Date

Intro
Test Prep
Judaism
Oct 4: Islam
Midterm Exam
New Testament
Nicene Creed 352 C
Members of the Church
Salvation

Date
● Notes

Intro
● Religion vs Spirituality
○ Spirituality does not have to be connected to religion, but it usually is
○ Spirituality is the relationship we establish with the divine, usually through religion
● What brings people to god?
○ Experiences of Awe
■ Miracle
■ Birth/witnessing life
■ Love
○ Experiences of Perplexity
■ Creation of life, the beginning
■ After life
■ The universe

Test Prep
● Exodus:
○ Founding event in old testmnet
○ Israelites felt liberates from a time of difficulty
○ Israelites offered alternative to violent mesoptamian myth
● New testament
○ Founding event: Jesus
● Ascent and Descent
○ Theosis: divinization of humanity
● Creeds
○ Conceptual reflection of the experiences of jesus (the divine)
○ an authoritative formulation of the beliefs of a religious community
○ Symbolize of faith, way of conceptualizing their experiences with god
 ● Trinity
○ God
○ Jesus, Human incarnate of God

Judaism
● Written law: Torah
○ Yahwist
○ Priestly
○ Eloist
○ Deuteronomist
● Oral law: Mishnah + Gemara = Talmud
● Ancient israelites get exiled and become early jews
○ Early Jews turn into 5 different branches
■ Sadducees
● Priests
■ Essenes
● Devout
● Moved to the wilderness to express their faith more strongly
■ Zealots
● Terrorists, fighting against romans, wanted to expel romans, killed
jews who didn't join them
■ Pharisees
● Close to commoners, explained jewish law to them
■ Judeo christian
● Followed jesus, considered him a rabbi
○ But jesus spoke with authority

Oct 4: Islam
● Abrahamic Religions:
○ Abraham + Sarah
■ Issac + Rebeca
● Jacob (israel) 12 Tribes
○ Abraham + Hagar
■ Ishmael (Arabs)
○ Peoples of the book
● God Qualities
○ Transcendent
■ Indescribable, almighty, creator, omnipotent
 ■ Highlighted in Judaism and Islam
○ Immanent
■ Graspable, perceivable
■ Highlighted in Christianity
● Mohammed (peace be upon him)
○ Prophet, first muslim, received revelations through an angel (jibril) directly from
God, this revelations from the Quran
○ Cannot interpret the Quran because it is the word of God
■ Suras + Ayat (Chapters and Verses)
● Hadith - saying and deeds of Mohammed (not in Quran)
● Night Journey
○ Mohammed flew from Mecca to the furthest mosque (Jerusalem)
○ Met God, God said pray 50 times a day, the bargained and agreed on 5
● Holiest places in islam
○ Mecca
○ Medina
○ Jerusalem
● Jesus is a human prophet, no cross, virginal birth
○ Mary/miriam = virgin mary, important in the quran
● Two communities
○ Sunnis
○ Shiites
■ Mostly of Iran, Iraq and Syria
○ Difference in evolution of Prophet Mohammed
● Pillars of Islam
○ Statement of Faith
■ There is no other God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet
○ Prayer: Five times a day
■ Minarets (tall tower) Muezzin (Person who called for prayer)
○ Almsgiving
■ 2.5% donation
○ Fasting
■ During Ramadan
○ Pilgrimage to Mecca

What can you learn from a christian perspective about Judaism and islam?
- There are many similarities between the christian faith and the other two Abrahamic
religions, for example they each fast (during Lent, Yom Kippur, or Ramadan), give
charity, have a holy book, ect. However the Christian perspective can still learn a lot
from Judaism and Islam. Both religions emphasize the transcendence more strongly
 than the immanence of God, while Christianity focuses more on this trait. Additionally,
Muslims have a deep connection with prayer and the Quran as they pray 5 times a day
and Jewish (men) pray 3 times a day, however there is no real requirement for Christian
prayer. Prayer allows people to explore their connection with God so this frequent prayer
is something that would be useful to people of all faiths. Additionally, both Judaism and
Islam experience dietary restriction according to their religion. These restrictions allow
Jewish and Muslim people to connect deeper with their faith and adhere to the rules they
follow. It also often causes them to build a community easier as these halal and kosher
restaurants are usually only frequented by people of the same faith.

