Christianity Foundations

Dueteronomic View of History

EX. Saul, David, Solomon, Cyrus.

Creation

This is based on the good in the universe. We see creation in the first 2 chapters of Genesis. There are actually 2 separate stories. These stories have been read literally and metaphorically. EX- we learned about creation stories in the bible, also the cherokee and Japanese.

Canonization

This is set to be a standard or rule. It is based on power and ideology. It is to treat something sacred. EX. Marcion was the first to create a canon

Christological Controversy

"Was Jesus divine, human, or both?" After council of Nicea. It was an argument if Christ was of the same substance. EX- settled at the council of Chalcedon, which separates the church, and christ was the same substance as the father.

Irenaeus of Lyons

1st to suggest a change in the books. Does not like the marcionites. Creates a cnanon of the NT of 4 gospels. EX- responds to Marcion and defends church

Parousia

2nd coming of Christ. Jesus will be judge. EX- Nicene Creed "Christ will come to judge the living and the dead"

Ignatious

3rd bishop of Antioch. First to refer to the church as universal. EX-wrote letter to magnesians, romans, ephesians, and symareans.

Church

A community of believers. Historically seen as a congregation of people who believe in the same thing. This can be seen a building or location, but more so known for a group of people. EX- Roman Catholic Church.

Why is it important that any survey of early Christianity devote time to the "heretics"?

A heretic is someone who knows the truth but rejects it. One can understand how the early churches shaped its theology and doctrines. The development of Christianity can be seen clearly. We must question the history that lies behind Christian statements.

Sacrament

A visible sign of God's grace. Protestants and Christians have different views on how these should be practiced, but they both believe they are necessary. EX. The Eucharist is a sacrament. We saw this on the night of passover, this was the first time that grace was dispelled.

subordinationist Christology

Arius taught this. Sees the son as lesser than the Father.

Incarnation

Belief that Jesus became flesh from Jesus of Nazareth. Orthodox forms of Christianity teach that Jesus is fully and completely God, while also being fully and completely human. EX. Gnostics did not believe JC was a real human being, therefore he was not incarnated like Christians did.

Athanasius

Bishop of Alexandria. He says the father is fully and completely each other. He wrote a bio on St. Antony. EX- clover. He spread monastic movement.

Leo 1

Bishop of Rome. Wrote Leo's Tome which stated all wrong and all right. Which was brought up and the Council of Chalcedon. He is a doctor of the church

Council of Nicea

Bishops came from all over to settle what we believe. This settles the Christological controversy. EX- resulted in the nicene creed. it also settled special dates and our faith in one God.

Salvation

Deliverance from sin, hardship, and evil. It was the divine intervention for the overthrow of occupation and the restoration of Israel, the promise of eternal life on earth, or the platonically influenced notion of the separation of the soul from the body and the soul's eternal union with God. EX. Discussed argument on salvation at Council of Nicea.

Pelagianism

Denies original sin and affirms the ability of humans to be righteous by free will. EX goes against christian doctrine of original sin and the fall of Adam and Eve. Fails to understand we are natural sinners.

James

First bishop of Jerusalem. Son of Joseph. Holy from his mother's tomb. EX- wrote epistle of NT in Bible. You must be circumcised to be saved? Paul goes to James to finalize this question.

Arius

Founded Arianism. Taught subordinationist Christology. EX. It is bc of his teaching that bishops got together to create Council of Nicea.

How did most forms of Gnostic Christianity differ from the dominant "Apostolic"/"Orthodox" form of Christianity?

Gnostic style is free, open, and creative. One does not have to be told how to act or what to believe. Concerned with souls being saved and sending them back home. It was important to seek God through knowledge, and it was important in knowing secrets. Your faith was your relationship with Christ-- simply believe in Christ or go to hell.

Trinity

God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Christians speak of them as 3 distinct beings, but orthodox traditions view them as fully one God. This is a plurality of Christians.EX. We looked at the subordinationist Christology which denies that they are all fully equal.

Monolatry

Have obligation towards one God, but believe in many.EX. Exodus 34 People living in land worship several gods and the Lord is getting worried and jealous that his followers will being to worship other gods.

