Religious Concepts and Religious Life

What do we mean by the nature of God?

What God is like (qualities)

What evidence is there to suggest God the Father is male?

• Pronouns such as ‘he’ - consistently referred to as the Father

• “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

What evidence is there to suggest God the Son is male?

Jesus was incarnated as a man - seen to be fully God but also fully human (male)

What evidence is there to suggest God the Holy Spirit is male?

Traditionally spoken of as ‘he’ not ‘it’ in the Bible.

What quality of God suggests he is not of a physical form?

Incorporeal

What piece of scripture is evidence to suggest God the Son was a ‘he’ before and after his time on earth?

“He was with God and was God.” - John 1:1

What bit of scripture refers to God as not being male or female?

“God is spirit.” - John 4:24

What did Jesus refer to God as in his native language?

‘Abba’

What evidence is there of God being referred to as female?

• The parable of the woman and the lost coin

• God being referred to as a hen looking after her brood

Who proposed the idea that we should refer to God as Mother and in what book?

Sallie McFague in ‘Metaphorical Theology’

What does ecofeminist mean?

Believes in the value of nature and the pursuit of women’s rights, and the connection between them.

How does McFague describe language used about God and why is this a problem?

• Metaphorical

• You end up worshipping the metaphor instead of God

What three new metaphors did she want to introduce?

God the Mother

God the Lover

God the Friend

What did McFague say was the issue with God being referred to as male?

• Patriarchal society where women are treated badly

• Abuse of the environment

McFague believed if God is called Mother than the world is no longer ruled over by God but becomes part of God’s body or womb, what is this called?

Panentheism

Why did Sallie McFague say we should see God in female terms and not feminine?

Female is a biological term that refers to the basic nature of giving birth, feed etc. while feminine is a human-made construct.

What does impassibility mean?

Unable to suffer/experience emotion.

What does immutability mean?

God’s nature cannot be changed.

What stories from the OT could challenge the view that God is impassible and immutable?

• Sodom and Gomorrah

• Noah’s Ark

How would people who believe God is impassible and immutable defend this?

God always acts out of compassion and mercy, so his nature doesn’t really change.

Why would some argue that Jesus proves God is passible?

He suffered on the cross and there are many examples of him experiencing emotion.

What examples from scripture is there of Jesus experiencing emotion?

• “Take this cup from me.”

• “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Why might some say the life of Jesus doesn’t affect the impassibility of God?

• Jesus saw it coming as it was always God’s plan

• Only the human part of Jesus suffered

Who was the theologian who argued God is passible and in what book?

Jurgen Moltmann in ‘The Crucified God@

What is his theology of hope?

That God suffers with humanity and has promised us a better future with the resurrection.

What does he mean when he says you need to accept the pain of the negative?

You need to accept the pain of the crucifixion in order to accept the liberation brought by the resurrection.

Why does he not accept Catholic mass?

It alludes to the idea that Jesus’ death was not final and he physically lives on somehow through practise of Eucharist (against pain of the negative)

What example did he use to express the idea that God suffers with us?

A boy hung in Auschwitz. Someone asks “Where is God now?” and another replies “God is with him.”

What is the significance of Jesus saying “My God, my God…”

Shows the abandonment of Son by Father, they are reunited again during the resurrection.

What is heresy?

Beliefs that are contrary to the Christian doctrine.

What is Docetism?

The belief that only the human side of Jesus experienced suffering.

Why could a God incapable of suffering be seen as deficient?

It would question God’s omnipotence, and his ability to connect with us.

What three things do the doctrine of the Trinity assert?

• The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons.

• Each person of God is fully God, coequal, coeternal and coexistent.

• There is only one God, he is not split into three parts.

Why was the Trinity developed in the first place?

To combat heresy in regards to the divinity of Jesus.

What were the three heresies at the time?

• Adoptionism: belief that Jesus was an ordinary man who became the Son of God only at his baptism

• Sabellianism: Belief that Jesus was divine but not human

• Arianism: Belief that Jesus was the highest of all created beings but not of the same substance as God

Where was the Doctrine of the Trinity founded?

Council of Nicea in 325AD

What is homousios?

‘Of one substance’ with the Father

What examples in the OT refers to God as plural?

• The first Hebrew word used for God (Genesis 1:1) is Elohim, a plural noun.

• “Let us make mankind in our image.” - Genesis 1:26-27

What evidence in the NT refers to Jesus being God?

“The Word was with God and was God.”

What evidence is there to suggest the Holy Spirit is God?

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Give a scripture to support the idea that God is one

• “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” - Mark 12:29

• “There is no God but one.” - Corinthians 8:4

Why did some reject the doctrine of the Trinity?

It is illogical to think of three being one.

What is the filioque?

“And the Son.” in Latin

Why was the filioque controversial?

The Eastern Orthodox was not present when it was added to the declaration of faith.

How did the Western Church defend the filioque?

It was just added to show the divinity of Jesus and that the Father and Son are necessary for the Holy Spirit to exist.

What are the two understandings of the Trinity?

• Immanent trinity: what God is

• Economic trinity: what God does

What was Augustine’s argument that the Western Church accepted?

People can know the Trinity and God through their own personal experiences - there are traces of it in us.

Why did the Eastern Church reject Augustine’s argument and call it heresy?

It makes God dependent on created beings and humans cannot learn anything about God through human experience.

Who defended the belief in the Trinity in the modern day?

Karl Barth

In what two ways has God revealed himself?

• Objective unveiling in the Son

• Subjective unveiling in the Holy Spirit

What example does Barth give to explain the two ways God has revealed himself?

Two men witnessing the crucifixion - one understands and accepts that Jesus is the Son of God and one doesn’t.

How did the filioque make the Holy Spirit seem, according to the Eastern Church?

Subservient to the other parts of the Trinity.

What example is there in the OT of sacrifice?

Abraham and Isaac, Israelites sacrificing lamb

What needed to be atoned for?

Original sin that separated humans from God.

What does expiation mean?

To remove guilt by a penalty.

What is propitiation?

Turning away wrath by making an offering.

What quote supports the ransom model?

“The Son of Man came to give his life for the ransom of many.”

In his book ‘Christ Victor’, Gustaf Aulen argued human beings had been bound by what?

Sin, death, and the devil.

The penal substitution model argues that Jesus’ death satisfied God’s…

Justice (a price needing to be paid and satisfied)

The moral example model argued that Jesus’ death showed what, and give a quote to support this.

• The extent of God’s love for us.

• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, so whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”