Online day:
● Bible
○ Biblical authors were inspired by God to write the Bible
○ The Quran was dictated word by word by God to P. Muhammed
○ Literal, Spiritual and Fuller meanings
○ Literal is not the same as literalistic
○ Biblical authors who lived in a specific time with specific historical, cultural,
linguistic... conventions
● Genres
○ Gn 1 and Gn 2 - Myth
○ Deep theological texts that are meant to speak about dense theological concepts,
esp. regarding the origins of the world and the end of the world
○ Gn 1-11 : Primeval History - Creations texts, the Fall, the first killing, Flood texts, the
Tower of Babel
■ Origins of the world
○ Primeval History - Myth
○ Gn 12-50 - Patriarchal narratives
■ Abraham, issac, jacob
■ How Israel and it neighbors came to be
○ Exodus Account: Ex, Lev, Num, Dt
■ Time of the exodus
○ Legend?
○ Folklore, Epic, Legal texts, Theophany
● Bible interpretation
○ Historical aspect
○ Cultural conventions
○ Literary conventions
○ In the Bible you cannot "cut and paste"
○ Context
○ Context includes the whole of the Bible
○ Literalistic of fundamentalist
■ Does Not take into account the literary conventions of the period, cultural
and social differences, the entirety of the bible, the language difference,
● Finding meaning
 ○ The fundamentalist or literalistic reading is rejected by the Catholic Church and most
mainstream Christian Churches
○ Three levels of meaning: literal, spiritual, fuller
○ Literal: what the biblical author/s meant at the time when the wrote the texts
○ Not attached to belief of scholars
■ Exegetes (most biblical scholars) - doing exegesis - interpreting the meaning
of the biblical texts
■ Exegetes belong to a faith community
■ Based on the literal meaning and based on their faith biblical hermeneutics
they try to understand what the the biblical texts mean for the believers of
that faith today
● Spiritual Meaning
○ Spiritual meaning: what the biblical texts mean today for the believer
○ The faith of the believer matters
○ Different faith traditions have different biblical hermeneutics
○ Fuller meaning: the assemblage of all the right nuances of meaning the text has had
through the centuries. Only known fully by God. Will be revealed by God at the end
of times
● Nevim (Judaism)
○ Prophets = nevi'im (hebrew)
○ Prophet books (christianity)
■ Isaiah, jeremiah, ezekiel (main prophets)
■ 12 minor prophets
● Amos, focus on social justice
● Hosea, joel, amos…
○ Early, historical books
■ History of israel
● Ketubim
○ Writing (hebrew)
○ Poetic and wisdom books (Christianity)
○ Prophetic books
○ Psalms, songs of songs (or solomon)
■ Poetic books
○ Job, ecclesiastes texts, proverbs
■ Wisdom books
■ Job is suffering complainer, book about human experience
Midterm Exam
● Chapter 1
○ Awe and Perplexity as ways to god
○ Transcendence and nearness, paradox
○ Theophany
■ Visual manifestation of God
■ Burning of the bush is exodus 3
● 1. Name Yahweh "to be" in Hebrew. Variations of "I am" and
"I am who am" Divine reality is not dependent on anything
but itself and is not determined by anything other than God.
● 2. The name Yahweh signifies God is present and active in
history. Hebrew very "to be" signifies God's faithfulness to
Israel, a faithfulness materialized through Yahweh's
deliverance of the Hebrew people from their captivity.
○ Theosis
■ The doctrine of the Trinity is concerned with theosis - divinization of
creation (ancient church)
■ What makes possible redemptive "participation" in divine life
○ Nicene Creed
■ To account for God's self-bestowal in Jesus Christ and the ongoing
activity of the Holy Spirit in history and in the church.
■ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
■
○ Discussion questions
■ What is the central paradox of all Christian Theology?
● Seeks to say something intelligible, meaningful, and even
practical about God's inexhaustible mystery.
● God is ineffable, indescribable
■ Three major points that characterize the discernment of divine
mystery in theological activity?
● 1. Intimate relationship between God and humanity
● 2. When asking questions of ultimate significance, asking
questions about God indirectly. (Concerned with ultimate
concern)
● 3. The nature of the theological enterprise makes questions
more explicit and rigorous. (Rigorous activity)
■ Primary Narrative of Israel
● The story of Exodus and covenant - ongoing retelling
through oral & textual traditions in Old Testament
● Understanding of God: This God delivers the captives and
reestablishes the ancient Israelites and they confess as the
creator and Lord of all things.
Chapter 2
● Hebrew bible = old testament
 ● Tanakh, an acronym derived from the names of the three divisions of the Hebrew
Bible:
○ Torah (Instruction, or Law, also called the Pentateuch), Neviʾim
(Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings)
● First three kings of Israel
○ Saul, David, And Solomon
● Sources JEDP
○ the Jahwist (J), Elohist (E), Deuteronomist (D), and Priestly (P)
● Sinai Covenant
○ Building on the covenant made with Abraham, which first established a
relationship between God and Abraham's descendents, the basic
agreement of the Sinai covenant is God's affirmation of the Israelites as
his people on the condition that they accept certain rules of conduct
● Apocalyptic
○ Greek word for reveal or uncover, revelation
● Hanukkah
○ Hanukkah, which means “dedication,” commemorates the miracle of light
that occurred when Judah rededicated the Temple to the Hebrew god.

