Jesus

Question 1

Richard Dawkins quote on Jesus as a moral teacher:

Answer 1

“Jesus was a great moral teacher” - Richard Dawkins

Question 2

Jesus as a teacher of wisdom - Introduction

Answer 2

Jesus may be best understood as a teacher or wisdom, with the “message” Jesus has for the people today by being a moral message that has been carried far beyond time and the setting in which it first occurred. Jesus had a moral wisdom from valuable insights into the Hebrew traditiond which he applied life for everyone

Question 3

Teacher of wisdom: A Rabbi with a special message

Answer 3

A rabbi = educated teachers who interpret the law surrounded by followers. Term of respect
He spoke on moral issues and ideas, his main topics of the importance of love, self sacrifice, concern for the poor and the dispossessed, the importance of honesty, justice and peace
Jesus was a teacher, providing guidance and advice on the application of the law to moral problems

Question 4

Teacher of wisdom: Rabbi Quote - Mark 11:21

Answer 4

Peter to Jesus - “Rabbi look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

Question 5

Jesus’ Moral Teaching - Overview 📰

Answer 5

His wisdom is a message of repentance and forgiveness (i.e. to repenr and believe the good news)
He continually speaks of forgiveness of sins, healing the sick and spending time with rejected groups of people and sinners
His mind set has always been one of hope for mankind and those thrown out by society
His vision is a universal one of healing, bringing God and all of humanity back together again. This is the wisdom of his good news.

Question 6

Teacher of wisdom - Quote about forgiving sins: Luke 7:47

Answer 6

“Therefore; I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - as her great love has shown”

Question 7

Teacher of wisdom: Jesus as a moral reformer or revolution against the rules of the Torah? Quote from Sermon on the Mount

Answer 7

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am come not to destroy but to fulfil”

Question 8

Teacher of wisdom: “I have come not to destroy but to fulfil” - Ambiguity of statement

Answer 8

Did Jesus think the essence of the Torah has been lost so that as a reformer he was returning it to its original purpose?
Or
Did he think that the arrival of the kingdom of God the Torah would be replaced, so that his teaching was a preparation for the new order?

Question 9

Teacher of wisdom: Parables in which demonstrate Jesus’ moral teaching

Answer 9

The Good Samartian - The Good Samaritan helped a marginalised man when everyone else walked past him
The Prodigal Son - Father’s forgiveness for sinning a lot and spending all of the money he was given
Sheep and Goats - Sheep go to heaven and Goats go to hell - Be a good Christian

Question 10

Teacher or wisdom: Sermon on the Mount - Teaching before Miracles chapter

Answer 10

The sermon comes at the start of Jesus’ Ministry and is followed by 2 chapters devoted to miracles

Matthew is perhaps trying to highlight Jesus as a teacher rather than a miracle worker

Question 11

Content of Jesus’ Moral Teaching - Words

Answer 11

Love 
Forgiveness 
Repentance 
Overturning social norms
Power and wealth

Question 12

Teacher of wisdom: Quotes about moral teaching: love

Answer 12

Love of neighbours - “love your neighbour as you love yourself”
Matthew 22:39

Question 13

Teacher of wisdom: Rewording the commandments

Answer 13

“Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth”
Vs
“Thou shalt not…”

Question 14

Teachers of wisdom: Overturning social norms - Quote about menstruation - Luke 8:43

Answer 14

“She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge or blood ceased” - Luke 8:43

Question 15

Teacher of wisdom: Power and Wealth Quote - Matthew 19:21

Answer 15

Jesus said: “if you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” - Matthew 19:21

Question 16

Jesus’ Moral Teaching: Forgiveness and Repentance

Answer 16

Metanoia - More than merely saying sorry, but desire to change a whole way of life
For example: Zacchaeus - offered to pay back all the money to those he has cheated

Question 17

Responses to Jesus as a teacher: Hick 🎁☯️✡☯️🕎✝️

Answer 17

If Jesus is presented as a teacher of wisdom, this allows the acceptance of other important leaders of wisdom: Moses, Buddha, Muhammed
These teachers are “gifts to the world”
Only once the supernatural element of Jesus’ life are reinterpreted as symbols of his close relationship with God that Christianity will be able to enter into a healthy dialogue with other religious

Question 18

Responses to Jesus as teacher of wisdom: Wittgenstein 🤞

Answer 18

Truth and authority of Christianity lay not in God’s promise of redemption but living life as honesty as possible. What gave Jesus authority was his role as a teacher of wisdom. He admired Jesus affirmed authentic human living, his commitment to truth, his courage to speak against hypocrisy

Question 19

Responses to Jesus as teacher of wisdom: Christopher Hitchens

Answer 19

Atheist
Argues against Jesus as a great moral teacher and several of his teachings: for example, he wrote; “if only non sinners have the right to punish then how could an imperfect society ever determine how to prosecute offenders?”

