Religion Exam

The Experience of the Personal Response

You are compelled to act without thinking, an automatic response

The Experience of the Other

A person evokes a response from you to act proper

The experience of Obligation

Something in you wants to follow the law

The experience of Contrast

Recoiling from violence and disregard of others

Ethics

The guiding principles that help us towards goodness. Ethics comes from Greek “ta ethika” having to do with good character. E.g. Justice, compassion

Morals

From Latin word “Moralitas” having to do with the customs, habits, and manners shaping human life. E.g. Rules, laws, Ten Commandments etc.

Aristotle Teleological Ethics

Having to do with purpose or design. Happiness is not found in the individual but in what is good for the community or society.

Kant Deontological Ethics

Sense of duty. He believes in theoretical and practical reasoning. Goodness is the aim of life. He believes in God, freedom and immortality.

Levinas Relational Ethics

Searching for the good through the face of others. We are called to react to “the other” especially those in need. The good is infinite and we search for it through others.

Conceptual Framework of Action

Who, what, why. how, with or against whom, circumstance. outcome

Responsibility

 A person is the agent of his actions. This presupposes freedom, knowledge and capacity.

Human Freedom

The power to act or not to and the acceptance of responsibility for the consequences.

Naturalism

Our decisions and actions are determined by our (genetics) and we are not responsible for our actions, As Catholics we don’t accept this theory. Naturalism denies the possibility of ethics.

Artificial Intelligence

A principle that proposes that intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to stimulate it.

Mind-Brain Distinction

Catholic tradition does not deny the discoveries of science or the connections between the mind and brain. The human mind is more than the physical functions. The mind has the capacity for freedom, choice, and action. The mind is the heart of human capacity.

Predestination

The belief that God chooses to save some people and condemns the rest. A person can’t change this on there own. As Catholics we don’t accept this view.

Social Determinism

Our actions are determined by others based on culture, race, gender, religion etc. This denies our freedom and as Catholics we don’t believe this to be true.

Rationalism

A philosophical theory that suggests that nothing can be accepted as true unless it can be proven by reason alone.

Life Instinct

Eros, acting and decisions

Death Instinct

Thanatos, let others at for you

Narcissism

A disorder marked by self-absorption to the exclusion of others

Conscience

A voice that calls us to “love and to do what is good and to avoid evil. It is the inner voice that tells us right from wrong. It is our inner sanctuary where we are alone with God whose voice echoes in our depth.

Id

The unconscious instinctual drives

The Superego

Others views of right/wrong superimposed on us .eg. parents, teachers etc. We act out of a sense of guilt of others.

Ego

Our own views of right and wrong and a willingness to accept responsibility for our choices.

Conscience as Capacity

To know and do good and avoid evil.

Conscience as Process

Knowing how to perceive and thing correctly. Seeking truth and making it one’s own conscience.

Conscience of Judgment

Making a moral judgment by following one’s conscience

Rationalization

Reasoning away your wrong choices

Trivialization

It’s no big deal; everyone is doing it

Misinformation

It’s not illegal to steal if the value of the item is under $5

The end justifies the immoral means

Stealing food because you have no money and are hungry

Means to an end

Dropping a bomb to end the war will save many lives

Difficult to reason

Homeless breaks into home to keep warm

The Importance of Others

Other people are central to my search for good

The Importance of Having Direction in Life

What is it you are called to do?

The Importance of Communication and Language

World is shaped by language, your values were communicated as good and desirable by others

The Importance of Character and One’s Body

Habitual actions

The Importance of Conscience

Listening to your inner voice

The Importance of the Development of One’s Conscience

Maturity drives virtues and values

Covenant

God’s bond of love that calls to us in our freedom to respond in love. God’s commitment is forever.

Revelation

God makes himself known to us through Jesus, Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.

Moses

Prophet as an infant, raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, identified with Jews. God revealed himself to Moses

Name of God

YHWH “I am who is, I am who shall be “

Moses Mission

To be an intermediary between God and his people. To save the Jews from slavery and lead them into the Promised Land. Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

Decalogue

Ten Commandments

Traits of a Covenant

1. Preamble

2. Historical Prologue

3. The submission

4. The Witnesses

5. The blessings and curses

Sin

Referred to as transgression from God. It is a turning away from right actions. It is breaking the moral commandments.

