Unit On Modern Challenges Test Flashcards
August Comte’s theory about history
There are three stages of human development:
- Theological/Fictitious Stage: Primitive man made up stories about God/gods to explain what he doesn’t understand
- Metaphysical/Philosophical Stage: Aristotle and others used reason about ultimate causes to understand what we don’t know
- Positive/Scientific Stage: We now have positive, sure conclusions because we reason upon precise observation.
What does this imply? Having science, we no longer need religion or philosophy
Freud’s theory
There are three parts of the human mind:
- Ego: the reasoning part
- Super-ego: learned ideas by which we reason
- Id: primitive desiring part.
When the id cannot get what it wants, it fantasizes a substitute. Faced with anxiety, the id fantasizes a loving, fatherly God–a security blanket.
Theism
Belief in (a) god
Atheism
Belief in no-god
Agnosticism
Not-knowing (about God)
Who was the most famous evangelist after WWII?
Rev. Billy Graham
What book, and by whom was it written, challenged all of Christian thought?
Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
What Babylonian law codes were unearthed?
Hammurabi’s Code
How did German scholars study Bible texts?
Using strictly rationalist methods, the same way they would study Homer, and Greek, Roman, and Babylonian myths.
What did scholars conclude about the Pentateuch?
There were inconsistencies in vocabulary that made scholars conclude that there were 4 different groups of writers at different times. Moses didn’t write the Pentateuch alone.
How did geological evidence raise questions about the accuracy of Genesis 1?
Genesis says the Earth is about 5,000 years old, but geological evidence suggests it is much older.
What book of the Bible is oldest? What does this mean?
Mark. The evangelists were probably not eyewitnesses.
What did David Friedrich Strauss write? What did it claim?
“Life of Jesus.” Rejected all supernatural elements of the Gospels and claimed Jesus was just a wise Jewish teacher who was killed by Romans
Title of the series of pamphlets made by Presbyterians in response to challenges to Christian ideas?
“The Fundamentals”
Fundamentalism
Belief that the truths of Christianity can only be conserved if Christians believed that the scriptures are literally and historically accurate in every way.
What is the difference between the fundamentalist idea of “inerrant” scripture at the Catholic idea of this same word in Dei Verbum?
Fundamentalists saw Scripture as inerrant as in, without factual errors. Catholics saw scripture as inerrant in its truths which are essential for salvation.
4 guidelines for scripture studies in Dei Verbum
- Have regard for literary forms (genre)
- Know the historical situation and the culture at the time of writing
- Pay attention to common ways of perceiving, speaking, and marketing at he time
- Know the customs of the time-how people related to one another
Faith come not from _____, but from ________
Faith comes not from reasoning about the uncaused cause, but from experiences like seeing baby Jesus in the manger or experiencing a sacrament
What was emphasized by the new Passionist Order of priests?
They emphasized reflecting on the suffering of Jesus
What was emphasized by the new Redemptorist Order of priests?
They emphasized devotion to the Holy Family
What were Catholic laypeople excited about?
The Sacred Heart of Jesus and Marian Apparitions.
Liminality
Means boundaries
Bernadette Soubirous’s experience
She was a sickly young girl. She saw a woman who identified herself as the “Immaculate Conception”. Bernadette had half a conversation and then dug at the base of a cliff. A spring gushed up where there had not been water before. Now pilgrims visit her village and spring to be healed
Why were Ivy League colleges created?
To be seminaries to train Protestant pastors
How many Protestant theological journals/magazines were published in the US during the 1800s?
Over 100
Tent revivals
Christians of Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Methodist denominations had revivals hosted in large tents in the western US. They focused on personal sinfulness and God’s redemption through Jesus rather than discussing hotly debated issues.
Charles Finney
Adapted the revival method to cities. Held his revivals in large city venues. Told his associates not to talk about doctrinal distinctions, but to focus on the simple message of Christianity
How have evangelical Christians attempted to create an alternate world?
Christian music, radio, movies, TV, theme parks, books
Relativism
“Everyone looks through his own telescope. If there are so many competing beliefs, how can we judge that any one of these is true?” -Diderot
