Christianity Discussion Questions Flashcards
How does the Christian view of the scriptural story of God working through the people of Israel
differ from the Jewish view?
Everything in the Torah and in the whole Hebrew scriptures was understood to point symbolically to Jesus as the Messiah.
According to the Christian story, then, God the loving parent created humans to live in fellowship and happiness with their creator. But humans fell into sin, rebelling against God and thus, creating an estrangement from God that will continue for all generations.
Because God is also a loving parent, he set out a plan for salvation.
The Torah is seen as the preliminary plan for salvation and is therefore known as the Old Testament. These scriptures foreshadow the coming of Jesus.
The Christian story stresses the incomplete nature of the Old Testament and is understood to be open ended, revealing the plan for salvation but ending before salvation is fully complete.
What was the main contest of Jesus’ preaching of the coming of the Kingdom of God? By what
actions did he demonstrate the presence of the kingdom?
The gospel recounts actions of Jesus’s healing, exorcisms of unclean spirits, multiplying food and wine, and even raising the dead that signaled the coming of the Kingdom of God.
The main contest was the the Kingdom of God was not coming, nor political, but was rather already at hand working quietly and having to do with the community.
According to the gospels, on what points did rabbi Jesus differ from the understanding of the
Jewish tradition held by his fellow Jewish teachers?
He emphasized the two main tenets of the Torah: Love god with all ones might, and to love ones neighbor.
Furthermore, he extended sins to include ill intentions rather then the acts themselves i.e. anger towards ones brother rather then just killing, or feelings of lust rather then just adultery.
Radically different, love thy neighbor hate thy enemy was now overturned to love thy neighbor love thy enemy.
Held a controversial amount of authority in his teaching, referring to god as abba (endearing term for father) and being proclaimed as the son of god.
He broke the sabbath saying it was for the sake of man and not for mans sake and seemed to be above the Torah. Was called blasphemous for forgiving sin in his own name.
Most controversial he befriended those who were perpetual sinners. Taught that god forgives those who sin contrary to the Jewish opinion that God rewarded those who were righteous and punish those who sinned.
Challenged the righteousness of religious teachers.
Some saw him as arrogant and boastful as he was speaking above the Torah.
Why is the Christian story so interested in the question of why Jesus died? What answers does it
give to this question?
Because his death is posited to have meaning and purpose, in accordance with Gods will and design.
Jesus’s suffering and death was the accomplishment of Gods salvation. The death involved taking all the burdens and sins on the Godself through the righteous servant. Gods plan of salvation was to take the form of a suffering Messiah.
What was the main problem that developed between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians?
What answer did Paul and others provide for this problem?
The major conflict between Jew and Gentile Christians was the question of whether the Gentiles should have to follow the laws of the Torah (such as circumcision and dietary law).
Paul responded with the letter to the Galatians in which he insisted that a person is made right by god only in trust and promise in Christ, not by any works ritual observances i.e. salvation by faith. Christians are one by the body of Christ.
What were some of the ways in which Paul and others translated the gospel of Jesus from the
Jewish context into the Greek-Hellenistic context?
Because those of the Greek-Hellenistic area had widely different spiritual views Paul and others plumbed the depths of Christology (thinking of the nature of Christ).
They rejected Gnostic ideas about the material world and the body being a material prison and rather talked about the incarnation of God in Jesus. Continued the Jewish belief of the resurrection of the body and rejected immortality of the soul (Greek ideas). In communicating the gospel to the Hellenistic world the Christian church came to incorporate in its story the ongoing encounter of God through the worship of the risen Christ and Jewish perspective of history moving towards a consummation.
How did Christianity become the religion of the Roman Empire? In what sense was monasticism
a countercultural movement?
Constantine’s claim to the empire provided greater tolerance for Christianity and he even helped unify and strengthen the churches, Later Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the only religion allowed in the Roman Empire.
Monasticism was a countercultural movement in that many Christians withdrew from society to practice in extreme ways such as praying constantly, fasting, isolationism, and so on.
What were the basic issues in the theological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries?
How were these settled by the church councils, such as the ones at Nicea and Chalcedon?
Many of the major controversies concerned the doctrine of God, especially the Trinitarian and Christological controversies took place in the fourth and fifth centuries giving rise to a number of worldwide councils. Through these debates the catholic (universal) was defined and dissenting beliefs were labeled heresies.