Question 20

Responses to Jesus as a Teacher of Wisdom: C.S.Lewis

Answer 20

Criticised those who accepted Jesus as a teacher of wisdom but not the Son of God - can’t have one thing without the other
“I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God - that is the one thing we must NOT say”

Question 21

Jesus: Liberator of the marginalised - Overview

Answer 21

Figure of political, religious and social challenge
Wanted to liberate people from sin and death
Conflict with authorities
Involved in arguments with Pharisees over religious law
Arrested at the Sandhedrin - Jewish Council and handed over to Pontious Pilate to be executed
Liberator of the poor, marginalised
Revolutionary Jew
Political Revolutionary
Social Revolutionary

Question 22

Jesus: Liberator of the poor: S.G.F Brandon

Answer 22

The historical Jesus was politically driven freedom fighter but that later presentations of him in the gospels toned this down and re wrote passage to make him a pacifist
Jesus presented as politically neutral by the Church
Jesus had a bias towards the poor and needy

Question 23

Jesus: Liberator of the church - Gustavo Guiterrez

Answer 23

Christ is fully engaged with affairs of the world
If this doesn’t happen… all the characters in the Gospel become fictional stereotypes rather than actual people engaged with the same kind of issues we have today

Question 24

Jesus: Liberator - Leonardo Boff Quote

Answer 24

“Jesus Christ as the Liberator seeks to be committed to the economic social and political liberation of those groups that are oppressed and dominated”

Question 25

Jesus: Liberator - Jesus as a Zealot - Camilo Torres Restrepo

Answer 25

Roman Catholic Priest who joined the communist people’s army as a soldier in the guerilla war against the government troops
“If Jesus were alive today, he would be a guerillo”

Question 26

Jesus: Liberator of the Marginalised - “Sinners”

Answer 26

Despised trades:
Tax Collectors
Dung Collectors

Sexually Impure:
Prostitutes
Bastard

Religious Heretics:
Samaritans

Jesus also mixed with “people of the land” -
Uneducated who were largely ignorant of the finer points of the Torah: Farmers/ Fisherman/ Servants/ Labourers
His teachings frequently used sinners and people of the land as examples of the moral life rather than religious leaders
Jesus kept table fellowship with tax collectors prostitutes and thieves
Table fellowship for Pharisees = Precise standards of religious ritual

Question 27

Jesus: Liberator - Challenge to political authority - Roman taxes

Answer 27

Political against roman taxes

Question 28

Jesus: Liberator - Evaluation: E.P Sanders and Geza Vermes ✡

Answer 28

Think that Jesus was more Jewish than Christian Tradition admits
Their views include concerns that:
Gospels added stories to suggest tension between Jesus and Judaism (e.g. Sanders doubts there were really Pharisees waiting to surprise the disciples picking corn in the grain fields on the Sabbath
Jesus lived his life as a Jew with Jews. References to non-Jews like Samaritans could be later additions
Jesus didn’t reject or replace the Jewish law

Question 29

Jesus: Liberator - Evaluation: N.T.Wright - Quote

Answer 29

” I am not saying… that Jesus rejected his own religious culture. I am saying that Jesus offered a fresh interpretation of the scriptural tradition which he shared with his Jewish contemporaries. His was a critique from within”

Question 30

Jesus: Son of God - Overview

Answer 30

Authority comes from carrying out God’s will in a special way and acting on God’s behalf
He was God - or rather God embodied in human form
God the son is not a phrase Jesus used himself - it was his followers that used this to describe his unique relationship with God

Question 31

Jesus Son of God Bible Quote - Mark 9:11

Answer 31

Mark 9:11 - “ And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”

Question 32

Jesus: Son of God - Quote from Church Leader 451AD

Answer 32

In 451AD a council of church leaders defined Jesus as: “one and the same son, the same perfect in manhood, truly God, and truly Lord Jesus Christ”

Question 33

Jesus: Son of God - Quote Mark 15:39

Answer 33

“Truly this man was God’s son” - Mark 15:39

Question 34

Jesus: Son of God - Authority

Answer 34

Authority comes from carrying out God’s will in a special way and acting on God’s behalf. He was God - or rather God embodied in human form

Question 35

Jesus: Son of God - “God the son”

Answer 35

“God the son” is not a phrase Jesus used himself - it was his followers that used this to describe his unique relationship with God
In Jewish terms “God the son” refers to the King, as someone chosen by God to carry out his will on Earth
Messiah or Christos
Son of God and Christ are equivalent in terms

Question 36

Jesus: Son of God - Transfiguration

Answer 36

Jesus seems uniquely close to God at his baptism and the transfiguration
The New Testament applied the term God to Jesus - God’s only son
Early Christians identified Jesus as God

