Christianity

1. Christianity • RELS 110: World Religions

2. Announcements • Panel on Christianity • Panellists • Rev. Peter Smith (United Church of Canada) • Sister Joanne O’Regan (Wellspring) • Pastor John Luten (Goshen Gospel Church) • Rev. Stephen Welch (Presbyterian) • Jordan Mattie (Xavier Christian Fellowship) • What questions would you like to see addressed by the panellists: • http://moodle.stfx.ca/mod/feedback/view.php?id=4616 (“Questions for Panellists on Christianity”

3. Abrahamic Faith and Christianity • 1. Christianity grew out of, and accepted, Israelite faith in one God who had revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. • But history is reinterpreted in the light of Jesus Christ. • Like a whodunit, you think some one dun it, then 10 pages from the end, you find out it’s someone else, and all the clues you though pointed in one direction, actually don’t, and other clues you ignored are now important. • 2. Christians also see the earth as full of the glory of God, and the need for humans to acknowledge and express it. • But this conviction is more central to Judaism.

4. Abrahamic Faith and Christianity • 3. Christians see the world, and human nature, as so spoiled by sin that divine redemption is necessary. • This is true also in Judaism, but is more central in Christianity. • Jews say we should choose differently than Adam & Eve. • Christians say the story illustrates what has gone wrong with humanity: “The Fall” • Things happen that we feel “ought not to happen” • 11 year old girl kidnapped and murdered • “wars ought not to happen” • 4. Christians believe that God has already acted to redeem creation and humankind in Jesus Christ.

5. The Jesus of History • Christianity, like Judaism, is a history-oriented religion. • The earliest sources we have about Jesus are the gospels in the New Testament. • Did Jesus really do & say the things recorded in the gospels? • Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code suggests a lot of what we think we know about Jesus was made up (by Constantine). • Historians have devised criteria to determine what is historical and what is made up.

6. Possible Test Question • What do historians agree we can know about Jesus’ life?

7. The Jesus of History • Beginnings: baptised by John the Baptist • Proclamation: fulfilment of God’s promises & Israel’s hope: the apocalyptic Kingdom of God. • Public behaviour: 12 disciples; cures; hanging out with sinners • Teaching: answered questions with questions; used comparisons; transcending Torah (follow the intention behind the Torah; live now as if in the Kingdom: love, non-resistance) • Identity & Destiny: the Messianic eschatological Son of Man • Death: entry & cleansing of the Temple; Last Supper; Political misunderstanding; Pilate was harsh (crucifixion was for Roman rebels like Spartacus) • Easter experiences by his followers

8. Possible Test Question • What is meant when Christians say Jesus is “Christ”?

9. The Social Context for Jesus's Life • Jesus was born into a turbulent time. • The land of Israel, his birthplace, was under Roman occupation. • The Jewish people, who longed to govern themselves again, bitterly resented the Roman rule. • Many Jews were looking forward to the coming of a Messiah whom earlier Jewish prophets described as “the anointed one.” • The phrase “anointed one” relates to the practice of anointing the heads of kings with olive oil. • It suggests that the anticipated messiah would be a king or military ruler descended from the great King David. • Other Jews of the era, including John the Baptizer, were predicting a coming apocalypse. • They claimed God was sending his judgment upon the Jewish people for their sins against him.

10. Jesus's Birth • According to the Christian Bible, Mary conceived Jesus through the action of the Holy Spirit when she was an unmarried virgin. • Jesus was born to her in humble surroundings in Bethlehem shortly after she married her husband, Joseph. • According to one Christian account (the gospel of Matthew), Jesus’s birth was followed by the arrival of wealthy visitors “from the East” heralding Jesus as the promised Messiah. • The Christian Bible records little information about Jesus’s childhood and young adulthood prior to the beginning of his public ministry when he was nearly thirty years old.

11. Jesus's Early Life • Jesus was born around 4 BCE (early inaccuracies in the Christian calendar led to the discrepancy between his actual birth date and the year zero). • Jesus was Jewish. • Jesus spoke Aramaic (a local dialect related to Hebrew). • Jesus was baptized by John the Baptizer before he began an itinerant religious ministry.

