Origins Of The Universe Flashcards
Describe Catholic Beliefs About the Structure of the Bible.
-The Bible is a collection of 73 books compiled into one volume which is separated into two parts.
-The Old Testament starts with creation and describes the history, beliefs and culture of the Jewish people before Jesus’ incarnation.
-The second part of the Bible is the New Testament that begins with the four Gospels detailing Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension.
-After the Gospels is the Acts of the Apostles and letters of early church leaders before finishing with Revelation which talks about the end of the world.
Describe Catholic Beliefs About the Origins of the Bible
-It took about 350 years for the books in the Bible to be accepted as authentic records of Christian beliefs.
-The Synod of Hippo in 393AD decided which books should be included in the Bible.
-For a book to be included, it had to be accepted by all Christians, be dated back to the Apostles and agree with other presentations of Christian belief.
-The words of the Bible have been carefully preserved over the centuries. The first Bibles were hand written and copies were made so other people could read them.
Describe Jewish Beliefs About the Structure and Origins of the Torah
-The Torah is the first five books of the Tenakh (Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim). It is believed to be the holiest and most important part of scripture for Jewish people.
-Moses is believed to have received the Torah from God on Mt Sinai. Thus, Orthodox Jews believe it must be taken literally and changed.
-Many Orthodox Jews will seek to obey all mitzvot as duties in life. Society may change but Jewish teachings don’t. The Torah was given in its entirety to Moses so can’t be changed.
-For Reform Jews it is not necessary to take the scriptures literally and they believe that sometimes they have to be adapted for modern life.
Describe the Importance of the Bible for Catholics
-Catholics believe the Bible is one of the ways that God has revealed Himself to us so that we can learn how to live a good life.
-Vatican II announced that the Bible and other sacred scripture was written with, “God for their author.”
-Catholics believe the Bible was inspired by God which means that the Holy Spirit guided the authors of the Bible to help them write it.
Describe the First Account of Creation: Genesis 1
-God created light and separated it from the darkness. God named the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘light’.
-God created the sky. God used the sky to divide the water that covered the Earth into two halves.
-God created dry ground. The water he called ‘seas’ and the ground ‘land’.
-God created the sun, moon and stars to light up the sky, govern night and day and mark the passing of time.
-God created all the species of animals that live on Earth.
-God created humans and put them in charge of everything on the Earth.
-God rested, blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
Describe the Creation Account in Genesis 2.
-God created man, called Adam, out of dust and breathes life into him.
-God provides him everything he needed in the garden of Eden but told him not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
-God creates all the creatures and Adam names them all, but none are suitable to be his partner.
-God puts Adam to sleep and creates Eve, a woman, from his rib.
-Their lives were perfect until they disobeyed God, which led to Him banishing them from the Garden of Eden forever.
Describe What Genesis 1 Teaches About the Nature of God.
-God is omnipotent. This is because “God said let there be light and there was light.” This shows God is all powerful as creation happens by Him just commanding it.
-God is transcendent. This is because “The Spirit was hovering over the waters.” This shows God is transcendent as He is above creation.
-God is eternal. This is because God creates Heaven and Earth “In the beginning.” This shows that God already existed- He has no beginning.
Describe What Genesis 2 Teaches About the Nature of God.
-God is immanent. This means that God is not distant from the world but is involved in it. He is close to the first humans and does everything for them.
-God is omnibenevolent. God creates out of love. He needs nothing but provide everything humans need.
-God does not want man to be lonely so He creates other species to keep him company, and allows Adam to name them but He knew they were not suitable companions for Adam so He created Eve and they became ‘one flesh’.
Describe What Genesis Teaches About the Nature of Humans.
-Humans are stewards of creation. This is because Adam was told to, “Work it and take care of it.” This shows humans are stewards as God gave us this role directly so we must protect His creation.
-Human life is sacred. Humans were created last in Genesis 1 so are the high point of creation. God made humans personally- Adam from dust and Eve from his rib. God reflects on creation as “good” which includes humans.
-Humans were made Imao Dei. This is because, “God created man in His image.” This shows humans are sacred as God made us uniquely like Him, setting us apart from the rest of creation.
How is the Nature of God Shown in Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’.
-God is presented as transcendent since He is in a cloud: above and outside of creation.
-Some believe that the cloud resembles the brain suggesting God is the source of all knowledge and wisdom representing the belief that God is omniscient.
-The belief that God is omnipotent and eternal is represented by God being drawn as an old yet strong figure.
-God is shown as creator through His outstretched hand and cloud full of future creatures. His age represents Him being the father of Creation.
Significance of the Womanly Figure in Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’.
-Next to God, is a womanly figure, widely believed to be Eve.
-This could suggest that God is omnibenevolent as He does not want Adam to be alone.
-He says this in Genesis “It is not good that the man should be alone.”
How is the Catholic Belief in Imago Dei Shown in Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’.
-In the painting, Adam and God have a similar physique which may symbolise the Catholic belief in Imago Dei.
-This is described in Genesis 1:26 “God said, let us make mankind in our image.”
-This is further shown by God and Adam being in mirror-image of each other.
-The difference in age between God and Adam signifies the parent-child relationship between God and humanity.
Significance of the Hands in Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’.
-God reaching out to Adam is a reminder that life is God given.
-It represents the spark of life given to all humans by God in Genesis 2, “Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”
-However, because Adam’s finger is bent it suggests that he has not yet received life from God
Describe St Augustine’s Teachings About Creation Ex Nihilo.
-Creation Ex Nihilo means creation out of nothing.
-St Augustine taught that Heaven and earth cannot be made from the same substance as God because they are not equal to his greatness.
-However, there was nothing else in existence before creation.
-Therefore, Heaven and earth must have been created out of nothing.
-St Augustine tries to explain this in his confessions, “from nothing, then, you created Heaven and Earth.”
-This would mean that because God is good, everything God created must be good.
Describe St Augustine’s teachings on the nature of God in ‘Confessions’.
-St Augustine described God as creator and omnipotent because He created the world out of nothing. He wrote, “You must have created them from nothing.”
-Moreover, because God created the world out of nothing, He is greater than creation.
-This is because, if God had created the world from His own substance, then creation would be perfect and equal to Him however, this is not the case as the world is not perfect.
-St Augustine also wrote that God is eternal. He said, “You were, and besides you nothing was,” which shows that before creation or the existence of space and time, only God existed.
