Theology Final

Explain why each of the three main Christian beliefs is considered consistent with Christian consensus.

All three views of the how and when of creation are consistent with historic Christian belief insofar as they acknowledge that God is the Creator ex nihilo of all reality outside himself and that creation is good but not God and insofar as they avoid any hints of true naturalism, dualism or monism.

Progressive Creationism

Also called "microevolution." The view that God initially created the first member of each "kind," which have not "evolved" from other "kinds." The members of each "kind" have evolved or developed from one another. The view intends to emphasize creation rather than evolution.

Revelation

An act of self-disclosure and self-communication.

Gnosticism

An amorphous movement during the early church period that featured complex views that focused on the quest for secret knowledge transmitted only to the "enlightened" and marked by the view that matter is evil. Gnostics denied the humanity of Jesus.

Historicism

An approach to history seeking explanations solely on the basis of the historical-critical method. The assumption is that humans are exclusively historical beings. All human ideals, ideas, and institutions have significance only in relation to the positions they occupy in place and time.

rapture

An expression of intense religious experience. Also in premillennialism the view that when Christ returns to the earth, believers will be raised from the earth to meet him in the air and thus be spared the tribulation

sectarianism

An extreme form of devotion a particular point of view, often quite narrowly defined and at variance from more widely held perspectives.

Westminster Confession of Faith

An important theological statement written by English and Scots Calvinists during the English Civil War (1642-51) that became a primary church confession for the Church of Scotland and American Presbyterianism. It was presented to Parliament in December 1646 but proof texts were requested and the Confession with Scriptures was presented to Parliament on April 29, 1647. It is a comprehensive theological statement that also influenced Congregationalism and some Baptists.

Athanasian Creed

Fifth-century creed traditionally ascribed to Athanasius (d. 373) and commonly called the Quicunque Vult (Lat. "Whosoever will") from its opening words. It expounds orthodox Christian views of the Trinity and the incarnation, warning that these beliefs are indispensable for salvation.

Incommunicable

Divine qualities with no corresponding attribute in humans, such as perfection, omnipotence, and omniscience.

List and briefly describe the polarities of Christian belief about providence.

Does God's providential sovereignty—his plan, power and control—extend to sin, immorality, inhumanity, cruelty, wars of aggression, genocide, abuse, torture, the pain of children, plagues and famine? Are these all "acts of God"?

4. List and explain three alternatives to the Christian consensus about creation and explain why they are not considered part of the consensus

Dualism - any belief in two eternally existing, opposed realities. In historic Christian belief God is the only eternal, ultimate being. Satan is a creature. Monism - Monism appears in many forms, and they all have the common feature of reducing all of reality to one substance— Naturalism - Naturalism's idea of creation is rooted in chance. The universe is the ultimate accident. If it began with a "big bang," it was sheer happenstance and not at all the result of a divine intelligence or act of an omnipotent power.

Apostles' Creed

Early (probably 8th century) summary of Christian belief with three articles devoted to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit and traditionally ascribed to the twelve apostles. Arising from the 2nd-century Roman Creed, it was probably recited at baptism. It is the major creed used in Western churches.

Apostolic Fathers

Early Christian theologians of the first half of the 2nd century who were thought to have historical ties with the apostles. They provide an early witness to developing Christianity. Among these were Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna.

List and describe the three main forms of church government.

Episcopal polity centers on the office of bishop. Presbyterian - each congregation is governed by its own elected elders or presbyters who, in turn, join together with other Reformed teaching and ruling elders in conclaves that together make important decisions for the denomination. Congregational polity - Each congregation is completely autonomous, and there are no bishops or authoritative representative bodies over them.

Concursive inspiration

Scripture is both human and divine The view that God's power in inspiring biblical writers worked in conjunction with human personalities and did not override them, so that they wrote freely.

Christian Theology

The body of beliefs and doctrines that constitute the Christian faith. Theology has been understood as faith seeking understanding and the critical reflection on God's revelation. Various theological methods have been used with differing emphases.

Systematic Theology

The branch of Christian theology that attempts to present theological thinking and practice in an orderly and coherent way. It may be based on Scripture and expressed through doctrines. It implies an underlying philosophical frame of reference and a method to be followed.

Parousia

The Second Coming of Christ when the Lord will judge the living and the dead.

Council of Constantinople

The church council, attended by 150 Eastern bishops, that condemned Arianism, Sabellianism, and Apollinarianism and reaf-firmed and expanded the creed of the Council of Nicaea (325). The creed commonly called the Nicene Creed is actually the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. McKim, Donald K.. The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Second Edition: Revised and Expanded (p. 66). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.

Anthropomorphism

The attribution of a human quality to God, such as "eyes," "hands," or "arms."

Divine Determinism

The belief that God directly determines and causes every single action in the universe

Premillennialism

The belief that Jesus Christ will return to earth prior to a period of one thousand years during which he will reign

Subjective immortality

The belief that after death the thinking self continues as the same subject of consciousness - the same 'I'.

Baptismal Regeneration

The belief that salvation is conferred through baptism (see John 3: 5; Titus 3: 5). This view has been prominent in Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism.

Spiritualism

The belief that the only realities are spirit. Term for a variety of religious movements that seek communication with the spirits of those who are dead.

Annihilationism

The belief that those not believing in Jesus Christ will be directly obliterated by God because of their sin.

Church

The community of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. In the NT it is used in a limited sense for local communities and in a universal sense for all believers.

intermediate state

The condition between one's death and one's resurrection. The term can designate views of purgatory, limbo, soul sleep, etc., as found in some theologies.

Explain the Christian consensus about God's nature and attributes.

The consensus of Christian belief about God, then, has always been that God is both transcendent in the sense of possessing a superior quality of being such that everything depends on God for its existence, and immanent in the sense of being graciously present in love with his creation.

Infralapsarianism

The view in orthodox Lutheran and Reformed theology that God decreed to permit the fall of humanity into sin before decreeing to save some of humanity

already/not yet

The view of many NT scholars, according to which Jesus taught that the kingdom (reign) of God was "already" here in his own life and ministry, but is "not yet" fully here and will not be until his second coming or Parousia.

Indirect revelation

The view of some theologians, such as Emil Brunner (1889-1966) and Karl Barth (1886-1968), that God's revelation in Scripture is not directly and unequivocally identical with the Scriptures, but that the revelation occurs indirectly, because the Bible is a human book that points or witnesses to God's revelation.

