1 / 129

The Blessed Trinity

The Blessed Trinity. and Our Christian Vocation. The Blessed Trinity. Chapter 2. Chapter 2. Understanding the Trinity. Chapter Objectives. The student will be able to understand:. Christianity’s unique conception of one God in three Persons God’s Revelation to Abraham The Shema

jblackman
Download Presentation

The Blessed Trinity

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Blessed Trinity and Our Christian Vocation

  2. The Blessed Trinity Chapter 2

  3. Chapter 2 Understanding the Trinity

  4. Chapter Objectives The student will be able to understand: • Christianity’s unique conception of one God in three Persons • God’s Revelation to Abraham • The Shema • God’s Revelation to Moses about his own nature • Some attributes of God • The importance of the doctrine of the Trinity • The distinction among the Persons of the Trinity • How the Trinity is revealed in Scripture • What Scripture reveals about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. • How the relationship between God and the human person has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament • Development of Christological and Trinitarian doctrine • Heresies that threatened the early Church • Heroic figures in the early Church • Ecumenical Councils

  5. Keys to Chapter 2 • The one, perfect God, who is worthy to be loved above all else, is himself a loving unity of three divine Persons. • The Father generates, the Son is begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds. • The Trinity was foreshadowed in the Old Testament, revealed by Christ, and defined and defended in the early Church. • The Blessed Trinity dwells in the souls of the baptized as in the Temple.

  6. For Discussion: • How did God reveal himself throughout history? • Why is God called Yahweh, and why is this significant? • What are some of the attributes of God? • What is meant by one God in three Persons? continued

  7. For Discussion: • How did God reveal himself as a Trinity of Persons? • How did the Apostles and the early Church Fathers develop the Christian understanding of the Blessed Trinity and defend Christian beliefs against the heresies of their day? • What were some mistaken beliefs about the Trinity?

  8. God’s Self-Revelation in the Old Testament Lesson Objectives Christianity’s unique conception of one God in three Persons God’s Revelation to Abraham The Shema God’s Revelation to Moses about his own nature

  9. God’s Self-Revelation in the Old Testament Basic Questions What is unique about Christianity’s conception of God? • Christianity is unique in its proclamation that God is not only one but within that unity is a Trinity of Persons.

  10. God’s Self-Revelation in the Old Testament Basic Questions What did God reveal to Abraham? • Beginning with Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, God revealed he was the only God who created all that is.

  11. God’s Self-Revelation in the Old Testament Basic Questions What is the Shema? • The Shema is the great prayer of Judaism; it reveals the fundamental obligation to love the one God above all things and to pass on this teaching to the next generation.

  12. God’s Self-Revelation in the Old Testament Basic Questions What did God reveal to Moses about his own nature? • God revealed to Abraham’s descendants, through Moses, his name is YHWH.

  13. Anticipatory Set • Review quotes from Sts. Augustine and Athanasius (p. 44), and then discuss the following question: • How is this passage from the Athanasian Creed, in effect, a summary of what St. Augustine wrote in On the Trinity?

  14. Guided Exercise • Conduct a think/pair/share using the following question: • What does it mean for the Catechism, no. 234 (p. 44), to say the mystery of the Blessed Trinity “is the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them?

  15. Focus Question • What is unique about Christianity’s conception of God? • While a number of religions proclaim there is only one God, only Christianity proclaims the one God is a community of three Persons.

  16. Focus Question • Why is the Blessed Trinity the central mystery of the Christian Faith and life? • It is the mystery of the nature of God himself, who is the source and summit of the Christian life.

  17. Focus Question • What is the source of the knowledge of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity? • God gradually revealed it through the covenants, his prophets, and finally through Jesus Christ.

  18. Focus Question • What claim did Christ make about the knowledge of God the Father? • He is the only one who knows the Father. He can reveal this knowledge to anyone he pleases.

  19. Focus Question • How did Christ bear witness to God the Holy Spirit? • He sent the Holy Spirit upon his Apostles at Pentecost and charged them to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

  20. Focus Question • What mission, unique in the ancient world, were the Jews given? • They were chosen by God to proclaim monotheism in a polytheistic world.

  21. Focus Question • Why is Ur noteworthy? • It was a large, port city with a large ziggurat where many gods were worshiped.

  22. Focus Question • Who is Abraham? • God made a covenant with him, and he became the father of the Jewish people.

  23. Focus Question • What is the Shema? • It is a monotheistic prayer from the Book of Deuteronomy; faithful Jews pray it in their morning and evening prayers.

