
  • Both protective love and power
  • Jesus often referred to God as father- Jesus tells his disciples that their heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him and teaches them a prayer that addresses God as 'our father'
  • Apostles creed refers to God as father in two senses: as creator of the universe and as the father of Jesus
• (God) God as King:

  • In his vision in the temple, the prophet Isaiah saw God seated on a throne and feared he would die 'for my eyes have seen the King, the lord of hosts'.
  • Jesus was associated with the inauguration of the kingdom of God- this is not a place but refers to God's rule as King of the universe. Understood as part of the future reality; Jesus, the anointed king, will return to fully establish the Kingdom of God
• (God) Problems with anthropomorphic language:

  • Puts a limit on a God who is believed to be transcendent
  • Portrayal of God that suggests someone like us who is changeable and therefore not reliable; this makes him not worthy of worship
  • Many Christians, though, would say the only meaningful way for humans to describe God is to use such language, though they recognise its limitations when being applied to a being who is essentially beyond human understanding. However, this does not solve the issue
• (God) Debate about gender-specific language:

  • Women feel excluded by the gender-specific language in the bible, it reinforces patriarchal stereotypes of male superiority
  • In response to this, some gender-neutral translations of the bible have been produced. The God portrayed in the bible is a male figure with male attributes of power- such language encourages a distorted and unacceptable understanding of God
  • Daphne Hampson does not use male pronouns when speaking of God, and uses God or Godself
  • Some feminist theologians point to the presence in the Bible and in the thinking of the church of feminine attributes to God- e.g. Clement of Alexandria referred to Christians nursing at the breast of God the father
  • Some think to remove all gender-specific references from the bible would lose many insights, as to be properly understood it needs to be studied in the context of its culture
• (God) Process theology- God is not the creator:

  • Griffin rejects traditional Christian belief in creation out of nothing
  • Adopts alternative translation of Genesis
  • Universe has always existed; it is uncreased and eternal- it was therefore not created by God
  • God, like the universe, is uncreated and eternal
  • Relationship between God and the universe is panentheistic: they exist together just as the human mind and human body exist together, the universe is in God and God is in the universe
  • God has been persuading the universe into order and complexity- this attempt has gone on for 13.7 billion yers, using the processes of the Big Bang and of evolution
• (God) Process theology- God is not omnipotent:

  • God does not have unlimited power- this follows on from his views on God's relation to the world
  • Because it is independent of God, the ever-changing chaotic matter making up the universe is able to resist God's attempts at persuasion
• (God) Process theology- Positives:

  • Support from quantum mechanics
  • Fits in with theories of the Big Bang and evolution
  • Supported by one possible translation of the Hebrew in Genesis 1
  • Gives an explanation for why God does not control evil: he cannot
  • It claims probability rather than certainty for its views, so it is not a 'closed book'
• (God) Process theology- Negatives:

  • The solution to the problem of evil is for many people its most attractive feature, but it comes at a huge cost
  • Its claim that God is not omnipotent goes against what many people, not just Christians, imagine a divine being should be
  • A God who is not omnipotent would not be truly God and not a God worthy of worship in the eyes of many Christians
• (Good conduct) Predestination in the teaching of Paul:

  • Paul's letter to the Romans seems to imply what God has decided to advance who would be justified. But many Christians think that this is a distortion of Paul's teaching
  • For Paul, God's purposes could not be known or understood by humans
  • Paul may have simply been trying to say that because he is omniscient, God knows what individuals will freely choose and so in that sense salvation is predestined
• (Good conduct) Predestination in the teaching of Augustine:

  • God infallibly knows who will be saved
  • Predestination is an act of grace; human goodness is the result and not the cause of election
  • Election- in relation to Calvin's teaching refers to God's choice of some for salvation
  • Humans cannot understand the will of God (why he chooses to save some and not others)
  • God predestines some to his Kingdom whilst leaving others in their sinful state to be consigned to hell as a punishment for their sinful choices and actions
  • Pelagius opposed Augustine, claiming that belief in predestination was incompatible with belief in free will but the Church sided with Augustine
• (Good conduct) Predestination in the teaching of Calvin:

  • Calvin took Augustine's thinking to its logical conclusion in his teaching about double predestination
  • Double predestination- the Calvinist belief that God both chose some humans for salvation and condemned others to eternal damnation
  • God decided before creation who would be saved and who would be damned to hell
  • Because of the original sin, all humanity deserves damnation, so God's act of electing some is entirely an act of grace
  • The Catholic church rejects Calvin's teachings
• (Good conduct) Assessment of the doctrine of predestination:

  • Catholic church rejects Calvin's teachings
  • Many Christians reject this doctrine
  • Some say it makes God unjust. But Calvin's response was that humans cannot presume to understand God's will, and in any case the evil actions of the damned show that God's decision was just
  • Others say it cannot be reconciled with Jesus' portrayal of God as unconditionally merciful, forgiving and loving. But the Calvinist response would be that no one merits salvation, so God's saving anyone at all is a display of his mercy, forgiveness and love
  • Some say that it cannot be reconciled with the concept of free will, as if God foreknows out actions, then we have no choice but to obey or disobey his will. One response to this is to point out that God's omniscience is not causative