Chapter 11: Islam

● Sura
○ a chapter or section of the Quran
● How long did the Quran take to write
○ Muslims believe that the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, was revealed to
Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years, starting with the initial
revelation at Mount Hira.
Bible Verses:
(Ex 1-3, 19-24, Gn 12:1-18:15, 21-22; Quran 37:99-109; Genesis 1-3; Amos 5; Psalm
104)
● Exodus 1-3
○ 1: The first section describes the context of the children of Israel after the
death of Joseph. The twelve sons become twelve tribes, expanding from
seventy people and Joseph's family already in Egypt to becoming "fruitful
and increased greatly" (Exodus 1:7). The land was "filled" with the Jewish
people
○ 2: Chapter 2 provides the birth account of Moses (Exodus 2:1–10), the
story of his exile to Midian as an adult (Exodus 2:11–22), and the context
of the Jews just prior to the call of Moses to free the people
○ Exodus 3 describes the moment when God calls Moses to lead Israel out
of slavery. This is accomplished through the miracle of the burning bush.
The beginning of this dialogue between God and Moses includes
messages for both Israel and Pharaoh, and will continue into chapter 4
● Exodus 19-24
 ○ 19: God spoke to Moses and gave him a message for the people. God
promised to make Israel into a special nation, His “treasured possession
among all peoples,” if they would obey His commands. Moses
communicated God's message to the elders of Israel and they all
committed to obey God.
○ 20: In this chapter, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments the people
must live by. God prefaces the commandments by identifying himself as
the God who delivered them—a reminder that God's deliverance of the
people comes first, and their obedience follows from God's initiative in
saving them.
○ 21: God laid out the judicial consequences for those who murdered,
accidentally killed someone, those who struck or cursed their parents,
masters who hit their slaves, men who injured one another in a fight, men
who struck pregnant women, and animal owners whose animals harmed
other people.
○ 22: God demands that his people remember their affliction while living in
Egypt. This should lead them to treat vulnerable people, like foreigners
and the poor, with justice and compassion. By acting this way, the
Israelites will reflect God's own care for the oppressed.
○ 23: God was going to send an angel (a messenger) ahead of the Israelites
to guard them and lead them to Canaan. They were to obey everything he
told them to do. When they arrived in Canaan, God promised to gradually
cast out the pagan inhabitants of the land.
○ 24: In this chapter, God confirms his covenant with the people. This takes
place in three ways. First, Moses relays God's words to the people, they
promise to obey, and the promise is ritually formalized: sacrifices are
offered, and blood, symbolizing cleansing, is splashed as a sign of the
covenant.
● Genesis
○ God calls AbrahamGod promised that Abraham would become the father
of a great nation, receive a land, and bring blessing to all nations. More to
be a blessingBlessing is the asking for or the giving of God's favor. Isaac
was tricked into blessing Jacob instead of his firstborn Esau.

