The Person of Jesus Christ

Question 1

Christology from above

Answer 1

Jesus came from heaven and is divine

Question 2

Christology from below

Answer 2

Jesus was born just like any other human being, but had special qualities

Question 3

What does Christology from above suggest about Jesus?

Answer 3

That he was the literal son of God and is also God

Question 4

Jesus being the Son of God suggests that he is divine - where can we see this in the Bible?

Answer 4

Through the miracles he can do (e.g., the walking on water, saying that ‘no one can come to the father except through me’)

Question 5

Council of Nicaea

Answer 5

A council of Christian bishops

Question 6

When did the Council of Nicaea debate the nature of Christ?

Answer 6

451 AD

Question 7

Adoptionist

Answer 7

Jesus was born a normal man, adopted by God at birth and then, abandoned when he was killed on the cross by God

Question 8

Arianism

Answer 8

Belief that Jesus was more human than divine

Question 9

What was decided at the Council of Nicaea?

Answer 9

That Jesus was both fully divine and fully human / the Nicene Creed came from this - Jesus was ‘begotten not made’ = he wasn’t made in the same way all other humans are made - he is consubstantial with the Father ‘of one Being with the Father’

Question 10

What does the Nicene Creed say?

Answer 10

That Jesus is divine - he is God and is the Incarnation of God

Question 11

Miracle of Jesus walking on water

Answer 11

Shows Jesus as the Son of God / shows miracles are a sign of divinity / capabilities that don’t come from human attributes must come from the divine - it must come from above

Question 12

Jesus healed a blind man

Answer 12

Jesus seen as Son of God / symbolic of healing spiritual blindness / he is there to restore the connection between man and God which arose because of the Fall / Jesus could only restore this damage because he is God

Question 13

Mark 9 - the Transfiguration

Answer 13

Jesus is the Son of God / something humans wouldn’t be capable of doing - it must come from the divine

Question 14

What does Jesus being a teacher of wisdom say about miracles?

Answer 14

The miracles in the New Testament are irrelevant

Question 15

What did Rudolf Bultmann say about Jesus as a teacher of wisdom?

Answer 15

He argued that Jesus’ miracles is not what was exceptional about Jesus, for when we consider the context of the time, spiritual healers were everywhere and lots of people claimed to have his capabilities / instead, what makes him unique is the radical message of forgiveness and compassion which he taught / what he was doing = not unique, what he was saying = important, unique

Question 16

Jesus is often seen as a teacher of wisdom. How did he challenge the social norms of the day?

Answer 16

This can be seen in the Bible when he was at the temple throwing up all the tables when money was being misused etc.

Question 17

What view of Jesus was John Hick keen on?

Answer 17

That Jesus is a teacher of wisdom

Question 18

What did John Hick argue about Jesus being a teacher of wisdom?

Answer 18

He believed that we need to have a theocentric (centred around God) and not a Christocentric (centred around Jesus) approach / mountain analogy can be applied to his ideas (idea that God is at the top of the mountain and there are many paths to reach this, with Jesus being one of them = Jesus is not God himself) / Hick proposes that there are many different routes to heaven if you are a good person and Jesus is one of the moral teachers who gives you the tools to live that moral life through your actions

Question 19

What did Paul Tillich say about Jesus as a teacher of wisdom?

Answer 19

He argued that if Jesus was not born to a virgin, then he would not be the Son of God / he said that reality is irrelevant and it is our participation in something that matters (don’t take it literally, focus on the message) / it is as a teacher of wisdom that Jesus matters

Question 20

Why did the Beatitudes think Jesus’ message was very radical?

Answer 20

Because it empowered the poor / we can also see the foundations for the ethical system of Christianity (e.g., in the work of Pope Francis)

Question 21

How would an advocate for Jesus being a teacher of wisdom dismiss his miracles?

Answer 21

The Christian way of compassion and love has nothing to do with walking on water, for example, but has a lot to do with the message Jesus Christ teaches with the Sermon on the Mount.

Question 22

What happens in Matthew 5 (The Sermon on the Mount)?

Answer 22

Jesus gives a radical agenda for social change - this is what is important

Question 23

Counterargument for Jesus being a teacher of wisdom

Answer 23

We see even in his messages that he uses language to talk about God and heaven. E.g., ‘do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.’ (Matthew 6:19-21) - idea that Jesus is of this world is challenged

Question 24

What view of Jesus did the prologue of the Book of John very much support?

Answer 24

Jesus is the Son of God

Question 25

What view of Jesus are ideas about salvation dependent on?

Answer 25

Jesus being the Son of God

Question 26

Which idea about Jesus takes a modern perspective?

Answer 26

Jesus as a political liberator

Question 27

What are the Church and politics concerned with?

Answer 27

Church = things involving after you die, where you go after death / politics = concerned with things you do in this world

Question 28

Democracy

Answer 28

Ruled by the people

Question 29

Theocracy

Answer 29

Ruled by God

Question 30

Give someone who is quite important to liberation theology

Answer 30

Pope Francis

Question 31

Jesus as a political liberator

Answer 31

He proposed a radical agenda for social change, which was based on a preferential option for the poor / Jesus was actively on the side of the oppressed / he was a radical figure in terms of his political message

Question 32

What does liberation theology focus on?

Answer 32

It is not about the afterlife, but how we can make a change in the world now / it must start and end with action

Question 33

Quote to support Jesus as a political liberator (liberation theology) - The Lord’s Prayer

Answer 33

‘On earth as it is in heaven’ - it’s not about waiting to go to heaven, but about creating the Kingdom of God on Earth now

Question 34

Different interpretations of Kingdom of God

Answer 34

• literal: heaven, people have been chosen to go there etc
• symbolic: creating the kingdom of equality and social change in the real world
• spiritual: does it mean the spiritual transformation in a metaphysical, external cloud-like world?

Question 35

What did Hyam Maccoby believe about Jesus?

Answer 35

That Jesus was a political liberator / he was a freedom-fighter, challenging the Jewish / Roman leadership of the day / he wanted to help the poor and those who were exploited

Question 36

What did James Cone believe about Jesus?

Answer 36

That Jesus was a political liberator / he talks about Jesus as the ‘Black Messiah’ / idea of black liberation theology / idea of looking at the Bible through a black lens / Christianity is a religion of protest - Jesus sides with those who are oppressed and wants to challenge injustice / he says this is how we need to view the Bible, posing a new model for living

Question 37

Criticism of Jesus as a political liberator

Answer 37

Christianity says Jesus is divine, but the idea of him being a political liberator undermines that divinity, for if he is this involved, then he is arguably reduced to just being another political protester, such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Malala

Question 38

Hermeneutics

Answer 38

How we interpret the Bible and put it into context