God Flashcards
(21 cards)
Christian monotheism
christians believe that there is one God who is known through three persons - father, son and Holy spirit. This is known as the trinity.
-Trinity = three in one. The father, son and Holy spirit are in perfect unity with one another. They all make up one eternal God.
- Monotheism is seen in the old testament, which made clear to jews that Israel’s God alone should be worshipped.
- sinai covenant - agreement made through Moses between God and Israel: ‘if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasures possession’ - (Exodus 19:5)
- ‘hear, O Israel: The lord our God, the Lord is one’ Deuteronomy 6:4
- ’ you shall have no other Gods before me’ (exodus20)
ethical monotheism
belief in one God includes following the moral codes linked to that belief
e.g following Gods 10 commandments
- there is one God who is the author/creator of morality - the ‘good’ is what God has commanded
(DCT)
the trinity
God is three in one
“God is not solitude but perfect communion” (Pope Benedict XV1)
-“Make disciples of all nations and baptise them in the name of the father, son and Holy spirit” (Jesus, The Great Commission)
-Belief is set out in the Nicene Creed and apostles creed
-God is the father - omnipotent creator and controller of everything
- God the son - Jesus Christ, the incarnate son of God
-God the Holy Spirit- immanent in the world today ‘advocate’ for humans
all three were present at creation
all three possess eternity, omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevelonce
Relationship between the three is one of mutual indwelling
moltmann says the relationship is one of mutual self-giving and receiving love
God the father
the omnipotent creator and controller of everything
-God created everything out of nothing- creation ex nihilo
-God created everything out of nothing - creation ex nihilo
-God is transcendent- He is outside of space and time
God is referred to in the Bible as ‘King’, emphasising his control over everything (AO2 anthropomorphic language, gender based)
-“In the beginnig, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1 )
-“With God, all things are possible” (Jesus, Matthew 19)
God as omnipotent
views
Descartes -omnipotence means that God can do absoloutley anything incuding the logically impossible. For example God can make a square circle or make 2+2=5. All logic comes from God, meaning that God can change logic or suspend it for a time
Aquinas- God can do only the logically possible. God can only do what is possioble and which does not lead to a contradiction - therefore, He cannot create a square circle, because a square circle cannot exist. God can only do what a perfect God can do - so he cannot sin, because this is not a part of his logical nature. Richard swinburne agrees with this
Peter Vardy- God is limited by the universe He has chosen to create. In creating the universe, God has decided that he would only operate within the natural laws he created, thus self-imposing a limitation on his power. If the universe is carefully fine- tuned, then any undue influence from God would upset the balance (link to epistemic distance)
(would this not limit God)
Jesus as the son of God
“I and the father are one” (John 10:30)
“The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Gospel of John)
“The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John the Baptist)
“I am the way the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the father except through me” (jesus)
christians believe that Jesus is the incarante son of God
- Jesus’ authority is from God, whos has sent Him into the world in order to save humanity from sin. His crucifiction is the act of atonement that restores the relationship between heaven and earth - ‘christ died for our sins’ (St Paul)
-John 10:30
“i and the father are one”
“i and the father are one” - John 10:30
two views
unity of essence
unity of purpose
unity of essence
- same divine substance
-Jesus is the incarnate son of God - He is fully divine
- Nicene creed son is ‘consubstantial’ with the father (‘of one substance with’)
-Doctrine of the trinity - father, son, Holy Spirit
-Father, son and Holy S|pirit have all eternlly existed, all present at creation and all share divinity.
unity of purpose
- Jesus is fully human but shares the same message as God
- Jesus is ‘chosen’ by God to share his message but He is not the incarnate of God. He was born to human beings and took on God’s work e.g adoptionism
“father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours will be done”(Jesus)
ao2: does this make more sense? does this undermine key Christian beliefs?
christians- jesus as the son of God
- christians believe that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God
- He is 100% human and 100% divine
- His miraculous birth and 37 miracles and resurrection demonstrate his divinity.
- Jesus’ authority is from God, who has sent Him into the world in order to save humanity from sin. His crucifixion is the act of atonement that restores the relationship between heaven and earth. ‘Christ died for our sins’ (st Paul)
God as personal
-The belief that humans can relate to God and have a personal relationship with him
-Providence - Divine guidance and care. God is concerned with/cares for the world
- God is immanent - involved with the world, concerned for the world and accessible to human beings.