Exegesis

Study of scripture in its original context

Hermeneutics

Interpreting the scripture

Matthew’s Gospel

Written in Antioch (Turkey) Approx 90 CE. It was written for the Jewish people as well as the new Christian followers.

Parousia

The second coming of Christ which is to take place at the end of time.

Eschatological

“pertaining to the end time” or “the fullness of time”

Kingdom of God

It is not a place but a symbol or metaphor for God. God is not in a far off place but is acting among us here and now.

Sermon on the Mount

The platform for life given to the disciples and us. It is the Old Torah revisited in the light of Jesus’ teachings. It is the heart of Christian teachings based on love of God and love of neighbour

Grace

God’s self-gift of love in us and our participation in the relationship of love that is the Trinity.

Ethics of the Sermon

It is not fully revealed, but it guides us to be righteous by “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Its eschatological and Gospel ethics

Early formation of the Church

The disciples reunited and organized the church and translation of Jesus’ words into practices, teachings and moral behaviour.

Role of the Holy Spirit

The promise of the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide the early disciples.

Pentecost

The “birthday” of the Church. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and gave them courage to preach the gospel “in the streets” regardless of the consequences.

St.Paul

Initially killed early Christians but saw the light of heaven and became a Gentiles to convert Christians.

Trinity

God is an eternal exchange of love. This central mystery of the Christian faith: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Period of Jewish Christianity: AD 30- 130.

The poor Jews received more goods from the Church than did the poor Gentiles. There was the question about what to do with sinners, allow them to stay or get rid of them.

Period of Greek and European Christianity (AD 50-1964)

The encounter with Islam and the rediscovery of Greek philosophy and civilization, Christianity divided. The European empire. Protestant reformation.

Period of Global Christianity

Christian church to be found in all countries embracing a great variety of cultures. Global church = catholic = universal

Agape

The Greek term for unconditional and sacrificial love; the type of love with which God loves us.

Anthropology

The overall study of man and what it means to be a human person.

Birth Control

Normally refers to the general method of preventing pregnancy through various ways of altering or changing the body’s natural state of fertility into a state of infertility.

Contraception

Every action before, during, or after sexual intercourse that deliberately attempts to impede its procreative potential

Corporal Works of Mercy

These are actions of love that meet the physical needs of others.

Encyclical

A letter written by the pope, normally addressed to the bishops of the world (and sometimes to the wider audience of all the faithful), usually intended to teach or clarify a doctrine of the Faith.

Fornication

Sex outside of marriage

Free

Love that is not controlled or manipulated by another person or by a disordered desire.

Total

Love without strings attached that holds nothing back

Faithful

Love that is committed.

Fruitful

Love that is life-giving.

Humanae Vitae

Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical on human life. It is most famous for its clear and definitive teaching on why contraception is immoral and sinful, explaining that it separates the sexual act from one if its intrinsic purposes: procreation.

Language of the Body

The capability of the body to speak its own language and to communicate without words.

Language of Love

 Generally speaking, the words that speak truth and compassion. Specifically regarding the body, the truth and totality of self, communicated through the body in sexual intercourse.

Natural Family Planning (NFP)

The term referring to various effective, natural, and moral methods for achieving or postponing pregnancy.

One-flesh union

: The loving embrace of a married couple through sexual intercourse.

New Evangelization

A term referring to the special need to share the Gospel with new enthusiasm, new methods and new expressions. The new evangelization is not a new Gospel, but it recognizes that as the world changes, the method for sharing the Good News need to change if they are to be effective.

Primordial Sacrament

The sacrament of Marriage as it was in the beginning – the original revelation of God’s love in the world.

Sacraments

God’s loving presence made visible in our lives. For example, in marriage, the two people getting married not only receive the sacrament they become a sacrament, a visible sign of God’s love in the world.

Spousal Analogy

The scriptural imagery using the earthly understanding of marriage to convey the power and fidelity of God’s love for humans and Christ’s love for the Church.

Submission

Surrendering to love in a marriage where you would do anything for them