Unit 1

Question 1

Doctrine #1

Answer 1

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.

Question 2

Why is the study of Doctrine Important?

Answer 2

To know God

To discover and protect Christian Truth (Col 2:8 Heb 13:9)

To be able to teach others (2 Tim 2:2,25)

To provide a standard to live by- Men live and organize their lives on the basis of the beliefs which they have accepted.

Question 3

7 Categories of Systematic Theology

Answer 3

Theology- the study of God

Christology- the study of Christ

Pneumatalogy- the study of the Holy Spirit

Ecclesiology- the study of the Church

Anthropology- the study of Human Beings

Soteriology- the study of Salvation

Eschatology- the study of End Times

Question 4

Five types of Theology

Answer 4

Folk-Oprah Church- relies on oral tradition and rejects critical thinking. Embraces simplistic beliefs such as; legends & traditions, feelings & results, slogans & superstitions, no proof/thought needed

Lay Theology- New believers & regular attenders, basic attempt to examine faith, questions, reflection, general application

Ministerial Theology-Officers & teachers , some limited formal training, ability to use and access resources, some historical perspective

Professional Theology- Well read in study; formal leading to instruction of ministers…

Academic Theology-Writes Doctrine&Theology books; speculative, critical, extremely reflective, temptation to accent & assert intellect- may lose balance & perspective-even faith.

Question 5

Continuum of Theology diagram

Answer 5

PYRAMID LARGEST PART AT THE TOP

FOLK
LAY
MINISTERIAL
PROFESSIONAL
ACADEMIC

Question 6

Categories of Christian Belief

Answer 6

Dogma: absolutely essential to belief- distinctive tenants of Religious Truth established by divine revelation and defined by the universal church as essential.

Doctrine: important but not essential- system of belief important as a criteria of membership to a specific group of the Universal church.

Opinion: interesting but not necessarily important- personal interpretation that does not conflict with doctrine or dogma; does not affect faith of the church.

Question 7

Didache

Answer 7

Teaching or instructional method of relating scripture or doctrine.

Question 8

Orthodoxy

Answer 8

Right beliefs; true belief

Question 9

Heresy

Answer 9

False belief/teachings

Question 10

Canon

Answer 10

Ruler/Measuring stick

The catalogue of sacred writings approved as inspired scripture.

Reliable and authoritative as a standard for the rule of Faith.

It is the measure/ rule as well as the list of that which is measured.

Question 11

The rule of faith

Answer 11

Canon- the collection of inspired writings, made by tradition and authority of the church, which contain the rule of divine faith.

The scriptures were the “rule” by which faith (doctrine) and practice (conduct) were to be measured.

Question 12

Process (of Canon)

Answer 12

1) Events
2) Oral tradition- the story
3) Written tradition
4) Edited tradition- copyists
5) acknowledged collections in common/universal use
6) canonical recognition as authoritative

Question 13

Canon Criteria

Answer 13

Conformed to the rule of faith in the church

Apostolic origin

In use in the churches- general universal acceptance as scripture

Process: 2nd-4th centuries

Question 14

3 subcategories of the Jewish canon (Tanakh)

Answer 14

Torah (Pentateuch) - teaching- the law; 5 books, canonized 400BC

Nevi’im (Na)- the prophets; former prophets- history: Judah, Judges, Samuel, Kings
Latter prophets- Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Book of the twelve- minor prophets, accepted by 200BC

Kethuvim(KH)- the writings; Sacred literature: poetry, history, wisdom, apocalyptic- AD 90, council of Jamnia- limited these to Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Nehemiah and Chronicles

Question 15

Old Testament- The Apocrypha

Answer 15

Hidden writing rejected for the canonicity by the council of Jamnia

14 books-intertestamental period

Excluded from Jewish canon

Included in the Septuagint

Accepted by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches

Question 16

Septuagint

Answer 16

The Greek translation of the Old Testament

Attributed to 70 Jewish Scholars

Alexandria- 3rd century BC

Question 17

Bible

Answer 17

Biblia- book of books

Question 18

Bibliology

Answer 18

The study of theological aspects of the Bible

Question 19

Bibliolatry

Answer 19

Excessive adherence to the literal interpretation of the Bible or Worship of the Bible

