Understanding Religion in Communities Dr. Miles EXAM 1

Torah/Pentateuch

"Instruction" not law • Pentateuch=1st five books o Really no different than what we've grown up with

Qur'an

"Recitation:" regarded as verbatim word of Allah o Not intended to be read but rather recited • It is a representative prototype because Christianity messed it up • 114 suras (chapters) and over 6000 verses • Origin: Revelations from Allah to angel Gabriel to Muhammad o Followers were collecting them

Kethuvim

"writings" • Literature was already known • Took very long, completion=unknown • Questionable authority o Ecclesiast, proverbs, and Esther vs modern orthodox Jews took a very long time to accept and include it. God IS NOT in the book of esther • Orthodox jaws only consult The Torah

Proto-Orthodox view of God/Jesus

'trinitas' • 1 God the Father • 1 lord • God: o 1 god, the maker of heaven and earth o One only God has a son, his word who has proceeded from himself by whom all things were made o Jesus was sent by the Father • Christ: o 1 Christ Jesus—became incarnate for our salvation o Sits right hand of the father o Christian community had bedn accustomed to regard him as God as well as man o Not created o Divine and human o Begotten from the father • Salvation: son of God became incarnate for our salvation • Believe God raised him from the dead

Ali

(one thought that the successor should be from fam) got assassinated while praying • Last caliph of the Rashidun caliphate

2 principal Christian views of human nature

. 1. Pelagianism: free will, human choice 2. Augustinian: original sin

henotheism

1 god is primary but acknowledgement of other

3 of 4 affirmations of creation by the Bible & Qur'an

1. All three traditions affirm a truly, good creator and goodness of creation 2. The world is full of signs of creator's hand that point to God 3. This good creator will judge those who by their actions will pollute God's green earth

6 dimensions of religion

1. Doctrinal and Philosophical a. Ex: Christianity has a belief that God created a world out of nothing, helps reinforce e our worship and meditation 2. Mythic and Narrative a. Stories look at divine transcendent form of another i. Ex: Muhammad's significance derives from his relationship with God 3. Ethical and Legal a. Jesus told people to love God and his neighbors 4. Ritual and Practical a. Weekly mass 5. Experiential/Emotional a. Christianity owes a lot with Paul's conversion on Damascus Rd. 6. Societal/Institutional a. Create institutions-Catholic Church

2 (out of 3) shared beliefs among Abrahamic Religions

1. Monotheistic 2. God creates, rules, reveals, loves, and forgives

3 shared points of contact among Abrahamic religions

1. Origin (Abraham) 3 communities came from that (Islam, Judiasm, and Christianity) 2. Shared sacred space: Jerusalem 3. Affirm necessity of obedience to this God 4. One day, human history will end and you will be judged and go to either Heaven or Hell

4 Christian theories of atonement

1. Ransom/redemption: inherited sin results in enslavement to Satin --b/c humankind is enslaved to satin, some kind of ransom needed to be paid to be freed --Christ served as this ransom payment. Made thru his death. Liberated humankind 2. Satisfaction: idea that human's sin led to divine wrath. Therefore God's honor has to be dealt with here. Needs to be satisfaction to appease that wrath. Christ suffered and died to appease wrath. The sacrifice has to be a perfect sacrifice. Restored lost hoinor as result of human sin 3. Penal substitution: sin requires some sort of punishment. It has broken God's moral law. Punishment needs to be significant enough to bring it back to balance. --Penalty has to be made. Christ pays punihsment of death. Humans should pay it but we arte utterly depraved 4. Moral influence: everything that Jesus did was intended to lead human beings toward moral change. All part of big piucture with Jesus: help provide a model to individuals to follow to bring about moral change---know how to make good decisions.

Mt Sinai

10 commandments established here

Ditheism

2 Gods o Wrathful God of OT (created material world o NT: love thy neighbors, God of grace

Nevi'im

2nd division • "prophets" • Subdivisions o Former prophets o Latter prophets o Book of prophets o Completion: ca/ 200 BCE

Nicea

325; Niceen Creed; How is Jesus God/devine?; Jesus is Lord, son of God, begotten not created from the same essence

Gnostic view of God/Jesus (docetic & alternative)

Aeons: higher gods that were able to have their divine entities, God in OT was evil so there must be higher Gods • Jesus is the way to salvation • Gnosis • Esoteric views needed to have special knowledge • Polythestic • Christ: 2 views: divine, fully o Flesh and divine body: 2 begins in 1 person o Divine Christ that embodied human Jesus

