Religion 100.02 essay prep

Estes exam 1

physical brokenness

Humans will eventually die, humanity’s labor takes on a burdensome quality, and plants and soil may have become corrupted as they no longer produce vegetation as they once did

social brokenness

Men and women will be at odds, instead of naturally appreciating one another as partners, they will develop an unhealthy power struggle

spiritual brokenness

People will feel ashamed and distant from God, and people have a fractured relationship with God as a result of Adam and Eve, this will lead to physical, social and spiritual death

substitution theory of atonement

• The problem: a just God cannot bear to let sin go unpunished. But humans are incapable of adequately atoning for their sins, so someone else had to

• the solution: Jesus Christ, a perfect, sinless human, suffered and died on behalf of all humans

• strengths- takes seriously that sin harms people and the sense that victims need justice

• weaknesses- why would a loving God want suffering/death? Is it truly just if someone else is punished, not the criminal? Where does the resurrection fit in?

Christus Victor theory of atonement

• The problem: Sin and death have some sort of hold on humans; humans are enslaved to Satan/sin/death and can’t escape their inevitability

• The solution: Jesus Christ defeats sin and death by dying and resurrecting

• Strengths - the resurrection is central to the story. Resolves the problems (sin and death) found in the creation story. God isn’t angry

• weaknesses- if sin/death have been defeated, why do people still sin/die?

Moral Exemplar theory of atonement

• The problem: humans, being finite, are incapable of truly understanding who God is. Because they can’t know God, they can’t have union with God

• The solution: God became human so that he would be knowable. Jesus lived an exemplary life so that humans would have someone to imitate. The cross is a teaching moment: this is what true love looks like.

• Strength - God isn’t angry; instead, God is all-loving and humble. Makes sense of the necessity of the incarnation.

• Weaknesses - It’s not immediately obvious why Jesus had to suffer/die. Sin seems just a knowledge problem

Luke 4:16-21 Jesus acts like the Messiah

• he declares that “today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” about his public work

Luke 7:18-23 Jesus acts like the Messiah

• When John the Baptist asks his disciples to ask if Jesus is the Coming one and jesus does not give a straight yes or no

Luke 9:18-27 Jesus acts as the Messiah

• Jesus asks his disciples who the crowd says he is and Peter claims that he is the Christ of God