- This is seen is the person of Jesus Christ. ‘The word became flesh’ (Gospels)
- This is seen in the Holy Spirits active presence in the world today and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of each believer.
-“the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”(Gospel of John)
God as father
- The Nicene creed refers to ‘the father Almighty’
- in the biblical world,, this was not just a term relating to the family. In a patriarchal context, the oldest male in the society was responsible for/respected by/had absolute control over the rest of the group.
-old testament references to God as father attributes him to a number of roles.
-creating the universe
-setting standards for behaviour e.g 10 commandments
-Exercising justice- rewarding obedience and punishing misdemeanours
new testament refernces also include ideas of power, but also protective love
in the parable of the forgiving father, jesus teaches that God has unconditional and ceasless love for his children (humanity)
- Jesus teaches his disciples to pray the ‘our father’
God as father con
Mary Daly feminist
‘if God is male then male is God’
is this patriarchal and problematic
God as king
-monarchy was a familiar concept for most of the biblical period.
- the monarchs authority was absoloute - is it unsuprising that an omnipotent God was reffered to as king. This title conveys God power and control over the universe.
God is referred to as ‘king’; for examole in the parable of the sheep and goats.
Jesus referred to the kingdom of God over 80 times in the new testament
- Jesus was associated with the inauguration of the kingdom of God
-There are different interpretations and understandings of this phrase
some understand it as a transformation of this word (e.g. liberation theologians)
others understand it as a future eschatological state e.g. heaven
some understand it as being both
could be anthropomorphic
God as love
‘God is love’ (1John)
-‘for God so loved the world he gave his one and only son’ (John 3:16)
-the old testament used the Hebrew term ‘hesed’ - ‘steadfast love’ - to depict Gods dependable commitment to the covenant with Israel
the new testament used the Greek term agape - unconditional and selfless love- to depict Jesus’ self giving and unconditional love for humanity
Weaknesses- Problem of evil and suffering even in the bible noahs ark
religious language flews falsification principle - Flew God loves us - child with incurable cancer. theists do not falsify their beliefs about God, they qualify them instead
anthropomorphic language strengths
-used in the Bible which is the infallible word of God for christians (sources of wisdom and authority)
-Jesus was God in human form
-Helps christians understand God
-Helps christians to develop a relationship with God by seeing Him as ‘father’
-metaphorical langauage helps christians to understand Gods nature/attributes
-reflects Gods immanence and involvment with the world
anthropomorphic language weaknesses
-apophatic way/via negativa is the right way- God is wholly other, cannot be described using human language
-places limitations on God - human description undermines His perfection.
- My lead to misunderstanding God
- n eternal and transcendent God cannot be adequately described using words.
-God becomes a projection of human and we start to make God ‘in our image’
- Mary Daly - ‘if God is male then male is God’ - patriarchal problems with language
process theology-
God is not the creator or omnipotent
process theologians such as David Griffin believed that God is not the creator of the universe and that God is not omnipotent.
“It is as true to say that God creates the World, as that the world creates God” - AN whitehead
the universe is in God and God is in the universe
- The universe has always existed - bioth the universe and God are uncreated and eternal. The relationship between the universe and God is panentheistic.
- God does not control but instead he persuades - his role in relation to the universe is to persuade it into order and complexity. This has gone on for 13.8 billion years, using the processes of the Big Bang and Evolution
whilst this might offer a solution to the problem of evil Roth said Griffins God is ‘weak and pathetic’ and so is not worth of worship. process theology contradicts much of traditional Christianity
process theology strengths
-it has support from quantum mechanics “Quantum mechanics tells us that the future is open within certain constraints”
- Parallels John Polkinghorne
- compatibility with big bang and evolution
-God is close to humanity/shares in our suffering.
-resolves problem of evil and suffering
process theology weaknesses
-contradicts key christian tecahings about Gods omnipotence
-contradicts key christian belief that God is the creator of the universe.
-this god is not worthy of worship.
roth ‘weak and pathetic God’