Divine Word in Islam

Agent of creation for Muslims

Husayn

Ali's son • Supposed to succeed but didn't want caliph position • Wanted calmness

Jibrail

Angel Gabriel that visited Muhammad and have him the revelations

Shirk

Anyone that doesn't believe in full unity of god

Paul

Apostle; believed Jesus was an image of the indivisible God & that he was 1st creation; all things created through Jesus and for him; Jesus = agent of creation; identified wisdom as jesus

Allah

Arabic term for god • 99 names given to Allah

John

Associating divine word with actual human being. Jesus takes on flesh and becomes incarnate. Radical shift from an inanimate object to person

Yathrib (Medina)

Became home of Islam for 40 years

3 developments within Xty during Roman Era

Began developing own rituals and traditions and their own baptism • Make new meaning in old traditions • shared theology in rituals • Organization in structure

Monotheism

Belief in 1 god o Justification: 10 commandments

Martin Luther

Called for reform among Catholic Church • Excommunicated from church • Only scripture should have authority • Wrote 95 theses o Pinned on the door where he was priest o Refused to recant

Mishnah

Compendium of 4000 precepts of rabbinic law interpreting and adopting original Torah • Edited by Rabbi Judah the Prince

Talmud

Completion of Mishnah and Gemara o Palestinian Talmud (400 CE) o Babylonian Talmud (600 CE): larger collections

Shahada

Confessional law o Emphasizes oneness of divine being and flesh o Calls for correspondence of god. o Cant have a divided devotion and be sincere and genuine o Muhammad is the messenger

Shema:

Confessional statement

325

Council of Nicea

creatio ex nihilo

Creation from nothing • There was nothing when God created the Earth

2 functions of doctrine

Defines the community o Who's a part of it/not o Helped christniaty to root out heretics • Relate claims of particular religious community to our era o If a religious group is considered credible, how they present their beliefs is very important (how they communicate) • Bring order in what is presented by revelation o Early Christians belief with the divinity of God People were all over the place with God's relationship to Jesus. Brought some chaos during Roman period

penal substitution theory

Demand that sin requires a divine punishment • Sin broke God's moral law • Punishment must be sufficient enough to bring back balance between human and divine relationship

70 CE

Destruction of Jerusalem by Roman empire and end of 2nd Jewish community

Apocrypha/Deuterocanon

Deuterocanon: 2nd canon o Not as authoritative

Aquinas

Emergence of Xtn philosophy • Merged philosophy and scriptures to come up with a theological scheme (became thoughts for Catholicism) • Wanted to bring special revelation and reason together so that thru reason he could prove the existence of God

Abassid era (Golden Age)

Focused on expanding trade • Capital moved to Baghdad (Mongols invaded) • Founded by Muhammad's uncle • Other dynasties got caliphal status • Political focus shifted eastward from Syria to Iraq • Contributed a lot with math, art, etc... o Recovered info from plato and Aristotle and kept it alive for the western world

Abraham

From Ur; Babylonian, not Jewish; covenant

Marcion

Gentile Christians; 2 gods (OT = wrathful God; NT = loving God) Christ was not associated with material world but was divine

Gnostics

Gnostic Christians; polytheistic Gods, one God had a son who was wrathful God in old testament; Jesus is devine & the only way to salvation

Pelagian view on human nature & grace

God made humans free to choose b/t good and evil • We are capable of following God's commands • Salvation is achieved thru living a good life/securing salvation thru moral integrity and good works

Moses

God raises up a slave=Moses • Responsible to lead Israelites outside of Egypt to Red Sea o Red Sea: power of God; Sea parted and Israelites crossed over to freedom

Muawiya

Hasan said he could be the caliph as long as he didn't appoint his son to lead after him & someone from Muhammad's family would lead next

Muawiya - Hasan treaty

Hasan was supposed to succeed Ali but he didn't want to be caliphate and he wanted a calmness in the political culture • Appointed Muaquta to lead as long as he didn't appoint his own son to rule after him • Someone from Muhammad's family was suppose to lead o Broke this treaty

satisfaction theory

Human sin lead to divine wrath • Sin harms God's honor • Christ suffered and died on behalf of humanity to appease God

human nature in Islam

Humans created as good, they make bad choice • Bad that takes place in the world is the results of human choice • one needs to repent action of twhat they did

