Chapter 2: Incarnation Flashcards
What is the incarnation?
When god took on human form to become jesus
What does the incarnation show about God?
- shows how much he loves the human race
- helps Christian’s to value God’s love
How is the incarnation announced in Luke/ in Mathew?
- LUKE - focuses on Mary’s account, Angel Gabriel tells Mary she’ll conceive and give birth through the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary has a choice (free will), Jesus is fully human and fully god
- MATHEW - focuses on Josephs part, Joseph planned to break up with Mary since she was pregnant before they were married, angel visited him telling him it was conceived by the Holy Spirit, “God is with us’, Jesus is the son of god
What are the similarities from Luke and Mathew?
- Mary was a virgin
- God worked through human beings to bring about his plan for humanity
- Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
- Jesus was the son of god
- the angle Gabriel announces Jesus’ birth
What is the word of god?
- another name for the Son of god
Explain this: ‘in the beginning was the Word’
- the word of god is eternal
- the word of gos has always existed
Explain this: ‘the Word was God’.
- the word of god is God
- the word of God is God’s expression
Explain this: ‘the Word was with God’
- the word of god is also distinct from God
- whilst the word and God are united and coexist there is also dinstiction between them
- idea of god being three persons
How was Jesus the word of God? John
- Jesus was the son of god, the word took on human nature to live on earth as Jesus - “THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND LIVED AMOMNG US” John
- Jesus is God’s free gift to the human race and is an expression of God’s love for humans - “FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH” John
- the word came to earth to guis people closer to god and to teach them how to share in his love
How was Jesus the Son of Man?
- he lived a complete human life with human experiences
- he used ‘son of man’ to often describe himself
-> this can be used as a general title anyone can refer to themselves as OR as a title for someone who has been given power and authority by god
-> he used this phrase when talking about his crucifixion - if Jesus was not fully human he would not have been bothered by the suffering of his crucifixion
How was Jesus ‘Son of God’?
- when arrested, he was asked “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” And he responded “I am”
- Jesus acknowledged he was the son of god
- “you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power”
-> he used this phrase to emphasise his humanity but also his divinity (his share in God’s power - God has no beginning nor end, this means Jesus couldn’t become God after his death, so the resurrection proves that Jesus always was God but limited himself to human condition
What are the main symbols of the Christian faith?
- Itchus
- Alpha and omega
- Chi-Rho
What does the Itchthus symbolise?
- acronym that makes up: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour
- used in early days of Christianity as a deceleration of faith
What does Alpha and Omega symbolise?
- that God and Jesus are involved in everything beginning to end
What does the Chi-Rho symbolise?
- a reminder of the death of Jesus
- reminds Christian’s that Jesus was sent by god to save humanity through his death
- its a monogram formed from the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ
What are some reasons against Religios art?
- REASON: it isn’t possible to portray God accurately EXPLANATION: an infinite God cannot be accurately represented using finite human means
- REASON: art can mislead people about what God is like EXPLANATION: because art cannot portray God accurately, it can gib people the wrong ides about what god is like
- REASON: praying in front of an image or a statue ,any mislead people EXPLANATION: when people pray in front of an image/statue, others may get the impression the statue/image is being praised as God
- REASON: it is against the second commandment EXPLANATION: some people belive the second commandment forbids people to make statues or paintings of god “you shall not make for yourself an idol”
What does the church teach about how art can help people?
- inspire people
- give people something to focus on as they pray
- help people to learn about aspects of God’s work
- have a positive role in religious life