Question 20

Internal and External evidences for the authority of the Bible

Answer 20

2 Timothy 3:16

Internal Evidence: The Bible is our authority for doctrine and practice(praxis)- for our faith and our pattern of living-consistency of a central theme despite multiple writers, witness of individual prophets&apostles, witness of Christ himself

External Evidence: archaeology (Dead Sea scrolls), witness of the church, church does not bestow authority but recognized authority and placed itself in submission to God’s word written, witness of a changed life, witness of the Holy Spirit

Witness of the Holy Spirit- Past: he inspired the writers of scripture to write down the truths of God. Present: He illumines us, He confirms the authority of scripture within us. Future: he helps us translate what we know into what we do. He empowers us to live according to what the Bible teaches.

Question 21

Philosophical arguments for the existence of God (lodahl, The Story of God)

Answer 21

Plato- Cosmological argument: kosmos=world/universe the sense wonder about the fact that anything exists at all. Wonder about being.

Teleological argument: telos=goal/aim points to evidence of order, harmony, complexity, and beauty in the world we observe. Ex: sunset, plant life, complexities of human brain, earths relationship to the sun.

Anthropic principle: anthropos= human

Ontological argument: ontos=being god is defined as the greater being. No greater exists. Any great being you can imagine, God is beyond that.

Question 22

Wesleyan Quadrilateral

Answer 22

Scripture in the center and on the outside of the quadrilateral shape is experience reason and tradition with arrows inside the shape pointing in either directions.

Question 23

Hermeneutics

Answer 23

The practice or discipline of interpreting scripture.

*concerned with bringing the message of the scripture to the listener

Question 24

Factors about scripture interpretation to take into account.

Answer 24

Culture: ways of thinking and assumptions of the biblical world need to be understood.

Different kinds of literature need different kinds of interpreting.

Each text must be interpreted in light of other texts.

Question 25

Exegesis

Answer 25

Applying the interpretation of scriptures or acting them out or showing the way.

Question 26

General Hermeneutical principles

Answer 26

Scripture is interpreted according to its genre ( ex: history, poetry)

Etymology (origin and present meaning) of words is important.

Apply rules of grammar to give correct emphasis on each word of the passage.

Question 27

Biblical Hermeneutical Principles

Answer 27

Spiritual message to be discerned. Text must be encountered through Faith in God.

Each text needs to be interpreted within the context of all scripture.

Progressive revelation. Older revelation must give way to the newer.

Each text must be understood as part of the whole.

Supernatural cannot be taken out of scripture.

Revelation is contextual.

Question 28

Revelation

Answer 28

Unveiling of scripture. Making know what might otherwise be hidden.

Divine revelation is the process by which God has made known to man the truth concerning Himself and His will for mankind.

Question 29

Two types of Revelation

Answer 29

Natural Revelation: general revelation- God has revealed himself to all mankind by nature (Romans 1:19-20) By conscience (Romans 2:15) by History (Ezra 1:1)

Special (supernatural) Revelation: Matthew 11:27

“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whole the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

Question 30

Inspired

Answer 30

God breathed

2 Timothy 3:16&17

“All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”

2 Peter 1:20-21

“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never has its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”

Question 31

Types of Inspiration

Answer 31

1. Verbal dictation -believes that God used men merely as stenographers or scribes to take down information
   - affirms inspiration of writings but denies the writer inspiration.
2. Natural Genius
   - believes that men wrote the Bible on their own. - however, several gospel writers record events beyond their own understanding and this places mans intellect above the revelation of scripture.
3. Dynamical Theory
   - writers are active agents in communication rather than just passive instruments -Holy men chosen of God by actuating energy of Holy Spirit - Holy Spirit gifted the men and women to receive truth and guided them in writing it down

YES.