The person of Jesus Christ Flashcards
(33 cards)
Zeffirelli
‘Christians have no problem accepting Christ as holy, as God. But they always have problems accepting him as a human being’.
When was Jesus described as the son of God?
New Testament and by early church.
What does Jesus as the son of God link to?
Trinity and Incarnation- God becomes human.
What leads us to think Jesus is the son of God?
He calls God ‘Abba’ (Greek for Father).
Heavenly voices call Jesus ‘my son’.
But Jesus never explicitly says that Jesus is the ‘son’ in himself.
What is a problem with Jesus being human?
Paul wrote humans have a sinful corrupting nature.
St Augustine ‘Doctrine of Original Sin’.
We are ‘seminally present’ in Adam and Eve.
Argument for Jesus being Divine:
Jesus has to be Divine as only God has this redemptive power.
Argument against Jesus being Divine:
Did Jesus really suffer on the cross? God is perfect, he cannot suffer.
Was it simply performative? A guilt trip? An attempt to instil fear?
What do Church’s say about the nature of God?
The Church of Chalcedon, ‘Truly God and truly man’.
Karl Rahner:
For Jesus to be genuinely human, he cannot know the future.
If Jesus had his Father’s awareness of all time, would not know the future.
Rahner’s solution: onion.
Jesus’ outside layers were human, but deep down is his Divine consciousness.
What does Rahner’s onion link?
Freud’s Id, Ego, Superego.
Deep layers we have a conscious we do not know about.
Who challenges Rahner’s idea?
Gerald O Collins.
Understanding God is difficult because he left no writings.
Hick criticism to Jesus being the son of God:
- Jesus may not have been the only one.
Muhammed, Guru Nanak.
BUT, Incarnation is different to other religions and Christ IS Christianity, whereas Islam is not BASED on Islam. So, Christ must have a unique relationship with God.
CS Lewis on Jesus as the son of God:
Describes Jesus as a ‘lunatic’.
You cannot accept each thing as separate, he has to be all three.
Importance of miracles:
Could walk on water, cure the blind man.
Who criticised miracles?
Hume’s ‘Essays on Miracles’ says there are no miracles in present day. So not possible to say that Jesus walked on water?
But surely that is because we are getting more immoral? Augustine believes our punishment is being distanced from God.
Support FOR miracles:
Arguably still happening today, just with us becoming more secular, we do not recognise them as miracles anymore, but merely coincidences.
William James says this secularism in ‘The Varieties of Religious Experiences’ calls us ‘sick souls’.
Miracles as metaphorical:
Surely the story of Genesis is metaphorical, incoherent to punish all humans.
Also St. Paul being blind for three days can be metaphorical for the trinity and also reincarnation.
Bible cleverly constructed.
We have to trust that the Gospel writers were being truthful.
Who did Jesus focus on helping?
Those excluded from society. The blind man eg. Bartimaeus.
Reunites the socially excluded with God.
(NT Wright)
Examples of miracles:
- Bleeding woman
- Healing the blind
- Resurrection
Bleeding woman:
- Overturned social norms by having women as followers. (Mary Magdalene)
- Heals a woman through touch, radical at this time as women were viewed as ‘temptresses’.
- Shows that he was seen as a ‘different case’.
The Blind Man:
Not initially believed.
Pharisees investigated and found it was actually true.
But it was still rejected.
Resurrection:
- Women supposedly found him.
- Doubting Thomas.
- Leads to the new religion, Christianity.
- Christianity is based ON CHRIST.
Jesus as a teacher of wisdom:
- Advocated for repentance, healing of sick and idea of Good Samaritan.
- Agape, like Fletcher’s situation ethics.
Dawkins seeing Jesus as a moral teacher:
‘Jesus was a great moral teacher’.
