christian moral principles

Question 1

heteronomy

Answer 1

Moral authority comes from the combination of Church, Bible and reason. This is typically a Catholic view.

Question 2

theonomy

Answer 2

Moral authority comes from God, which we access through God’s revelation in the Bible
- often involves suggesting the Church has less authority than the Bible
- typically a protestant view.

Question 3

autonomy

Answer 3

Individual people have to figure out for themselves what is right or wrong. E.g. situation ethics.

Question 4

state the three main views of christian moral principles

Answer 4

heteronomy
theonomy
autonomy

Question 5

apostolic succession

Answer 5

heteronomy view that is the basis of the catholic church
- those that first spread word of christ are apostles - succession created when the apostles appointed bishops to continue their work

Question 6

how are sacred tradition and scriptures linked through god

Answer 6

tradition - christ and holy spirit
scriptures - holy spirit

Question 7

sacred traditions origin

Answer 7

apostles created teachings to help interpret the bible and is distinct from sacred scriptures

Question 8

what does the dei verbum (second vatican councils doc) state

Answer 8

sacred scripture is ‘word of god’ since it was written under ‘inspiration of divine spirit’
sacred tradition ‘takes the word of god’ entrusted by christ…and holy spirit’ to the apostles and their successors

• both tradition and scriptures are equal
• entrusted church to interpret word of god

Question 9

what was the second vatican council doc called that defended sacred tradition and scriptures as equal

Answer 9

dei verbum

Question 10

why do catholics believe the bible is ‘without error’ despite being written by humans

Answer 10

inspired by holy spirit

Question 11

evaluation of dei verbum

Answer 11

catholic church has a history of corruption and paedophilia - do not act as if guided by the holy spirit
- sale of indulgences

Question 12

what was the sale of indulgences

Answer 12

the policy of the Catholic Church to accept money in return for forgiveness of sins.
- included paying for relatives to get out of purgatory faster
- looks as tho they created purgatory - a false doctrine- just to exploit people for money - corrupt

Question 13

what does luther say about purgatory

Answer 13

‘fabricated by goblins’
- he wrote a 95 thesis critique of sale of indulgences

Question 14

catholic response to accusations of corruption an a counter eval

Answer 14

church is populated with humans - of course they will sin

protestants would argue they are too corrupt to continue having this authority. arguably too much corruption - goes beyond human flaws

Question 15

what 3 theists reject use of human reason due to the fall

Answer 15

luther
calvin
barth

Question 16

Aquinas’ natural theology states human reason can discover what 3 things

Answer 16

• knowledge of gods existence
• knowledge of natural moral law
• knowledge of gods nature

Question 17

why did aquinas believe human reason couldnt provide absolute proof god existed

Answer 17

would make faith useless
(why he rejects ontological arguments)

Question 18

what does natural theology argue at its simplest form

Answer 18

that human reason supports understanding in god

Question 19

how does barth critique aquinas’ natural theology

Answer 19

• places a dangerous overreliance on human reason
• makes no sense - if humans could know god through reason why would there be revelation

Question 20

barth quote on why we cannot comprehend god

Answer 20

‘the finite has no capacity for the infinite’

Question 21

sola scriptura overview

Answer 21

• form of theonomy involving typically protestants
• stems from luther thinking catholic church was too corrupt
• church can interpret bible but should be subject to correction by bible
  the priesthood of all believers

Question 22

what is The priesthood of all believers

Answer 22

• doctrine by luther that states all ppl have the same status as a priest
• counteracts catholic view of priests having special status
• bible says jesus is only mediator between god and humanity

Question 23

what is ru-ah and what is its significance

Answer 23

• bible states ‘ruah’ gods breath - was breathed into authors of bible to inspire them
• importance of bible

Question 24

evaluation of sola scriptura

Answer 24

• not mentioned in bible - self contradictory
• the bible grew out of the church - it wasnt decided upon until 4th century - why should the protestants trust those catholics in charge and not current ones

Question 25

why does fletcher reject heteronomy and sees it as a form of legalism

Answer 25

it doesnt take situations into account

Question 26

how is situation ethics christian ethics

Answer 26

focused on jesus’ teachings of agape love
jesus said greatest commandement is to love thy neighbour

Question 27

William Barclay on situation ethics

Answer 27

gives men a dangerous amount of freedom
- if every man was a saint it would be perfect

• link to hobbs - man is by nature individualistic and needs laws to govern us

Question 28

how would fletcher and robinson respond to someone like barclay who says this amount of freedom is dangerous
- how does barclay respond to this

Answer 28

man has now ‘come of age’ and matured
in medieval times they were less educated and needed more control and rigid rules
we are more civilised now and should have more autonomy

• if given chance, barclay says, ppl will choose selfish option. power corrupts

Question 29

fletcher vs sola scripture
- why does he face criticism from traditional scripture

Answer 29

• only follows the command to love, ignores most of the teachings in the Bible
• goes against sola scriptura - only bible

Question 30

fletcher vs sola scripture
- how does he respond to criticism from traditional scripture

Answer 30

• theres already so many interpretations of the bible - would already be choosing two options - deciding between interpreations or taking it literally