Theology Creation, Covenant, and Christ
9. We live in the tension between the ______ and the ______ of the kingdom of God; consequently, Scripture calls the church to ongoing _________, to continually fresh rereadings of the text in light of the Holy Spirit's ongoing work in the world.
"The already" and the "not yet" Scripture calls church to ongoing discernment "Because the narrative of Scripture is open to a future that God will give, and because our vision is limited by creaturely finitude and distorted by sinfulness, we lack the perspective of the finished drama as we seek to live faithfully in the present. Yet we trust that the story is moving to a final consummation in which God will overcome death and wipe away every tear from our eyes. Knowing that we do not see ourselves and our world from God's point of view, we are grateful for the gifts of Scripture and community and for the possibilities of mutual correction in love that they offer. We are also grateful for Scripture's promise that the Spirit of God will lead us into truth, which gives us hope that our speech and practice might yet be a faithful witness to the righteous and merciful God who is made known to us in Jesus Christ.
What is the story of everything?
God and not God; narrative that we have been given by God to redeem us from the things that destroyed us.
Who did God first promise salvation to?
God began with Adam and Eve and promised them salvation in the Book of Genesis and offered them his covenant
God revealed himself by sending His only son. Will there be revelation after Him?
God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he has established his covenant forever. the Son is his Father's definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation after him.
Who is the author of the Sacred Scripture? Whose guidance was it written under?
God is author written under guidance of HS God chose and inspired certain men who used their own powers in writing. The Spirit showed them what he wanted written and no more. They were still true authors. Because all that the human author wrote was affirmed by the Spirit, these books teach faithfully and without error what God wanted to reveal for our salvation.
Divine Revelation
God making himself known to us God communicates himself and his eternal decisions to humans - and this reaches the minds of the people
Who were our first parents? What did God promise them?
God promised our first parents (adam and eve) redemption - he will give salvation to anyone who asks for it
Christ ordered his apostles to preach the Gospel his word because the ______ is the main source of the truth and moral discipline
Gospel
What is the heart of the NT?
Gospels The central object of the New Testament is the acts, passion, and glorification of Jesus Christ and his Church's beginnings under the Spirit. The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures and the principle source of Christ's life and teachings.
________ assists people in bringing their hearts to God and helps people open their minds to Him
Holy Spirit
Who are the first to hear the word of God?
Israel ("priestly people")
What is the fuller sense vs spiritual sense?
It's difficult to see the difference The "in-between" of the literal and spiritual sense Fuller sense allows the literal meaning to stand but maintains that the text acquired has a new meaning after Christ
Who proposed all four senses?
John Cassian: "City of Jerusalem can be understood in 4 different ways"
Does God speak to us in words?
Just as the Lord Jesus took the nature of man, so God speaks to us in the words of men. Throughout Sacred Scripture, God speaks one Word which expresses himself completely. "One and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture. One and the same utterance resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers" (St. Augustine). Therefore, the Church venerates the Scripture as she does the Lord's Body. She feeds all the faithful from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body.
From a Biblical perspective, is justice weighed?
Justice is not something weighed, measured or apportioned equally to every member of society
By _____, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. He has thus provided the definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaning and purpose of his life. God loves us and sent Jesus to help us understand life and its meaning
Love
What happened with the senses during the Reformation?
Luther and other reformers moved away from allegorical interpretation, and literal interpretation began to receive more emphasis
God targets the poor and women and wants them to have hope. ______ is the purest of them all
Mary
Allegorical sense
Meaning that is Heiden be earth the surface of the text Symbol for deeper reality/deeper meaning Writing one thing but intending another Using this interpretation helps a reader find the truth —> mystery into revelation and all helps explain inconsistencies, questionable behavior of characters and crudeness of text Names, numbers, measurements, and seemingly unimportant details have a hidden meaning or mystical significance
Which spiritual sense involves using as a help to act justly?
Moral
Tropological/moral sense
Moral lessons that can be drawn from Biblical text -wisdom and traditions
God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. By the covenant God formed his people and revealed his law to them through ______. Through the prophets, he prepared them to accept the salvation destined for all humanity.
Moses
God sent ______ to lead slaves out of Egypt and form Israel (covenant) - helped Moses lead them to faith and the Savior
Moses
Who brought people out of society with injustice and created one with justice?
Moses
4. Texts of Scripture do not have a single meaning limited to the intent of the original author. In accord with Jewish and Christian traditions, we affirm that Scripture has _________ given by God, the author of the whole drama.
