The person of Jesus Flashcards
Examples of miracles Jesus has performed
Heals and man who was blind from birth
Jesus helped a paralyzed man and said ‘your sins are forgiven’
Feeding of the 5000
Hume’s interpretation of Jesus’ miracles
It is not possible to trust the account of Jesus performing miracles because they do not occur in the modern day world.
Schillebeekx’s interpretation of Jesus’ miracles
Jesus’ miracles are only metaphorical or spiritual rather than literal - Jesus could symbolize the calm in society.
N.T Wright’s interpretation of Jesus’ miracles
Jesus cured people who were excluded from society/ were ritually unclean.
Impact of the resurrection on Christians
- Arguably the greatest miracle
- It discloses God in a new and starting way
- It reveals the glorified and transformed being - shows Jesus’ fulfillment
- It is the full and final revelation of Jesus
What is the hypostatic union?
Belief that Jesus was 100% God and 100% human.
What does Karl Rahner believe about Jesus’ knowledge?
His theory suggests that a genuine human existence must have unknown features.
What’s an example of Jesus’ uncertainty?
Jesus wept in the garden of Gethsemane:
‘My anguish is so great that I feel as if I am dying’
‘My Father, if it is not possible, may this cup be taken from me’
How does Rahner’s theory show how Jesus can be both God and human?
It shows how Jesus would have lived most of his life subconsciously knowing his powers yet it would not have been aware to him until an older age - his God and human qualities would not have override one another.
Jesus’ moral teachings on the law (Quote)
‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them’
Jesus’ moral teachings on murder (Quote)
‘You shall not murder’
Jesus’ moral teachings on adultery (Quote)
‘You shall not commit adultery’
Jesus’ moral teachings on an eye for an eye (Quote)
‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth’
Who do the characters in the parable of the lost son represent?
Father = God
Older son = Faithful religious person
Younger son = Unfaithful religious person
What does the parable of the lost son teach us?
It teaches the importance of forgiveness no matter how far someone has sinned
What does Dawkins say about Jesus?
‘Jesus was a great moral teacher’
What does C.S Lewis say about Jesus?
Jesus cannot just be a moral teacher he must be the son of God
What is a quote for C.S Lewis?
‘A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher’
‘Poached egg’
What does Hick say about Jesus?
Jesus was no different to other prophets such as ‘Mohammad, Buddha and Moses’
What did Bonhoeffer believe about Christ’s role in humanity?
Jesus had a genuine human existence and felt the very worst suffering as a result of it - we should live exactly like Christ and put him first
What does Aslan say about Jesus being a political liberator?
Jesus was a political revolutionary who fought for social justice.
He was more provocative than the Bible allowed.
Did Bonhoeffer ‘turn the other cheek’ in his efforts?
No, he decided retaliate for the greater good otherwise he would have let suffering go on
Examples of Jesus being a political liberator
Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God which was seen as a political statement as it suggested power would be taken away from others.
He turned the money changing tables over in the temple that had lost spiritual focus - ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den or robbers’
Jesus was only a moral teacher - AGREE
He was able to restore faith and teach morality.
He taught the importance of love.
Miracles and the resurrection can be rejected whereas Jesus as a teacher cannot.
‘go fourth and make disciples of all nations’ - spread moral message.
Jesus was only a moral teacher - DISAGREE
It diminishes his position as the Son of God entirely.
He was able to perform miracles that therefore proved his wisdom and morality.
He was aware of his power as the Son of God.
This would belittle people like Bonhoeffer down to mere terrorists.
Jesus was a political liberator - AGREE
He challenged established authorities and spread messages to people who were divided.
He was killed for a civic crime which implies that demonstrates he was a political revolutionary.
What is are three biblical quote that prove the holy trinity as true?
‘By the power of the Holy spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man’.
John 10:30 Jesus said, ‘The Father and I are one’.
John 1:1-3. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’
What did Channing argue about the ‘trinity’ view of Jesus?
Channing claimed that this view is one of ‘infinite confusion’.
Divine and human are two different incompatible states.
What does John Hick argue about the ‘trinity’ view of Jesus?
To say Jesus is God is like saying that a circle is also a square - ‘this circle drawn with a pencil on paper is also a square’ (Hick).
Hick goes on to conclude that Christ being a mere human solves the paradoxical implications of the trinity.
What does Barth claim about the trinity and faith?
Barth admits that the trinity is a mystery which must be taken on faith and that all human attempts to fully understand the trinity through reason are misguided.
‘A really suitable term for it just does not exist’ (Barth in response to calling Jesus a ‘person’)
What criticism does Hick point out towards Jesus being divine?
Hick points out that the label ‘son of God’ was a common title in Judaism when referring to a very special human chosen by God, not a truly unique divine person.
For example, Adam was called the son of God.
What is an argument against the claim that Jesus’ miracles were unique?
However, how is this counteracted?
Old Testament prophets also did miracles.
Moses parted the red sea to help the Jews escape from slavery, yet no one saw him as the son of God.
Moses parted the red sea, but only under God’s instruction, God telling Moses to raise his staff. Jesus’ power to do miracles seems to be totally under his control.
How does N.T Wright defend the Son of God view and on what basis?
N.T. Wright defends the son of God view on the basis that the resurrection can be justifiably believed in as a historical event.
Wright’s proposal is that the bodily resurrection of Jesus really happened and the Gospel authors simply wrote down what happened.
What does the Parable of the Lost Son teach about Jesus?
The parable shows Jesus’ teachings on repentance and forgiveness.
A man with two sons is asked by the younger one for his share of the inheritance early.
He then wastes his wealth and has nothing. He returns to his father and repents, saying he has sinned against heaven and his father.
The father forgives him, calling for a feast to celebrate his return.
What did Jesus teach in the Sermon on the Mount?
The fulfilment of the old Law
Murder
Adultery
Divorce
Oaths
Eye for an Eye
Shows he was a teacher of wisdom.
What do Jesus’ teachings about wisdom show about his divinity?
Jesus gave moral teachings, they are not the teachings that a mere human teacher of wisdom would have the right to give.
Arguably only God has that much authority.
Who was John Hick influenced by in believing that Jesus was not the Son of God?
Hick was influenced by Bultmann’s approach to the Bible called demythologisation.
Bultmann thought that the Bible had become difficult for modern audiences to accept because of how scientifically and historically minded people have become.
Demythologising is the process of translating myths into language fitting modern culture, revealing the deeper truths about the encounter in early Christianity with a new spiritual way of life
What is an example of demythologising in the bible?
The resurrection and Easter, when demythologised, is not about the rising of Jesus but the raising the early church due to the raising of faith of the disciples which inspired them to preach.
What is the moral exemplar theory, proposed by Hick?
Hick claims that Jesus was just a human and so certainly died, but that the power of his sacrifice was merely as an example of moral life so inspiring that it influences us to be better and thereby saves us from our sins in that sense.
So, Jesus didn’t have to be a divine being to save us from our sins.
What is N.T Wright’s criticism of Bultmann?
Wright claims Bultmann goes too far when he reduces the meaning of the Gospels to mere expressions of deeper truths about how the writers felt.
What does the Parable of the Good Samaritan teach about Jesus being a liberator?
In the parable, a man attacked by robbers was left, a Priest and a Levite walked past and did not help, but a Samaritan (lower class) did help the man.
The message seems to be not to have prejudice or bias against someone because of their group.
Jesus told people to ‘go and do likewise’
What did liberation theology focus on?
Liberating those who are marginalized as a result of poor social structures.
What quote from Matthew shows that Jesus liberated the poor?
‘it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God’