Jesus

He is a jew, practices Jewish rituals. Speaks to Jews and non-Jews. Seen as Messiah, Christ.. EX- Details of his life are found in matt, mark, luke, and john.

Pelagius

Highly respected lay monk. We would get salvation if we chose to accept it. We can avoid sin bc we make the choices. EX- Augustine accused him and others of denying need for divine aid in performing good works.

Why was it seen as important that Jesus return again after his death, resurrection, and assumption into heaven?

Jesus will return to restore Israel, and the kingdom of God.

Locative worldview

Jews believed in this. God lives above the firmament. Everything that happens, happens here.

Faith

Means trust or confidence in things that cannot be proven or known through reason. It can be as certain in the mind of the believer as the reality of things that are verifiable. It is distinct in that the object of it can't be proven beyond question. EX. Our faith is expressed in the Nicene Creed.

Augustine

Most important person after Paul. Wrote the confessions, city of god, trinitatae. Felt for the treament of women and role of original sin, and free will. He was deeply human. Monica is mother who was Chrisitan, Dad was pagan. Had women troubles. Son is Adeodatus. Heard voice and converts. EX- he framed concepts of original sin.

Docetism

Notion that Jesus wasn't fully human on earth but purely divine and gave the appearance of a human. EX- goes against Christian belief in the Nicene Creed that Jesus is both human and divine.

How was Platonism reflected in Christian Gnosticism?

Only one God, at the top of the hierarchy and things were seen to get more evil as they reach earth. Bodies were seen as tombs with the souls inside. Our bodies are less perfect than our souls. There are different levels of imperfection.

Why are the terms "orthodoxy" and "heresy" problematic from a scholarly point of view?

Orthodoxy is because you don't know who gets to decide and Heresy was a counter of orthodoxy. Orthodoxy led to questions about creation of human experience. Heresy would make you pay attention to the weaknesses and define them by it.

What is the big question that seems, according to Paul, from Peter, James, and the Jerusalem Church?

Paul accused Peter of hypocrisy because he stopped eating with the Gentiles after representatives could had come to see him. The question was "When Jesus restores Israel, who gets to live in the Kingdom of God?" They all agreed that Jews were to be saved, but Paul says it does not matter who you are, all you need to have is faith in Jesus.

What do you think the impact of Paul winning the aforementioned debate was upon the history of Christianity, and how do we feel this impact?

Paul appealed to the majority of the population because most were Gentiles and he did not force any one to be a Jew. Today we believe that man is justified by faith apart from observing the law and that there is only one God.

Jewish-Christian

Paul, Peter, and disciples thought of themselves as Jews til the day they died.

Utopian worldview

Plato's worldview. To imagine things we do not think we have experienced. Union with the One. States Jesus could not die like we do because he is god-like. EX- used to explain how humans are reflected to the One. We spring from the demiurge and immortal gods, our soul is perfect.

How might a religious studies approach differ from a Theological approach when studying features of early Christianity?

Religious studies see theology as ordinary human data. They bring their own curiosities and classify religious things as something no more or less than social behavior. They go beyond and find out why and make testable claims through history. Theologians have an insider perspective, and are not limited to the natural world. They just find whatever is appealing to the theological tradition.

Paul

Saul of Damascus. Persecuted those who were preaching blasphemy. He becomes Paul of Tarsus. EX- said all gentiles have to do is have faith in Jesus and obey and they will be saved.

Constantine

Son of a caeser in the west. He eventually takes control of west. Helped with the edict of milan EX- first roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Built capital of constantinople.

Plato

Taught transmigration of souls. 1st example of mysticism. EX. 1 world is only partial reality 2 like can only be known by like 3 your soul is perfect 4 For every mention is the impulse to return. There was a world of becoming and world of being.

What were the 2 major controversies Augustine was involved in, and how did both reflect his belied in the inherent sinfulness of humanity?

The Donatist and the Pelagian Controversies. Donatist raised questions about the true nature of the church and sacraments. Augustine opposed the dentists because he believed there were both saints and sinners. He believed that sin could be restored through repentance and that a poor minister couldn't compromise the validity of the sacraments. The Pelagian said that there is no way you can escape sin. Augustine states the resources of salvation are located outside of humanity, in God himself.