Postmillennialism

The view that Christ will return to the earth after the millennium. In this view, the millennium is an age of peace and righteousness on the earth that is brought about by the progress of the gospel and the growth of the church but not by Christ's physical presence on earth. Eschatological view that teaches Jesus Christ will return following the millennium or thousand-year reign mentioned in Rev. 20: 1-7.

Theistic Evolution

The view that God has guided the process of evolution and used it as a means of achieving divine purposes.

Aseity

The view that God is entirely self-sufficient and not dependent upon anything else.

Verbal theory of inspiration

The view that God through the Holy Spirit directly guided the exact words recorded by the biblical writers as they wrote the Scriptures.

Dynamic theory of inspiration

The view that biblical writers freely chose the words they wrote in the Scriptures as they received God's guidance as to what ideas or concepts were to be recorded.

Realism

The view that objects of knowledge truly exist apart from our knowledge of them, in contrast to idealism and phenomenalism. In medieval philosophy, the view that universals have an independence apart from the mind that perceives them. It contrasts with nominalism.

anthropic revelation

The view that revelation is given in human form.

Absolute inerrancy

The view that the Bible is written with full historical and scientific accuracy on all matters it affirms and thus is completely truthful.

Monergism

The view that the Holy Spirit is the only agent who effects regeneration of Christians. It is in contrast with synergism, the view that there is a cooperation between the divine and the human in the regeneration process.

Dictation theory of inspiration

The view that the words of the biblical texts were suggested directly to biblical writers by the Holy Spirit and they recorded them as would a person taking dictation.

Montanism

The views, associated with Montanus in the 2nd century, that stressed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to Montanus through trances that led to his prophetic utterances about the return of Christ and the establishment of the new Jerusalem, together with an emphasis on asceticism. It was condemned by the church.

Methodist Articles of Religion

Twenty-five articles of belief dating from 1784 that constitute the doctrinal standards of the United Methodist Church. They were prepared by John Wesley (1703-91) on the basis of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England.

Millennialism

Views about the "thousand-year" reign of Christ (Rev. 20: 1-7) on earth that ends the present age. The three chief positions have been premillennialism, post-millennialism, and amillennialism.

Social analogies of the Trinity

Ways of drawing analogies from human social experience to portray the relationships of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the Trinity. There may be a lover, the beloved, and their mutual love. The image was used by Cappadocian theologians.

Vincentian Canon

What has been believed by everyone (Christians) everywhere at all times.

Intrinsic Evil

acts that are, by their very nature, evil and opposed to the will of God

life after death

afterlife

Episcopal

overseen by bishops or "overseers"

Dualism

- Any view that is constituted by two basic or fundamental principles such as spirit and matter or good and evil. Can also refer to belief in the existence of two gods (ditheism).

triune God

- Christian view of God existing as the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; one God in three persons.

Holism

- Emphasis of feminist writers on rejection of dualistic divisions in favor of nonexploitative, nonhierarchical, and reciprocal relationships.

Logos

- In Greek and Stoic philosophy, the universal power or mind that gave coherence to the universe. In Christian theology it refers to the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ (John 1: 1), who as the creative power of God embodied truth and was God incarnate.

hypostatic union

- In theology, the union of the two natures, divine and human, in the one person Jesus Christ. It was defined at the Council of Chalcedon (451) to affirm the personal unity as well as the two natures. This reality is a divine mystery.

Summarize and restate the diversities of thought about the doctrine of God within orthodox Christianity.

"hiddenness of God" (Nominalists) in which God is said to be governed by nothing—not even his own nature. • immutability. Most simply put, the question is, can God change?

Appolinarianism held that Christ did not have a human __ and __

- Jesus had a normal human body but a divine mind instead of a regular human soul.

contingency

A condition that exists when one object or being is dependent (contingent) on another and cannot exist or function in the same way without that other;

Protestant Theology

(From Lat. protestari, "to bear witness," "to testify") One who adheres to the theologi-cal views that emerged from the 16thcentury Reformation in Europe. It is also used those churches which separated from the Roman Catholic Church at that time and the groups continuing their traditions. A term for the highly technical theological systems developed by 17th centu-ry Lutheran and Reformed theologians that became the standard theological understandings of many Lutheran and Reformed churches.

sola scriptura

(Lat. "Scripture alone") A slogan of the Protestant Reformation indicating that the church's authority is only the Holy Scriptures, not ecclesiastical traditions or human opinions. This was called the "formal principle" of the Reformation, or the "Scripture principle."

sola fide

(Lat. "by faith alone") A slogan of the Protestant Reformation used by Martin Luther (1483-1546) on the basis of Rom. 3:28 to indicate that justification of the sinner (salvation) comes only to those who have faith and is not achieved through any "good works."

Sola gratia

(Lat. "by grace alone") A slogan of the Protestant Reformation indicating that the basis for Christian salvation is solely the grace of God and not any human achievement. It is God's initiative and action which is the agent of salvation.

deus absconditus

(Lat. "the hidden God") Term based on Isa. 45: 15, often used by Martin Luther (1483-1546) to indicate that a knowledge of God can only come through God's self-revelation, since God is hidden from our reason by human finitude and sin.

Confession

(Lat. confiteri, "to acknowledge") The act of acknowledging and articulating one's sin.

Rule of Faith

(Lat. regula fidei) In the early church, the developing baptismal formula that defined the teachings of the apostles and that then became more formal. During the Protestant Reformation the term denoted the Scriptures as the source of authority that conveyed Christ.

Sectarianism

(Lat. secta, "party," "faction") An extreme form of devotion to a particular point of view, often quite narrowly defined and at variance from more widely held perspectives.

revelation Christology

- (Christ as full revealer of the heart and mind of God).

liberation Christology

- (Christ as liberator of the poor and oppressed)

summum bonum

- (Lat. "supreme good, highest good") Designation for God as the one who is intrinsically good in the divine self, and as the ultimate end toward whom all human endeavor is directed.

Tritheism

- (Lat. "three gods") Belief in three separate and individual gods. Some early formulations by Christian theologians were considered to move in this direction. Early Christian apologists sought to defend the faith from charges of belief in three gods.

image of God

- (Lat. imago Dei) The condition in which humans were created so that they might have a relationship with God (Gen. 1: 26-28). Theologians have varied views of what constitutes the image theologically and the ways in which it has been affected by the fall into sin (Gen. 3).

original sin

- (Lat. peccatum originalis) The condition of sinfulness that all persons share and that is caused by the sinful origins of the race (Adam and Eve) and the fall (Gen. 3). Theologically it consists of the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the image of God. It results in the hereditary corruption of all humanity.

spirit

- A being that does not have a material substance. This includes God (John 4: 24), the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity, and the dimension of human life that enables a relationship with God.

