Download Sophomores Theology II PPT

The Creation Stories:
what do we learn about God
from them?
The Goodness
of Creation:
The Primeval History
 God
is revealed as the one, true God
who sustains the whole universe.
 He created the world out of Love, for
God is Love
 All creation is good: for God is true
Goodness
 God is Truth
 God is Faithfulness, for God’s love is
steadfast and faithful (hesed (Hb)
The Primeval history
The
Creation stories from
Genesis are part of what is
called The Primeval History





Primeval history: the time before the
invention of writing and recording of historical
data.
The Genesis accounts are symbolic:
metaphorical
Told, refined, and edited together over
several centuries
From several different ancient Jewish and
other sources
Inspired by the Holy Spirit
Sacred Scriptures
 Teach
religious, not scientific, truths
 Written in figurative language.
 Figurative language is not pure
fantasy.
 Religious truth and scientific truth
ultimately should not contradict
each other.
 Faith and reason are complimentary.
Creation Reflects the Glory of
God
God
created the world to
reveal the glory of God.
 Scriptures
proclaim that creation
is a sign of the power of God.
 Creation is the work of the Trinity.
(See John 1:1-3 and Psalm 33:6)
 Tradition teaches that Creation is
the work of all three Divine
Persons of the Trinity.
Creation: The Seen and
Unseen
 Creation
also contains the unseen
such as angels.
 They are witnessed to in both
Scripture and Tradition as part of the
heavenly realm
 Spiritual beings who are servants and
messengers of God.
 Appear to humans at key moments
in salvation history.
Human Beings: The Summit of
Creation
 We
are made in the divine image.
 We possess a soul.
 Soul is immortal.
 Union of soul and body is so
complete that they cannot be
distinguished from or separated one
from another until after death.
Relationships
 God
created humans to be in
relationship/communion with each
other.
 Man and woman meant to be in
communion: a reflection of communion
between Father, Son and Spirit.
 In marriage, man and woman share in
God’s creative ability to bring new life
into the world.
Humanity’s Role
To
be in communion with God
and to respond to God’s love
by loving God in return
To serve God, specifically as
good stewards of creation.
We
are the only creatures
given free will and selfknowledge.
Out of this comes our “dignity”
which surpasses all other
creatures.
 The
Incarnation is the greatest testimony
to human dignity.
 From the beginning, humanity was
destined to “reproduce the image of
God’s son made man.”
The Garden of Eden: The
Perfect Life
 Adam
and Eve, the first man and woman,
lived in this perfect state: perfect life and
perfect place called the Garden of Eden.
 Figurative
language.
In
the beginning, humans
existed in this perfect
relationship with God and
each other.
Relationship between God
and humanity
 God
breathes life into Adam
 Original holiness-the original state of
human beings in their relationship
with God, sharing in the divine life in
full communion with him.
 God is spoken of in anthropomorphic
terms in the book of Genesis.
Original
justice-the state of
complete harmony of the first
humans with themselves, each
other, and with all of Creation.
The Fall from Grace
The Disobedience of Humanity
The
first humans, Adam and
Eve, are told by God to not eat
of the tree of knowledge of
good and bad.
Tempted by the serpent, Satan,
they eat of the fruit.
The Results:
they notice their nakedness
That is, they feel guilt and
shame.
In
other words, Adam and Eve
lost their original justice and
holiness.
No longer in loving communion
with God nor in harmony with
each other.
Called the Fall
Original Sin
 The
fall constitutes a misuse of human
freedom and a lack of trust in God.
 Original Sin: a. the sin of the first
human beings who disobeyed God’s
command and became subject to
death. b. the fallen state of human
nature that affects every person born
into the world.
Good
vs. Evil
God and Satan
Grace
It
is God’s grace from the Holy
Spirit that allows us to resist the
temptation from the evil one.
Humanity awaits the Parousia.
The Path to Restoration
God’s Promise to Adam and
Eve:
The Protoevangelium (Genesis
3:15) meaning the “first gospel.”
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
 Literal
sense: biblical interpretation that
considers the explicit meaning of the text.
