Theology Flashcards
What is theology?
Theology – from the Greek theos (God) and logos (study) -
Theology means ‘Study of God.’ Theologians use evidence and the ‘clues’ that God has put in the world and within us to help ask and answer questions.
Who was Jesus (historical source)?
Jesus was probably born in around 4BCE in the land of Palestine.
He spent most of his life in Galilee and died on a Roman cross in Jerusalem in around 30CE.
Palestine, like many other places in those days, was a Roman territory, though most of the people who lived there (including Jesus) were Jewish.
When Jesus was born Caesar Augustus was ruling the Roman Empire. He allowed Palestine to be ruled by a Jewish man named Herod the Great, who died soon after Jesus’ birth. So, while the Jews were free in some ways, it was the Romans who had ultimate power during Jesus’ life.
As Jesus grew up (in 14CE) Tiberias became the Emperor of Rome, and he put a man called Pontius Pilate in charge of Judaea (the southern part of Palestine). Pilate is known to have been a rather cruel leader, and was constantly upsetting the Jews who lived in Palestine. He was the man who eventually sentenced Jesus to death.
What did the jews think about the Romans ruling?
The Jews who lived in Palestine generally didn’t like having Romans ruling them. For a start, the Romans were polytheists and didn’t really understand the Jewish religion. Jews remain to this day deeply monotheistic – they believe that there is only one God who created the world. The Romans with all of their pagan idols upset the Jews tremendously. Living under Roman rule, therefore, was a far from perfect situation for the Jewish people. They believed that their one God should be King over them, not some pagans who had conquered their land.
The heart of the Jewish faith at this time was the Temple in Jerusalem (which is in the region of Judaea). This was the symbol of God’s presence with His people, and Jews would go and make sacrifices to their God there. On the whole, the Romans respected the Temple and generally allowed the Jews to continue practising their monotheist faith in the way in which they wished. But this didn’t mean that the Jews were all happy to let the Romans get on with ruling their land. Most of them at this time (and many today) were waiting for a Messiah to rescue them from the pagan nations and allow the one true God to be King over them.
What does Messiah mean? and why is it important?
Messiah literally means ‘ANOITED ONE’. Title given to person believed to be the saviour.
It refers to the fact that this Messiah would be anointed to bring about a change in the current situation and let God rule the Jews. The important thing to grasp is that most Jews at this time looked ahead to the moment when the Messiah would come and get rid of the Romans, allowing their God to be King.
Many Christians believed that God will send the Messiah to save Humanity in the person of Jesus. Whereas the Jews believed the Messiah were yet to come.
Who were the Zealots? what was their approach to following God’s law?
The zealots were Jews who believed that they would get rid of Romans with Military weapons.
They would begin revolts, which were fiercely crushed by the Roman troops and their leaders would be crucified. This led the Romans to become very fearful of any uprisings.
- The freedom of Palestine was important to the Zealots. The Zealots were nationalists and hated the Roman conquerors.
- They believed Palestine was God’s gift to the Jewish people – so they wanted the Romans out of
the country at all costs.
The Zealots refused to co-operate with the Romans. They used violence to try and force the Romans out of Palestine. They were ready to go to war if necessary. To the Romans, they were terrorists, but many Jews saw them as freedom fighters.
Their approach was physical violence rather than peaceful protest.
Who were the Pharisees?
Pharisees were Jews that believed that they should stick rigidly to the law which they believed God had given them.
* God’s law was important to the Pharisees. In Jesus’ time the Pharisees were holy men who studied God’s law.
- The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the local synagogue. They showed people how to keep God’s law. They were very strict. They taught the Jews hundreds of small rules about the right way to live. The Pharisees carefully followed all these rules themselves.
- The Pharisees did not cooperate with the Romans because the Romans did not follow God’s law. The Pharisees ignored the Romans and concentrated on practicing their religion. They looked forward to the day when the Jews would be free of Roman rule.