12. What Jesus Taught • The central focus of Jesus’s teaching was his vision of the kingdom of God. • Some scholars claim that Jesus, like John the Baptizer, taught that God was about to destroy the old world and initiate a new one, a utopian kingdom of God. • Others think that when Jesus referred to the “kingdom of God,” he was speaking metaphorically about the sort of society Jews could create through right behaviour. • Jesus concentrated his teachings on what he called the “two great commandments,” which had long been a part of Jewish tradition: to love God and to love your neighbour. • Jesus taught through parables, stories that carry a strong moral message. • It is thought that Jesus also taught some version of the prayer variously known as the Lord’s Prayer or the “Our Father.”

13. Jesus as a Jew • All the evidence we have suggests that Jesus was a typical observant Jew of his era. • He disputed certain Jewish laws, as did most other prominent Jewish leaders in those difficult times of rapid social change. • Jesus never described himself as “non-Jewish” or “beyond Jewish” in any way. • Indeed, it seems that he kept a kosher diet and observed the Sabbath, attending synagogue regularly to pray.

14. Jesus's Ministry • Jesus probably began his teaching and preaching when he was in his late twenties. • He gathered around him a group of special followers whom he called disciples. • Jesus mainly confined his preaching to moral lessons. • Nevertheless, his ministry generated controversy among both the Roman authorities and some other Jews. • Some feared Jesus would use his growing popularity to overthrow the Roman occupiers. • Others feared the opposite: that Jesus would be too accommodating to the Romans.

15. Jesus's Crucifixion • Jesus had taught for only a few years when, sometime between 30 and 36 CE, around the time of Passover, he brought his disciples and other followers to Jerusalem. • There he was quickly arrested and accused of sedition, of threatening Roman power. • Pontius Pilate, the Roman leader who had been appointed governor of Jerusalem, condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion, a penalty the Jewish leaders were not permitted to impose. • Pilate was later recalled from Jerusalem to Rome for his excessive cruelty.

16. Jesus's Resurrection & Ascension • According to Christians and Christian scripture, Jesus died on the cross, but was resurrected from the dead three days later. • He appeared to his disciples, most of whom did not recognize him at first. • He allowed them to touch his wounds and convince themselves that he was indeed Jesus. • He exhorted his disciples to “Go forth to every part of the world, and proclaim the Good News to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). • The scriptures record that, forty days after his resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven.

17. Try It • Christianity • Jesus • Try it: Jesus

18. Jesus’ Death and the coming of the Kingdom • One needs to make amends to a person one has wronged, if good relations are to be restored. • Human beings have wronged God. • Human beings show no inclination to make amends. • God, bent on restoring creation to what it was meant to be, takes the initiative.

19. God’s initiative to restore creation • Becomes human • Offers his own life to atone for human sins • Shows both the seriousness of sin and the extent of God’s love. • Should produce in humans repentance for sin and trust in God. • Christ dying exhausted the evil consequences of sin, and purged the world, so that creation could be restored to its original state.

20. Summary of John’s Gospel • Central Theme: Incarnation • Jesus came into the world from the Father. • Three Abrahamic Faiths hold that God reveals himself to put things right. • Christianity: God reveals not only his will, but also his person.

21. Summary of John’s Gospel • Crucifixion & resurrection: ends the story of the incarnation. • Not the tragic end of a good man, but the climax of the story of incarnation. • Crucifixion is not tragic, but fitting: I lay my life down. • Some believed Jesus, but couldn’t believe he died • Others believed Jesus died, but God’s spirit left him just before he died. • These two views are not in the early tradition, but are from the second century, based on assumptions that God is eternal and cannot die. • On the contrary, in John’s gospel, the death of Jesus is perfectly appropriate ending of divine incarnation & love. • In John, he is glorified upon crucifixion (it is the hour of his glory). • Paul wrote to the Corinthians that the cross of Christ is foolishness/weakness, a demonstration of God’s wisdom/power.

