Christology Essays (Examples)

Christology

The Nature and Person of Christ

Christology is a field within the larger project of Christian theology that has as its central focus the continuing examination of the nature and person of Jesus Christ, Scholars in this field focus on the letters of the New Testament as well as the canonical gospels to help them determine the complexities of the relationship between Christ's person and his nature and how these connect with as well as differ from the nature and person of God the Father. Christology looks for evidence about the nature of God the Son by concentrating on every detail of both Christ's earthly life and the teachings that he shared with his followers. All of these different foci converge to help scholars -- and indeed all Christians -- to derive a clearer and more complete picture of who Christ was, what his teachings meant, and how Christ…

Scholas like Bog, Cossan, Meie, and Sandes each into Toah o into Gnostic and othe extacanonical taditions such as Geek novels to daw compaisons and contasts. The ange is compehensive, fom Geco-Roman souces to Jewish and othe Mediteanean souces. Often the pictue of Jesus that emeges is a constuction based on social-scientific and liteay tends.

Thee have been some impotant findings. Fo one, Jesus is undestood moe politically, poclaiming the Kingdom of God as a sociopolitical citique of his Palestinian context. This has given ise to impotant movements such as Libeation Theology in Catholicism. Anothe aea of eseach has shown how Jesus fits the typical pattens of Jewish monotheistic piety. Futhemoe, notions of the Messiah in Second Temple Judaism have been uncoveed that point towad its pevalence and contestation. It is not necessaily clea that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah accoding to the Thid Quest, but moe likely that…

Christology

The Birth of Christ

The gospel writers each contributed their unique perspective as they recorded events surrounding Jesus' birth. Each writer had a specific target audience in mind, and brought to his writings a perspective which was framed by that purpose, and by the writer's particular experience of Christ. The uniqueness of their record in no way changes the fact that their contribution was the work of God's Holy Spirit thorough them, as some scholars have claimed, but rather God used their individual gifts, talents and perspectives in order to create a full record of his Son's birth, life, and message.

Matthew wrote his gospel to the Jews, and the early church which was mostly Jewish converts. His concern was communicating the message of the messiah to the Jewish people. The messiah had been promised in Old Testament scriptures since Abraham's time, and by demonstrating how Jesus was the…

Christology: by Tyron L. Inbody

Jesus of Nazareth and Christology

The author, Tyron Inbody, wants to know in the first chapter if readers know "Jesus" and if they do, which "Jesus" they think they know. There are three approaches to the "historical Jesus" he says - and they are "The Premodern Approach," "The Modern Approach," and the "Postmodern Approach." The Premodern Approach occurred prior to the 18th Century Enlightenment, and in this approach Christians believe that the man whose identity was the "divine savior," the man who came into the world and died on the cross for the sins of mankind, and whose life - and his death and ascension - "opened up the possibility of eternal life for humanity. The Modern Approach has it that "we bring a critical attitude to every document we read," historical "claims" must be carefully analyzed, and third, "faith statements about...Jesus" must be within…

Christology Book Review

Christ and the creation of Christology

How can so many people look into a portrait of a man, written by 4 different scholar and commoners who portray the man in very similar fashion, and come away with such diametrically opposing viewpoints that the man is rendered almost meaningless? When the man is Jesus Christ and those looking at his portrait are scholars and theologians who do not believe that the biblical claims of Christ are true or an accurate reflection of the man, then the question has found its own answer. he reasoners have come to the table with their own agenda's rather than a scholarly and faith filled attempt to discover the biblical and authentic Christ.

he picture of Christ painted for the world by theologians across the centuries has changed from age to age. After another generation of New estament scholars has produced its portraits,…

Soteriology and Christology

Soteriology is the study of salvation and Christology is the study of the person and work of Jesus. It is through Jesus Christ that humankind receives salvation; therefore, it is through Jesus Christ that the understanding of salvation must come. Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Anointed One, or a dozen other titles he claims or has been given; what can we know of him? Has there ever been a life more closely studied than the life of Jesus of Nazareth? Brilliant scholars and simple men have spent lifetimes in the quest. Yet, they have not had different material than the authors of the New Testament from which to glean deeper knowledge. Further, they have not agreed upon the interpretation of the words they do have. "There is, thus, a difference between the way in which the first Christians and the later…

John's High Christology As iberation Theology

iberation Theology is the movement within the Church that values the overthrow of economic, social and political oppression, whereas John's High Christology is a theological assessment rooted in the divinity of Christ and the need for compassion and love for human beings based in God's love for us and ours for him. John's exposition on union with Christ in chapter 15 states that "You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you" and serves as an admonition to the hearer of the word to value union with Jesus above all or any other kind of union. Indeed, John's Gospel is an example of how this union is the most important one in the whole of Christian experience. Yet, at the same time, John's Gospel does not forbid the theology of liberation or…

