Christian Denominations

Lutheran
Core Beliefs

-Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Ausburg Confession, Formula of Concord
-Doctrine from Bible alone
-God is: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Unique beings, but of the same essence
-believe Christ was resurrected, and this this belief is a test to the believer's faith
-God created man in his image
-Jesus is God and man born of Mary

Catholic
Core Beliefs

-Special focus on Apostles' Creed and Nicene Creed
-Trinity central focus of religion
-Jesus is one and the same with God
-believe Christ was resurrected
-Humans were made in the image of God and have free will and the ability to enter into a Communion with God where grace and love flows
-Mary is the mother of God, and was free from sin her whole life

Differences (3)
Lutheran:
-Doctrine taken from Bible alone
-Major Churches: Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
-66 million followers worldwide, definitely not as popular as Catholicism
-Martin Luther is one of the main founders of the religion. He rose up against popular rule at the time saying the relationship between individuals and God is personal, and does not need to go through the Church or require one to pay to repent.
-original language was German
-All believers are Priests in their own way. They don't pray to Saints, but God directly

Catholic:
-Doctrine from Bible, Church fathers, popes, bishops, Seven Ecumenial Councils, Trent, Vatican and other Catholic councils
-no major churches in the US
-1.5 billion followers worldwide, a much more popular sect of Christianity than Lutheranism
-St. Peter is one of the founders of the religion. St. Peter was one of Jesus' twelve apostles and was one of the few who witnessed the Transfiguration. He also denied Jesus thrice.
-original language was Latin
-priests hold a higher connection with God than the everyday person, and believers pray to Saints

Similarities (3)
-Episcopal Church Government, meaning the order of hierarchy in the Church is the same, the bishop is the highest power of a local Church
-Main beliefs such as following in the teachings of Jesus
-believe Jesus taught people should care for and love one another
-believe in the history of Jesus that he was brought up in Jerusalem etc.
-Both sects developed in Europe
-both accept infant baptism where right from birth one can be adopted into the religion
-both focus on the Apostle's Creed as an important part of the religion
-both use both the old and new testaments (common for Christian religions)

Christianity Summary

Christianity Summary

Rituals
Lifetime individual/group: Baptism – Introduced in the Old Testament, this ritual symbolizes the cleansing of the soul. Some believe that it is an act of literally washing away the sins or demons, while others believe it to be more of an act of faith or devotion to God.

Worship: Prayer – Prayer is viewed as sacred in that it involves humans directly communicating with God. Ideally, rather then simply petitioning God for personal needs, prayer should be about spending time to feel connected with God, and also to understand one’s place with God.

Festivals/holy days:
Easter: Pagan/Christian. Celebrates the equinox and Jesus’ resurrection three days after his crucifixion

Sabbath: day when the tomb where Jesus laid was empty and the day was changed from Saturday to Sunday to separate Christians from Jews. Paul gathered Christians and began the first service.

Gender: Genesis: Eve was tricked by the serpent to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, while Adam followed her example. God punished:
Women: pain of child labor and to be ruled over by man
Man: work the land for food
Both: will die and return to earth
Women gained a lower status than men

Sacred Texts:
Key texts: Bible (old testament and new testament. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include the Apocrypha, while most Protestant Bibles do not. The Apocrypha is a set of Jewish texts that come between the testaments.

Composition (how written): The bible is divided into books, and the books are then divided into sections each pertaining to a part of the biblical story.

Development/history of the text:
The Bible is a combination of the Jewish Scriptures and the New Testament (story of Jesus and growth of Christian faith)

Language/versions: Original-Hebrew, Aramic, Greek. New: English, German, Latin, Chinese

Doctrines/Beliefs:
3 founding beliefs –
1. There is one God who created the world and all things in it. This God is a personal God who cares for the well being of humanity and gives us guidelines of how to conduct ourselves.
2. Jesus was an incarnation of God, both human and God. Jesus led the perfect Christian life and through following his teachings, one can do what God truly wants of humans.
3. The Holy Spirit is a force that connects all of mankind to God. This concept emphasizes Jesus’ analogies of God being a tree and all Christians being branches of that tree. Christianity is very focused on the group/community aspect of faith.