Multiple complex senses "The authors and editors of the canonical texts repeatedly gave new contexts and senses to earlier traditions, thereby initiating the process of discerning multiple senses within the text. The medieval "fourfold sense" is a helpful reminder of Scripture's multivalence. The church's traditions of biblical interpretation offer models and guidance about how the fuller sense of Scripture should be understood. This does not entail a rejection of historical investigation of biblical texts. Indeed, historical investigations have ongoing importance in helping us to understand Scripture's literal sense and in stimulating the church to undertake new imaginative readings of the texts.
God made a commandment for love and to love thy neighbor. But is love a command?
No, because God loved us first, it is not a command. It is a response to the gift of love which he draws near to us
Is being Christian a choice or idea?
No, it is an encounter with a person!
Is Biblical justice "fair"?
No, it is united to compassion and love for everyone
Is the Covenant and Christian faith done growing?
No, the covenant and Christian faith is still growing and will continue to grow gradually over time
Do Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium separate from one another?
No. Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected that one cannot stand without the others.
Is the Magisterium superior to God's Word?
No. This Magisterium is not superior to God's Word, because the Church teaches what has been handed down by the Spirit, expounding God's Word from the single deposit of faith.
God made an everlasting covenant with _____ and with all living beings (cf Gen 9:16). It will remain in force as long as the world lasts.
Noah
How is the Gospel spread?
Orally— spoken about in words with HS help— or by writing
What was a big threat to the nations?
Polytheism and the idolatry were both a threat to humanity during the times of these nations
After completing work with the prophets, what did God do?
Send his son
God "dwells in unapproachable light" and wants to adopt all of us as his own sons. Why?
So we can respond and communicate with him God communicates himself gradually to man
In what type of sense was it common to read the Old Testament through (especially for Church fathers)?
Spiritual because it was believed to contain God's preparation for his son
What was Jesus' message to the people?
That God is here to free us from death and sin and to raise us up to eternal life/heaven
What did St. Thomas Aquinas say about the senses of scripture?
That all sense are founded on the literal sense
______ expresses hope that humanity can be good again because there are examples of people who lived according to Noah and God and they were saved
The Bible
Why must the New Testament be read in light of the old?
The Church has shown the unity of God's plan by seeing Old Testament "types" which prefigure what Christ accomplished. Because the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value, the New Testament must be read in light of the Old (as the early Christians always did). "The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old is unveiled in the New" (St. Augustine). Old Testament events (such as the call of the Patriarchs and the Exodus) have value in God's plan even though they were intermediate stages.
What is the Magisterium?
The Church's claimed authority or office to give the authentic interpretation of the Word of God in written form or tradition
Spiritual Sense of Scripture
The spiritual sense is the meaning expressed by the biblical texts when read under the influence of the Holy Spirit in light of the mystery of Christ. The spiritual sense involves not just the words themselves, but also what they signify. "the meaning expressed by the biblical texts when read under the influence of the Holy Spirit, in the context of the paschal mystery of Christ and of the new life which flows from it"
What is the autonomous individual (unlearn)?
The story of the autonomous individuals says that the "I" is self-sovereign and chooses the laws it has for itself An isolated individual; unconnected to everything The will of this individual is free and chooses its commitments Nothing can be forced upon the autonomous individual The "I" is violated when he or she is forced to accept something he or she does not want to accept The "I" is alone, inviolable, sovereign, free
5. The four canonical Gospels narrate:
The truth about Jesus "The Gospels, read within the matrix of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, convey the truth about the identity of Jesus more faithfully than speculative reconstructions produced by modernist historical methods. The canonical narratives are normative for the church's proclamation and practice."
The world was once filled with sin. What Biblical story do we see this in?
The world was once filled with sin - flood story with noah - nations were built and different groups of people formed with different languages and lives
Typologically
To anticipate or to foreshadow events to come (Isaac and his sacrifice; Jesus and his cross) Literal sense more so than spiritual Helped early exegetes find meaning in Bible
What does it mean to live justly?
To apply mercy with every human being regardless of wealth
What does "the obedience of faith" require?
To commit oneself completely to God; full submission of intellect and will to him
What does it mean to practice justice?
To follow ordinances given by God
T or F: Biblical interpretation ha grown and changed multiple times
True
T or F: Giving an authentic interpretation of God's Word (written or oral) belongs to the teaching office of the Church, that is, to the bishops in communion with the Pope, who exercise their authority in Jesus' name.