Nominalism

- A medieval philosophical view that universal ideas are only names. Only specific, individual things exist. Abstract ideas are merely labels used by the mind. It opposed "realism" and was taught by William of Occam

secular humanism

- A term, often used pejoratively, to indicate the view that humans themselves determine all ultimate values and that there is no divine origin or grounding for human beliefs.

Kenosis

- A theological term for the "self-emptying" of Jesus Christ in which he took the form of a slave or servant (Gr. doulos; Lat. servus) to accomplish the work of salvation through his death and resurrection (Phil. 2: 5-11).

trichotomism

- A theological view of anthropology in which humans are seen as consisting of body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess. 5: 23). It contrasts with dichotomism, which distinguishes body and soul

Adoptionism

- A view of Jesus Christ that sees him as a human who was adopted or chosen by God to be elevated into being God's divine Son or a member of the Trinity.

dichotomism

- A view of humanity that sees a person as constituted by two elements, usually material and spiritual—such as body and soul.

Soul

- Primarily, "soul" is the life principle (Gen. 2: 7). For Hebrews it indicated the unity of the person as a living body. The NT term also refers to one's life (Matt. 2: 20) or existence after death (Luke 21: 19).

Eutychianism

- Teaching of Eutyches (c. 375-454) that Jesus had only one nature.

Panentheism .

- Term coined by K. C. F. Krause (1781-1832) for the view that God is in all things. This view also sees the world and God as mutually dependent for their fulfillment. It differs from pantheism, which views God as all and all as God

Nature

- Term for the aspect of reality in which changes can be perceived. Used theologically in the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology to indicate the being (Gr. ousia) or substance (Lat. substantia) of God and Jesus Christ.

human nature

- That which constitutes the human person and is used to explain certain actions or behavior. In Christian theology, humans are seen to be sinful and separated from the loving relationship with God that God intends for them.

Matter

- That which is perceptible and physical. It has been contrasted to "form" in the history of philosophy and in theological discussions.

Doctrine of the Trinity

- The Christian church's belief that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons in one Godhead. They share the same essence or substance (Gr. homoousios). Yet they are three "persons" (Lat. personae). God is this way within the Godhead and as known in Christian experience.

Docetism

- The belief that Jesus only seemed or appeared to have a human body and to be a human person. The view was found during the period of the early church among gnostics, who saw materiality as evil. It was condemned by Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35-c. 107).

Gospel

- The central message of the Christian church to the world, centered on God's provision of salvation for the world in Jesus Christ. Also a genre, as in the first four books in the NT: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

anthropology, theological

- The doctrine of humanity that views humans in terms of their relationships to God. It includes critical reflection on issues such as the origin, purpose, and destiny of humankind in light of Christian theological understandings.

Incarnation

- The doctrine that the eternal second person of the Trinity became a human being and "assumed flesh" in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus Christ was the "Word made flesh" (John 1: 14). The doctrine holds that Jesus was one divine person with both a divine and a human nature.

body, mortal

- The present, physical body of a person that is susceptible to death and, theologically, to the power of sin.

Christology

- The study of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The church's understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done grew and developed through the centuries. Early church councils produced christological statements.

Arianism

- The teaching of the 4th-century theologian Arius (c. 250-336) that Jesus is the highest created being but does not share the same substance as God the Father (Gr. heteroousios, "of a different substance"). It was declared heretical by the Council of Nicaea

fallenness of humanity

- The theological condition of all people as sinners because of the fall into sin

humanity, doctrine of

- The theological understandings of humankind's creation by God, sinful nature, redemption through Jesus Christ, and ultimate destiny in God's future reign

humanity of Christ

- The theological view that Jesus Christ was fully human, possessing a sinless human nature.

Pelagianism

- The theological views associated with the British monk Pelagius (c. 354-c. 420), who in theological debate with Augustine (354-430) argued for a totally free human will to do the good and held that divine grace was bestowed in relation to human merit. These views were condemned at the Council of Ephesus (431).

Triunity

- The ultimate unity of the three persons in the Godhead as one God, triunity points to their oneness as one God.

psychological analogies of the Trinity

- The use of human analogies from the mind or soul to provide a way of describing the Trinity. Associated with Augustine's (354-430) analogy of "being," "knowledge," and "love," for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

inheritance of Adam's sin

- The view that subsequent humans have in some way been affected by the sin of Adam (Gen. 3).

soul sleep

- The view that there is a period between one's death and the final resurrection in which one's self (soul) is in an unconscious state.

posse peccare, posse non pecarre

- Theological descriptions of humanity in the works of Augustine (354-430) that describe the sinful condition of humanity (" able to sin") and then the condition of those who have received the grace of God in Jesus Christ (" able not to sin").

process theology

- Theological movement emerging from the work of the philosophers Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) and Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000). It emphasizes "becoming" over "being" or "substance" and affirms divine participation in the evolving world process.

Substance

- Translation of the Greek terms hypostasis and ousios. It was used in the Nicene Creed and early Christian writings to refer to God in God's eternal being as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Ubiquitous

- found everywhere

Wesleyan Quadrilateral

1. Scripture 2. Tradition 3. Reason 4. Experience

sovereign status

??? God's ultimate lordship and rule over the universe so that the divine will is supreme over all else (Eph. 1: 11; Rev. 4: 11). This will is known most fully in Jesus Christ, who expressed God's ways in self-giving service

Eucharist

A Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper by consecrating bread and wine.

Lapsarian Controversy

A controversy among 17th-and 18th-century Calvinists about the order of the divine decrees and about whether the decree of predestination precedes or follows the fall into sin. This gave rise to the supralapsarian (before the fall) and infralapsarian (after the fall) views.

paradise

A description of the garden of Eden and, in Judaism at the time of Jesus, the place where the righteous dead awaited a resurrection. In Christian theology it is a synonym for heaven

Denomination

A distinct religious group with particularly held beliefs or practices. Numerous Christian denominations exist throughout the world.

immanent Trinity

A focus on the inner life of God as a Trinity of three divine Persons without consideration of God's relationship to human beings or his creation work.- The relationships among the three members of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—in and with themselves.

creed

A formal statement of belief. Christian churches from the early church period to the present have often constructed summary statements of Christian beliefs.