Womanist Theology

An individual theologian's reflection about the nature of God is not strictly about God alone. Rather, it is intimately bound-up with the theologian's own way of viewing the world. One fairly recent example of this comes from lie Weisel, a Nobel-prize winning writer. Weisel is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who has written about how his experiences in the concentration camps have caused him to think differently about God. His experience of seeing people killed and tortured has caused him seriously to question his previous ways of thinking about God. It was his experience that caused him to think of God as unable or unwilling to intervene in human suffering. He recalls watching a young boy hanging dead in the main square of a concentration camp, and he recalls the theological reflection that accompanied the moment. He heard a man from among the crowd ask, "Where is…

Rausch what is Christology?
According to Rausch, Christology is the in-depth study of the question "who is Jesus?" There are many different approaches to Christology, including an analysis of the different names used for Him, and ways Jesus has been depicted in different cultures such as the uniquely Eastern Orthodox conception of Christ as Logos. Christology can also address some of the theological and metaphysical questions related to the nature and role of Jesus. The dichotomy between Jesus as a human and Jesus as the incarnate Son of God is also addressed under the rubric of Christology, according to Rausch. According to Rausch, "popular Christianity today tends to focus on the divinity of Jesus, often at the cost of his humanity," (p. 2). Christology should be developed "from below," meaning that Christologists need to look to scripture and historiography instead of becoming distracted by the diversity with which different cultures…

Brown (1994) offers an astute Christological analysis via a close and critical reading of scripture. A close reading allows for the contextualization of each Gospel, to resolve issues like conflicting or inconsistent imagery and anecdotes. With inconsistencies between the Gospels, it becomes imperative to piece together Jesus's core intentions and the meanings behind both His words and His actions. The need to understand scripture historically and linguistically is also apparent in the Brown analysis. In fact, Brown (1994) also points out the importance of historical and cultural context in interpreting Scripture. For example, attributions of "magical action," which is beyond "miracle," corresponds with the Greek "miracle worker" stories during the time Scripture was being codified (Brown, 1994, p. 35). Brown notes that the Gospel portrayal of Jesus's miracles was indeed qualitatively different from either magical powers attributed to Greek "miracle workers" or to similar Levantine pagan concepts.

It may also…

Christology: The Identity of Jesus as oth God and Man

In the ible, Jesus identifies himself as both God and man most explicitly in the book of John. In the first book of John, the Apostle John famously writes: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). According to Elwell, statements such as "I and [my] Father are one" (John 10:30) and "before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58) refer to the fact that Jesus is connected to the wisdom of God in the Old Testament, to the Law of God in the Old Testament, yet also to the concept of God-made-flesh in the New Testament.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Walter Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary Theology. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: aker, 2001), p.241]

Jesus is not merely the embodiment of…

Christology

hen confronted by a man who claims that Jesus Christ -- because he was human -- could not also be from God and of God, what should the response be? This paper delves into that topic.

hat is the biblical basis for Jesus' humanity? On page 239 of Christology the author explains that Christ was "sinless and also utterly different from other men"; and his "true humanity is specifically witnessed to as if it might be called in question." He was the Son of God but he also was human, and to show his humanity he was invited to dinner with Levi, "…along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners" (Mark 2:15). His humanity had been prophesized in various passages in the Old Testament. "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came…

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. This invocation, accompanying the sign of the cross, marks the beginning and end of every Roman Catholic prayer. It has become synonymous with Catholicism -- a celebration of the crucifix as representative of the lessed Trinity. While, every good Catholic takes this Triumvirate for granted, it is left to theological scholars like Jurgen Moltmann to dissect and analyze the salient features of the Trinity. Is the Trinity a Pneumatological or Christological entity? Is it a combination of the two? Where is God in the scheme of Moltmann's thesis? The theoditic question challenged the omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of God in his relationship with man. Is this question revisited in relation to Jesus Christ as the carrier of the Holy Spirit during his life on earth? Moltmann presents a clear interpretation of the relationship between Christ and the Holy Spirit…

Christ Was and How it Relates to His Work

To be a Christian fundamentally means to believe in Christ, in the person of Jesus. There are many different types of Christians, including aptists, Catholics, Evangelicals, and Lutherans.

Christians believe that there is only one God, and that God is a Trinity of God the Father, Christ the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is not an example of three Gods (tri-theism), nor is it an example of one God changing forms (modalism). Instead, to Christians, God has eternally existed as one essence with three persons.