22. Possible Test Question • What is the relationship of Christianity to Judaism? • How did the two come to separate?

23. The Jesus Movement as a Jewish Sect • In its earliest days, Christianity was a sect within Judaism. • The Jesus movement was concentrated in Jerusalem under the leadership of James, one of Jesus’s disciples (also possibly his brother). • The beliefs of the Jesus movement were straightforward: • Jesus was the promised Messiah. • Since the Messiah had already come, those in the Jesus movement believed they were living in “the final days” before God’s judgment of the world and his institution of the kingdom of God.

24. Saul=Paul • The Jesus movement came under sharp criticism from other movements within Judaism. • Saul, a tentmaker born in southern Turkey, was a Jew of the sect of Pharisees who traveled around Palestine trying to stamp out the Jesus movement. • In the midst of his persecution of the Jesus movement and its followers, Saul had a mystical experience. • While walking on the road toward Damascus, Saul saw a bright light and heard the voice of Jesus telling him that in persecuting Christians, Saul was actually persecuting him. • Thereafter, Saul took the message of Christ to both Jews and Gentiles. • Saul’s Roman name was Paul. • He traveled throughout the Roman Empire preaching the message that Jesus was the Messiah.

25. Paul & the Emergence of Christianity • Paul made several key innovations in the theology of the Jesus movement that drastically changed the course of Christianity. • In fact, Paul, more than anyone else, was responsible for the emergence of Christianity as a religion separate from Judaism. • Paul did what Jesus asked him to do when he spoke to him on the road to Damascus: • He took the message of Jesus to the Gentiles, encouraging them to convert to the emerging Christian movement.

26. Gentiles & the Jesus Movement • The early Jesus movement based in Jerusalem expected its followers to be Jews, either by birth or conversion. • They were to recognize Jewish law and understand themselves as the people with whom God had made a covenant so many centuries before; the people to whom God had promised the Messiah. • Some believed that if they were male, they had to be circumcised. • Paul believed that the Gentiles did not need to become Jews or respect Jewish law to follow Jesus. • For example, circumcision was not required. • Converts from other religions could simply be baptized, as Jesus himself had been. • More profoundly, much of Jewish law could be set aside. • According to Paul, Jewish ritual law became irrelevant after the coming of Jesus because Jesus had superseded law (God’s commandments) with grace: God’s love.

27. Christianity came to separate itself from Judaism • Gentiles don’t need to observe Jewish law. • Jesus was a Jew; the disciples and earliest Christian observed the law of Moses. • If those who thought Gentiles had to convert to Judaism had won out, then Christianity would have remained within Judaism. • But it was deemed unnecessary for Gentiles to be circumcised, follow the dietary laws, etc.

28. The period of the Church begins with the coming of God’s spirit • In the Hebrew Bible, God’s spirit came when needed. • There was some sense of “wouldn’t it be great if it was with us all the time” as an expectation of the prophets. • Jesus would send the spirit, after he left. • How did one know one had the spirit? • Ecstatic languages? • Prophesying • Other charismatic signs • Paul said yes, but ethical living is a surer sign.

29. Church is led by apostles • The apostles are eyewitnesses of Christ & his resurrection. • They are authorized by him to be his representatives. • A 12th apostle had to be appointed to replace Judas. • The books that became authoritative scriptures were written by the apostles or their associates. • No document can be added to the New Testament. • Christians are to expect no more revelation. • The testimony to that life is the end of revelation.

30. Christian Scriptures • The Jewish Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament are essentially the same. • The Christian New Testament was written in the first 150 years after Jesus’s death, but was not selected to form a canon until the fifth century CE. • The New Testament consists of gospels, acts of the apostles, epistles, and Revelation. • Each gospel addresses a different audience and stresses different themes in Jesus’s life and ministry. • Some epistles appear to have been written by Paul, while other epistles are by other authors. • Revelation is written in symbolic language and addressed to Christians suffering persecution. • (Try it)

31. Try It • Christianity • Christian Scriptures • Try it: Christian Scriptures

32. The Early Spread of Christianity • Paul’s version of Christianity was far more successful than that of the Jesus movement centered in Jerusalem under the leadership of James, and other incipient forms of Christianity. • The Jesus movement suffered from the general disarray within Judaism that followed the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. • Paul, on the other hand, won enthusiastic converts among Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire. • Why did Christianity spread so quickly? • Many people in the Mediterranean region had been attracted to the idea of monotheism as lived out by the Jews. • It was difficult to convert to Judaism, however, and many of the laws that had to be followed may have seemed onerous to the practitioners of Greco-Roman religions. • To them, Paul's version of Christianity may have seemed like a simpler and easier way to become monotheistic than converting to Judaism.