Arianism

A heresy denying that Jesus is truly God - The teaching of the 4th-century theologian Arius (c. 250-336) that Jesus is the highest created being but does not share the same substance as God the Father (Gr. heteroousios, "of a different substance"). It was declared heretical by the Council of Nicaea

Gnosticism

A heresy from the first Christian centuries that taught that Jesus shared secret information or knowledge with only a few people who were guaranteed Salvation. Gnosticism comes from gnosis, the Greek word for "knowledge." Gnosticism also distrusted material creation, teaching that the human body was evil - An amorphous movement during the early church period that featured complex views that focused on the quest for secret knowledge transmitted only to the "enlightened" and marked by the view that matter is evil. Gnostics denied the humanity of Jesus.

Bibliolatry

A high veneration of the Scriptures to the point that, according to critics, the Bible is nearly worshiped or idolized.

Consubstantiation

A late medieval view of the Lord's Supper. While the substance of the bread and wine are not changed into the body and blood of Christ, they coexist or are conjoined in union with each other: bread with body and wine with blood. The term is sometimes used to describe Lutheran views of the Lord's Supper.

Fundamentalism

A mentality advocating strict adherence to certain principles or doctrines regarded as basic, essential, and "fundamental" to a viewpoint. The term is used for a form of Protestantism in 20th-century America that sought to preserve conservative views and values against liberal theology and the higher criticism of Scripture. A strong focus was on the inerrancy and literal interpretation of Scripture.

Enlightenment

A period in 18th-century Europe marked by the intellectual and philosophical conviction that truth could be obtained only through the powers of human reason, observation, and experiment.

Trinitarianism

A reference to the Trinity as understood in Christian theology. The term may be seen in contrast to Unitarianism.

Unification Church

A religious organization founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012) in 1954 and named The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. Moon's followers regard him as the Messiah. He claimed to have laid the foundations for the kingdom of God (1960).

ordinance

A religious rite, similar to a sacrament, engaged in as a memorial or act of obedience rather than as having sacramental efficacy.

dependence

A state of subordination.

Definition

A statement of the nature of something. Contemporary philosophers stress the contextual dimensions of definition to ensure that definitions in one context are not reapplied to another context without notice.

Hegelianism

A system of philosophical thought, based on the works of G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831), that greatly influenced 19th-century philosophy, especially Marxism and certain systems of Christian theology. It taught that history was determined by a pattern of thesis-antithesis-synthesis.

process philosophy .

A system of thought associated with Alfred North White-head (1861-1947) and Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000) that sees "becoming" as the basic reality of the universe, which is evolving. God is also changing and developing through God's interaction with the natural world and humanity

Process Philosophy

A system of thought associated with Alfred North White-head (1861-1947) and Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000) that sees "becoming" as the basic reality of the universe, which is evolving. God is also changing and developing through God's interaction with the natural world and humanity.

Dogmatic

A teaching or doctrine that has received official church status as truth. In the Roman Catholic Church it is a definitive or infallible church teaching.

Pantheism

A term coined by John Toland (1670-1722), literally meaning "everything God." The view is that God is all and all is God. It differs from "panentheism," which views God as in all.

Wholly other

A term derived from Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55), who, in his view of divine transcendence, spoke of God as "absolutely different" from human reason. In the writings of Karl Barth (1886-1968) and Emil Brunner (1889-1966), God, who is so completely different from humans, is "wholly other."

Reformed

A term for churches and the theological tradition that emerged from the work of John Calvin (1509-64) and other reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531) and Heinrich Bullinger (1504-75), in contrast to the Lutheran Reformation and to Anabaptism.

Tribulation Period

A term often used in Dispensationalism to indicate a seven-year period of suffering prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the millennium (Matt. 24: 21-30). Various views of the church's relation to the tribulation period have been proposed.

Geschichte

A term used by some 20th-century German theologians to denote the special actions of God in history in contrast to Historie as the objective facts of history.

Evangelical

A term used in Europe for "Protestant." In America it has come to refer to one who stresses the need for a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ by faith. Some who claim the term seek to define it further in terms of theological beliefs about particular issues.

Mediating Theology

A term used in various contexts to describe theologies that seek to find middle ground between competing theological ideas.

Invisible Church

A term used particularly in Reformed theology with roots in the thought of Augustine (354-430) to indicate the company of those who truly believe in Jesus Christ and are the recipients of salvation (the elect), both those who are currently alive and those who have died.

Secular Humanism

A term, often used pejoratively, to indicate the view that humans themselves determine all ultimate values and that there is no divine origin or grounding for human beliefs.

Liberal Theology

A theological movement, stemming from Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), that sought to reformulate Christian doctrine in contemporary terms. It emphasized the use of reason, science, freedom, and experience while focusing on human goodness and progress and the continuities between the divine and human. McKim, Donald K.. The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Second Edition: Revised and Expanded (p. 183). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.

Evangelical Theology

A transdenominational movement in American Protestantism that stresses the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the proclamation of the gospel (Gr. euangelion). It is variously defined, emphasizing biblical authority and Jesus as Savior.

Process Theism

A version of theism, derived from the thought of A.N. Whitehead, which holds that God has only persuasive power but not coercive power.

Heresy

A view chosen instead of the official teachings of a church. Such a view is thus regarded as wrong and potentially dangerous for faith.

Amillennialism

A view first suggested by Augustine (354-430) that the "thousand years" of Christ's reign (Rev. 20: 4ff.) should be interpreted symbolically rather than literally.

Open Theism

A view of God stressing human freedom. It views God's management of the world not to be coercive but marked by restraint so humans may exercise the freedom necessary for meaning to adhere to love and the moral life. God conditions God's actions on the free choices of free creatures. So God is open to creatures, the world and the future.

Young Earth Creationism

A view that the earth was created relatively recently (up to 10,000 years ago). It is usually proposed by those who read Gen. 1 literally and believe God completed all creation in six twenty-four-hour days.

Limited inerrancy

A view that the inerrancy of Scripture is restricted to certain elements, such as its theological content rather than its historical or scientific statements.

Inerrancy of purpose

A way of describing the belief that the Scriptures will not fail to accomplish the divine purpose for which they were written.

Scripture

A writing regarded as sacred. In the Christian tradition, the OT and NT are considered Holy Scripture in that they are, or convey, the self-revelation of God. The term may refer to a single verse or the whole Bible.

Moral evil

Actions done by humans which cause suffering Evil in the universe that affects human beings and their relationships with one another, in contrast to natural evil, which does not involve the human will. Moral evil emerges from a human will that is turned away from, or in opposition to, God's will.

Westminster Confession

An important theological statement written by English and Scots Calvinists during the EnglishCivil War (1642-51) that became a primary church confession for the Church of Scotland and American Presbyterianism. It was presented to Parliament in December 1646 but proof texts were requested and the Confession with Scriptures was presented to Parliament on April 29, 1647. It is a comprehensive theological statement that also influenced Congregationalism and some Baptists.

