Doctrines Midterm Quiz questions

The doctrine of creation is:

- Biblically emphasized - Important in the history of the church's faith - Significant theologically - A critical issue in relationship to science

God's decree or plan is:

- From all eternity - Freely determined on - God's part - For God's glory - All-inclusive

For what does God's immanence have implications?

- God's ability to work through medicine - God's use of the unbeliever - God's presence in creation - gospel contact with unbelievers

The possible sources for Christian doctrine that have been proposed in the history of theology include which of the following?

- Nature (natural theology) - Tradition - The Scripture - Experience

What does Erickson call the essence of a doctrine?

- The permanent truth within the temporary form of expressions - The underlying message behind all its specific forms of expressions - The common truth - What is permanent truth within the temporary form of expressions

What factor[s] help to determine "permanent" doctrines of the Bible?

- constancy across cultures - universal settings - recognized permanent factor as basis - final position within progressive revelation

The popular images of human nature offered by the contemporary world include:

- humans as machines - humans as animals - humans as pawns in the universe

Erickson warns against rejecting which of the following?

- objective truth - metaphysical reality - referential use of language - correspondence theory of truth

According to the monistic conception of human nature which of the following are true

- people cannot exist apart from their bodies - the immortality of the soul is impossible - there is no future life apart from the body - there is not an intermediate state between death and resurrection

Which of the following characterized the premodern period?

- rationality - belief in the supernatural - purpose within the universe (i.e., it was teleological) - basic realism (objective existence of the physical world)

God's "personality" includes what characteristic[s]?

- self-consciousness - will - relationality - feelings

What assumptions of modernism are breaking down and provide an opportunity for the Christian faith?

- the belief that the universe is self-contained - a naturalistic basis for morality - optimism about inevitable human progress - belief in the inherent goodness in human knowledge

Erickson's opts for which view concerning God's plan and human freedom?

A moderately Calvinistic view in which God's plan is unconditional

What makes certain actions right and others wrong?

A moral standard that reflects God's own nature

Erickson holds to:

An old earth view, and the day age theory

According to Erickson whose theological system lasted the longest in the church history?

Augustine's

According to Erickson the permanent element in Christianity, the unchangeable factor, is to be found in which of the following?

Doctrine

According to Erickson God sometimes changes his mind or alters his decisions regarding specific determinations.

False

All of God's creative work has been ex nihilo

False

Dichotomism, after the Council of Constantinople in 381, was branded as a heresy

False

Doctrine is the whole of the permanent element in Christianity.

False

Emil Brunner and Karl Barth favored the substantive view of man in God's image.

False

Erickson argues that an evangelical theology should not identify at all with contemporary culture.

False

Erickson is able to date the origin of man's creation quite accurately.

False

God created sin.

False

God does not know for certain what a person will do in the future.

False

God's incomprehensibility means that we cannot really know anything truly about God.

False

God's justice and His mercy are in conflict with each other.

False

God's transcendence means that God is present and active within the creation and within the human race.

False

Sometimes God really does change his mind.

False

The crucifixion of Jesus was only the result of what wicked men did and was not under God's governing activity.

False

Theology as a discipline is no different than other sciences.

False

We can have the appropriate certainty about the truth of the Bible's teaching apart from the help of the Holy Spirit.

False

What is NOT true about God and sin?

God can cause sin.

The proper biblical view of reality is:

God exists and everything else is distinct from him, but finite and created

Which of the following is not true according to Erickson?

God needs us.

Which view of human origins does Erickson advocate?

Progressive creationism

What are the functions, activities, and acts of each member of the Godhead called?

Properties

Which special term does Erickson use to refer to God's decision that some will suffer eternal damnation or lostness?

Reprobation

Which view of man in God's image has been dominant throughout the history of the church?

Substantive view

The primary content of Christian theology is derived from which of the following?

The Bible

Which of the following is a legitimate explanation for the occurrence of evil?

The sinfulness of the human race since the Fall.

The proper response to the problem of evil is:

To recognize that the problem is beyond our ability to completely solve

Which approach to contextualizing the biblical message does Erickson advocate?

Translate the biblical teaching into modern equivalents, while retaining the essential content.

A theodicy is an attempt to show that God is not morally responsible for evil.