● Reading comparison
○ Psalm 104
○ chapter 2.IV. THE MESSAGE OF EACH CREATURE IN THE HARMONY
OF CREATION
■ Both relate to nature and the interconnectedness and harmony of
God's creation
■ Both talk about how we can praise God through moments of awe
and appreciation of the world and its beauty
■ Both talk about how each element of the world has a plan and a
purpose designated by God
New Testament
● Cannon closes at the end of the second century
○ Cannon closes for Old Testament at the end of the first century
● Resurrection
● New testament
○ Gospels
■ mathew, mark, luke (synoptic gospels), john
■ Gospels come after the resurrection of jesus
■ Saw jesus as salvation from death and suffering for the world
■ Each contain truth about God
■ Four gospels so that multiple perspectives are represented
● Mark
○ was the first gospel (60s CE)
○ Written in Roem
○ Starts with baptism of Jesus and ends with
resurrections
○ Secrecy of Jesus identity, disciples were very
confused, Jesus wanted them to figure it out for
themselves
○ Suffering of Jesus is also a theme
● Mathew and Luke
○ 70-80s CE
○ Inspired by Mark and Q
■ Q: a text used by matthew and Luke that has
not been kept
● Mathew
■ Written in Antitoch
■ Mathew was a tax collector for the Romans,
considered a traitor, a bit of a social outcast
● Jesus saw beyond this and recruited
him as a disciple
■ Targeting christian community of Jewish origin
■ Talks about how Jesus fulfilled the jewish law
■ Explaining why we don't need to follow jewish
law anymore
● Luke
■ Written in Ephesus
 ■ Targeting christian community of gentile origin
■ Talks a lot about the mercy of god. roman gods
were cruel so God greatly contrasted this
■ Care for the poor people
■ Mary, hymn the magnificat
● John
○ 90s CE
○ Written in Patmos
○ Different than the other gospels
○ Very theological
○ Acts of the Apostles
■ Fifth book in new testament
■ Story of the history of the new christian community
■ Believed to be written by Luke
○ Letters
■ Pauline Letters
● Paul was jewish (Saul)
○ Persecuted the early christian community
○ Converted to christianity after becoming blind
● Letter to the Galitians is the oldest entry in New Testament
○ Pauline letters written in 50CE
○ Paul was speaking to Glatians (now Turkey), and
assuring them they did not need to be circumcised to
follow jesus (jewish law is fulfilled)
● Letters sent to different regions to spread the gospel of
Jesus
■ Apostolic Letters
○ Revelation
■ End of the bible
■ Myth
● Apocryphal texts
○ Hidden texts that are not a part of the bible
■ Ex: Gospel of Thomas
○ Process of Selection
■ Ask the disciples (those who were there at the time of Jesus)
■ Then compare writings to old scripture and tradition
● Herod
○ Jewish King
○ Main job was to keep peace between Romans, Greeks and Jews
○ In christmas story
■ Tries to kill jesus (gospel of matthew)
 ● Jesus
○ 4BCE - 29 CE
○ Killed by pontius pilate
○ Christology:
■ Kept his identity a secret
● God allows room for humans to believe or not, it would be
very overwhelming to just tell people he is the messiah,
■ Messiah: important figure that will come at the end of time to bring
peace and justice,
● the messiah will belong to the house of david, therefore the
messiah would be a king (to some)
● Liberate from the romans? Warrior?
● Called him messiah after his resurrection
○ Messiah = christos
● Messiah brought a new era of peace and justice
■ Had a criminals death
● Issiah 52-53
○ Messiah (anointed)
■ Often kings were anointed (Saul and David) old testament
■ Jesus is a heavenly king
○ Kingdom of god
■ Symbolic, cant be defined or described
■ Real, all must play our part in the collaboration in the Kingdom of
God, love god above all things
● Take care of each other, judged based on how you treat
those in need
○ Dynameis
■ Power of God, miracles
■ Semeia
● Signs, not magic, carrying a message, jesus wanted to bring
healing to people
● Healing is physical social and spiritual
● Holy sepulcher
○ Holiest place in christianity, where jesus died and was resurrected

Nicene Creed 352 C

● I believe in one God,
● the Father almighty,
● maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
● I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father
before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not
 made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and
for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the
Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he
suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the
Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He
will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no
end.
● I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and
the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken
through the prophets.
● I believe in one, holy, catholic (universal) and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism
for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life
of the world to come. Amen.