Resurrection

The act of rising from the dead. Jesus rose from the dead on the 3rd day after his crucifixion. All the people are supposed to rise again on the day of judgment. This was an original belief of Jew-Pharisees, but Christians took it upon themselves to change it to the 2nd coming of Christ. EX. Pharisees believed in resurrection of the physical body, but the Sadducees said there was no resurrection.

What were the issues that were at stake in the Trinitarian Controversy and how was it resolved?

The issue was about the Holy Spirit. They were trying to avoid tritheism and modalism. This was settled at the Council of Constantinople in 381. This defined the HS s the 3rd person of the trinity--coequal to the father and the son.

How did the dominant Greco-Roman/Platonic view of the world differ from the traditional Jewish View? What impact might these differences have had on the way Christianity developed?

The platonic view saw the One at the top of its hierarchy. The material world was seen as bad. There was a demiurge which portrayed that like can only be known by like. The logos were a little less perfect than the demiurge. Immortal gods worked to create the people. The only perfect part about the people is their soul. It is also believed that you imagine stuff you have yet experienced. In the Jewish view, everything that happens, happens here on earth. There is one God who created everything and we wait for judgment day. Augustine adopted Platonist ideas and there are many similar beliefs in Christianity.

Nicene Creed

The profession of Christian faith. Was made at the council of Nicea

Bible

There are 2 books in the Bible, the OT and NT. These were compiled over centuries. The OT was seen as authoritative to Christian and Jewish communities, while the Christians believed the NT contained God's word. EX. We looked at the creation story in Genesis, and saw how the first one God rests, has a voice, and man and female were created at the same time. The second says otherwise.

Spermatic Logoi

Things do not exist solely by reason, but because something is acting through them. EX- Justin Martyr

Symbol

This is an action, object, person, or place that signifies something else. Through these we can understand certain "truths". They are capable of many levels of significance. EX. Bread is a symbol on the night of passover, when they broke the bread and passed it around this was a symbol of unity.

What problems were caused by Constantine's conversion and legalization of Christianity, and what changes took place in the Christian movement after Constantine became emperor as a result of those problems?

This started a revolution in the Roman empire bc the accepted religion was paganism. A victory battle by Constantine caused Christianity to be "cool". This put an end to the persecutions of Christians and the capital was also moved.

Edict of Milan

This was the proclamation of religious freedom in the roman empire. If your property was stolen you could be reimbursed. Christians could also worship in public places.

What were the issues that were at stake in the Christological Controversy and how was it resolved?

Was Jesus divine, human, or both? It was settled at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 called by Marcion. It said that Christ has one nature, divine.

Grace

an unmerited gift from God for assistance from humankind. There is a continuous debate on how it should be given, to whom, or for what reason. EX. In plagiarism, God's grace is merely an aid to help individuals come to him because people can choose him with free will.

Logos Christology

belief that christ is the word. EX- derives from the opening of the Gospel of John. "in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was god."

2nd Temple

built by Cyrus. Stood between 516 BCE and 70 CE. EX. replaced the first temple when the Jew were exiled to Babylon. included in the deuteronomic view of history.

Marcion

creates 1st canon. he was obsessed with question of evil, since the creator is good. He created a canon of Luke and Paul's letters, but scratches out all the Jew-related texts.

Revelation

knowledge disclosed by God directly to the people. It is the basis for sacred scripture. God's word is transcribed into the text of the Bible. It is a means of knowing that it is distinct from reason or empirical study, and is accepted by way of faith. EX. Last book of the NT containing descriptions of heaven, good & evil, and the end of the world.

Peter

rebuked Jesus, fell asleep in the garden, denied Him 3 times. First bishop of Rome. EX- he said non Jews can be saved if they convert.

Trinitarian Controversy

settled at the Council of Constantinople.

Donatist

strongly opposed by Augustine, in North Africa. Believed sanctity as a requisite for church membership and administration of all sacraments. EX- Augustine says christ's presence needs to be there at ordination to authenticate ordination.

apostolic succesion

succession of apostles through bishops, EX. Matthew 1 discusses the 14 generations tracing Jesus back to David.

70 CE

temple destructed. EX- Mark writes about this vividly like he was there.

Gnosis

the separation of body. Christ is a spiritual being. "to know secrets" EX- Gnosticism is at the top of the hierarchy with God.