Test 1 Flashcards
How did Freud challenge belief in God
God is merely a projection of the mind
How did Durkheim challenge belief in God
God is merely an invention of society to control its citizens
How did Marx challenge belief in God
God is merely an opiat of the people
How did Altizer challenge belief in God
God is dead
Explain the claim that God is meaningless
not the same as God does not exist
What is the problem of religious language?
language cannot always ascribe due glory to God
What is potential problem with textual criticism?
reliability is questionable
no original manuscripts of ancient writings
naturalism
the universe requires no supernatural cause
it is self-existent and self-directing
Marxism
dialectical materialism
empiricism
basic economic determinism
class structure of society
pantheism
the universe is God
nihilism
nothing exists, or is knowable, or is valuable
panpsychism
all of nature consists of psychic centers similar to the human mind
pantheistic monism
there is only 1 things in the universe
panentheism
universe and God are the same thing
scientism
considers the scientific method all-knowing
Jewish challenges: how Jesus could be the Messiah if Israel rejected Him
Jesus drew attention to the failure of His Hearers to believe his message and pointed out that they were merely carrying on the Jewish tradition of rejecting God’s message
Jesus confronted their disobedience and linked it to similar instances
Contrast the views on how apologetics must be done before, along with, or after theology.
Before: knowledge of God forms the subject-matter of theology
Along With: defense of the doctrines expressed in the symbols of the church
After: theology builds the system and apologetics defends it
What is pluralism?
a condition or system in which two or more groups coexist
What is relativism?
the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality are not absolute
What is subjectivism
the doctrine that knowledge is merely subjective and that there is no objective truth
the general strategy of the apologists of the second century
answer the Jews by showing that Christianity was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy
answer the gentile philosophy by showing that Christianity was compatible with the best ethics and philosophy
the view of Justin Martyr
attempted to show that the wisdom of the philosophers was from the Logos speaking to them, and their content is presented more clearly in God’s revelation in the Bible
the view of Tertullian
Christianity’s message is proved by the lives of Christians
For what reasons are people fideists?
faith cannot be supported by reason
the objects of faith are beyond the mind’s ability to grasp
the fall has left man’s mind incapable of reasoning about God