Preterist View

An interpretive view of the book of Revelation that maintains all its prophecies have already been fulfilled and are past, or were being fulfilled when the book was being written.

Sacrament

An outward sign instituted by God to convey an inward or spiritual grace.

process theism

An understanding of God according to process theology emphasizing God's dipolarity: God's ability to be affected by creation, and God's luring and persuasive power.

Biblicism

An unquestioning allegiance to the Bible and one's own understanding of it.

Sabellianism

Another name for modalism, a term derived from the third-century teacher Sabellius, who propagated this doctrine. (14C.1 - Also modalism, Modalistic Monarchianism. Sabellius (early 3rd century) taught that God has one nature and is one person with three names: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This view of the Trinity was considered heretical by the church, which taught that God is one and that the Godhead consists of three persons.

Cosmological argument

Argument for God's existence that proposes that since all things in the universe must have a cause, God must exist as the ultimate cause of all things.

Adventism

Belief in the second coming of Jesus Christ. Also refers to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.

Arminianism

Belief that salvation is offered to all humans but is conditional on acceptance of God's grace. Different from Calvinism, which emphasizes predestination and unconditional election. The teaching of James Arminius (1560-1609), which conflicted with Calvinism, particularly on issues of human sinfulness, predestination, and whether salvation can be lost. It stressed the human response to the gospel, conditional election, unlimited atonement, and resistible grace.

Realized Eschatology

C.H. Dodd The view that NT eschatological passages do not have a future reference but are to be understood as being fulfilled in biblical times and especially in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

attributes of God

Characteristics or qualities of God that constitute God's very being.

Explain the Christian consensus about Jesus Christ.

Christianity claims that this one man of Nazareth who died in Palestine on a Roman cross and rose from the dead nearly two thousand years ago is both truly God and truly human and yet not a mixture of those two kinds of being—divine and human—but a union of them in one fully integrated person, the person of the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.

Explain how Christianity has contributed to ecological problems and offer a biblical approach to ecology.

Christianity has contributed toward an arrogant attitude toward nature. First, in our relationship to nature we should recognize and welcome our many connections with nature. Secondly, we should acknowledge the value of other life-forms and their usefulness to us. Ultimately, we should hope for the final unity of all creatures with God.

7. Offer a unitive Christian vision of creation.

Christians hold in common a heritage of a worldview that esteems the natural world highly while viewing it as less than God. The world is distinct from God and subordinate to God, but at the same time not separated from God and not alone or uncared for. Just as God raised the body of Jesus Christ from the tomb of death and glorified it to a new form of existence, so Christianity says God will raise creation from its bondage to decay—the curse under which it has fallen—and give it a new mode of glorified existence in new union of harmony with him

congregational

Churches practicing a congregational form of church government, where authority is with the local congregation.

Eastern Orthodox Church

Churches rooted in the split between Western churches and Eastern churches in 1054 and presided over by the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople.

Communicatio idiomatum

Communication of properties A way to express the view that the attributes of the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ are attributes of the one person and that what can be said of Christ's divinity can be said of his humanity, and vice versa.

Chalcedon

Fourth ecumenical council, held at Chalcedon in Asia Minor, which reaffirmed the christological statements of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381). It confessed Jesus Christ as "one person with two natures," human and divine, which are united but not mixed. This became the orthodox Christian theological description of the person of Jesus Christ.

Historie

German term for the "objective" study of past events in order to determine what actually happened.

omnipresence

God as an infinite spirit being everywhere present in the cosmos

Transcendence

God as being over and beyond the created order and superior to it in every way.

omniscience

God as knowing all things, all events, and all circumstances in a way that is perfect and immediate

Limited Providence

God could control nature and history meticulously but chooses not to

Omnicausality

God is the direct cause of everything.

Illumination theory of inspiration

God only enhances the abilities of the human authors of the biblical text. This is typically a more liberal understanding of inspiration. The view that biblical writers received heightened powers by the work of the Holy Spirit so that they were able to write the Scriptures, without any direct influence of the Spirit on words or concepts chosen.

Meticulous Providence

God ordains everything down to the smallest detail, includes human decisions.

omnipotence

God's ability to do all things that do not conflict with the divine will or knowledge. God's power is limited only by God's own nature and not by any external force

Immutable

God's freedom from all change, understood to emphasize God's changeless perfection and divine constancy.

Providence

God's maintenance, guidance, and continuing involvement with creation and humans as means of carrying out divine purposes in history

Special revelation

God's particular self-revelation at specific times and places and to particular people, as in the events of Israel's history and, for Christians, fully in Jesus Christ. The Bible as the record of God's word and action is also considered a special revelation.

resurrection

God's raising of Jesus Christ from the dead (Acts 2: 32; 4: 10; Gal. 1: 1). Also the future rising of all persons prior to the final judgment

Natural revelation

God's revelation through the created universe and in nature

General revelation

God's self-disclosure and self-communication in the universe and created world (Ps. 19; Rom. 1:19ff.). Theologians have debated whether faith is necessary to perceive this revelation and in what ways it is accessible to those who are sinners.

Transubstantiation

In Roman Catholic theology at the consecration in the Mass, the changing of the substance of bread and wine, by God's power, into the substance of Jesus Christ's body and blood, which become present while the "species" (bread and wine) remain.

Existentialism

It sees Christianity as stressing the need for personal decision and commitment to Jesus Christ by a "leap of faith" that affects one's whole existence.

Present a unifying Christian perspective on Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ as God incarnate; one unified person—the eternal Son of God equal with the father; of two distinct but never separate natures, human and divine.

Natural theology

Knowledge of God attained through God's revelation in nature and available to human reason. The Roman Catholic tradition has emphasized it through Thomas Aquinas (1225-74). Some Protestants affirm it, while others, such as Karl Barth (1886-1968), reject it.

Filioque

Latin term meaning "and from the Son"Filioque - Phrase inserted into the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381) at the Council of Toledo (589) to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both Father and Son (double procession) in the Trinity. It was rejected by the Eastern church (1054) and was part of the reason for the East-West church schism.

Augsburg Confession

Lutheran confession of faith written by Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) and presented to the emperor Charles V that defined Lutheran doctrine (21 articles) and indicated seven abuses that Martin Luther (1483-1546) perceived in the Roman Catholic Church.

Perichoresis

Meaning mutual indwelling, this term is used to point to the relational nature of God, such that each person of the trinity indwells the others - A term used in the theology of the Trinity to indicate the intimate union, mutual indwelling, or mutual interpenetration of the three members of the Trinity with one another.