Muslim contributions to science & Philosophy

Invented "zero" • Developed Algebra • Changed Greek to Arabic scholarly works • Recovered and translated Plato and Aristotle • Preserved info for W. world

1948

Israel created

Adoptionism

Jesus was adopted as the son of God at his baptism, his resurrection, or his ascension

Nazareans

Jewish Christians; Jesus was the Messiah, but rejected him as divine Marcion

Ebionites

Jewish Christians; Jesus was the messiah, but rejected him as divine

YHWH/Adonai

Jewish God. • YHWH too sacred to say • Adonai=war, more formal • Hashmen=the name=more casual

587/86 BCE

Judah conquered by Babylonian empire • Jerusalem destroyed temple

Septuagint (LXX)

Judaism • Contents: OT and Apocryphal books • Significance: Scriptures of early church • 72 Jewish scholars translated Hebrew to Greek Mishnah

Kabbalah

Kbbalalahism based on mystical text (Zohar) • Mystics claimed Hebrew bible text has written in code language and only those who knew the code could interpret it

Jerome

Linguistically adept • He could translate directly from Hebrew to Latin, making it more correct • Got into disagreement with Augustine o Wanted to keep older books of Septuagint

Umm al-Kitab

Mother of the book

622

Muhammad's migration to Medina • Yathrib undergoing Civil War itself o City leaders reached out to Muhammad to bring peace to warring tribes Successful and had power

Polytheism

Multiple Gods

Gentile Xian view of God/Jesus

Narcionites • Everyone in the world who was NOT Jewish=Gentile • God: 2 gods o Ditheistic: loving God of NT • Christ: wasn't associated with material world therefore liked him, he was divine • He looked like humans but wasn't

sola scriptura

Only scripture is source of authority

2 talmuds

Palestinian Talmud (400 CE) • Babylonian Talmud (600 CE)

Exodus event

Passing through the Red Sea • Led by Moses • Marked the end of slavery for the ancient Hebrews by the Egyptians

Earliest NT documents

Paul's letters which gave a snapshot of what was going on after death and resurrection of Jesus • Language: koine Greek • Four gospels: ca 60-90CE

Exile event

People went back to Torah to reconstitute their identity and to put down roots • Jews under control of Babylonians • 586 BCE

Jewish responses to Enlightenment (modern era)

Posed some issues: How do we deal with Enlightment? Do we embrace it?

Vulgate

Roman Catholic • Latin • Contents: OT, NT, and select Apocryphal body

Jerusalem

Sacred space/place of all three religions

Augustinian view on human nature & grace

Salvation: trusting God's promises and receiving fruit • God's grace is abundant, its alright if we sin • Original sin is seen as root of human nature

Tawhid

Shear unity of God's being nature o Any kind of belief that goes against this=shirk

3 stages of NT canon

Step 1: Sources o Oral sources: apostles (Peter and Paul) established church by preaching o Written sources circulated in early Christianity. Didn't have them but knew they existed • Step 2: Docs o Language: Greek o Letters of Paul o 4 gospels Universal acceptance in end of 2md cen • Step 3: Canon (collective of authoritative texts) o Canon of Christian community should include letters of Paul and gospel of Luke (Maricon's proposal)

Tanakh

T=torah • N=Nevi'im • K=Kethuvim • Didn't have vowels, just abbreviations

Anselm

The archbishop of Canterbury in 1093 who had many arguments with King William II • -ontological argument: defined god as "a being that which no greater can be conceived", exists in the mind: (He suggested that, if the greatest possible being exists in the mind, it must also exist in reality.)

Muslim view of God

This god is indivisible, utterly intend, transcendent • Rigidly monotheistic

hadith

Traditions • Gathered from followers providing guidance for daily living structure of chain and transmission

Augustine

Wanted to keep extra book in the Bible because of tradition) they had been there for 3 years already)

political & religious climate of Arabia before Muhammad

When Muhammad came in, there was thriving Jewish Christians and other cultures present • Ka'ba-existnece of prior to Muhammad • Rivalry going on with various clans o 2 chief tribes jocking for positions of authority and power 1. Quraysh (already in power once he comes around Born into this rivalry

Nicene Creed (relation of Jesus to God)

Who w/the Father and Son I together worshipped and together glorified

logos in Christian view of creation

Word of god is active in creation, revelation, and redemption • Jesus gives us God's word and is the word