True
T or F: God has revealed himself to man by gradually communicating his own mystery in deeds and in words. God performs miracles and completes deeds and shows himself through words of Scripture. Beyond the witness to himself that God gives in created things, he manifested himself to our first parents, spoke to them and, after the fall, promised them salvation (cf Gen 3:15) and offered them his covenant.
True
T or F: The correct interpretation of Scripture demands attentiveness to what the human author wanted to say and to what God wanted to reveal. Discovering the human author's intention demands a study of the culture, the modes of narrating, and the different forms of writing (history, poetry, prophecy, etc.).
True
T or F: There are "private" revelations or religions that should not be followed or are not faithful
True
T or F: Historical- critical method says bible only has one meaning
True; but it is a growing idea and belief that the Bible has multiple layers of interpretation
Characters in the OT are _______ and the characters in the NT are _______
Types; antitypes
Story to learn: Christians attempt to live out the story of everything that gave them their humanity. What did this help them discover?
What being human really meant. It set them free on their own and they were trained not to fear death. Free to good or bad surprise the world
Is Jesus perfect?
Yes, God speaks to use through Him and anyone who questions God is offending him
Do sacred tradition and sacred scripture communicate with one another?
Yes, both move towards same goal
Are tradition and scripture equal?
Yes, they should both be treated equally in the church
Does God constantly provide evidence of his presence?
Yes, wants us to open ourselves up to salvation
What is justice based on in the Bible?
justice is based on relationship between God and human beings and the relationship among human beings themselves
How is justice defined in the Bible?
righteousness → every human being is brought together into relationship full of compassion mercy or compassion toward one creature by another because compassion is an elemental component of God's justice
In the story to learn, freedom =
self-obsession, self-protection and obedience and service to Christ in every aspect of life
Is the Christian faith a "religion of the book"?
the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book" but of the living Word of God (Jesus).
Reason for justice in the Bible=
Based on relationship
4 major implications of this story of what it means to be human
1. The way we come to know who we are 2. The way we understand community 3. The way we understand moral order 4. Legal coercion is backed by force
The Gospel's formation had three stages:
1. What Jesus did while living among us 2. What the Church, under the Spirit's power, taught orally about Jesus after his Ascension 3. What the four authors selected to be written and which was shaped according to the situation of their churches
Which sense involves seeing the truths in light of eternal happiness?
Anagogic
The homily must be nourished by:
Scripture By reading Scripture, the faithful learn the "surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ." "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ"
What do we need to unlearn?
The automatic and subconscious ways in which we have come to live a story that does not spread the Christian vision
By adhering to Tradition, the people remain faithful to the apostolic teaching. This brings harmony between:
The bishops and the faithful
God gives himself to man; how does he reveal his plan? And, what is his plan to reveal himself?
By sending his son, Jesus Christ Plan to reveal himself: give humans access to the Father through Jesus and the HS
Mediator and fullness of revelation
Christ
Literal Sense of Scripture
"The meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation" (CCC 116). The words themselves that have been directly inspired by human authors; verbal or gramattical sense, the plain sense, what the human author intended Discovered by careful and attentive study of the biblical text using all interpretive tools available Grammatical aids Archaeological evidence Historical and literary analyses Sociological and anthropological studies Anything else that can expand one's knowledge of the history/literary context of the text and gain a better understanding of literary meaning
Scripture must be interpreted in light of the Spirit who wrote the Scriptures. Correct interpretation requires that the reader:
1. Be attentive to the "content and unity of the whole Scripture." God's plan (in the Old and New Testament) has a unity in Christ. "Sacred Scripture, like the 'heart of Christ' was closed before the Passion. Since the Passion, the Scriptures have been opened" (St. Thomas Aquinas). 2. Read the Scriptures within the Church's living Tradition. "According to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church" (Origin). Apply the "analogy of faith" (the coherence of all truths among themselves and within God's plan). 3. Apply the "analogy of faith" (the coherence of all truths among themselves and within God's plan).
Enlightenment period (senses)
18th century European movement in which thinkers attempted to apply the principles of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of life. Also known as Age of Reason. Questions about factual and scientific accuracy of the Bible were raised
Based upon the apostolic Tradition, the Church discerned 73 inspired books. How many in NT and how many in OT?