Since Christ is the second person of the Trinity, Christians believe that Christ has eternally existed as well. Jesus Christ was "God with skin on." He was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless and perfect life, was fully man and fully God, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified as a sacrifice for…

Jesus

The four gospel books in the New Testament are the principal foundation of the information regarding the life of Jesus. These books include Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The four books tell the story of the life of Jesus, but from different perspectives. Christian faith depends on the four gospel books that narrate the historical life of Jesus. As a result, if the provisions in these four books are a correct historical account of Jesus, then the faith of Christians is practical. Moreover, if indeed Jesus rose on the third day from the departed, the claim that Jesus is the Son of God is rational. If the claim that Jesus taught the people many things highlighted in the four gospel books, then believing in Him is the only means through which Christians can have everlasting life. Although the gospel books particularly Matthew, Mark and Luke demonstrate the synoptic problem,…

....Jesus learn from John the Baptist? How is the movement of Jesus different from John's?

According to Rausch, John the Baptist is "clearly a historical figure" who was not necessarily preaching anything new or revelatory (p. 1). John the Baptist works within the prophetic tradition and his teachings were rooted in Jewish Old Testament philosophy, eschatology, and theology. When Jesus went to see and meet with John the Baptist, the event "changed his life," according to Rausch (p. 4). John the Baptist may have so strongly influenced and impacted the young Jesus because of the content of his teachings: the emphasis on impending judgment and/or doom for a sinful and unrepentant humanity. Rausch also claims that there is historical and textual evidence linking Jesus's own ministry with the teachings of John. There are five main similarities between the core elements of John's teachings and Jesus's preaching, according to Rausch. The…

St. Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria

The paper brings about the Christology of Athanasius of Alexandria in the perspective of its foundations, as well as assessing his reactions through to the period of Council of Chalcedon. His renowned pronouncements touching on the Jesus divinity are made known to be underpinned as well as encountered by a theological amalgamation of creatio ex-nihilo keen on his Christology. I intend to highlight Cyril's Christology as the ultimate case in point of the ontological connotations of a constitutive indulgent of the being as well as work of Christ with the aim of bringing out the most essential facts of St. Cyril of Alexandria with an evaluation of his importance within the history of Christianity

Introduction

During the times of Cyril, the horns of the predicament were characterized by Eutyches as well as Nestorius. In cooperation, they realized in the approved manner that the…

The popularization of the idea, though was somewhat linguistic in that when speaking of God and the Holy Spirit, different words were used that could mean "person," "nature," "essence," or "substance," -- words that were part of a longer, and far older tradition, but not adopted by the new Church .

Later, to echo this interpretation, the French Dominican Yves Conger, wrote that the Spirit of God was equal to the Spirit of Wisdom -- intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle

However, we must realize, too, that there was a long and rich tradition within the Ancient Near East. Whether one subscribes to the idea that essential mythos was something common arising out of civilization and being passed forward, or that each individual religion of the Ancient World was divinely inspired by its own set of beings, the concept of the Trinity is neither new, nor linked inexorably to the New…

Pre-Existence Christ

The Pre-Existence of Christ

The pre-existence of Christ is the central tenant of Christianity. This paper will review the pre-existence of Christ including supporting views and arguments against the pre-existence of Christ, proving that Christ did exist before His incarnation. Christ existed before the dawn of ages; he was not an afterthought in the mind of God, but rather, always was, and ever will be, as stated in the scriptures. To think otherwise would be heretical; such a statement is counter to every doctrine ever derived from the Gospels.

For centuries humankind has debated the origins of life; Christianity however, has supported the notion that life stems from Christ, and Christ comes from God, as the only manifest Son of God. Christ confirms this, as stated and proved in the book of John when Christ says,[footnoteef:1] "And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the…

Identify prejudices and biases in traditional Christian approaches to non-Christian religions, both in general and specifically.

Identify possible objections to Christianity, in terms of theology, ethics, and missiology.

esolve the challenges associated with new era missiology and new era ministry, by developing a comprehensive plan for the future.

Materials: Today's materials will be the same as the previous days.

Activities:

9:00-9:10: Opening prayer

9:10-11:00: Crash course/review of world religions based on credible source material written from each faith's point-of-view or from a non-biased, scholarly source.

11:00-12:00: Each participant uses his or her personal electronic device or notebook to write down specific areas of concern and possible roadblocks to interfaith dialogue.