Members of the Church

● Pope
● Bishops
○ Descendants of apostles
○ Ordained
● Holy order
○ Deacon
○ Priest
○ Bishop
■ Bishop ordains others, descendants from time of apostles
● Except in protestant churches
○ Cardinals
■ Elect the pope

Gospels
● Kingdom of God
○ Peace and justice
○ Sin makes it harder for us to bring the kingdom of god to earth
● Sin
○ Doing evil on purpose
○ Breaking the 10 commandments
○ Deeds
■ Can be something you do or dont do
● Sin by omission
○ Individual and social implication
○ Original sin
■ Human nature tends to be evil
■ Humanity through the ages have created structures of sin
 ● War
● Borders
● Economic inequality
○ Will, freedom, knowledge
● Conscience
○ Ability to distinguish between right and wrong
■ What sort of person should i become, personal responsibility, human
process, individual and communal, lifelong rtask
○ Needs to be educated, using…
■ Natural law philosophy, what is agreed upon that is bad and good
■ Scripture
■ Tradition, magisterium
● Church as the teacher, based on tradition and scripture
■ Theology
■ Empirical sciences, human reason
■ Sensus fidelium
● Common understanding of the faithful
○ Divine frae builds on human nature and is not opposed to it
○ Human beings bear the image of the creator
○ God has gifted humanity with gods self revelation through scripture and tradition
of the church
● Jesus ministry
○ Healing people, miracles, in the gospels
■ social , spiritual, physical
■ From Mark 1:29–45; 2:1–12; 5:24–34; and Luke 17:12–19.
○ Shares wisdom, opposes oppressors, welcomes all,
○ Prophet, king, priest
○ He is a prophet continuing to call people to conversion and denouncing injustice
and oppression where he meets it. He is Messiah (Hebrew) and Christ (Greek),
God's anointed one sent to be saviour.
○ Jesus is a king who surpasses his ancestor David with a kingdom that is eternal
and embraces all people of every age.
○ He is also a priest, offering perfect sacrifice to God; and the unique mediator
between God and humanity, being himself both God and human.

Gospel Written Audience Image of Jesus

Matthew Approx Christian - The greatest prophet who brings the New
Jews Law
85 CE
- Promised messiah
 - Heir to throne of David, king of Israel,
aimed toward jews
- The symbol of the Gospel of Mattew is
the lion, the king of the jungle,
representing the Lion, the King of the
Jews. First miracle: a leper cleansed.
- record of the day of the trial, crucifixion
and burial of Jesus.The book ends with
the resurrection.
- Jesus fulfills the jewish laws, talks about
how jesus relates to the jewish traditions

Mark Approx Non-Jewish - A healer and miracle worker who accepts

Christians suffering as the cost for following God's
65-70 CE
(Rome?) will
who were - Mark presents Jesus as the Suffering
experiencing Servant
persecution - Jesus authority, empahzis on jesus as
because of son of god
their belief in
Jesus

Luke Approx Gentile - A merciful, compassionate man with a

(Greek) special concern for poor people, women
80-85 CE
Christians and non-Jews
- Luke focuses on Jesus’ humanity and
beautifully details the announcement of
His incarnation and His birth (Luke 1 and
2). Luke is the only Gospel that gives a
glimpse into Jesus’ childhood years
 John Approx All the - Noble, powerful and divine; fully in
Christians of control of his destiny
90-100
the world - John presents Jesus as the Son of God,
CE
the second person of the Trinity, co-equal
and co-eternal with the Father and the
Spirit. John’s record is beautiful in
revealing Jesus’ divinity

Salvation
● Salvation, Jesus died for our salvation or our ability to make mistakes and still be
delivered to heaven
● Must be active in our own salvation, trying to make better choices, help those around
you, personal responsibility
● Brought back to God, going to heaven
● Salvation
○ From, sin
○ For, the kingdom of god
● Heaven
○ To be with god
■ Source of our being and happiness
● Hell
○ To be without god