Eschatology (nature of God/creation) – The teachings in the bible of what happens in the future. Mainly focused on rapture (God’s judgment) and the second coming of Christ. Some believe that it is not beneficial to dwell on this, as it can be interpreted as predicting God’s plan and believing yourself capable of thinking like God.

Authority (who is in control)
Family: Children obey parents, wife obeys husband, husband obeys Christ
State: Obey laws of land and Government officials
Church: obey Christ and Church laws
God is the ultimate authority and the Bible is His word
Priest
Preacher
Schools of thought (denominations/divisions)
Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran main divisions

Religious Experience:

Specific actions -
Conversion: Foundational experience of Christian life
Belief in God, repentance of sin, confession of Jesus Christ as the Savior
Can be just the personal conversion to Christianity or converted through an act
Baptize-Catholic
Meditation/worship/prayer
Can be through songs of worship
Bowing down before God
Word and Sacraments: Two main parts of a service
Word: read the Bible, sing songs to help understand passages and apply to personal life
Sacraments: Actions done to show “inward grace” rituals (baptize, communion etc.)

Ethics and Moral Authority:

What/who are main authority – God is the ultimate moral authority. Although many do, humans do not have the right to claim any sort of authority due to our many flaws. So it follows that the Bible and the teachings of Jesus are also part of the central authority as they are direct teachings from God.

Ethical/legal issues (old and modern)
Abortion: violation of the 5th commandment “Thou shall not kill”
Cloning: Humans are made in the image of God, we cannot create each other to be in the image of God
Homosexuality: God says it is wrong because the same sex cannot conceive
Marriage in the Bible is defined as being “between a man and a woman”

Gospel Comparisons

The Last Supper:

Similarities:

-Jesus is selfless, and gives and takes care of his people
-everyone who accepted Jesus is in the covenant with God

Differences:

Mark:
Jesus is selfless, gives bread as his "body" and wine as his "blood"
-Jesus will return for the Messiah
-Everyone is in the covenant now that Jesus has shared it with many

Luke:
Jesus is still selfless, but instead of giving bread, he cleans people's feet
-doesn't clean Peter's feet because he knows he will betray him and God
-Jesus takes care of people as an example that they should take care of one another
-if you accept Jesus, you accept God
-Jesus told everyone who would betray him
-Jesus is God
-Jesus' followers will love one another
-prophesies that Peter will deny him thrice

Both these passages by Mark and Luke agree that Jesus was selfless and gave everything he had to his people and took care of them. Also, all Jesus's followers are in the covenant with God. In general, Mark's passage is much shorter and brief. Luke's is more detailed with many specific events. In Mark's Jesus is very simple and generous, but in Luke's Jesus is very selfless and the focus is more on Peter in the passage.


Agony in the Garden:

Similarities:
-both went to the Mount of Olives
-disciples followed him
-Jesus asks them all not to enter into temptation
-Jesus asks got to "remove this cup from me" by God's will
-Jesus finds his disciples sleeping when he returns from prayer

Differences

Mark:

-Jesus prophesized that his followers would betray him and scatter after he is dead. Peter rebukes this saying that he will stay faithful
-he asked Peter, John and James to watch him while he prayed, but when he returned he found them sleeping
-His disciples slept through prayer
-the men were not faithful to Jesus and therefore man is sinful
-they betrayed Jesus


Luke:
-an angel appears to Jesus to strengthen him and Jesus prays in desperation for the angel to save him
-Jesus healed the servant of the high priest who was cut by a sword by one of the disciples
-Peter denied being with Jesus 3 times, like Jesus predicted. He denied being with Jesus so he wouldn't be beaten or punished
-he cried because the prophecy came true and the cock crew
-the next day people held Jesus and mocked him and the elders asked him if he was the Christ
-he didn't answer outright, but said that everyone else said he was

Overall, in both sections Jesus is portrayed as feeling betrayed by his people, when he asks them to watch him pray and finds them sleeping. In Mark's passage, Jesus is angry but ultimately knows the people harm themselves if they are not faithful to Jesus, so Jesus doesn't care as much, since it is not his problem. Since the disciples betrayed Jesus they became sinners, and made the wrong decision. In Luke's passage, the story of how Jesus' prophecy that Peter would deny him thrice is thoroughly recounted. Luke's also goes more into how his disciples go against him and treat him like a thief. Also in Luke's passage, it ends with elders and people of the society interrogate him on whether he is the Christ and the son of God.