12:00-1:00: Lunch

1:00-2:00: Share the concerns addressed by each participant openly, engaging in a dialogue of our own. Understanding that our participants are from diverse backgrounds, each will have unique perspectives on multiple faiths. Some will have had first-hand experiences…

Nicene Christology
The Councils
The Council of Nicaea convened in 325. The Council of Constantinople followed in 381. The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon were convened in 431 and 451 respectively. At all of these councils, the main issues were around the nature and personhood of Christ. His relationship to the Father, the relationship of the Holy Spirit to both, the meaning of the Trinity, the humanity and divinity of Christ—all of this was discussed and argued in different ways. The arguments went on for more than one hundred years as new ways of thinking about Jesus and God arose. People like Arius and Nestorius were trying to apply logic and reason to an issue that had to largely be taken on faith. In other words, they were trying to rationalize the God-Man so that it made sense, but the Church wanted them to accept the mystery of God Christ…

Philippians 2:1-11

In Chapter 2, verses 1-11, of St. Paul's letter to the Philippians, the Apostle exhorts his followers to be faithful to Christ. Christ is, as always, the point of the Pauline letters -- and arriving at Christ, whether through exhortation, logic, works, or affection and charity, is the sole aim. Paul points the finger in all matters to the divine Son of God, thanks Him for all things, and for Him suffers all things. What makes the letter to the Philippians especially meaningful is the robust affection that these disciples maintain for their teacher, Paul. As Joseph Frey tells us, "The church at Philippi was St. Paul's first foundation on European soil…The occasion of [the letter's] composition can be gathered from the Epistle. Learning that St. Paul had been cast into prison, the church at Philippi, in order to assist him, sent Epaphroditus with a sum of money…

John's Gospel is a strongly theological work. The basis for the Christology of John's Gospel is the Word. Also, John gives deep theological insights through the stories of the Samaritan woman at the well, the man born blind and the rising of Lazarus from the dead. John's account of the Passion is also deeply theological and quite different from the accounts of the other gospels. Finally, John uses many motifs to highlight the divinity of Christ. It is clear that John's gospel is not merely an historical account of Jesus' life on earth; rather it is a skillful examination of the theology of Christ and Christianity.

The Christology of John's gospel based on the prologue.

The basis for the Christology of John's Gospel is found immediately in the prologue's first sentence: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (King James…

Yet, before one can understand Johnson's call for a taking back of the feminine Christ, one must first understand how the feminine Christ was lost.

The starting point is with the ministries of Christ and to the point of his resurrection. This short period of time is the only time that Jesus himself was in charge of defining his philosophy, although even he recognized the fact that history would define him and not himself.

Jesus' ministry involved numerous acts of kindness, preaching and forgiveness. Many of these acts are seen as miracles, or "Signs" as the Gospel of John refers to them. These included exorcisms, walking on water, turning water into wine, and raising people from the dead. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus' ministry lasted for a period of three years. The major event of the ministry phase was the giving of the Sermon on the Mount, where…

Western Religion

In his book, "Western Ways of eing Religious," (Kessler, 1999) the author Gary E. Kessler identifies the theological, philosophical and societal ramifications of the evolution of religion in the West. Christianity, Judaism and Islam can be traced to a single origin but their divergence has been very marked. Kessler sets his thesis very early in the book. He avers that there are two approaches to religion. One is to be immersed in it -- as a practitioner; the other is to study it as an objective observer, looking in from the outside. This work is unique. The author challenges the traditional notions with his own opinions then follows it with the views of an expert on that notion (in the form of a speech or an essay). He avers that a student of religion has to approach the topic with honesty and openness. This often involves imagining the…

Orthodox Position of the Person of Christ

Jesus Christ is at the center of the Christian doctrine as every theological thought in Christianity revolves around his personality as one of the Holy Trinity. Christ's divine and human nature on one side and his mission of savior of the world, on the other, have provided endless sources for discussion and debates over the decades. Theologians, historians and philosophers have tried to reconcile their thesis when it came to Jesus, but in spite of the apparent similarities, they often reached very different conclusions. During the early Christian centuries, there were various theories that promoted the image of Christ. They covered a large specter of positions starting from him being considered a prophet (Ebionitism) or, at the other end of the spectrum, him being completely divine (Docetism) (McGrath, 2011). These theological theories were soon to be dismissed, although the latter bore more influence…

Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate." 7 Why then," they asked Him, "did Moses command [us] to give divorce papers (I) and to send her away?" 8 He told them, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts. But it was not like that from the beginning. 9 and I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."

Divorce was taught to be a last resort, not the 'I am tired of you' choice. Children are hurt and devastated by the divorce and more psychological trauma is being placed on the child. Children are losing context on the meaning of love and what to expect from it.