Relativism

Most generally, a philosophical term for the belief that no absolutes exist. It is also used for the view that all knowledge is relative to the knower. In ethics the term indicates the view that no criteria for ethical judgments can be claimed and that morality varies with the culture.

Early church fathers

Name for important theologians of the early Christian church from the end of the NT era until approximately the 5th century. The period is also called the patristic period (Lat. pater, "father"). Important theologians included Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Cyril of Alexandria, and Augustine.

penultimate

Next to last or next to the ultimate. In the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45), it refers to everything prior to God's action of justification of the sinner.

Ontological argument

One of the classical arguments for the existence of God based on the powers of reason. As developed by Anselm (1033-1109), it considers God to be "that than which nothing greater can be conceived." As such, God must exist because to lack existence would be a defect.

Presbyterian

One who adheres to a presbyterial form of church government. Also a theological tradition stemming from the work of John Calvin (1509-64) and other Protestant Reformers known as the Reformed tradition.

hierarchical

Organized and structured levels of ecclesiastical power and the offices that form a means of church government.

Define and describe the significance of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo.

Out of nothing - If God fashioned the world out of "God stuff," then the universe would be worthy of worship.

Noumena

Philosophical term for "things in themselves," which, according to Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), are not known other than by intellectual intuitions. Plato (428-348 BCE) used the term to mean "the intelligible."

Pretribulationism

Rapture occurs before the Tribulation and Great Tribulation

Midtribulationism

Rapture occurs between Tribulation and Great Tribulation

Baptist Tradition

Recognizable beginnings date to 16th-century Anabaptism, English Puritanism, and later to 17th-century Separatism. Its emphases have included believer's baptism, the authority of the Bible, freedom to worship, the primacy of conscience, and baptism by immersion.

Esoteric

Referring to the secret and inner teachings and rituals of a religious group shared only by those initiated into the group.

Ecumenical

Relating to ecumenism as embracing the whole "household" of God. It thus concerns all churches and their relationships with each other as well as the relation of Christianity to other world faiths.

Noetic

Relating to the mind or intellect. Pertaining to the view that understanding comes through rationality.

List and describe the alternative visions of humanity.

Secular humanism - (1) a naturalistic foundation], (2) ethics as human-centered [not God-centered], (3) commitment to use of critical reason [as opposed to faith in divine revelation], and (4) humanitarian concerns [as opposed to interest in divine or spiritual concerns] Neognosticism/ New Age philosophy tends to deny every major tenet of historic, classical Christianity by radically reinterpreting it in such a way that it is no longer recognizable. Pelagianism— Christian moralism comes in many disguises—some conservative and some liberal—but they all hide a basically Pelagian perspective on human action that attributes far too much power to humanity and too little dependence of the human being on God's supernatural grace.

List and briefly describe the issues and polarities of Christian belief about creation.

Some Christian thinkers have tended to emphasize the goodness of the world because God created it; other Christian thinkers have tended to emphasize the fallenness of the world because sin has invaded and corrupted it.

Ousia

Substance or essence - A key philosophical and theological term used at the Council of Nicaea (325) to indicate that the Son, Jesus Christ, is of the same essence or substance as God the Father. Later the same was said of the Holy Spirit.

Chalcedonian

Teachings about the person of Jesus Christ established by the Council of Chalcedon (451). It reaffirmed the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople and rejected the views of the Nestorians and Eutychians by asserting Jesus Christ as fully God and fully human.

Personhood -

That which expresses one's self as a person. Feminist theologians have shown the ways in which the personhood of women is often oppressed and made subservient to the desires of males. Liberation or salvation may entail the full expression of the woman's self in new ways.

Orthodoxy

That which is considered correct or proper belief, particularly the teachings of early ecumenical church councils from Nicaea (325) to Chalcedon (451). When capitalized, "Orthodoxy" refers to the doctrine and practices of Eastern Orthodoxy.

holy

That which is regarded as sacred or able to convey a sense of the Divine.

Doctrine

That which is taught and believed to be true by a church. In various ways churches sanction their official teachings or doctrines.

Evil

That which opposes the will of God. It is both personal and structured oppression that takes shape in societies. It has been defined as "the absence of good" (Augustine).

Infallibility

That which will not deceive or lead to error.

Council of Nicea

The Christian church's first ecumenical council, called by the emperor Constantine to deal with Arianism. Its creed affirmed the divinity of Jesus Christ as being of the "same substance" (Gr. homoousios) with God the Father.

Trinitarian formula

The Christian church's traditional use of the phrase "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," particularly upon the occasion of baptism.

Nicene Creed

The Christian creed adopted at the Council of Nicaea (325). The creed in contemporary common use and called the "Nicene Creed" is the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381). The later creed modified the earlier one and affirmed a view of Jesus Christ to counter Arianism.

nothingness

The Greeks distinguished between that which is not but has the potentiality to be (mē on) and "nothing" or "nonbeing" (ouk on). The Christian confession is that God created all "out of nothing" (ex nihilo) and was not limited in any way.

Calvinism

The developed and systematized teachings of John Calvin (1509-64), which spread throughout Europe and internationally from the 16th century to the present day. It is also called the Reformed tradition. Calvinism embraces both theological beliefs and a way of life.

Goodness

The divine character that is morally good in an absolute sense and constitutes along with all the other divine attributes God's divinely perfect essence

Apologetics

The endeavor to provide a reasoned account of the grounds for believing in the Christian faith.

Postribulationism

The eschatological belief that the church will endure a time of suffering during the tribulation period, until the return of Jesus Christ at the end of that period.

consummation

The final climax of history and full establishment of the reign or kingdom of God.

Eschaton

The final moment of man's earthly existence, when Christ returns and our bodies are raised.

apocalypse

The final revealing of divine mysteries.

Apocalyptic Literature

The genre of (biblical) literature that portrays the end of the world and of human history.

Modalism

The heretical teaching that holds that God is not really three distinct persons, but only one person who appears to people in different "modes" at different times. Also called Sabellianism. - (Lat. modus, "form," "mode") A view of the Trinity that the one God was revealed at different times in different ways and thus has three manners (modes) of appearance rather than being one God in three persons. The early church considered modalism a heresy.

Subordinationism

The heretical teaching that the Son was inferior or "subordinate" in being to God the Father. Also called "ontological subordination," but different from economic subordination, which has been the historic view of the church. - A theological term for the view that the nature and status of Jesus Christ is less than that of God the Father, or that the Holy Spirit is inferior to the Father and the Son. These positions were rejected by the Council of Constantinople

Theodicy

The justification of a deity's justice and goodness in light of suffering and evil.

reason

The mental capacity or power to use the human mind in reaching and establishing truth. Also the premise or ground of an argument; and a theory or structure of knowledge.

