Christian Beliefs and Convictions Final exam vocab & short answer questions

Eschatology

The branch of Christian theology concerned with the "last things" — the ultimate destiny of humanity, the world, and history, including death, resurrection, judgment, and the coming kingdom of God.

Eschatological tension

The dynamic tension Christians live within, caught between the "already" of Christ's accomplished redemption and the "not yet" of its full consummation — living between the times.

Already

The dimension of eschatology emphasizing what has been accomplished in Christ's first coming — the kingdom of God has truly arrived, sin is defeated, and the new age has begun.

Not yet

The dimension of eschatology that acknowledges the full realization of the kingdom still lies in the future — evil persists, suffering continues, and the final resurrection has not occurred.

Overly realized eschatology

The error of claiming too much of the "already" — acting as if the kingdom is fully here now, denying ongoing suffering, or claiming complete healing/perfection in the present age.

Premillennialism

The view that Christ will return bodily before a literal 1,000-year reign on earth, after which comes the final judgment. History moves toward a future golden age inaugurated by Christ's visible return.

Postmillennialism

The view that the gospel will progressively transform the world until a golden age (millennium) is established, after which Christ returns. The church's mission brings the millennium about.

Amillennialism

The view that the "millennium" of Revelation 20 is symbolic of Christ's current reign with the saints in heaven, not a future earthly period. Christ returns once, to end history and usher in the new creation.

Eschatological reservation

The appropriate humility about end-times speculation — holding millennial views loosely, recognizing the Church's history of wrong predictions and the limits of human understanding.

Parousia

Greek term meaning "presence" or "arrival," used in the New Testament for the second coming of Christ — his future visible, bodily return in glory to consummate redemption.

Resurrection

The Christian hope that at Christ's return the dead will be raised bodily — not mere spiritual survival but a transformation of the whole person, grounded in Christ's own resurrection as "firstfruits."

General resurrection

The final raising of all the dead at the end of history — both the righteous and the wicked — to face judgment, in contrast to Christ's individual resurrection which precedes it.

Soma psychikon

Paul's Greek phrase (1 Cor. 15) often translated "natural body" — the present mode of embodied existence suited to this age, animated by the soul, contrasted with the resurrection body.

Soma pneumatikon

Paul's Greek phrase (1 Cor. 15) often translated "spiritual body" — not a non-physical body, but a resurrection body transformed and fully animated by the Holy Spirit, suited for the age to come.

Intermediate state

The condition of persons who have died between their physical death and the final resurrection — a period of waiting before the general resurrection and final judgment.

Soul sleep

The view that the dead are entirely unconscious during the intermediate state, awaiting the resurrection — held by some Anabaptist and Adventist traditions.

Hell

The state of final, irreversible separation from God — the ultimate consequence of rejecting God. Debate exists over its nature but the reality of judgment is consistently affirmed.

Universalism

The belief that all persons will ultimately be saved — that God's love will finally prevail over every human will and no one will be eternally lost. A minority but recurring theological position.

Postmortem evangelism

The view that those who die without hearing or accepting the gospel have the opportunity to respond to Christ after death, often appealed to in addressing the fate of the unevangelized.

Annihilationism

The view that the unsaved are not tormented forever but rather cease to exist — God either destroys them or they simply burn out. Held by some evangelicals as more consistent with divine justice.

Purgatory

A Roman Catholic doctrine holding that most who die in God's grace must undergo a purifying process after death before entering heaven — not a second chance, but completion of earthly sanctification.

Gnostics

Early Christian heretics who believed secret knowledge (gnōsis) was the path to salvation. They typically devalued the material world and physical body, seeing matter as evil and spirit as good.

Hierarchical dualism

The Gnostic framework that sharply divides reality into higher (spiritual, good) and lower (material, evil) realms, shaping distorted views of the body and sexuality in divergent ways.

Libertine

The response to hierarchical dualism concluding that since the body is unimportant, one may do anything with it — sexual license is permissible because bodily acts don't affect the spiritual self.

Ascetic

The response to hierarchical dualism concluding that since the body is evil, it must be suppressed — leading to strict abstention from sexual activity and bodily pleasure as a path to spiritual purity.

Porneia

Greek term used in the New Testament broadly for sexual immorality — encompassing fornication, adultery, and various sexual sins. Jones argues it sets a clear boundary around sex as belonging within covenant marriage.

Thesis of Jones book, Faithful A Theology of $ex

Christian sexual ethics have everything to do with who God is and with what it means to be human

what are marriage and singleness in light of Augustine's 3 goods of Christian sexuality

Fidelity (- one-flesh union “radical, permanent, intimate”

• Spouses learn to die to self and serve in love - witness to God’s faithfulness)

Fruitfulness (biological children, kingdom fruit in the world)

Relationship to God (Sex is a good gift from God, living into the power of God’s grace, God’s grace “orders our sexuality away from idols, turning our sexuality from ingrown selfishness to kingdom work.”)

how does the common purity paradigm does not reflect good Christian Theology?

1. Marriage is the expected reward of following the rules (-the christian life is all about grace (free gift), not earned reward -marriage as the expected reward devalues singleness - marriage is kingdom work, not an earthy reward)

2. Purity is a matter of gritting one’s teeth and working hard to avoid sexual intercourse before marriage in order to persevere the value of one’s body (the value of a person does not rest in whether that person is having or has had sex, purity is about more than avoiding intercourse, the bodies of married sexual partners are pure)

3. Purity matters more for females than males (men and women are equally called to faithful marriage or celibate singleness, women are not objects and men are not animals)

4. Physical virginity constitutes purity (sexual ethics are not just for woman and are for men, Jesus radically equalized and expected chastity of all of us)

Idol vs. Icon

Idol: something that is made ultimate and loved as if it were God, becomes an end

icon: a good thing that points beyond itself to God; love passes through it; produces gratitude and worship

relate the great commandment Mark 12:29-31 with your vocational calling and/or anticipated place of work

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the beliefs included in resurrection of the dead, new creation and life of the world to come

Resurrection of the dead involves three core beliefs:

• The body truly dies — death is real, not an illusion

• God will raise the body — not just the soul surviving, but bodily resurrection modeled on Christ's own

• The raised body will be transformed (soma pneumatikon) — continuous with the present body yet glorified, fully animated by the Spirit, freed from decay and sin

New Creation is not the destruction of the old world but its renewal and transformation. God redeems and restores material creation rather than discarding it — heaven comes down to earth (Revelation 21). Creation is liberated from the curse (Romans 8), reflecting God's original "very good" intent.

Life of the world to come is embodied, communal, and eternal existence in the new creation — not a disembodied soul floating in heaven, but resurrected persons dwelling with God in a renewed cosmos. It is shalom fully realized: right relationship with God, others, self, and creation.

how Resurrection New Creation fit in the grand story of God's relationship with the word.

Act	Content
Creation	God makes a good material world; humans are embodied image-bearers in relationship with God
Fall	Sin fractures every relationship — with God, each other, self, and creation
Redemption	Christ's incarnation, death, and resurrection begin reversing the fall; the Spirit inaugurates the new age
New Creation	God consummates all things — resurrection, judgment, renewal of creation, full dwelling of God with humanity