Theology, Scripture, and Christology Study Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering theology, faith, revelation, biblical studies, the Synoptic problem, and New Testament Christologies.

Theism

Belief in God.

Atheism

Lack of belief in God.

Agnosticism

Belief that God's existence is unknown or unknowable.

Monotheism

Belief in one God.

Polytheism

Belief in multiple gods.

Deism

The belief that God created the world but does not intervene in it.

Pantheism

The belief that God is the universe.

Panentheism

The belief that the universe exists within God, but God is greater than it.

Theology

The study of God and religious beliefs.

Religious studies

Academic study of religions without requiring belief.

Ad intra

Within the faith community.

Ad extra

Outside the faith community.

Bernard Lonergan

Thinker who proposed that humans naturally want to know and understand the truth.

Johann Baptist Metz

Thinker who asserted that faith must remember suffering and fight injustice.

C. S. Lewis

Christian thinker who defended Christianity using reason and faith.

Joseph Ratzinger

Thinker who maintained that faith and reason work together.

Pure, unrestricted desire to know

Lonergan's concept that humans naturally want to understand everything.

Bias (Lonergan)

Something that prevents us from seeing the truth fairly.

Intellectual conversion

Changing how we understand knowledge and truth.

Moral conversion

Choosing what is good.

Religious conversion

Turning toward God and God's love.

Three stages of knowing

Lonergan's progression of cognition: 1. Experience ('What am I experiencing?'), 2. Understanding ('What does it mean?'), and 3. Judgment ('Is it true?').

Dunning-Kruger effect

Cognitive bias where people with less knowledge may overestimate their abilities.

Faith

Trusting and believing in God.

Fides qua

Faith as act; the act of believing.

Fides quae

Faith as content; what you believe.

Universal revelation

God revealed through creation and human experience.

Particular revelation

God revealed through specific events and people, especially Jesus.

Credo ut intelligam

Latin phrase meaning 'I believe so that I may understand.'

Cogito ergo sum

Latin phrase meaning 'I think, therefore I am.'

Four arguments against theology

Objections stating that: 1. Faith does not need proof; 2. God is beyond human understanding; 3. Theology may create doubt; 4. Academic study may complicate faith.

Theological assumptions

Core premises that God exists, God can reveal himself, and humans can understand something about God.

Analogy (Theological)

Speaking about God using words from human experience, while recognizing that God is greater than those words.

Three steps of analogy

1. Affirmation: Say something about God; 2. Negation: Recognize God is not exactly like humans; 3. Eminence: Understand that God possesses that quality in a greater way.

Creation

The doctrine that God is the source of the universe.

Immanence

The theological attribute that God is present in the world.

Transcendence

The theological attribute that God is beyond the world.

Jesuit

A member of the Catholic religious order called the Society of Jesus.

Mediated immediacy

Karl Rahner's concept that we experience God indirectly, but through things like relationships and everyday life.

A certain obscure clarity

Karl Rahner's phrase describing our ability to sense God's presence without completely understanding it.

Theology from below

Theological approach associated with Karl Rahner that starts with human experience and moves toward God.

Theology from above

Theological approach associated with Karl Barth that starts with God and God's revelation.

Karl Barth

Theologian whose thought was shaped by World War I and disappointment with theologians who supported the war; his theological method begins with God's revelation in Christ.

Karl Rahner

Theologian who held that everyone is open to God's presence even without realizing it; his theological method begins with human experience and our openness to God.

Biblical theology

Academic area of theology that studies Scripture.

Historical theology

Academic area of theology that studies the history of Christianity.

Moral theology

Academic area of theology that studies right and wrong.

Systematic theology

Academic area of theology that organizes Christian beliefs into a connected system.

Dictation model of inspiration

The model holding that God directly gives the words to the human writer.

Verbal inspiration

The model holding that God inspires the words of Scripture.

Dynamic inspiration

The model holding that God inspires the writers, who use their own words and styles.

Inerrancy

The belief that Scripture is without error, understood differently by various models regarding history and science.

Gospels (Literature type)

New Testament literature covering Jesus' life and teachings.

Acts (Literature type)

New Testament book covering the history of the early Church.

Letters (Literature type)

New Testament writings providing teachings and advice to Christian communities.

Apocalypse (Literature type)

New Testament literature containing symbolic visions about God's victory and the end times.

Futurist interpretation

Interpretation of Revelation viewing its contents as describing mainly future events.

Preterist interpretation

Interpretation of Revelation viewing its contents as describing events connected to the author's historical time.

Canon

The official collection of books accepted as Scripture, developed over time based on connection to apostles, doctrinal consistency, Church use, and communal acceptance.

Jesus of history

Jesus studied through historical evidence.

Christ of faith

Jesus understood through Christian faith as the Messiah and Son of God.

Three stages of Gospel formation

1. Jesus' life and teachings; 2. Oral storytelling by his followers; 3. Written Gospels created by the evangelists.

YHWH

The Hebrew name for God, often associated with 'I AM.'

LXX

The Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of Jewish Scriptures.

Deuterocanonical books

Books accepted as Scripture by Catholic and some Orthodox traditions but not by most Protestant traditions.

Apocryphal books

Religious writings not included in a particular biblical canon.

Synoptic Gospels

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which share many stories and similarities.

Synoptic problem

The question of how the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are literary related.

Marcan priority

The theory that the Gospel of Mark was written first.

Arguments for Marcan priority

Four points: 1. Mark is shorter; 2. Matthew and Luke often follow Mark's story order; 3. Matthew and Luke often improve or clarify Mark's wording; 4. Mark sometimes contains rougher grammar or more difficult wording.

Griesbach hypothesis

Theory that Matthew was written first, Luke used Matthew, and Mark used both.

Q source

A hypothetical collection of Jesus' sayings and teachings proposed to explain material shared by Matthew and Luke but absent from Mark.

E. P. Sanders

Scholar who identified widely supported historical facts about Jesus, including his baptism by John, preaching of God's kingdom, gathering of disciples, activity in Galilee, conflict in Jerusalem, and crucifixion.

Christology

The study of who Jesus is.

Messianic Secret

Motif in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus instructs people to keep his identity or miracles secret.

Internal function of the Messianic Secret

Prevents people from misunderstanding Jesus' identity before his suffering.

External function of the Messianic Secret

Explains why people do not immediately recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

Suffering Messiah paradox

The contrast between popular Jewish expectations of a powerful, victorious Messiah and Jesus' identity as one who suffers and dies.

Mark 15:34

Passage where Jesus quotes Psalm 22 ('My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'), connecting his passion to a psalm that begins in despair but expresses trust in God.

Christology of Matthew

Presents Jesus as the promised Jewish Messiah fulfilling Old Testament prophecies, emphasizing him as a teacher, the new Moses, and the Son of God.

Christology of Luke

Presents Jesus as the Savior for everyone (including the poor, women, outsiders, and sinners), emphasizing mercy, forgiveness, prayer, and the Holy Spirit.