46 OT; 27 NT
Historical Critical Method (senses)
A method the Church uses for understanding biblical texts in their original setting and for discovering the intention of the original author 18th century Influenced biblical interpretation Not one method → several methods used to interpret bible from literal and historical senses - also focuses on author's intention Historical sense - formation from earlier oral and written sources; many different disciplines (linguistics, archaeology, sociology, literary theory, comparative religions) → goal is to find meaning using historical and literal senses Questions about historical reliability of Bible were raised
Examples of acts of justice of God in an unjust society
A miracle, healing of an illness, exorcism of evil spirits, restoring a life (man with leprosy)
Anagogic/Future Sense
A shift in focus to the future- to the end times or last things. Looks to the goal of our journey through life as we lead up to heaven
God chooses _______ and calls him the father of all of the nations
Abraham
What happened after God manifested himself in our first parents Adam and Eve and they failed?
Adam and eve then became hopeful that they can be saved After that → god kept all of human race in his care - will give eternal life to all those who do good in hopes of going to heaven
What would Abraham's descendants do?
All descendants of Abraham would follow Abraham's path and help convert/transfer Gentiles
How are all faithful anointed?
All the faithful, anointed by the Spirit, can understand and hand on these truths. When the bishops and the faithful, by their supernatural appreciation of faith (sensus fidei) manifest a universal consent in matters of faith or morals, the whole body of the faithful cannot err. The People of God, guided by Church's Magisterium, can adhere to these truths and apply them in daily living.
Which spiritual sense involves recognizing events in the light of Christ (the parting of the Red Sea) as a sign of Baptism?
Allegorical
Which sense has its origin in Greek world (platonic philosophy during Hellenistic period) and was used to make Greek myths (also used to make sense of Greek myths, Jewish Scriptures and the Bible)?
Allegorical sense
Which sense is under the notion that the writers of an earlier age composed their work in a veiled language, meaning they wrote one thing but intended another?
Allegorical sense
By the midieval period, 3 spiritual senses were created:
Allegorical, topological, anagogic
Main difference between American and Biblical justice
America- fair; has "blind" justice and can overlook needs of poor Biblical justice- not fair; focuses on compassion and mercy and the poor and less fortunate
American Justice
American Justice A matter of being fair Every person should receive an equal amount of whatever is under discussion no matter the life circumstances Every citizen is equal/same under the law Symbol of "lady justice" = fairness and being just Justice is cold and detached Detachment protects those who do not need protection "Blind" justice = overlooks the needs of the poor Acknowledging the needs of the poor = believing that the privileged and disadvantaged people are in the same society... but they refuse to acknowledge any shared identity
a group of sovereign selves who agree for one reason to come together
Community
The Gospel should always be preserved. Apostolic preaching=
Continuous until the end of time
God created ________ and his people in hope of salvation - desires to purify every man for all of his sins
Covenants
What did God want Abraham to do?
Create a good nation Through prophets, Moses, e.t.c., tried to spread faith and let people know that Christ is coming
1. Scripture truthfully tells the story of God's action of
Creating, judging, and saving the world "God is the primary agent revealed in the biblical narrative. The triune God whom Christians worship is the God of Israel who called people out of bondage, gave them the Torah, and raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. This same God is still at work in the world today. God is not a projection or construct of human religious aspiration. Readers who interpret the biblical story reductively as a symbolic figuration of the human psyche, or merely as a vehicle for codifying social and political power, miss its central message. Scripture discloses the word of God, a word that calls into existence things that do not exist, judges our presuppositions and projects, and pours out grace beyond our imagining."
Catholic circles in the 20th Centre arise of the "fuller sense" of the scripture (senses)
Deeper meaning of the text, deeper meaning of the text, intended by God but not clearly expressed by the human author Found when a later biblical author confers on an earlier text with new meaning Or... when meaning is given to biblical text by a later definition
8. Christians need to read the Bible in dialogue with ______ outside the church.
Diverse others "There is a special need for Christians to read Scripture in respectful conversation with Jews, who also serve the one God and read the same texts that we call the Old Testament within a different hermeneutical framework. There are also diverse others to whom we need to listen and from whom we need to learn. This includes critics who charge us with ideological captivity rather than fidelity to God."
The Church proposes truths which are actually contained in or have a necessary connection with _______. The faithful must adhere to these dogmas by faith.
Divine Revelation
Why are Dogmas and the spiritual connected?
Dogmas and the spiritual life are connected because dogma illuminates the path of holiness. The person should welcome this light. All dogmas are connected and coherent. They have a "hierarchy" since they vary in their relationship to the Church's foundation.