Christian Gospels

Introduction Notes:

-"Oral Tradition"- stories people told of recounts of thing Jesus did in his life.
-first was written 40 yrs after his death
-Mark's Gospel ("good news") was the first, probably written by someone else since people dedicated writing to famous people at the time
-Gospels provide an individual's interpretation of Jesus' teachings
-Matthew was the second Gospel
Synoptic Gospels- have same views: Mark, Matthew, Luke
Gospel of John "spiritual gospel"
Mark- affected by failure of Jewish revolt against Rome
Matthew- post war period after Jewish community conflict with Pharisaic Judaism
Luke- demonstrated that Christian beliefs don't contradict their way of life
Passion Narrative- account of Jesus' death, connected to the Eucharist
-gospels show tensions between Christians and Jews
-reflect theological disagreement
New Testament talks about the broken relationship between Christians and Jews

huston Smith: Christianity

Huston Smith: Christianity

Read Huston Smith from p.323

Questions:

1) What is the Christ of Faith?

What Jesus Did:
-performed miracles in quiet so as not to emphasize them or boast
-demonstration as a power of faith
-summarized by Peter: "He went about doing good" for everyone in society

What Jesus Said:
-Jesus' teachings are unique and everyone of them is found in the Old Testament or its commentary, the Talmud
-he preached of being a good person inside, and not to just have a grand outer life, but a wholesome inner life and morals. Basically being a good person deep down.
-invited people to 'see' things differently, didn't tell them what to do or believe. He promised them if they accepted the invitation their behavior would change accordingly. This new way of seeing things worked more with people's imaginations and not concrete things. So to bridge this gap, Jesus began with examples of things people were familiar with such as farming, weddings and wine. These things mattered to the everyday people, so they listened to him. Jesus identified the authority of these teachings as being within the hearts of the listeners, not in himself or in God. If the people truly believe Jesus' teachings, it is because they are already found within their own hearts.
-Jesus had many wise sayings ex: "Love your neighbor as yourself" and told many stories (parables) at the time these sayings were completely revolutionary and countered all previous beliefs
-God loves humanity, and people need to accept that love and let it flow through them to others
-to accept God's love is to show Him gratitude
-we should treat others as God treats us, with unconditional love, no matter who we are or who others are, even our enemies, we are all loved
-we should approach all difficult situations especially with enemies as not thinking of how to punish them, but think of how we can help them and aid with their need

Reputation/ Who he's perceived as:
-Jesus lived by his teachings
-strength, integrity and an unusual perfection
-he was completely selfless and never talked about himself, his concern was what people thought of God, Jesus saw himself as less than God ex: didn't want people to call him good because only God is good
-very virtuous and moral man, because of his compassion he loved others and everyone (large numbers of people) loved him
-hated hypocrisy: hid people from themselves, and injustice
-had no human ego, left his life up to the will of God
-people felt they were looking at God in human form

2) What is the End and the Beginning?
-Jesus' life ended in his crucifixion, but his teachings and beliefs didn't, this was just the beginning
-Jesus' teaching grew and grew and a group formed that carried them on throughout history.
His followers were convinced he had not truly died, but his soul carried on with them
-his disciples believe in his resurrection, but not resuscitation into the same physical body. He is visible in this state only sometimes, but usually not
-because Jesus didn't die, it showed the eternal power of goodness in the Universe
-since Jesus proved death did not harm or affect, him, he showed people there was nothing to be scared off and that goodness can prevail through anything

Vocab Part 2

Paragraphs on concepts:

Concept of God

Words: trinity, miracle, logos, incarnation

In the Christian religion, the belief is there is One God and he created the Universe and all that is in it. Humans are both physical and spiritual and created in God's image, but God himself is purely spiritual. In Judaism, the covenant that humans have with God is the basis of the religion, but in Christianity the teachings of Jesus are more important, since he is the physical incarnation of God. This brings up the concept of logos, in which God is the ultimate word and reason. Unlike Judaism, God is not involved in all historical events. He can affect events through miracles, events that seem otherworldly and not possible otherwise, but ultimately, humans have free will. This shows that God cares for humans, and in the Christian religion, worshippers can have a more personal religion with God, and pray and talk to him directly. The belief that God is a person led to the idea of the Trinity. The Trinity is composed of Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. These three entities are the holy beings that rule the Universe.

