The Bible

Question 1

What is the Bible

Answer 1

Biblos (greek)
collection of texts/scriptures
God's revelation to humans
moral and spiritual truth:
creeds and beliefs Christians follow
God's commandments behaving socially and morally
history of Judaism and Christianity

Question 2

How many books are in the protestant bible and catholic bible and what is the difference called

Answer 2

P: 66
C: 73
difference: Apocrypha

Question 3

What is the original languages of the testaments

Answer 3

OT: Hebrew - for Christianity and Judaism
NT: Greek - for Christianity

Question 4

2 Timothy 3:16

Answer 4

All scripture is God-breathed

Question 5

Old Testament content

Answer 5

announces arrival of messiah
The law (5): genesis, exodus, Leviticus, deuteromony, numbers
History (12): History of Israel
The Prophets (7): Isaiah
The Poetical (5): Psalms, Job

Question 6

New Testament content

Answer 6

The Gospels (good news): synoptic gospels; Matthew, mark, Luke, John, to tell the story of Jesus
The acts of apostles: the foundation of the church
The Epistles: Letters, Paul, Romans, 1 corinthians
Revelation - apocalypse

Question 7

what is the canon?

Answer 7

refers to list of authoritative scriptures

athanasius ultimately created first list of canonical books, long process

Question 8

The Bible as a source of authority and divine revelation

Answer 8

2 Timothy 3:16

Does not have to be literal

Question 9

The Bible as a source of NML

Answer 9

links to ethics NML
God had intentions for us to live a certain way
e.g. 10 commandments and Leviticus
Leads to divine commandment theory: the basis of making moral decisions is to act in accordance with God’s law
W: OT and NT sometimes contradict

Question 10

The Bible as a source of scripture and tradition

Answer 10

Some denominations, like CC believe tradition is essential to revelation
Only Popes and Bishops can interpret scripture correctly, must go through them
Magisterium - teaching office at CC made up of Popes and bishops
Sola scripture - ‘by scripture alone’
Lots of controversies in Early Church, particularly amongst Gnostics

Question 11

Revealed theology

Answer 11

God gradually reveals himself through history, can see a pattern of this throughout Bible
Jesus is the full and ultimate revelation
Aquinas: we can achieve this knowledge of God through reason
Paley: can infer the existence of intelligent design

Question 12

Strengths and weaknesses of revealed theology (3)

Answer 12

S: actual reference point
helps people get closer to him
fits idea of personal God
W: disagreements between new and old testament
difference in interpretation
canon issue

Question 13

Natural theology

Answer 13

Observing God from the the world using reason
2nd to revealed - more explicit
e.g. looking at beauty of the word could lead to a natural revelation with God
God has always been available through the things he made
order of the world allows God and his perfection to be seen
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have clearly been seen” - Romans 1:20

Question 14

Strengths and weaknesses of natural theology (2,4)

Answer 14

S: looks at intrinsic good of world
suggests that God’s always present
W: opinion based, could interpret incorrectly
doesn’t allow God to be perfect
big leap from what you see to what you conclude
not confided to formation of bible, no reference point

Question 15

Interpretation of scripture and biblical exegesis

Answer 15

Writers applied editorial judgement and were influenced by beliefs in which community they’d lived
e.g. Paul has limited references to OT
BE: work of trying to interpret text within context

Question 16

What are the 4 criticisms of biblical exegesis

Answer 16

redaction criticism
historical criticism
literacy criticism
form criticism

Question 17

literary criticism

Answer 17

evidence from writing and historical sources to determine authorship date and intended readership
S: helps find accuracies and enables a fuller understanding
W: word of god, why do we need to know authorship/context, to what extent is this info helpful

Question 18

form criticism

Answer 18

looks at patterns, traces back to original form

s: letters are more likely to be factual
w: doesn’t present disagreement ab form’s meaning

Question 19

redaction criticism

Answer 19

looks at how pieces have been put together to reveal intention
S: allows deeper meaning
W: bias, could negatively effect other groups, e.g. Jews

Question 20

historical criticism

Answer 20

historical context, compared with other texts from the same time period
S: non-faith based evidence for contextualising it
W: could backfire, fail to back something up or bias

Question 21

What is mysticism

Answer 21

a spiritual reality which is accessible from personal subjective experience

Question 22

What do mystics seek + W

Answer 22

truth in themselves, disregarding reason or the Bible

W: significance of mysticism could be reduced, the experience of subjective (unreliable, can’t be proved as true)

Question 23

Examples of mystical experiences

Answer 23

could consist of dreams, visions or inner voices
could use the Bible to get a word from God, they could not take into consideration the wider meaning when doing this
W: significance of mysticism could be effected again - it could be hugely significant to the individuals revelation, but what would it mean for wider revelation?
Moses and the burning bush (exodus)

Question 24

Holy Spirit’s role in mysticism

Answer 24

Holy Spirit discloses himself through the passions of Christ
‘he will give you another advocate to help and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth’, John 14:16-17
enlightens the mind to the nature of God and his works
Holy Spirit is how Christians experience God

Question 25

Pentacost

Answer 25

Holy spirit is sent on day of the Pentecost - Acts 2

Born - lives - dies - resurrects - ascends - Pentecost (holy spirit comes down on the day of the Pentecost)

Question 26

revealed theology for mysticism

Answer 26

Could argue that the Bible, as revealed theology, is, to an extent, the result of mystical experiences, e.g. Moses and the burning bush (exodus)
hugely significant, Bible is reliant on mystical experiences to be revealed theology
Sola scripture - through scripture alone - works with the Holy Spirit to ensure the Bible is a living document of faith but would NOT undermine the truth or revelation of the Bible