2. Scripture is rightly understood in light of the church's rule of faith as a coherent ___________
Dramatic narrative "Though the Bible contains the voices of many different witnesses, the canon of Scripture finds its unity in the overarching story of the work of the triune God. While the Bible contains many tensions, digressions, and subplots, the biblical texts cohere because the one God acts in them and speaks through them: God is the author of Scripture's unity for the sake of the church's faithful proclamation and action."
We need to relearn the story of everything and the commitments and practices that the story gives us. That is when we will remember and relearn who we are in this world. The way to know what and who the human being is is to locate is within the story of:
Everything
How does faith grow (four ways)?
Faith grows by the study of believers, by theological research, by reading the Scriptures, and by preaching
6. Faithful interpretation of Scripture invites and presupposes participation in the community brought into being by God's _________ - the church.
Redemptive action "Scriptural interpretation is properly an ecclesial activity whose goal is to participate in the reality of which the text speaks by bending the knee to worship the God revealed in Jesus Christ. Through Scripture the church receives the good news of the inbreaking kingdom of God and, in turn, proclaims the message of reconciliation. Scripture is like a musical score that must be played or sung in order to be understood; therefore, the church interprets Scripture by forming communities of prayer, service, and faithful witness. The Psalms, for example, are "scores" awaiting performance by the community of faith. They school us in prayer and form in us the capacities for praise, penitence, reflection, patient endurance, and resistance to evil."
Only through His _________ is the truth found at human ease with no error
Revelation
Sacred Scripture vs Sacred Tradition
Sacred Scripture - speech of God in writing Sacred Tradition - the apostles spreading God's words and speech throughout the years to their successors
Certain figures from Old Testament will always be honored as ____ in Christianity
Saints
7. The ______ of the church provide guidance in how to interpret and perform Scripture.
Saints "From the earliest communities of the church, through whose scriptural interpretation we received the Christian Bible, to the present communities of biblical interpreters, generations of Christians have received this book as a gift from God and sought to order their lives according to the witness of Scripture. This chain of interpreters, the communion of the saints, includes not only those officially designated as saints by the churches but also the great cloud of witnesses acknowledged by believers in diverse times and places, including many of the church's loyal critics. This communion informs our reading of Scripture. We learn from the saints the centrality of interpretive virtues for shaping wise readers. Prominent among "these virtues are receptivity, humility, truthfulness, courage, charity, humor, and imagination. Guidance in the interpretation of Scripture may be found not only in the writings of the saints but also in the exemplary patterns of their lives. True authority is grounded in holiness; faithful interpretation of Scripture requires its faithful performance."
How do we find truth?
The Father speaks with us through the Holy Spirit and Christ - through only the Holy Spirit is how we find the truth
OT Books
The Old Testament books are divinely inspired and have permanent value. The Old Testament was oriented to prepare for Christ and the books are a storehouse of sublime teaching and sound wisdom. The Church always venerated the Old Testament books and condemned Marcionism (a heresy claiming that the Old Testament was void).
What is the soul of theology and the ministry of the word?
The Word of God
What does sacred tradition depend on?
depends on what the apostles had to use to spread faith at the time and what they learned from the Holy Spirit —New testament - they didn't have it yet - and it represents the process of tradition
If you are not living justly, you most likely:
fail to worship right
3. Faithful interpretation of Scripture requires an engagement with the entire narrative:
the New Testament cannot be rightly understood apart from the Old, and the Old be rightly understood apart from the New. "The Bible must be read "back to front" — that is, understanding the plot of the whole drama in light of its climax in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This suggests that figural reading is to be preferred over messianic proof-texting as a way of showing how the Old Testament opens toward the New. Yet the Bible must also be read "front to back" — that is, understanding the climax of the drama, God's revelation in Christ, in light of the long history of God's self-revelation to Israel. Against the increasingly common contention that Christians should interpret "the Hebrew Bible" only in categories that were historically available to Israel at the time of the composition of the biblical writings, we affirm that a respectful rereading of the Old Testament in light of the New discloses figurations of the truth about the one God who acts and speaks in both, figurations whose full dimensions can be grasped only in light of the cross and resurrection. At the same time, against the assumption that Jesus can be understood exclusively in light of Christian theology's later confessional traditions, we affirm that our interpretation of Jesus must return repeatedly to the Old Testament to situate him in direct continuity with Israel's hopes and Israel's understanding of God."
Who was the encyclical letter "Deus Caritas Est" addressed to?
the bishops, priests, deacons, men and women religious and all the faithful on Christian love
Tradition
through the holy spirit, the church will spread the gospel and God's teaching throughout the generations to come