WOGWOH exam 2

Sin

portrayed as disobediant human action, failure to trust God; violation of God's command

also portrayed as personified force. sin and death as opressive alien forces that influence and desire to control

Shalom

Universal flourishing, wholeness and delight

Peace

Theological Anthropology

Humans are very good

and yet we can be estrangedd from God, creation and each other

Idolatry

When your attention is not fully on God. Having anything else that you value more than God.

hevel

Hebrew word that means mist, smoke, vapor. Often gets translated to meaningless in English. The author of Ecclesiastes uses this word a lot.

Tower of Babel

Genesis 11. People did not spread out like God had said and they united to build a giant tower to reach the heavens. God did not like it and so he made people speak different languages. This made them spread out.

homo incurvatus in se

The human "turned/curved in on itself" a metaphor for radical self-centeredness as the essence or source of human sin

traced back to St. Augustine

Qoheleth

The narrator of the book of Ecclesiastes, not the writer. Can be translated to teacher or philosopher. He tries to find meaning in life and says that it is all hevel (Mist, vapor, smoke, fleeting, meaningless.)

He goes on 3 quests to find meaning:

A quest for meaning through hard work and accomplishments

A quest for meaning through learning and wisdom

A quest for meaning through pursuit of pleasure

Wisdom Literature

Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, (Song of Songs), (Psalms)

Proverbs: wisdom in daily life, a summons to observe and discern the order and meaning of things, and to align with it for our own good.

Ecclesiastes: wisdom in the midst of disillusionment; a summons to work hard and enjoy life without presuming we can control all outcomes.

Job: wisdom in the midst of tragedy and suffering; a summons to trust God even when we cant explain it understand the pain in our lives of the world

Song of Songs: wisdom in relationships and sexuality; committed giving of ourselves to another rather than using others for our perceived needs/desires.

the basic storyline of the Book of Esther

The book of Esther asks us to trust in God's providence even when we can't see it working. That requires a posture of hope to trust God's commitment to redeem his good world and overcome evil.

Persian king wants a new wife and Esther wins the beauty contest. Modercai, Esther's uncle does not bow to Haman, the king's official. Haman doesnt like that and wants all jews killed. Mordercai learns of this and tells Esther to do something bout it. She fasts for three days and tells the king shes a jew and so he shouldnt kill them. He gets mad at Haman and kills him. (lil bit inaccurate)

Esther should be seen as a signpost, or pointer

Esther is referred to as queen mostly after she says If I perish, I perish

The emergence of s/Sin and Concept of the Fall

It is a falling out. The relationship is hurt, but can be restored. It is not just the fall, and humanity is forever doomed to sin, but we can restore it through relationship with God.

Sin patrayed os disobedient human action, failure to trust God ; violation of Gods commands

• Initiated by subtle, Seemingly innocuous motivations: a clever creature inquisitive dialogue, slight misinterpretations

• disastrous Results: Rupture of relationships, disruption of shalom;

compromised vocation as Imago De

Sin & Evil as Privation of the Good

evil does not have its own independent ontological status. It is not a full fledged substantial entity within God's good creation. Rather, sin and evil are parasitic, they only exist of the distortion and twisting of what was created good.

Sin as Compromise of Vocation

Distortion of conventional vocation = grasping for blessing, prominence vs. blessing all nations of the earth.

Our jobs can now be used selfishly to benefit us, and hurt others.

Homo Incurvatus In Se as the inverse of Imago Dei

Multi-layered distortions of human identity/vocation:

distortion of the imago dei = inward turn vs. for the life of the world

Distortion of conventional vocation = grasping for blessing, prominence vs. blessing all nations of the earth.

Distortion of the individual = what's in it for me vs. what has God called me to, and why, and for the sake of whom?

Alienation as Disruption of Shalom

Our peace and unity is destroyed by sin that wants us divided.

In Gen 3

Alienation from God

• Adam and Eve hiding from God in the garden

Alienation from one another

• Adam and Eve ashamed in front of each other

Alienation from Creation

The ground is cursed and humanity's living off of it becomes associated with toil and difficulty

Idolatry as counterfeit god(s)

We all worship things. Americans may worship money.

We have a counterfeit god if we take anything in creation and "bow down" to it - that is, to love, serve and desire meaning from it more than the true God.

, we recognize that "making an image" of something is not necessarily a physical process but is certainly a spiritüal and psychological one. It means imagining and trusting anything to deliver the control, security, significance, satisfaction, and beauty that only the real God can give. It means turning a good thing into an ultimate thing.