  24. Focus Question • What are mezuzahs and tefillins (or phylacteries)? • A mezuzah is a small box containing the Shema; a Jewish family places one on the doorpost of the home.. A tefillin is the same as a muzuzah but placed next to the heart and forehead.

  25. Focus Question • What was Christ’s attitude toward the Shema? • He taught it is the Greatest Commandment.

  26. Focus Question • How successful were Abraham’s descendants in being faithful to the one God? • At times they were heroically faithful to monotheism; at other times they fell into the polytheism of neighboring peoples.

  27. Guided Exercise • Complete a focused reading on the Shema (p. 46, Dt. 6:4-5) using the following question: • What duties does the Shema impose on a Jew?

  28. Focus Question • What was the unlikely promise God made to Abraham? • God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. This was unlikely because his wife, Sarah, was barren and they were both advanced in years.

  29. Focus Question • What was the sacrifice God demanded as a test of Abraham’s faithfulness? • God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. When Abraham showed his faithfulness and obedience in such a great matter, God stopped him at the last moment from killing Isaac.

  30. Focus Question • Who are some of Abraham’s famous descendants? • His descendants include Moses, David, and Jesus Christ.

  31. Guided Exercise • Mini-lecture about the polytheism of Israel’s neighbors. • The polytheism of the ancient Middle East did not simply involve worshiping different or multiple gods that did not really exist. These religions also involved gross immorality. • continued

  32. Guided Exercise • Mini-lecture about the polytheism of Israel’s neighbors. • They required human sacrifice, especially child or infant sacrifice. • They involved prostitution of women, girls, and boys in their temples as part of worship. • They sanctioned sexual immorality.

  33. Focus Question • Why were some biblical figures given new names by God? • A new name indicates a new role or mission from God. For example, Simon was renamed Peter (“rock”) to indicate Christ would build his Church on the leadership of St. Peter.

  34. Focus Question • Before the time of Moses, what was the name of Israel’s God? • His name was what it always is; God does not change. However, the Israelites did not know his name. Terms such as Almighty, All-High, Lord, and God were used.

  35. Focus Question • Where did God reveal his own name to Moses? • He did so in the burning bush.

  36. Focus Question • What is God’s name? • God’s name is “I AM WHO I AM.” Taking the first letter from each of these words in Hebrew results in the tetragrammaton YHWH.

  37. Focus Question • What does the name YHWH reveal about God’s nature? • God is the one whose existence is “the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end” (CCC 213).

  38. Focus Question • Why did the Jews refuse to say God’s name aloud? • They refused out of sincere respect and reverence, not wanting to say it in vain.

  39. Focus Question • What was unusual about the burning bush? • Though it was on fire, it was not consumed by the flames.

  40. Focus Question • How did the voice from the burning bush identify itself? • The voice said it was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

  41. Focus Question • How was Moses’ initial response similar to that of other prophets? • Moses was reluctant but eventually agreed to carry out God’s mission.

  42. Attributes ofGod Lesson Objectives Some attributes of God

  43. Attributes of God Basic Questions What are some attributes of God? • God is Perfect, Pure Spirit, Immutable, Eternal, Omnibenevolent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent.

  44. Anticipatory Set • St. Anselm presented an argument for the existence of God based on the idea God is “that than which nothing greater can be conceived.” • Use this idea of God as the perfection of every good human characteristic and value to brainstorm what some of the characteristics (or attributes) of God must be.

  45. Focus Question • How can the divine attributes (or inherent qualities or characteristics) of God be learned? • People can learn about them through the various acts of God in Sacred Scripture.

  46. Focus Question • Can a person ever fully grasp who God is? • No; while God is infinite, the human ability to understand and speak of God is finite.

  47. Focus Question • What can be said of God? • God can be described in terms of who he is, what he can do, and what he is not.

  48. Focus Question • What are the eight attributes of God this lesson will explore? • God is Perfect, Pure Spirit, Immutable, Eternal, Omnibenevolent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent.

  49. Focus Question • What does it mean to say God is Perfect? • God possesses each characteristic (or attribute) to a perfect or infinite degree.

  50. Focus Question • What is man’s relationship to God’s attributes? • People participate or share in the life of God by being close to him and, thus, possess to some lesser degree goodness, love, knowledge, and happiness.

More Related