The Human Condition

Words: Salvation, Redemption, Atonement

-All humans are born with "original sin", which is the nature of mankind. People must pay for the sins they make in this life, not for the ones committed by mankind in whole. Humans have a tendency to gravitate towards evil deeds in speech or action. Humans do not possess divine power to "save" themselves through salvation, so they must turn towards God. The only way for humans to save themselves is to accept Jesus and God as the Lord and Savior. Humans must first be atoned by righting their wrongs. This is for personal improvement, God doesn't really care about each individual's choices. It is up to them. After this is performed, humans pray to God to ask for forgiveness, or redemption, but this is not for God's approval, it is for the human's personal gain to check if they are on the right track. God provides the example of what is right in life. The analogy of a teacher and students can be used to explain this Christian concept of the Human condition. For example, a teacher teaches the classes and provides the material for the students to learn, setting an example for them if they wish to succeed. Just like God, God provides the example of the right path, and it is up to each person to decide if they wish to follow his example. Also, with a teacher, at the end of the year, they give out grades, to show each student how they did overall in the class, if they followed his example or not. Like God, people can ask for redemption and forgiveness from God, and God can tell them if they are on the right track or not.

Goal for Humans

Words: Agape (love for all humans), Gospel, Parable, Kerygma

There are many goals set for humans in the Christian religion. Among them are salvation, which as explained earlier is shedding oneself of original sin through correcting one's wrongful deeds (atonement) and praying to God for forgiveness (redemption). Through this, one can live in fellowship with God. Another goal is to have inner happiness that doesn't depend on material goods. A third goal is to have respect for all types of authority, such as parental, political and spiritual. A fourth goal is to be successful in such areas such as financial, health, professional, friends, family and social life. A fifth goal is to have victory over sin, which ties into the first goal of shedding original sin. When one is free of sin, they are free from suffering from fear, worry, cruelty etc. One has more freedom. A sixth goal is to develop the ability to give and receive love, or agape, first of all between you and Jesus and God, and secondly for all Christians and human beings in general. This includes all family and friends whom we should truly care for and love.
The last goal, which is perhaps the umbrella goal of all is to follow God's example as stated in the bible through Parables, testaments and passages. Parables help the reader comprehend the material better through a historical example. God's teachings are also preached in the Gospel and through the teachings of Jesus' life. Kerygma is also used to preach the Christian goals through an early version of Christian beliefs. This was used much more in early churches than today.


Christian Beliefs of Eschatology/ Cosmogony/ Cosmology

Cosmology: nature of universe
Cosmogony: beliefs about the origin of the universe, Christianity believes in a universe less than 10,000 yrs old. Believe God created everything.
Eschatology- what happens when we die. Our final judgment by God whether we go to heaven.

Words: Heresy, Eschatology, Cosmogony, Cosmology

The Christian belief of Cosmogony is that God created the Universe and everything we know. The world is less than 10,000 years old, and everything on the Earth is here because God created it. God first created the heavens and Earth. He then created light and dark, and made a balance for everything. Humans were last to be created, and God told them they had dominion over all things on Earth. The nature of the Universe is known as Cosmology . Everything God created was good in the beginning, and still is. Humans are the ones who have strayed from their original path. God made humans in his image, but over time, the nature of Humans became sinful.
The Christian concept of Eschatology is that our souls separate from our body and go immediately to heaven when we die. We wait there for our final judgment of whether we can stay in heaven or not. Many Christians believe that there is no hell, but if needed, some form of reform before one can enter heaven. The Christian religion is more focussed on the here and now, and becoming a more purified person by actions in this life. Overall, Christians believe that if they act well, and are good people in this life, after death matters will sort themselves out. For the beliefs of Cosmogony, Cosmology and Eschatology Christians are varied on how strongly they support these beliefs. However, these are the beliefs that must be accepted by all Christians, and all heresy otherwise is not acceptable. Heresy is defined as all beliefs that contrast Christian beliefs, and are unacceptable in the Church and preaching.