True

According to Erickson, the preferable way to deal with alternative worldviews is not to expose their shortcomings, but to positively teach the Christian view.

True

After the Fall humans still bear the image of God.

True

An issue over which evangelical Christians have not always agreed is the age of the earth (progressive creationism versus young earth).

True

Anthropomorphism is an attempt to express truth about god through human analogies.

True

Apollinarius used trichotomy to build a false view of Christ's nature.

True

Attributes of God are permanent qualities that cannot be gained or lost.

True

Because of the decline in great theological schools of thought, one can no longer simply decide to espouse a ready-made system of theology.

True

Erickson argues that theology should be related to contemporary culture.

True

Erickson argues that there is an important distinction between rendering something certain (God's plan) and rendering it necessary (destroying genuine human choice).

True

Erickson prefers to think of God's transcendence in terms of a different realm of reality.

True

Erickson seems to favor the view that miracles are generally best explained as natural forces being countered by supernatural power.

True

Erickson states that "it is improper to think of God as present in space at all."

True

Erickson states that "time does not apply to him (God)."

True

Erickson teaches that humans were directly created in their entirety by God.

True

Everything that occurs is by God's choice and in accordance with his sovereign will.

True

Extreme forms of postmodernism reject the basic tenets of reason.

True

From a biblical point of view God is providentially at work as much in a medical cure as in a miraculous healing.

True

God can only do those things which are proper objects of his power.

True

God is transcendent, but his is not immanent.

True

God's transcendence means, among other things, that there will always be a difference between human beings and God.

True

Grace means that God supplies us with undeserved favors.

True

Humanity's place in the created order should cause us to have a healthy view of ecology.

True

If this life were all there was, the problem of evil would never be fully resolved.

True

In doing theology we need to recognize that our understanding and interpretation are influenced by our own circumstances in history.

True

In some cases the essence of a doctrine was not explicitly realized within biblical times.

True

Jesus is the complete revelation of what the image of God is.

True

Love is not fully understood if it does not include justice.

True

Orthodox theology holds that God as God does not have the attribute of a physical body.

True

Righteousness is that aspect of God's moral purity that has to do with his holiness in relationship to others.

True

Some aspects of postmodernism are compatible with and supportive of biblical Christian theology.

True

Spirituality is found not by fleeing the material or physical world, but by sanctifying it.

True

The "good" is determined by the will and being (nature) of God.

True

The Christian view of humanity actually answers many of the questions that contemporary culture is asking.

True

The Scripture never explicitly identifies what qualities in humans might be the image.

True

The deistic doctrine of providence teaches that God created the world and then let it go on its on way governed by the patterns that he established, but without his intervention.

True

The functional view of man in God's image focuses on the human exercise of dominion over the creation.

True

The goal of the study of God is a better understanding of him and a closer personal relationship with him.

True

The narrative passages of Scripture are important to Bible doctrine.

True

The plan of god does not force us to act in particular ways, but renders it certain that we will freely act in those ways.

True

The sinful actions of humans are part of God's providential work.

True

The terms "soul" and "spirit" seem to be used interchangeably in the Bible, rather than referring to different entities in human nature.

True

There are some things God cannot do.

True

Throughout church history Christian theology has been done in a variety of ways, with more diversity today than in the past.

True

Traditionally God's transcendence has been thought of in terms of space (in heaven, high above the world).

True

Trichotomism has been influenced by ancient Greek philosophy.

True

While truth itself is not relative; our knowledge of truth is relative.

True

The approach which Erickson advocates with regard to science is:

We should take both the Bible and the proper scientific study of the world seriously.

How does Erickson understand the "dust" of Gen 2:7?

as actual dust as in Gen 3:19

The first step in Erickson's theological method is the collection of the biblical materials. What is this step in the process of doing theology called?

exegesis

In trichotomism what distinguishes humans from animals is

humans have a spirit, animals do not

What is God's infinity in relationship to space best described as?

immensity and omnipresence

What is not one of the three dimensions of truthfulness?

justice - punishing untruth

From the point of view of anthropology what does Erickson says helpful identifies early created humanity?

language

Which of the following does NOT characterize modernism?

room for the God of the Bible

According to Erickson what doctrine has been informed by sources beyond the Bible, despite the reluctance of biblical exegetes and theologians?

the meaning of "days" in the Genesis account of creation