 Spiritual sense: biblical interpretation that
goes beyond the literal to consider what
the realities and events of the Scriptures
signify and mean for salvation.
The Protoevangelium, in the
spiritual sense, signifies God’s
promise to send a Savior to free
humanity from the effects of the
Fall, as interpreted by the early
Church Fathers.
God’s Covenants with
Humanity
 Even
as sin increased within
humankind, God remains faithful.
 Examples: Adam and Eve’s
disobedience
 Cain and Abel’s dispute
 God still remains faithful and
forms covenant w/humanity
The Old Testament Covenants
Noah and the Flood (Genesis
6:5-9:17)





The covenants all point to the Paschal Mystery
and the final covenant in Jesus Christ.
The first explicit covenant: God destroys the earth
through a flood because of humankind’s
sinfulness.
Noah, the one just man, and his family are chosen
to survive.
God promises afterwards to never destroy the
earth again by flood: marked by rainbow.
God’s covenant extends to all the nations through
Noah’s descendants.
 The
nations are always in danger of the
effects of polytheism.
 The covenants are a sign that God is still
at work among the nations.
The Abrahamic Covenant
(Gen. 12)
God
calls a chosen people in
his plan to restore humanity’s
holiness and justice.
Three Promises:
1. To make of him a great nation
by promising many
descendants
2. A land of their own
3. They will be a blessing for all
the nations.
God asks Abraham and his
descendants:
1.
2.
3.
To walk with God
To be blameless
To practice circumcision as a
mark of the Covenant
Abraham
and his descendantsIsaac and Jacob-are called
the patriarchs of the Israelites
and revered as saints in the
Church’s liturgical tradition.
Patriarch: the father or leader
of a tribe, clan, or tradition.
The Mosaic Covenant
 The
theophany at the foot of Mt. Sinai
 God’s presence revealed in a
dramatic fashion.
 God summons Moses to the
mountaintop
 God renews the Covenant with
Moses and gives him a set of laws for
the Israelites
 The
law is summarized in the Ten
Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)
 The full law is spelled out in the rest of
Exodus and Leviticus
 Summarized again in Deuteronomy
 Called the Mosaic Law or Old Law
 Keeping the Law becomes a sign of
faithfulness to the Covenant.
The Mosaic Covenant (cont.)
The
first five books of the
Hebrew Scriptures (our Old
Testament) come to be known
as the Torah- the Hebrew word
for “law” or “teaching.”
The Davidic Covenant
King
David is told by the
prophet Nathan, “your house
and your kingdom shall endure
forever before me; your throne
shall stand firm forever.”
 The
kings of Israel and Judah come
from the line of David until the
destruction of the kingdom in 598 BC.
 Christians see the New Covenant
established in Christ who is said to be
a direct descendant of David.
 The Paschal Mystery is the final and
complete fulfillment of the Covenant
with God.
The Growing Messianic Hope
 Judges
and monarchies of Israel have a
role in God’s plan of salvation.
 The monarchy firmly establishes the
Israelites as God’s Chosen People
 Jerusalem Temple is the seat of religious
ritual practices and worship
 The great kings, such as David and
Solomon, foreshadow the kingship of
Christ
The Prophets
 God’s
spokespersons
 Watchdogs of the Covenant and Law
 Warn the people to be faithful to the
Covenant
 Warn them of the consequences of
unfaithfulness
Prophets (continued)
 Often
subjected to ridicule, torture, and
even death
 Israelites faithfulness essential to God’s
plan of salvation
 They begin to sense God’s greater plan to
restore right relationship with God and
one another and to redeem all humanity.
Prophets Reveal Hope
 Give
a vision of a New Covenant and a
new kingdom
 Brought about through a “messiah” or
“anointed one.”
 Mashiach or
http://www.jewfaq.org/mashiach.htm
The Word Became Flesh
 The
Paschal Mystery: The Eternal Son of
God assumed human flesh in order to
redeem humankind
 The
New Testament writers showed how
many of the Hebrew Scriptures’ (OT)
prophecies referred to Jesus.