Explain the Christian consensus about creation.

The most basic Christian confession about the universe—creation—is that God the Father Almighty is "maker of heaven and earth." This is the first sentence of the Apostles' Creed—a brief summation of the essence of the ecumenical Nicene Creed: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."

New Creation

The new life of the Christian brought by God's regeneration in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 5: 17; Gal. 6: 15). More generally, the anticipated renewal of the created order by God in the "new heaven and new earth"

Hypostasis

The objective essence of something (Heb. 1: 3; NRSV "being"). Biblically, the term is used for confidence or assurance (Heb. 3: 14; 11: 1; 2 Cor. 11: 17). Theologically, it was used in the early church for the three persons of the Godhead, each as an individual reality.

Visible Church

The outward, organized church on earth.

Ontology

The philosophical study of being as being. It is thus the study of the underlying principles present in all things that exist solely by virtue of their existing.

Monism

The philosophical view that all reality of one type or essence.

fatalism

The philosophical view that events occur as the outworking of an impersonal force and that these events cannot be changed by human decisions or actions. It is sometimes wrongly confused with the Christian doctrine of predestination.

Naturalism

The philosophical view that the universe exists as a self-contained whole and that it is self-directing. There is thus no supernatural element.

Apostolic Succession

The uninterrupted passing on of apostolic preaching and authority from the Apostles directly to all bishops.

hypostatic union

The union of Jesus Christ's divine and human natures in one Divine Person.

Christomonism

The use of Jesus Christ as the overriding, determining principle in a theological system.

Supralapsarianism

The predestination of the elect occurred before the Fall

Canonization

The process by which biblical books became recognized as authoritative in the Christian church and were eventually drawn together into a collection. In Roman Catholic theology also the process by which someone is made a saint.

Reincarnation

The rebirth of a soul in a new body

Canon within the Canon

The recognition that theological perspectives and systems may influence biblical interpretation in ways tending to emphasize some concepts more heavily than others. This, in effect, establishes a group of Scriptures or biblical books that function more authoritatively than others.

Divine revelation

The self-disclosure and self-communication of God by which God conveys a knowledge of God to humans. It is important since it makes known that which is inaccessible to human reason alone.

The Great Schism

The separation of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (1054 CE)- The major division between Eastern (Eastern and Greek Orthodox) and Western (Roman Catholic) Christian churches over the Western use of filioque (" and the Son") in the Nicene Creed.

finitude

The state of having limits or bounds

Futurism

The study of the future. Also the view that biblical prophecies, and particularly those in the book of Revelation, will be fulfilled in the future.

Historical Theology

The study of the views of theologians, and of the Christian church, in their historical contexts.

Magisterium

The teaching authority of the church, especially as understood in Roman Catholic theology as resting in the pope and the bishops.

Arminian

The teaching of James Arminius (1560-1609), which conflicted with Calvinism, particularly on issues of human sinfulness, predestination, and whether salvation can be lost. It stressed the human response to the gospel, conditional election, unlimited atonement, and resistible grace.

Marcionism

The teachings of Marcion (d. c. 160), which featured a sharp disjunction between the "God of wrath" of the OT and the "God of love" of the NT and the view that Christ never became flesh. In Marcionism, Christianity replaces Judaism. Its canon was Luke's Gospel and ten Pauline letters.

Body of Christ

The term is used in the NT as an image for the Christian church (1 Cor. 12: 27), which is united in the one body of Christ (1 Cor. 10: 16-17).

fallenness of humanity

The theological condition of all people as sinners because of the fall into sin (Gen. 3).

Doctrine of inerrancy

The theological conviction that the Bible is completely truthful and accurate in every respect about all it affirms. This view is often also asserted in relation to the now lost original documents (autographs) of Scripture.

Emanationism

The theory of Divine creation that the world emerges or emanates out of God's own self.- "to flow from" or "to pour forth or out of", is the mode by which all things are derived from the first reality, or principle.

Council of Ephesus

The third ecumenical council, which condemned Nestorianism and Pelagianism while reaffirming the unity of the person of Jesus Christ. It also declared Mary the "Mother of God"

tradition

The transmission of received teaching or practice. In Christianity the church's tradition centers in God's revelation in Jesus Christ. The term has come to mean the genuine preservation of the apostles' faith.

Means of Grace

The ways by which God's grace is extended and received by humans. In Protestant theology, the emphasis has been on the Word and sacraments as God's instituted means of conveying the grace that leads to justification and sanctification.

Natural evil

Things which cause suffering but have nothing to do with humans Evil in the universe that does not involve the human will, in contrast to moral evil. Natural or physical evil emerges from a disorder in creation that produces suffering and harm to those who are not responsible for its causation.

Folk Religion

Those popular religious beliefs and practices that exist alongside or in opposition to dominant religious traditions in a society. They have often involved magic, healing, prophecy, and charismatic leaders.

Identify the consensus Christian belief on the doctrine of the Trinity.

Three recognized as God; Regarded as three distinct persons; Immanent and eternal, not merely economical or temporal; United in essence; No inequality; Explains all other doctrines yet itself inscrutable.

Describe the history of tension between God's immanence and His transcendence.

Throughout the history of Christian thought about God's nature and attributes, the pendulum has swung between emphasis on God's greatness and emphasis on God's goodness. All Christians of the Great Tradition have acknowledged both aspects of God and sought to do justice to both equally. However, in many cases specific theologians and groups of Christians have overemphasized one side of God's revealed nature to the neglect if not outright denial of the other side.

Explain the diversity within the Christian consensus on human nature and existence.

Trichotomy - the soul is a mediating organ of the human being; it is the animating life force that surpasses the merely physical body but does not survive bodily death. Some trichotomists equate the soul with consciousness as well as with life force. According to this view, spirit is the higher substance or dimension of a human person that radically transcends physical and animating life-force substances and is capable of communing with God both while in the body and when out of it after death. Holism - Holism is the relatively recent view that human beings are unified entities that cannot be sliced up into separable substances; soul and spirit are merely terms for the whole person, who is also physical but not merely material.

Summarize and restate Olson's unitive proposal for Christian belief about God's nature.

While remaining who and what he has been from all eternity, God undergoes a change of mode of existence in creation and incarnation that may best be described as a divine kenosis (from the Greek for self-emptying). God sovereignly restricts his unrestricted, all-determining power and blissful, triune joy and risks the pain of rejection, loss and death on the cross.