Their approach was to follow strict laws and believed that it would be useful in gods reign.
Who were the Saduccees?
Saduccees were rich aristocratic Jews. They didn’t seem to mind that the Romans were in charge of Palestine, as they already had plenty of money, they were happy enough to collaborate with the Romans and enjoy life here and now, without worrying about God’s future reign and the coming of a Messiah.
- The Sadducees were Jews from very rich families. Many of them were priests. They were the religious leaders of the [temple] in Jerusalem. The high priest in the Temple was always a Sadducee.
- Even though the Romans ruled Palestine, they allowed the Jews to practice their religion. They also allowed the Jews to judge their own people if they broke Jewish religious laws. The Jewish court of law was called the Sanhedrin. It was based in the Temple in Jerusalem.
- The Sadducees therefore had a lot of power over people’s lives. The Sadducees did co-operate with the Romans, because they wanted to keep their position in the Temple.
Who were the Essenes?
- The Essenes lived in the desert where they followed a strict religious life.
- They were even stricter than the Pharisees and tried to keep the Jewish religion pure. They believed that they alone were the true people of God.
What is a prophet?
A person who is believed to have a special power and authority from God to say what God wishes to tell people, especially about things which will happen in the future.
What is the purpose of the Messiah for Christians?
- Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
- Christians believe that God came to earth in human form as the person of Jesus to save humanity from sin as part of God’s plan for salvation after ‘The Fall’ when Adam and Even brought sin into the world. As a result of sin coming into the world, humanity’s relationship with God was broken and needed to be reconciled.
- Atonement refers to the needed reconciliation between sinful mankind and the holy God. Christians believe that Jesus’ death on the cross was an atonement for the sins caused by humans. In John’s gospel, Jesus is described as ‘the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
After his crucifixion, Christians believes Jesus resurrected from the dead, showing that God approved of his sacrifice on the cross. It also showed that Jesus had power over death. His resurrection took the sting of death away, offering all people victory over death to those who are faithful disciples of Jesus.
The Messiah lessons
- A descendent of King David. Many Jews today believe that God will one day send a who will lead the world into an age of peace and understanding. The word Messiah, which is Mashiach in Hebrew, means ‘ one’. It comes from the time when kings were anointed as a sign of their God-given power.
- A prophet like Moses. Many believed the Messiah would be a prophet, a person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God.
- A suffering servant- - Jews believed that the Messiah would be sent on a Mission from God and that that mission would involve the Messiah suffering on the behalf of humans. They also believed that, although the Servant will suffer and be rejected, he will, in the end, be exalted and vindicated. Finally, his suffering will bring justice, salvation, and blessing to all nations.
- A figure to set people free from oppression. The later parts of the Old Testament, or Torah, relate to a very specific period in Jewish history: the exile and return to Israel. The people of Israel had been conquered by enemy nations (most recently by the Romans) and forced to live under foreign rule and oppression. The Jewish prophets (such as Isaiah and Jeremiah) called it God’s judgement on Israel for living in a way that was against God’s laws and rejecting the covenant they had made. However, in between the words of judgement, was the promise of hope. Although the situation looked bleak now, God would not leave them there forever. A special person would bring freedom from the enemies who imprisoned them. However, the Messiah would also play a ‘bigger-picture’ role in setting people free from the oppression of sin so that they could be put back in right relationship with God.
Troubled history of the land where Jesus lived…
- The Babylonians- invaded Judah from -598 to -587. Eventually Cyrus the great (Persian conqueror) gave the jews permission to return to Palestine.
- The Persians- in -539 the Persian king Cyrus took Babylon. Many Jews return to Jerusalem.
- The rules of Alexander the Great- Judea remained under Persian rule until the conquest of Alexander the great.
- The Maccabean revolts- In -167, a revolt against the Seleucid empire led to the Maccabees eventually gaining independence.
- The Roman rules- Rome expanded its authority to Asia. In -40, Herod (governor of Galilee) was appointed king of Judea by the Roman Senate.