The Bible also states the expectation on men and women in regards to the family. In Genesis 1:28, it is written, "God blessed them, and God…

Gnostics believed that they belonged to the "true church" of an elect few who were worthy; the orthodox Christians would not be saved because they were blind to the truth.

Part E -- Content - if we then combine the historical outline of the "reason" for John's writings with the overall message, we can conclude that there are at least five major paradigms present that are important in a contextual analysis of John.

John 5:13 - I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This seems to point that John saw a clear difference between those who believed in Jesus as the Son of God, but were unsure about eternal life. However, if we look back at other parts of his Gospel, we do find repetition of this theme. In John 1:5-7,…

" It caused missionaries to deal with peoples of other cultures and even Christian traditions -- including the Orthodox -- as inferior. God's mission was understood to have depended upon human efforts, and this is why we came to hold unrealistic universalistic assumptions. Christians became so optimistic that they believed to be able to correct all the ills of the world." (Vassiliadis, 2010)

Missiology has been undergoing changes in recent years and after much serious consideration Christians in the ecumenical era "are not only questioning all the above assumptions of the Enlightenment; they have also started developing a more profound theology of mission. One can count the following significant transitions:

(a) From the missio christianorum to the missio ecclesiae;

(b) the recognition later that subject of mission is not even the Church, either as an institution or through its members, but God, thus moving further from the missio ecclesiae to…

Theological position of Dwight N. Hopkins

The biblical presentation of human existence and its origin and our own experience of human life in this world are to accept the fact that Adam and Eve were real persons and they are the descents of all human beings. The biblical representation is not limited to the Genesis but it represents a broader perspective which is related to the God's creation. The biblical representation reveals the God's presence in this world in the form of light and playing a unique role and dignity for mankind. This is what we all experience in our daily lives. All human desire for God and need Him, depends on Him to fulfill their wishes and forgiveness of their sins. Thus all the aspect of human creation and their living is governed and known by God (Collins, 2010).

The essay on theological position of Dwight N. Hopkins will…

Jesus

Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz bridge a gap between trade book and scholarly discourse with their 642-page tome The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide. This joint effort by Theissen and Merz explores the subject matter of the historical Jesus in light of primary sources, especially relying on the Gospels, both canonical and apocryphal. The book is divided into four main sections, in addition to a meaty Introduction, a "Retrospect" called "A Short Life of Jesus," and two helpful indexes, one of Biblical

They could only be disposed of, as it were, by leases till the year of jubilee, and were then to return to the seller or his heir."

This would preserve familial and tribal heritage as well as prevent the wealthy from being able to incur large masses of land, thus keeping certain families in extreme poverty. It gives all Israelites their liberty, as well as treats them all as equals, as the land would be regenerated every fifty years. "The chief point was that there should never be a build-up of power by a few to control the land and the people; therefore, there was redistribution of the land as it had been divided in the beginning."

Each family or tribe is given the opportunity to return to his or her land, and be renewed. "Those that were sold into other families, thereby became strangers to their own; but in…

He does not, however, say where the text came from.

Another main way of seeing the problem is to claim that the writer has used different sources to create his gospel. These sources preceded him in the Christian tradition, and may have included both the synoptic gospels and other non-canonical or lost texts. In putting different sources together, he has been forced to make decisions. When he relied on tradition and not his own account, he is not able to make a coherent well-flowing narrative. It comes out disjointed.

Schnackenburg proposes perhaps the most satisfactory solution. His view is that John 15-16, and John 17 separately, were later insertions to the text done by an editor. He accepts that there is some continuity of content in the discourses following 14:31, which makes chapters 15-17 appropriate. ut he accepts also that the transition is overly abrupt, and that the more original…

In explaining his theories and conceptions regarding the divine nature, the writer helps us understand what the Thomistic school of thought is. It must be underlined that the Thomistic conceptions reach a very profound philosophical level. Regardless of this the author of the book under review manages to introduce them to the general audience through a language and a manner which make them accessible to everyone. Religious issues such as the revelation, the creation of the world in general and of things in particular are briefly explained in a manner which allows the reader to grasp their fundamental meaning. In addition, the writer makes some notes about the Thomistic virtues, explaining Aquinas' contribution to the development of the religious thought.

