1) Creation

• Michelangelo's Creation of Adam

  Painting that reflects Catholic belief about God as creator and the creation of humanity in the image of God
• Catholic beliefs about God shown in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam

  • God is the creator
  • God creates the universe, including humanity
  • God desires a close relationship with humans (Adam)
• Imago Dei


  Humans are made in the image of God
• Catholic beliefs about God shown in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam

  • God made (Adam) humans perfect
  • God is transcendent
  • God is omnipotent
• Two ways Michelangelo's Creation of Adam shows that human beings were made in the image of God


  • God portrayed as a human-Adam is shown as a perfect man
  • The body of God is muscular like Adam's
  • Adam and God lie in similar poses- their fingers nearly touch, showing close contact between God and humanity
• Genesis 2:7 notes that God brought Adam to life by breathing into his nostrils, rather than touching him
• In the painting, God and Adam are nearly the same size, suggesting that God and humanity are equal- they are not
• 20th Century Mosaic by Hildreth Meiere


  • Conveys a greater sense of God as creator than Creation of Adam
  • Michelangelo only deals with one point of creation, this shows God is always creating
• Some feel the representation of God is better. Since God is infinite/transcendent, some Christians believe God cannot and should not be presented as Michelangelo did (i.e. old man)
• 'Michelangelo's painting of The Creation of Adam perfectly expresses a Catholic understanding of humanity': 'It shows that humans are in Imago dei (Gen 1:27)/it shows that man is receiving life from God and is totally dependent on God. The female figure in human form is thought to be Eve so reinforcing the idea that Adam was created first (Gen 2). Others think that the image is the Virgin Mary and the child next to her who is being touched by God is the baby Jesus. This would show that the promise of Christ was there from the beginning, as was the fall that required the coming of Christ'
• The image of both God and Adam is white which some find misleading as it does not reflect Catholic teaching about the equality of all people
• It does not correspond closely to the biblical account which it is supposed to represent as the figure of Adam is already alive so it does not depict creation from dust, nor breathing in the breath of life
• The Catholic Church does not teach that the creation of humans as shown in Genesis is factual. This picture does not reflect Catholic teaching about the role of evolution in God's creation
• Genesis 1 describes the creation of the earth
• Genesis 2 focuses on the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve
• Genesis 1: Teaching about nature of God

  • God is Creator
  • God is Omnipotent
  • God is Transcendent
  • God is Omnibenevolent
• The most important lesson that Genesis 1 teaches Catholics is to trust in God
• Breath of life/spirit


  Humans share the Spirit of God, this spirit gives humans some of God's qualities
• Free will


  Humans are given the gift of free will
• Two ideas about God expressed in the statement 'God is transcendent'


  • God is beyond the world/outside space and time
  • God cannot be described in human words because words get their meanings from this world
• The idea that humans have free will is the teaching in Genesis that has the greatest influence on how Catholics live their lives today


  Without free will, people would not have to worry about making the right choice or taking responsibility for their actions
• The idea that humans have free will is the teaching in Genesis that has the greatest influence on how Catholics live their lives today


  Means Catholics have to try to make decisions pleasing to God while exercising their free will. This will affect the decisions they make
• Significance of the creation stories for Catholics

  • Stewardship
  • Dignity of human life
  • Sanctity of life
• Stewardship


  Believers have a duty to respect all of God's creation
• Dignity of human life

  All people are equal have a dignity as they are created by God
• Sanctity of life


  All life is holy and is created and loved by God
• Two ways the sanctity of life/ imago dei influences Catholics today

  • God created humans in his image (imago dei) and thus, all human life should be protected. This influences Catholics to oppose abortion
  • The Catholic Church teaches the child has a right to life from the moment of conception. Therefore, an unborn baby has the same rights as babies which are born
• Two reasons why Catholics believe in the dignity of all people

  • Catholics believe humans were made in the image of God (imago dei). We learn this from Genesis 1. Therefore, everyone is equal because everyone shares in the qualities of God
  • All people are loved by God. In Genesis 2 we learn that God blesses humanity and thus makes them holy. All life is sacred as God saw that it was 'good'
• The belief that humans are made in God's image is in the Bible (Genesis 1:26) / in Paul's letters / it is a belief that has been held by the Christian Church from its beginnings
• The laws of the land support this idea by protecting human life and dignity
• In the creation God breathes life into a human, so Christians believe humans share God's Spirit (breath)
• Holy Spirit


  Third Person in the Trinity whom Christians believe is the inspiring presence of God in the world
• Inspiration


  The guidance that God gives to people
• Magisterium


  Teaching authority of the Catholic Church, exercised by the Pope and Bishops
• The Word of God


  • Jesus
  • Prophets
  • Apostles
  • Holy Spirit
• The Bible is not meant to convey precise historical information or scientific findings to us
• Nevertheless, everything that man must know about God and the way of his salvation is found with infallible certainty in Sacred Scripture
• How the Bible is the Word of God


  • Magisterium does this
  • Magisterium guided by Holy Spirit to correctly interpret the Bible
  • Holy Spirit guided Church in selecting which books were to be accepted in Bible
• 'Sacred Scriptures is the Word of God... while sacred tradition takes the Word of God and hands it on to their successors in its fully purity.... Consequently it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed.'
• Old Testament


  How God guided Jews throughout their history- before Jesus