Fom Study Guide

Final Review

Grenz and Olson

3. What represents the greatest chasm between the merely knowledgeable lay Christian thinker and the truly reflective lay theologian?

* Perhaps the largest hurdle of greatest chasm between the merely knowledgeable lay Christian thinker and the truly reflective lay theologian is the ability to think about Christian truth critically and constructively.

Introducing Christianity

2. What's the central theme of Jesus' teaching?

* The Kingdom of God

3. Why was Christianity perceived as a threat to the Roman Empire?

* Because their belief proclaimed that Jesus is their Lord and met in secret places, believers refused to worship idols, and they were accused for atheism because they worshipped an invisible God

9. What are the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed? Know difference between them

* Apostle's Creed-

o Text used in Christian worship

o Early church documents

o Father, Son, Holy Spirit

* Nicene Creed-

o Earliest official creed

o Combats Arianism

o Heresy taught that Jesus was fully divine and human

10. What role did women play in the early church and how did their role change as the church became more institutionalized?

* Women disciples played an important part in the early Christian church

* Changed as Christian movement became more Roman, male oriented

* Women were gradually excluded from official leadership in the church

11. Who was the first Roman emperor to become a Christian?

* Constantine

12. Why is the Edict of Milan important in the Church's History?

* Stopped the persecution of Christians

13. What are icons?

* Pictoral images of saints or special events in the life of the church

14. Why do some Christians ask saints and martyrs to intercede for them?

* The saints and martyrs were said to be alive after death and said to be present in heaven with Christ after death and their presence in heaven placed them closer to God so their prayers would be better heard than those of the humble Christians on earth

15. Be familiar with each of the three Latin slogans summarizing the "cry of the Reformation" and what they mean.

* Sola scriptura is the principle that the church must base its doctrines, practices, and ethics on the Bible alone.

* Sola fides teaches that salvation from sin does not come from living a good life or doing good deeds, but from putting one's faith in Jesus Christ.

* Sola gratia, salvation is a free gift that comes through grace alone, and can not be earned.

16. What important conclusion did Luther reach concerning work or labor?

* Any job a Christian does, when pleasing to God, is a calling or vocation, from the Lord. All labor that is pleasing to God and done according to God's purpose is an appropriate expression of religious devotion.

18. According to Bruyneel and Padgett, what sociopolitical ideas did Calvinism help spread?

* Capitalism and democracy

Christian college, Christian calling

1. What does Dan Speak suggest is the goal of discipleship?

* It's not simply to conform our outward lives to him, but to come to think, feel, reason, and then act like him.

2. Be familiar with the key components of Aristotle's and Kant's ethical theories.

* Aristotle- Right actions depend on right character rather than the other way around. Admiration is morally more important than praise and blame. Imitation is absolutely necessary so you become good only by practice. Good people perform the right actions by habit. That is to say that you haven't really become good until you have developed a natural disposition to do what is right. A good person is someone who is no longer trying to be good, but who simply has goodness flowing out of them by nature. (17-18)

* Kant- insisting that only a good will is truly good. Kant concludes that intelligence, perseverance, honesty, and just about every other good trait are really only good under the right conditions. He argues that a person has a good will when he attempts to do what is right simply because it is right. We find one of the clearest accounts in history of an ethics is based on duty. What moves you is at least as important as what you actually do. Kant was also deeply troubled by the way that many people determine what they should do by considering what would result from the action. Kant makes this point by saying we out never to treat people as means only but always at the same time as "ends in themselves." A person's value is unconditional. (18-21)

3. Why does Dennis Okholm suggest studying church history is important to the Christian?

* Studying church history helps us to make sense of the past, helps us to put the present in perspective, gives us guidance for the future, helps us to understand the Christian faith better in community with others "whose rest is won," as that great hymn "The Church's One Foundation" puts it, based on the fact that our only access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ through history, and finally because it helps to develop our spiritual lives. (90-94)

Class Notes

1. What does theanthropic mean?

* Jesus represents the permanent joining of the eternal Word or 2nd person of the Trinity with humanity.

3. Be able to identify and describe each of the attempts to describe the union between God and man in Christ that the early church

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