It is interesting to notice that McDermott's selection includes figures who come from various backgrounds and environments. From Aquinas we pass to Martin Luther, who, in his opinion is the…

Edward Taylor

Education

Private Life

Profession

Purpose of orks

Intended audience

Central goal of writings

riting Style

Early works

Comparison between writings in England and America

Comparison to other authors

Personal Style

Use of Imagery

Major Themes

Major orks

Preparatory Meditations

God's Determinations

Other works

Taylor's orks Compared

The Life and orks of Edward Taylor

No study of Puritan literature would be complete without the works of the man often called the best Puritan writer of them all, Edward Taylor. Except for a brief few, the works of this great Puritan author remained unpublished during his lifetime. In 1939, they were discovered by Thomas H. Johnson at Yale, and have since become a valued and praised addition to the other works from the Puritan era. So important are these works that the Norton editors refer to them as "one of the major literary discoveries of the twentieth century" (Rowe). These…

With St. Paul, Luke traveled to several different destinations including Samothrace and Philippi -- where he appears to have lingered to guide the Church. The duo then reunite in Troas and Luke is with St. Paul during the latter's stay in a oman jail. As Paul says: "Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11).

Exactly what Luke did with Paul during this time is debated: "St. Jerome thinks it is most likely that St. Luke is 'the brother, whose praise is in the gospel through all the churches' (2 Corinthians 8:18), and that he was one of the bearers of the letter to Corinth" (Knight, 2011).

Luke also brings special awareness to the importance of mercy and forgiveness, with the parable of the Prodigal Son and the tale of the woman whose sins were forgiven because she bathed Christ's feet in her tears.

But this special awareness is also…

His followers claimed He had risen as He said He would, bodily appeared to them and then bodily ascended into Heaven, as Elijah prophesied. This experience emboldened them to come out of hiding and they gathered at the upper room of the Cenacle on the Day of the Pentecost. From then on, they openly preached the radical ethic taught by Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is the origin of Christian worship and prayer and it directly links Jesus to God and Jesus has been called Lord, the Christ, the faithful and true witness. His followers who observed and advocated His teachings of the Good News were called Christians. Christianity was later founded and spread by the Roman soldier, Saul, who persecuted the Christians but was converted into an apostle by a direct encounter with Christ on Saul's way to Damascus. He was later renamed Paul.

Jesus as a Jew demanded…

Medieval Philosophy

In the introduction to the Greenwood series the Great Cultural Eras of the Western World, A.D. 500 to 1300, is described as the Middle Ages.

"Borders and peoples were never quiescent during these tumultuous times." Schulman (2002). Germanic tribes had invaded and settled in the former oman Empire, and the synthesis of three cultures -- the classical, Christian, and Germanic -- had begun. In the sixth century, Clovis had completed the Frankish conquest of Gaul; the Vandals controlled North Africa; the Visigoths, forced to retreat from southern Gaul by the Franks, continued to dominate Spain; and the Angles and Saxons had settled in Britain. At the same time, the emperors of the Eastern Empire, Constantinople, thrived. " ... The oman papacy began to play an independent role in European society." Schulman, (2002) says "Pepin needed papal support to become king. Schulman, (2002, p. viii) It is later commented…

In conclusion, Saint Leo the Great has been called the first true oman Catholic Pope. His reign lasted twenty-one years, and they were some of the most influential years in Church history. Leo earned the title "Saint," and was named a Doctor of the Church as well. Saint Leo was one of the greatest Pope's to lead the Catholic Church, and he created doctrine and ideas that are still used today. He was a great theologian and writer, and had far-reaching ideas that helped define doctrine and unify the Catholic Church. He helped save ome from invaders and literally acted as the leader of ome when the Church split into an eastern and western movement. Saint Leo's feast day was celebrated on November 10, and is now celebrated on April 11 of the oman calendar.

eferences

Daniel-ops, H. (1959). The Church in the Dark Ages (Butler, a., Trans.). London J.M.…

beliefs and practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church can be somewhat differentiated from the basic beliefs and practices of the Western Church due to its veneration of iconography or spiritual imagery of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church can be differentiated as well from the Western Church in that they pray for the dead and are stated to believe that icons "…are a meeting point between the living and the dead; they believe God's grace is active in relics of the saints, they pray to angels; they have a view of sacraments that is differentiated from those of the Western Church in that salvation "…deposited in the Orthodox Church and the priest gives saving grace through the sacraments, so that people have a relationship with the Church rather than with Jesus Christ." (Young, 2007, p.1)

General Information

The Eastern Orthodox church is reported to be a fellowship of…

New Testament

What city is central to the development of Acts? How so?

Besides Jerusalem, the city most central to the development of Acts is probably Antioch. Acts chapter 11 narrates the founding of the church at Antioch, and in 11:26 the word "Christians" is used for the first time in the New Testament -- this is where the disciples were first called "Christians."

What are the "we passages "u in Acts?