Historical sources about Jesus & what we learned from them…
- TALMUD - Jesus performed miraculous deeds (which the source considered to be black magic). Jesus challenged the authority of the religious authorities.
- JOSEPHUS- Jesus was seen to be a man of wisdom who achieved great feats and was a great teacher. Jesus was sentence to death on the cross by Pontius Pilate. He had a band of loyal followers.
- TACITUS- Jesus was executed by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate
- THE GOSPEL WRITER MARK - Jesus was executed by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, due to the pressure of crowd gathered on that day.
When reviewing historical sources …
It’s important to consider:
1. Bias
2. Reliability
3. Historical context & circumstances
What is the Bible and how is it structured?
The Bible is a small library of books that all emerged out of the people of Ancient Israel. In one sense, they were just like any ancient civilisation, but among them were a long line of individuals called prophets.
What was the role of the Prophets?
Prophets viewed Israel’s story as anything but ordinary - they saw it as a central part of what God was doing for all of humanity. Prophets expertly crafted the Hebrew language to write epic narratives, very sophisticated poetry. They were masters of metaphor and storytelling, and they used this to explore life’s most complicated questions about death and life and the human struggle.
Over how long were the biblical texts produced?
The biblical texts were produced over a 1,000 year period
Starting Israel’s origins in Egypt, then leading up to their kingdom with their first temple, but eventually they were conquered by the Babylonians who took them away into exile. Then, at a crucial moment in their history, the Israelites returned to their land. They built a 2nd Temple, they reformed their identity - this is when the Jewish Scriptures began to be formed into the shape that we have them today.
What is contained in the Bible?
The Hebrew, the early books contained within the Bible are known by an acronym - the TeNaK.
T stands for Torah, sometimes called the law, Israel’s five-book foundation story (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
The N stands for Nevi’im, the Hebrew word for ‘prophets’ and this section consists of the historical books that tell Israel’s story from the prophets point of view (Joshua, Samuel, Kings), then you get the poetic books of the prophets themselves (Isaiah, Jeremiah, amongst others).
The K stands for Ketuvim, the Hebrew words for ‘writings’. This is a diverse collection of poetic books, wisdom books, and more narrative (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ruth Chronicles)
What is contained in the Christian Bible today?
The Christian Bible has taken different forms over 2,000 years. From the beginning, all Christians recognised the TeNaK and the New Testament as scripture and, for centuries lates, much of the 2nd Temple literature was read as part of the biblical tradition.
The Catholic Church eventually made it official and called some of the books from this collect ‘Deuterocanonical Books’. Some Orthodox churches used even more books from the 2nd Temple Literature and then in the 1500’s, during the Protestant Reformation, Protestants wanted to go back to the oldest writings of the prophets and apostles, so they accepted only the Old and New Testaments.
What are the different genres of book in the Bible
- The law- Torah
- The book of history
- Books of Wisdom
- Book of Prophecy
- The Gospels
- The Epistles - letters of Paul
- General letters
5 key events in Jesus’ life?
- His baptism
- Transfiguration
- Crucifixion
- Resurrection
- Ascension
Explain concepts: ‘historical source’, ‘bias’, ‘context’, ‘reliability’
‘historical source’- piece of evidence that provides information about the past (allowing to understand events, people, societies from the past)
‘bias’- inclination that can affect objectivity, often arising from societal influences. Can be conscious or unconscious.
‘context’- refers to circumstances in which events occur.
‘reliability’ - the quality of being trustworthy
Relevance of the Gospels and other historical sources
Gospels are considered primary sources for understanding Jesus and the early Christian movement, but their historical reliability is assessed through critical analysis, comparing them with other historical sources.
Can you explain the difference between historical and religious truths?
Historical truth focuses on verifiable events and their factual accuracy.
Religious truth encompasses beliefs about the supernatural, often involving faith and interpretations of sacred texts.