The Arian controversy erupted in the eastern churches , Arius a priest from Egypt argued that the Son was created by the father in time. Constantine created the council of Nicea to decide that the son is true god from true god and is not one being from the father.
Another controversy resulted from defining Christ himself, some deciding a dualism between divine and man and others concluding just that he was divine. The council of Chalcedon determined that Christ has two natures, divine and human, united in a single person. The characteristics of each nature come together and form one person.
What were some key differences in emphasis between the Eastern and Western churches?
The Western Church following Augustine, emphasized the utter sinfulness of human nature and Jesus’s death as key to God’s redeeming activity.
But the tendency in the east was to focus on the restoration of Gods image in humans through the incarnation of Christ. Christ united the Godhead to human nature by sharing in sharing in Gods perfect humanity humans could be raised up to be God. Also developed the sacred liturgy as a means of celebration and developed forms of mysticism. (included colorful icons and what not).
Finally the Western inclusion of ‘and the son’ in the Nicene creed where some Westerners were saying the holy spirit followed from the Father and the son, which Easterners did not agree with because it seemed to take away the primacy of the Father from the holy trinity.
What were the main issues that led to the Reformation movement in the 16th century? What
would you consider to be Martin Luther’s key teachings?
To raise money for building a decadent church in Rome the Church started selling indulgences (remission of punishment for sins). Although this is what first sparked Luther’s protest, the whole medieval synthesis of Christendom was taken into question such as corruption and consolidation of political power.
Luther’s Key teaching points: The righteousness of God is a forgiving righteousness by which God makes us righteous through Christ. Justification through faith by grace became the heart of Luther’s theology. This lead to the rejection of justification through monistic practices works of the church etc. He also rejected papal supremacy. Humans can do nothing to merit salvation, questioned monistic ideal, scripture is the sole authority, priesthood of all believers put laypeople on par with monks and priests and elevated the worth of secular vocations for Christians.
How did state churches and denominations develop? How did the United States come to have its
constitutional policy of separation of church and state?
The reformation disrupted order and religious warfare broke out, temporary peace was achieved through The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 through the principle that the religion of the ruler became the religion of the realm. Later after more religious wars the Peace of Westphalia drew the religious map of Europe, setting up state churches of Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.
In the immigrations to the new world all these state and dissenting churches were represented, so that a central characteristic of American Christianity is its multiplicity of denominations. Some groups from state churches further subdivided and increased the complexity of denominations.
The pilgrims who came to America were from the dissenting Congregationalists of England, bringing the idea of separating church and state functions, both still under divine law. Eventually a separation of church and state was written into the constitution and has been powerfully influential in American Christianity, law, and politics.
What were some of the effects of the Enlightenment and the rise of science on Christianity?
What particular threat did some Christians feel in the scientific study of the bible?
Scientific findings seemed to remove humans from the center of all things and challenged the authority of the church and its tradition, raised skepticism. Enlightenment thought brought about new logic on morality that did not rely on revelation. Darwin’s theory seemed to challenge the account of creation and brought man closer to animals. Churches framed their teachings more towards a humanitarian ethic in response or provided more traditional readings of texts. Some Christians reacted strongly against the perceived threat and held to the literal truth of the bible (fundamentalists).
Scientific study of the bible challenged the literal truth of miracle accounts, the veracity of historical descriptions in the bible, the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, and even the reliability of the portrait of Jesus in the new testament. This scholarship was identifying errors in the holy book such as historical accounts of events and so on.
What is the ecumenical movement among the Christian churches today?
The Ecumenical (worldwide) Movement refers to the different denominations of the world working closer together and has established the World Council of Churches formed in 1948 at Amsterdam, represents a degree of cooperation among most protestant churches. Unity was also promoted through the second Vatican Council by the catholic church. Doctrines signed by the catholic and Lutheran church displays a joint understanding of the doctrine of Christ.
What key aspects of God do Christians believe are revealed in Jesus Christ as the “image” of
God?
Christians know god through the revelations of Jesus Christ. Christians thinking of God begins with Jesus.
Jesus shows God as a loving father. God is still the judge and ultimate evaluator of sins, but his real intention is mercy.
Discuss how Christians can believe in the unity of God and still talk about the Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity state that God is one in three persons. Christians tried to insist in the unity of God, but their experience taught them that God, eternally unified in self, is present and works in the created world in a number of aspects or mores or ‘persons’. Using Biblical terms Christians called these aspects by the names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