In five separate sections of the book of Acts -- each reporting the missionary journeys of Paul -- the author suddenly shifts into the first person plural, as though to indicate the author of Acts was a traveling companion of Paul in the journey described. The "we passages" are Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; and the openings of chapters 27 and 28. The significance is that the author of the book appears to have had first-hand personal knowledge of…

Jesus by Elizabeth a. Johnson

Consider Jesus, by Elizabeth A. Johnson, begins with a preface that addresses Christianity and the common and important themes that it is facing today. Chapter One focuses on the living tradition of Christ, and how He is both dead (in Heaven, and gone from this world), and alive (because there is life after death). He is part of an amazing tradition, but not one that is no longer practiced or that does not provide current and future value. Instead, He is part of a living tradition, where a number of followers of His ways still carry on in His name and strive to be more like Him every day. In Chapter Two, the author addresses the humanity of Jesus. While He was God, He was also God made man. Because of that, He struggled with humanity to some extent and had human feelings as well…

Strauss, Lehman. hy God Became Man. 2004. [Online]. Available http://bible.org/Article/-god -- man. For journal article, write a critique similar Book Analyses assignments.

"hy God Became Man" - analysis

"hy God Became Man" brings on an intriguing idea -- the concept that incarnation can be discussed in a context involving the Bible and Christian teachings in general. The article provides readers with the opportunity to interpret biblical texts from the writer's perspective and to gradually become better acquainted with the idea of incarnation being an important idea in Christianity. hile it is intriguing to look at these ideas and at how the author links incarnation with a series of accounts from the bible, it would also be interesting to perceive this point-of-view objectively.

Although the article relates to the idea of incarnation as seen from a rational perspective from the very first lines of the text, the article goes on to…

God Personal

Defining "Personal"

etween the belief that God is a person and the belief that God is personal which one is essential to Christian faith? My stand is that the belief that God is a person is a hindrance to Christian faith. Interestingly, some recent religious philosophy writers have however made the assumption that believing in God is believing in a person. Richard Swinburne is one such influential advocate of this concept. It is clear from his works that Richard Swinburne understands that God is like "a bodiless person, a spirit who can do anything, is all knowing, free, without fault, eternal and the creator of the universe.

That God is a person or personal is one of the fundamental claims believers have continuously made about God. God is represented like a person in Vishnu, Hinduism, rahma and Shiva. In the bible, the Old Testament, You can read about…

Theology of Hope

There is basically no limit to the amount of perspectives and theories about theology in general and drilling down to Christianity does not change this. One particular subset of Christian theology is the theology of hope. This report will focus on two of the greater minds that have debated this topic through literature, those being Moltmann and Pannenberg. Both of these people have weighed in significantly on the theology of hope and there will be a compare and contrast of their viewpoints in this report. While the two authors are noticeably different in some respects, they are also similar in other ways.

When speaking directly about the theology of hope, Jurgen Moltmann was very direct about the topic. Within its pages, he stated that hope is the "central category of Biblical faith." He also notes that it is not a "private" hope but instead should be typified…

Global Missions

Samuel Escobar is a well-known theologian within the Latin American community and viewed as one of the main participants in the International Congress on World Evangelism at Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974 over the years. He is also the president of the United Bible societies and of the International Fellowship of Evangelic Students and contributed immensely to the subject of global mission both in theory and practically. The contemporary Christian missions are compelled to comply with the global trends and the forces of globalization in order to remain relevant as opposed to the trends that were predominant in the third millennium of the Christian era. Escobar makes significant contribution and consequently influence on the aspect of contemporary global mission by exploring the new realities and forces of a globalized world as well as critically assessing the context of a vastly dynamic mission which hold to the earlier pedagogical teachings…

Oscar Cullmann, Nolan, and Genezio Boff. Oscar Cullmann can be described as a Christian theologian within the Lutheran tradition. His most notable work involved the ecumenical movement. He was in part accountable for the formation of dialogue between the oman Catholic and Lutheran traditions.

Nolan was born in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. He is of English descent and is a fourth-generation South African. Influenced by Thomas Merton, Nolan became fascinated to the idea of spiritual life. Ultimately, Nolan joined the Dominican Order by 1954, studying in ome and South Africa eventually receiving a doctorate.

Born with the name Genezio Darci Boff, Boff hails from Concordia, Santa Catarina. Boff entered the Franciscan Order by 1959 being ordained as a Catholic priest by 1964. He spent subsequent years studying to earn a doctorate in philosophy and theology at the University of Munich, in 1970. His doctoral thesis studied measures…

Hell Debate

The debate over hell is a complex one, not so different than the multi-layered aspects of the matters of the Charismatic Gifts, Christology, Providence or the fate of the non-evangelized, etc. There are different views and facets to the issue, however, what is all the fuss surrounding the concept of Hell? Is it just the possibility of such a place that makes people so uneasy? Are people afraid of ending up in hell or just confused regarding the concept? This paper will focus on a broad and accurate understanding of Hell and its image. Following are the lines of thought the paper will be pursuing while analyzing the concept of hell:

The background of Hell; a look into the history of the concept.