33. Review: Earliest Christian History: Acts • The Jesus Movement began as a Jewish Sect • Saul=Paul originally opposed the Jesus Movement until he saw the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus • Paul was the most important thinker in Early Christianity, making several key innovations • Paul felt commissioned to take the message of Jesus to the Gentiles, converting many to the emerging Christian movement. • At first, Gentiles had to become Jews in order to become Christians. • Paul taught that Gentiles did not need to become Jews or follow Jewish law to follow Jesus. • This teaching enabled Christianity to separate itself from Judaism • the arrival of God’s spirit was a sign of God empowering his people at the end of this age. • The early Church was led by apostles, and the writings associated with them became the New Testament. • Christianity spread quickly because it had the same attraction as Judaism (ethical monotheism), but without the difficulty of following Jewish law.

34. The Birth of a New Religion The 1st and 2nd Centuries end

35. Try It • Christianity • Christian Scriptures • Try it: Christian Scriptures

36. Possible Test Question • What do Christians mean when they speak of human nature as “fallen”? How, according to Paul’s letter to the Romans, does God redeem “fallen” humankind?

37. The Doctrine of the Atonement • Paul brought about a marked change in the emerging Christian religion’s understanding of Jesus. • Like those in the early Jesus movement, Paul saw Jesus as a spiritual teacher, a prophet, and the anticipated Messiah of the Hebrew scriptures. • However, Paul saw Jesus as something else as well: a divine sacrifice, an attempt by God to bring about reconciliation between God and humanity. • As Paul came to understand it, Jesus was one with God. • Through Jesus, God established a new relationship with humanity. • God had always demanded a price for human sinfulness: death. • Then, as an act of mercy, God sent his son who was without sin to accept that punishment on behalf of all humanity. • This is known as “the doctrine of the atonement.” • God sacrificed Jesus as compensation for human sin, relieving human beings of that terrible burden. • This is what Christians mean when saying, “Jesus died for our sins.”

38. Humanity’s Plight in Romans: 5 points • 1. All humans do things they know they shouldn’t (1:18-3:20) • Non-Jews fail to give their Creator his due • They do things they know in their hearts are wrong • Jews possess God’s law and don’t keep it.

39. 2. Human nature is “fallen” from what it was meant to be (5:12-19; 7:7-25) • It’s not just that everyone happens to sin, but that sin has led to disorder in human nature that is universal. • Whether Adam & Eve are literal or metaphorical, human nature is fallen. • What we shouldn’t do often appears more attractive than what we should do. • E.g., movies sell better when they feature things we think are wrong. • We find ourselves unable to do the good that, at some level, we know we ought to do. • Repeated wrong choices have distorted our moral compass. • We justify our actions. • Therefore, the problem of sin is one in which all are both implicated (responsible) and entangled (cannot escape, even if one chose to do so). • E.g., you are born in France at war with the Germans. It’s not your choice, but as soon as you can make the choice to think of the Germans as enemies, you do so.

40. Humanity’s Plight in Romans, cont’d • 3. Humanity’s orientation toward sin is spoken of as “the flesh” • Not: body is bad; spirit is good. • 1. The body is created by God. • 2. The body will be resurrected • Human nature is fallen; it’s not evil. • It is good gone bad; not inherently bad. • 4. The giving of God’s law doesn’t solve the problem. • It makes it worse. • Paul can’t see the law as the solution, because then Jesus wouldn’t have had to die. • Being told not to do something makes people want to do it, because we don’t like being told what to do. • 5. Sin leads to death • Sin leads to both ‘spiritual’ death and ‘physical’ death. • (In the Garden of Eden, they were told, “you will surely die”)

41. Divine Redemption in Romans (4 points) • 1. Redemption is a display of God’s righteousness • = God’s commitment to the goodness of his creation. • 2. Jesus’ death atones for human sin (Romans 3:21-26) • God does not overlook sin (pretending it doesn’t matter) • 3. Redemption is an act of God’s grace (Romans 4:18-26) • God takes the initiative. • 4. Christ is seen as representative of the new humanity (Romans 5:12-6:11). • Baptized believers leave (“die to”) Adam/old humanity & transfer to the new humanity represented by Christ • Christ’s death was a representative death, not just substitutionary. • It is recalled when one is baptized.