God Prepares the Way:
Mary’s Faith and Trust
Vocabulary
 Annunciation
 Theotokos
 Immaculate
 clement
Conception
 Mary
shows her complete faith and trust in
the Annunciation
 She proclaims, “I am the handmaid of the
Lord. May it be done to me according to
your word.” (Luke 1:38)
 Mary
commits to her role in God’s plan of
salvation by becoming the Theotokos.
 By giving her “fiat,” her yes, to the
Incarnation, Mary collaborates with the
Divine Plan-her Son’s mission of salvation.
 According
to the Church, Mary was free
of Original Sin and remained free of
personal sin.
 This doctrine is called the Immaculate
Conception.
 Mary bears a son through the power of
the Holy Spirit
 Joseph becomes the earthly foster father
of Jesus.
 Jesus
is called the New Adam.
 He ushers in a new Heaven and earth.
 Mary remains a virgin her entire life.
Joseph’s Faith and Trust
 Joseph,
Mary’s husband is called a
“righteous man.”
 Joseph receives the news from an angel
(Matthew’s Gospel) that Mary will bear a
child through the Holy Spirit
 Joseph exhibits his trust in God by
following the advice of the angelic
pronouncements.
St. Joseph, Patron Saint
 Patron
saint of the universal Church
 Of happy death,
 Workers
 Fathers
 Many countries
 Feast days: March 19 and May 1.
The Gospel and Christological
Prophecies
 The
first Christians came to realize that
much of Jesus’ life and mission was
foreshadowed in the Hebrew Scriptures
(Old Testament.)
 The Church saw these Christological
prophecies as God’s revealing how his
plan would be fulfilled in his relationship
with the Chosen People.
Why the Word Became Flesh
 The
sense that the great mysteries of our
faith, the doctrines, fit together and
support one another and are connected
with the whole of Revelation is called the
analogy of faith.
The Incarnation
 The
Word of God became incarnate, that
is, assumed human nature without losing
his divine nature.
 “True God and true man” (Nicene Creed)
Reasons for the Incarnation
To reconcile us with God through the
forgiveness of sin.
 Jesus Christ takes on the sins of humanity.
 God sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
That we might know the depth of God’s
love.
 In the death of Jesus, God shows his great
unconditional love for all humankind.
To be our model of holiness
 As man, Jesus shows us how to be holy in
our everyday lives.
 At the Transfiguration, the Father says,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
(Mark 9:7)
 At the Last Supper, Jesus tells his disciples,
“This is my commandment: love one
another as I love you.” (John 15:12)
To makes us partakers of the Divine Nature
 God desires us to share in God’s divine life
 God desires us to become the fullness of
the image of God we were made to be.
To destroy the power of the devil
 On our own, we could not defeat the
power of Satan
 The Son of God destroyed the works of
the devil
 Therefore, strengthened by faith and the
gifts of the Spirit, Satan has lost power
over us.
The Titles of Jesus the Christ
Jesus is given several titles that indicate his
role and importance in salvation history.
Jesus
 The
earthly name given to the son of Mary
 Means, “God saves” in Hebrew.
 In Luke, Mary is told she will bear a son
and name his Jesus.
Christ
 Comes
from the word “Christos” which is
Greek translation of the word messiah.
 Means “anointed.”
 In the OT, kings, priests, and prophets
were anointed.
 Jesus Christ is anointed by the Father with
the Holy Spirit as priest, prophet, and king.
 Brings hope and salvation to all.
Son of God
 In
the OT, this title is often used for angels,
the people of Israel, and for Israel’s kings.
 Signifies a special relationship with God.
 Signifies a unique relationship between
Jesus and the Father.
 In the Baptism and at the Transfiguration,
the Father announces, “This is my beloved
Son.” (Matt 3:17, 17:5)
Son of God (cont.)
 Jesus
is the one and only mediator who
can restore the damaged relationship
between God and humanity.
Lord
A
title of respect used in Jesus’ time.
 Lord is from the Greek used to refer to
God instead of “Yahweh.”
 Indicates a special title of significance for
Jesus.