Words and phrases used to describe Hell's reality or as a punishment.

An analysis of the two segregated viewpoints that dictate Protestant Evangelicalism.

Final conclusions…

Jesus learn from John the Baptist? How is the movement of Jesus different from John's?

According to Rausch, John the Baptist is "clearly a historical figure" who was not necessarily preaching anything new or revelatory (p. 1). John the Baptist works within the prophetic tradition and his teachings were rooted in Jewish Old Testament philosophy, eschatology, and theology. When Jesus went to see and meet with John the Baptist, the event "changed his life," according to Rausch (p. 4). John the Baptist may have so strongly influenced and impacted the young Jesus because of the content of his teachings: the emphasis on impending judgment and/or doom for a sinful and unrepentant humanity. Rausch also claims that there is historical and textual evidence linking Jesus's own ministry with the teachings of John. There are five main similarities between the core elements of John's teachings and Jesus's preaching, according to Rausch. The…

The Epistle to the Hebrews reflects the contentious nature of the debate within the Christian community of how to define the role and nature of Jesus in the evolving tradition. Regardless of the nature of its authorship, the epistle establishes Christ as the Son of God and part of the Godhead but also a kind of high priest within the Jewish tradition. Its Christology is uniquely Jewish in its orientation and metaphors, which is one reason why it might be commonly attributed to Paul. But it suggests a new, sacrificial role for Jesus as the Son of God and a new kind of high priest.

The Epistle to the Hebrews first calls Jesus a paradoxical figure, made lower than the angels so he could ultimately elevate humanity. “But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because…

The Kingdom of God annotated bibliography And Essay
Part I: Introduction with Thesis Statement
The Kingdom of God is a much different kingdom than the earthly kingdom the Pharisees were expecting. What characterizes the kingdom of God? Isaiah 11:1-9 describes a restoration of innocence, in which there is no more disharmonic world but rather a world in which everyone and everything is at peace. Romans 14:16-19 relates to this passage, as it also tells Christians that the Kingdom of God is focused on peace and serving God in the Holy Spirit. Psalm 72:5-14 describes a kingdom that is without end, that covers the whole world, and that is served by all men. These two passages from the Old Testament were selected because they touch both on the spirit of the kingdom—it is oriented towards restoring peace and innocence and love—and on the earthly aspect of the kingdom: it is not…

Hypostatic Union

The question of the nature of Jesus has plagued the Christian community from the inception of Christ into the world. The Jewish community was the first to be confused by the deity of Jesus. While Jews were certain that he was a man they faced the challenge of understanding that He was also God. This combination of God and man at once in an individual is unprecedented and there is no comparison for such a combination. After the death of Jesus the problem was exacerbated because the thinking of many persons is that if he was God he could not die. So that his death is a clear indication that he was not God. This thinking is manifested in many theological traditions as heresies. As a response to the individuals who believe that Jesus was only man this essay will demonstrate through the use of scripture that Jesus…

Gustavo Gutierrez did just that in Latin America, employing Marxist analysis to interpret the Jesus' teachings in the Gospel. Gutierrez founded Liberation Theology, which is, essentially, the twentieth century take on Violence and the Cross. Christ is viewed less as Redeemer and more as Liberator.

Evans discusses this same interpretation in black theology, which is, essentially, a continuation of Liberation Theology: "In spite of the ravages of their kidnapping and the disorientation that they endured, African slaves retained an outlook on their experience that continually reaffirmed their worth as individuals and as a people…The Jesus whom they encountered as they were exposed to the Bible was a caring and liberating friend who shared their sorrows and burdens" (12). Yet, in black theology, Jesus does not bring grace through suffering that can perfect one's nature and lead one's soul to Heaven (as classical theology insists); in black theology, Jesus is the…

Using ONLY Rausch (not one of the gospels), describe an aspect of Jesus ministry that seems difficult for people living in our culture to understand.  Why is it important for people to encounter this aspect of Jesus's ministry?

Bible Today

The Bible was written roughly two thousand years ago. As such, it is sometimes hard to assert and prove that the lessons taught and employed at that time can be applicable in modern times. However, it is most certainly possible to prove that point and this is true regardless of the specific point that is being discussed and used. Using the facets of Rausch's teaching, one particular teaching point will be selected and compared in terms of the culture and living at the time of its authoring as compared to the same facets in modern times. This is being done to prove the applicability of the teachings and also why…