Synergism

Working together in the gospel (Rom. 16: 3, 9, 21). Theologically the term is used for views of salvation,

Apocrypha

Writings from the intertestamental period included in the Greek translation of the OT (Septuagint) but not included in the Hebrew Bible. The Roman Catholic Church has received these as canonical Scripture; Protestant churches have not. Examples include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, and Baruch.

5. List and describe the three main Christian beliefs about creation that are within the Christian consensus.

Young Earth Creationism - God created the universe in 4004 BC Theistic evolution—the idea that Darwin's theory of natural selection (including its wider background of belief in a world generally ruled by natural laws and created over aeons of time)—is true and not in conflict with essential Christianity. Progressive creationism - a combination of ancient creation, evolutionary development of life and special acts of God at certain thresholds within the history of creation.

Purgatory

a place where the souls of the faithful dead endure a period of purification and cleansing from sin prior to their entrance into heaven. It completes sanctification.

Neoplatonism

a system of philosophical and religious doctrines composed of elements of Platonism and Aristotelianism and oriental mysticism

Present a unifying Christian perspective on human nature and existence.

all human beings are both unique and possessed of special dignity and value because they are created in the image of God and corrupted from birth by a spiritual disease that prevents them from being fulfilled apart from God's saving grace.

Logos

an appeal based on logic or reason - In Greek and Stoic philosophy, the universal power or mind that gave coherence to the universe. In Christian theology it refers to the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ (John 1: 1), who as the creative power of God embodied truth and was God incarnate.

Teleological argument

argument (Gr. telos, "end, purpose") One of the five arguments for the existence of God formulated by Thomas Aquinas (1225-74). The order of the universe is said to imply a designer who has shaped the universe to fulfill divine purposes as a final goal.

Adoptionism

belief that Christ was the adopted and not natural son of God - A view of Jesus Christ that sees him as a human who was adopted or chosen by God to be elevated into being God's divine Son or a member of the Trinity.

Panentheism

belief that God is in everything

objective immortality

belief that the only existence of persons after bodily death is their enduring influence on the world and presence in God's memory

Inspiration

breathing in... That which moves humans to receive divine or supernatural truths, associated particularly with biblical authors in the writing of Scripture

Creatio ex nihilo

creation out of nothing - (Lat. "creation from nothing") The Christian view that God created all things out of nothing and is thus the ultimate cause and source of meaning for the whole created order.

Plenary Inspiration

every part is inspired The "full" (plenary) inspiration of the Scriptures, in the sense that the whole Bible is inspired, not simply portions of it.

Describe the three essential Christian perspectives of the Christian consensus about humanity.

first, the dual nature of the human being as both natural-physical and transcendent-spiritual; second, the status of humans as created in God's image and likeness; and third, the condition of humans as fallen, sinful, and estranged from God and their own true being.

corporeal

having to do with the body; tangible, material

adiaphora

indifferent") Elements of faith regarded as neither commanded nor forbidden in Scripture and thus on which liberty of conscience may be exercised

Esoteric

intended for or understood by only a small group- Referring to the secret and inner teachings and rituals of a religious group shared only by those initiated into the

10. Explain the Christian consensus about providence.

nature and history are sovereignly, providentially governed by God and nothing happens or can happen without God's permission.

economic Trinity

stressed the functions (economies) or work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rather than their eternal being in relation to each other.

Ecclesiology

study of the church

Eschatology

study of the last things

List the two realities that Christians have always believed in related to Christ's future return.

the consummation of God's kingdom and the new heaven and new earth.

Problem of Evil

the difficulty of reconciling the existence of suffering and other evils in the world with the existence of God

catholic

universal

Deism

view contrasting to atheism and polytheism. It emerged in 17th-and 18th-century England. It holds that knowledge of God comes through reason rather than revelation, and that after God created the world, God has had no further involvement in it.

List and describe the alternatives to Christian consensus about Jesus Christ.

• Docetism - denied the true humanity of the Savior. • Adoptionism - promoted by Paul of Samosata, a bishop of Christians in Syria. He and his followers believed that Jesus Christ was only human but a very special human—one "adopted" by God as his special prophet and "son." • Arianism - he was God's first and greatest creature but not God or equal with God. • Apollinarianism - taught that Jesus Christ did not have a human rational soul or spirit. • Nestorianism - the "person" of Christ was actually a "moral union" of two persons like a perfect marriage. The eternal Son of God entered into a unique relationship with the human Jesus Christ from the latter's very beginning in the virgin Mary. • Eutychianism/ Monophysitism - he had a human nature in theory, it was actually swallowed up by his divinity so that he was really a hybrid of humanity and divinity.

List and summarize three alternative views to the Christian consensus about God.

• In Deism, God is the architect of the universe and its moral governor but not intimately involved in its day-to-day operations. • Panentheism is any view of God that places too much emphasis on God's immanence (or the immanence of the world in God) and neglects God's self-sufficient transcendence.

Identify four views of the Trinity that are not in agreement with orthodox Christianity. Explain how each one deviates from orthodox belief, who originated the belief, and the dangers that accompany the beliefs.

• modalism (also known as Sabellianism) o The modalist model of the Godhead simply cannot be made consistent with several events recorded in the New Testament: the baptism of Jesus during which the Father's voice spoke and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove; Jesus' prayer in John 17 in which he petitioned the Father to make his disciples one even as he and the Father are one (Jn 17: 20-23); and Jesus' request in the Garden of Gethsemane that the Father take the cup of suffering from him and concluded, "not my will, but yours be done" (Lk 22: 42). o Which one is the true face of god? • subordinationism known in two forms as... o Arianism according to him Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God's first and greatest creature, who is a secondary god and not at all equal with the Father. o Adoptionism Jesus Christ was a great prophet and messiah raised up by God the Father and "adopted" as his special Son. The danger: Jesus was more than God's representative to man... we are only saved by God, and if Jesus Christ is not God we are not saved. o Tritheism belief in Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three separate divine beings or gods. Dangers: The godhead is not a committee

Identify current movements associated with the alternative beliefs of the Trinity.

• the psychological analogy • the social analogy.

Explain the diversity of Christian belief about Jesus within the Christian consensus.

• whether Jesus Christ could be present bodily in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. • Kenotic Christology - Jesus Christ had two natures and was one person but was also limited in knowledge and power because of a voluntary decision of self-restriction or self-limitation made by the Son of God who became Jesus Christ. • Two-minds or two-consciousnesses Christology - denies any limitations of knowledge or power in Jesus Christ and attaches two wills and two consciousnesses to his single personhood.