The person of Jesus Christ

Question 1

liberator

Answer 1

someone who frees a person or group of people

Question 2

hypostatic union

Answer 2

the belief that Christ is both fully human and fully God, indivisible, two natures united in one person

Question 3

homoousios

Answer 3

of the same substance or of the same being

Question 4

Jesus was more than a political liberator

Answer 4

• Jesus’ involvement with the politics of his country was over-emphasised by the evangelists according to E.P Sanders, there was more to his action on earth than politics
• Person of Jesus as God incarnate is seen by Christians as a much more important issue than anything Jesus might have said about politics
• Jesus is understood as the Messiah - the final revelation of God - the saviour of original sin
• teacher of wisdom
• miracle worker
• his teachings about taxes and his relationship with soldiers do suggest that he was highly political - Mathew - paying taxes is more than lawful its obligatory
• Aslans texts are selective and misrepresentative

Question 5

Jesus was not more than a political liberator (basically that political liberation was his only role)

Answer 5

• Aslan argues Jesus was interested in political liberation
• he associated with disciple linked to the zealots
• actions such as his entry into Jerusalem were political statements designed to provoke
• Horsley and Webb discuss the role of Jesus in religious banditry
• people were looking for a Messiah because of their political situation and attributed a special divine status to Jesus that he never attributed to himself
• Jesus attempted political liberation but failed at the task

Question 6

the claim that Jesus had a unique relationship with God is convincing

Answer 6

• the earliest Christian writings associate Jesus with God it does not seem to be an idea that crept in at a recent date
• If the story of Jesus’ birth, baptism and resurrection are to be understood as authoritative they all present Jesus as having a unique relationship with God
• his actions and words suggest a unique relationship with God especially the performing of miracles, the reinterpretation of laws and the forgiveness of sins

Question 7

the claim that Jesus had a unique relationship with God is not convincing

Answer 7

• Hick - many different paths to God and salvation
• Jesus one of a number of people who have had special relationship with God - anyone who had RE could be said to have special relationship
• invention of the early Church and evangelists as Jesus did not claim to be the son of God
• Jesus prayed to God - although jesus was a godly man he was not God himself
• any historical figure’s inner life is not open to investigation - its impossible to know what kind of relationship Jesus had with God and what he understood his own nature to be