Exam 2 Flashcards
What is the first grammar rule of creation?
“Creation” does NOT primarily describe a thing but a relation.
*Creation implies a creator.
What is the pantheist view?
God is all things, a divinized world.
What is the problem with the pantheist view?
If true, God could not be the creator of all things. All things would be God, not from God.
What is the panENtheist view?
God is in and through all things.
What is the problem with the panENtheist view?
If true, God needs creation to be God. God is NOT separate from creation.
What is the theist view?
God is creator, but not sustainer.
What is the problem with the theist view?
God has no relationship with his creation
What is transcendence?
An affirmation about God that states that a Creator creates creatures and that the Creator is purposefully in control (lordship).
What is relation?
The belief that the creator is not a cosmology (world picture) or separate from the world, but a relation and in relation with the world.
What is the second grammar rule of creation?
“Creation” is not just a relation but a distinction.
What is ontological distinction?
The belief that God IS Being, while humans HAVE being. This means that our being participates in God’s Being.
What is ontology?
The study of existence and essence.
What are the the 2 parts of Creation’s identity?
- The Creator’s Identity.
- Theology’s Logic.
What is the Creator’s Identity described as?
Free, transcendent, generous, welcoming.
What is Theology’s Logic described as?
Divine simplicity and God does as God is.
What analogy was Julian of Norwich given by God to describe Creation?
A hazelnut.
What is the third grammar rule of creation?
Creation also names non-human creation.
What are the names of all creatures in scripture?
- All creatures are part of “good” creation.
- All give glory to The Creator.
What are the names of the whole of creation in scripture?
- Mysteriously entangled (drama of sin and redemption).
- Faithfully included (hope of coming kingdom).
What is the fourth grammar rule of creation?
Good Creation grammar requires some vocabulary.
What are the vocabulary under the fourth grammar rule of creation?
- Dependent.
- Active (God is working in the world).
- Contingent.
- Transcendent (God is above the world).
- Necessary.
- Fallen(Abuse of good things).
- Good (God creates in goodness).
What is the goal of systematic theology?
Wholeness and coherence.
What is the trap of systematic theology?
Trying to build a system and find the deepest experience of lived reality.
What do we claim about revelation in God?
God has been made known to us by God and God is mysterious.
What do we claim about Trinity?
- God is three and God is one.
- God is great and good.
- God is transcendent and active.
What do we claim about Creation?
Creation is good but also fallen.
What do Revelation, Trinity, and Creation lead us to believe about God?
- The one God who is maker of heaven and earth, who is both perfectly great and perfectly good.
- God is in charge and guides nature and history.
What is the problem with God being perfectly great and good, but also guiding nature and history?
Natural disasters, famine, genocide, financial crises, and other terrible things under the watch of a good God.
Also, God is good, God creates in goodness, and what God creates is good.
What is providence?
The claim about God’s power and goodness as he continually works in/cares for the world.
Why do we start by discussing providence and not evil?
We are learning to speak theologically by disciplining our speech.
What are sin and death considered to be?
Corruptions of the world, meaning we must learn what is good, normal, and Godly, so we can identify what is evil/abnormal.
What does most Christian theology agree on pertaining to providence?
- God is sovereign.
- What happens in history and nature happen with God’s permission.
- God’s permission is always purposeful.
What is evil?
Lack of order or justice.
How do we speak theologically about evil?
To “be” is to be good —> Evil as descent from existence.
What does privatio boni mean?
Privation of the good.
*Lack, absence, and distortion.
Who promoted privatio boni?
Augustine.
What is evil seen as?
A parasite that intrudes upon and feeds on good, but has no identity of its own.
What is The Manichean Temptation?
That good and evil are opposite and independent of one another. Evil can be defeated and gotten rid of.