42. The life of the redeemed in Romans (7 points) • 1. “Walk in the spirit” summarizes Paul’s ethics. • This means live a life guided by the spirit, and show its effects: • Love, joy, peace, patience, generosity, etc. • 2. Believers must carry on a war against the “flesh” and its temptations. • “the flesh”= the old humanity (represented by Adam) • 3. The moral life can also be summarized in the commandment to love. • What is the most famous passage Paul wrote? • 1 Corinthians 13 makes at least three points: • (1) indispensability of love • (2) characteristics of love • (3) eternity of love

43. The life of the redeemed in Romans (cont’d) • 4. Life as part of the new creation = a life of freedom • “freedom” here is not quite what we mean today. • Now we think of the absence of external constraint. • Paul thought a little differently: • Consider a bird with a broken wing. • It is not free to fly. • There is no cage or external constraints, but its own condition disables it. • People are in bondage to, enslaved to sin. • Freedom is being enabled to live. • 5. Believers are at home in the cosmos, cannot be separated from God’s love. (Romans 8:31-39) • The “cosmic dance” in Psalms: • All (non-human) creation lives in harmony; humans have choice. • Humans can choose not to live in harmony.

44. The life of the redeemed in Romans (cont’d) • 6. One can still expect hard times in this world • (1) hard times don’t compare with the glorious future • (2) hard times now mean suffering together with Christ. • (3) hard times cannot separate us from God’s love. • Romans 8:28 – God will work things together for your good. • 7. The future is the redemption of all creation • The earth is in the birth pangs of this redemption • It will be complete with the appearance of Christ.

45. Possible Test Question • What fundamental convictions led Christians to understand God as “Trinity,” and how does the doctrine of the “Trinity” give expression to these convictions?

46. Trinity: Preliminaries 1 • 1. Human language for God is analogous, not adequate language for conveying who God is. • God is ineffable, but it is not meaningless to speak of what God is like. • E.g., “The Lord is my shepherd” – terminology familiar from experience. Conveys something important: guidance, care, etc. Yet there are things about God that are not true of shepherds.

47. Trinity: Preliminaries 2 • 2. Distinguish 2 levels of what Christians believe: • (i) fundamental convictions of the Christian faith • Christ died for sins; rose again; Lord; Messiah • (ii) doctrines / doctrinal formulations based on these convictions • State the implications of convictions in category (i) • Protect the integrity of convictions in category (i) • E.g., What exactly is the relationship between Jesus & God? Because people started thinking logically: there can’t be more than one God, so he must have been top creation; yet others thought that didn’t capture their convictions (pray to, worship) • Or: Jesus: fully God? Fully human? Both?

48. Trinity: Preliminaries 3 • 3. When evidence is discovered that does not fit present understandings, new models of understanding must be worked out. • E.g., you trusted someone, they seem to betray you. You can: • (a) ignore it • (b) reinterpret the evidence • (c) change your view

49. 4 Basic Convictions • 1. There is ONE God: Creator, sustainer, judge of all • (This view is shared with Jews & Muslims) • All early Christians were Jews. • Jesus believed in one God. • Jewish scriptures were adopted by Christians. • 2. Jesus was God in human form. • (Jews & Muslims both don’t agree.) • Jesus said and did things not done by other humans: • Forgive sins • Demand exclusive allegiance • Was worshipped and prayed to

50. 4 Basic Convictions • 3. Jesus spoke of God as someone else, namely his “Father” • 4. Jesus spoke of the spirit of God whom he would send from the Father. • Jesus was going to leave; Christians believed that the Spirit had come. • Can’t compromise these 4; how to reconcile them?