Suras

chapters

"People of the Book"

fixated on sacred text; center of their life; consults sacred texts on • everything (what to believe, etc.) [people called Christians this] set of texts which a particular religious community regards as the authoritative • scripture; no universal acceptance of other NT books; Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria suggested books people were already reading; the formation of the OT and NT

Contributing factors to Reformation

people wanted text changed out of latin, but church insistent; priest read letter by Paul - just shall live by faith; selling church offices and indulgences; profits of indulgences helped build large cathedrals in Europe

Religious focus and symbols of Judaism

pre-70 and post-70 CE • Focus was on the temple in Jerusalem • Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by Romans • Focus and symbol was shifted to the Torah

canon

set of texts which a particular religious community regards as the authoritative scripture; no universal acceptance of other NT books; Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria suggested books people were already reading; the formation of the OT and NT

imago dei

• "image of God" • Humankind is created an image of God (we all have a soul) • Moral capacity • Humans have a soul: reflects impact of Hellenization (composed of 3 parts—body, soul, and spirit)

Abu Bakr

• 1 who was appointed to succeed Muhammad

original sin

• Adam and Eve sinning in garden of Eden if the first human sin and caused all the rest

367

• Athanasius declares when Easter is

Zohar

• Chief text of Jewish Kabbalah • Presented an allegorical/mystical interpretation of the Pentateuch

383

• Council of Constantinople

515/516

• Decided to rebuild Temple, finished it but didn't look as good/ During this, they got religion started back up again • Dedicated in 516

Moses Maimonides

• Emerged in 12th cen CE • Influenced by philosophy • Became important Jewish influencer and philosopher o Guide to Perplexed: interpreting from a philosophical perspective. Wanted to conjoin faith and reason. Became pivotal to interpretation

sola fidei

• Faith alone

Jewish Xian view of God/Jesus

• God: deeply monotheistic • Christ: wasn't divine, adopted as a son, fully human o His death was seen as enough for salvations o Fully messiah chosen from God to lead people • Ebionites, Nazareans

Jewish view on repentance & forgiveness

• Hebrew repentance is important in redemptions for Jews • Jews reflecting completely turn around from whatever it was • Commitment to change • Acknowledgement fault. it faced with the same opportunity then they repent

Hellenization & Jewish responses

• Hellenization: acculturating a specific culture o Putting Greek religion, language, etc. on Jews o Religious text was on Hebrew, made this an issue • No consensus on how to respond to this dominating culture. Jews assimilated to Greetian culture-some stuck to their guns (others picked pts of dominating culture) • Some leaders actually imposed hallenization. o Ex: Antiocus IV: all copies of Torah burned, outlawed circumcision

Pelagius

• Humans can avoid sinning and that humans can freely chose to obey God's commands • Well versed in theology • Very concerned about moral laxness with Roman Empire o theology with divine grace: God's grace is so abundant you shouldn't worry about it. Attributed this laxness with divine grace • contributed to human nature • condemned him as a heretic, they ended up ratifying it

Jewish view of creation through history (divine wordwisdomTorah)

• Jews identified wisdom as preexisting created order • God used wisdom to create order • Wisdom=agent of creation • Torah personified wisdom as woman

Augustine

• Lived in 4th cen • Influenced in church • Advocated for equality within Trinity • Responsible for original sin • View put him in contentious with Pelagius

Khadiya

• Muhammad's wife

2 sources of authority in Catholic Xty

• Scripture and traditions

Myth

• Story of divine or sacred significance

3 divisions of TaNaK

• Torah • Nevi'm • Kethuvium

Jewish view of human nature (yetzer ha-tov & yetzer ha-ra)

• Yetzer hara: evil impulse o Born with this o Selfish desire o If we didn't have yetzer hara within us, we wouldn't be motivated to have good jobs, get married, and live in a nice place o Makes the concept of repentance • Yetzer hatov: good impulse o Gets developed over time o Moral conscious within oneself o prevents you from doing bad things o Bat Mitzvah is when this takes place

Calvin

• believed in the penal substitution theory

Muhammad

• born in 571 CE; father died before born; mom died @ 6 years old; raised by uncle; married Khadiyan; 6 children (no boys survived to adulthood); not happy with • religious political culture in Mecca; often went to nearby mountains to pray and meditate

Tertullian

• coined the term "trinitas" or the trinity; responsible for creating the trinity

Athanasius

• from Alexandria; decided when Easter was & when the Lent fast started

Mecca

• where Muhammad was originally from (was born here)