Question 37

Jesus: Son of God - Jesus’ knowledge of God

Answer 37

The relationship between Jesus and God / The Father is mysterious. Jesus calls God “Abba” = Father
But never calls himself the son
God calls him the “son” at the baptism
“This is my beloved son, in who I am well pleased”

Question 38

Jesus: Son of God - Christology

Answer 38

The nature of Jesus’ relationship with God
The type of Christology Christians believe in changes what they think is meant by salvation
Christology from above (high christology) - Focuses on Jesus’ divinity and God’s act of bringing humanity back into a relationship with Him
Christology from below - (low Christology) - Focuses on Jesus’ message, example and teaching. Salvation focuses on how people respond to Jesus the way this helps to develop their relationships with God and the world
Even Christians who hold a high Christology position realise the difficulty of claiming Jesus knew he was the Son of God if at the same time it is also thought that he was fully human

Question 39

Jesus Son of God - John 10:30 (1)

Answer 39

“The father and I are one”

Question 40

Jesus Son of God: Contradiction - John 14:28

Answer 40

“The Father is greater than I” - John 14:28
Contradicts
“The father and I are one” - John 10:30
Because as a human he could not be as all knowing and all powerful as God

Question 41

Jesus: Son of God - How the churches resolved the question of Jesus’ humanity (Hypostatic Union)

Answer 41

Hypostatic Union - Jesus was fully God, and fully human, indivisible - 2 natures United in one being - Council of Chalcedon
One person - 2 natures - human and divine
Christ must be human to be representative of humanity

Question 42

Jesus: Son of God - Ancient Puzzle

Answer 42

How Jesus “knows” God is an ancient puzzle. If Jesus is God and human, does that mean he had 2 beings inhabiting one body with one in power over the other?
While this explains how Jesus could know God, it would mean that Jesus is both God and a separate human being

Question 43

Jesus: Son of God - How human was Jesus?

Answer 43

To save humanity from sin, Jesus had to be God
If Jesus was human, wouldn’t he have been corrupted by sin?
If Jesus did not feel pain, and did not die from the crucifixion, that would mean he wasn’t a real human
But… if Jesus was God, does that mean that he didn’t really suffer on the cross? How can God suffer?

Question 44

Jesus: Son of God - Jesus is true God and true human being

Answer 44

He had a human birth,
Physically died
Grew up in a normal human way,
Jesus had to be true God and true human being in order to be our saviour -
True God - He had to be true God in order for his perfect life - Not corrupted by sin and his death given for all

Question 45

Jesus: Son of God - What was the extent of Jesus’ knowledge? - Gerald O’ Collins - Quote

Answer 45

Gerald O’Collins said that Jesus was intuitively aware of his divine reality. “He knew that he stood a unique relationship to the Father and that as his Son he had a mission of salvation to others”

Question 46

Jesus: Son of God - What was the extent of Jesus’ self knowledge? - Karl Rahner 🧅

Answer 46

Karl Rahener - A genuine human consciousness must have an unknown future in front of it
If Jesus was conscious of God the Father’s awareness of all time, then his view of life can hardly be called a human one. He said that Jesus was like an onion with layers
Psychologists often describe human self-awareness as having layers like an onion. We have deep understandings of ourself which are not always in the surface of our consciousness.

Question 47

Jesus: Son of God - Birth and Incarnation

Answer 47

Incarnation - Literally means “in flesh” and is one of the central Christian teachings that God became flesh as a human being in Jesus
Miracle Virgin Birth - Mary - Theotokos - Godbearer
For God to restore humans to a state of perfection after the Fall, he had to become human

Question 48

Jesus: Son of God - Examples of healing

Answer 48

John 9:1-41 - Healing a man born blind

The man literally and metaphorically “sees” Jesus - Opens his eyes to the truth of his teaching

Question 49

Jesus: Son of God - Miracles - Examples / References

Answer 49

In the NT, Jesus is shown to be a miracle worker:
Healing the sick (Mark 7:37)
Driving out the demon - (Mark 7:37)
Calming the storm (Mark 6:47-52) - Jesus was walking on water and he saw the disciples struggling against the wind and sat in the boat
“Then he climbed on the boat with them and the wind died down”

Question 50

Jesus: Son of God - Interpretation of Miracles - N.T. Wright 🕴👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 and Hume ❌ - Catholic Church 💪✝️

Answer 50

N.T.Wright - Through miracles Jesus is reuniting socially excluded groups back into a relationship with God
Hume - We have no experience of miracles today so it is not possible to trust the Bible accounts
Catechism of Catholic Church - Miracles strengthen faith in Jesus; they bear witness that he is the Son of God