1.2 Jesus as the Teacher of Wisdom

Question 1

Dawkin quote - about jesus

Answer 1

‘Jesus was a great moral teacher’

Question 2

What was jesus seen as sometimes

Answer 2

Rabbi

 Some of jesus’ followers used the title
‘rabbi’, who is a jewish spiritual and
community leader. A rabbi was
generally educated in the scriptures
and could interpret and teach them to
others

Question 3

Sermon on Mount - Started with the Beatitudes

Answer 3

Blessed are the pure in heart (goodness beyond external actions but reach inside to motivations that drive us) – (linka to AQuinas apparent good and real - conscientia and synderesis. Good intentions as welll as good intentions. Bonhoeffer)

The Merciful

THe peacemakers

Question 4

Jesus’ Moral Teachings

Answer 4

Agape
- Established by St. Paul in response to all the fighting and problems in Christian communities.

jUSTICE, mERCY AND fORGIVENESS
- We must treat others fairly and ‘fight’ for equality of others. Forgiveness should come first and we should not judge others without looking at our own shortcoming first
John8:3-10
===== ‘If anyone of u without sin, let him be the first to stone her’

Question 5

Jesus moral teaching

- Service and humility

Answer 5

Put others first and acting in the servic eof others out of agape
John 13:3-6 ‘Now that i , your lord and teacher have washed your feet’ (linnk to gender and theology reuther= Jesus not typical warrior messiah)

Question 6

Jesus moral teaching

- Spirituality not materialism

Answer 6

u need to be genuine with ur love of god

-‘it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a need than it is for a rich man to enter heaven’ Matthew

Question 7

WITTGENSTEIN

Answer 7

Language is a FORM OF LIFE To wittgenstein
Jesus is not an abstract but a ‘living word’:
○ An example of and embodiment of

Question 8

The Parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11–32)

Answer 8

hows Jesus’ teachings on repentance and forgiveness.

“My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found”.

Question 9

Although Jesus gave moral teachings, they are not the teachings that a mere human teaching of wisdom would have the right to give

Answer 9

For example, Jesus said “You have heard it said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:38-39). To take the teachings of Moses and then say ‘But I tell you’ implies that Jesus thinks of himself as having greater authority than Moses. Arguably only God has that much authority.

Question 10

John Hick

Answer 10

claimed that Jesus was not the son of God in a unique sense and was only a ‘guru’ and moral ‘role model’. Hick was influenced by Bultmann. Bultmann & demythologisation. Bultmann thought that the Bible had become difficult for modern audiences to accept because of how scientifically and historically minded people have become since the enlightenment period.

Hick, following Bultmann, thought that the Bible contains ‘true myths’ meaning ‘not literally true’ but inspiring us spiritually and morally. Hick claimed the resurrection was a myth not a historical fact because the Gospel accounts of the resurrection couldn’t be taken as historically valid sources for the following reasons:

Question 11

Jesus’ role in our salvation shows he was divine. (response to Hick)

Answer 11

Jesus’ sacrifice of his own life to save us from our sins is called the atonement and is something only a divine being could do. A mere human’s death would not have the significance nor power to save us from our sins. Christians believe that Christ’s defeat of death when he was resurrected was an offer of eternal life to all who have faith in him. So, the resurrection story must have been true in order to make sense of the purpose of Jesus’ life in saving us from our sins, which is a prevalent biblical theme.

Question 12

The moral exemplar theory (response to Jesus’ role in our salvation shows he was divine.)

Answer 12

The moral exemplar theory of the atonement, such as the version proposed by Hick, doesn’t require that Jesus’ death had a literal and direct effect on our sinful state, so his theory of the atonement undercuts the importance of the trinity for salvation. Hick claims that Jesus was just a human and so certainly died, but that the power of his sacrifice was merely as an example of moral life so inspiring that it influences us to be better and thereby saves us from our sins in that sense. So, Jesus didn’t have to be a divine being to save us from our sins.

Question 13

N. T. Wright’s criticism of Bultmann

Answer 13

Wright claims that the sources we have for history, such as the Gospels, do not merely and simply tell us something about the gospel writers, but that through their writing we can actually learn something about historical events. So, Wright claims Bultmann goes too far when he reduces the meaning of the Gospels to mere expressions of deeper truths about how the writers felt. Wright acknowledges there is some truth to that but claims that the Gospels actually do also tell us something about what happened in the past.