Term
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Definition
• Born in Basel, Switzerland, Studied under Protestant liberals (Harnack, student of Ritschl)
o Not as concerned as Harnack with the research of what Jesus said and did, theology is that God disclosed himself in the person of Jesus, there is no way from us to God, only from God to us. Hume was right that reason and human ability cannot give us access to who god is, we can come to know who he is through God coming to us. (Harnack thinks you can apply enough research and eventually find out who God is) |
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Term
| Barth and Protestant Liberalism |
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Definition
• Dismayed with Prot. Liberalism after WWI (confidence in the human being started to disappear, thinks about the confidence in reason and human capacity, and the human ingenuity that has created more creative ways to annihilate one another, or has human nature not fundamentally changed?)
• Complete break with Prot. Liberalism with Commentary on Romans (1918, 1922)
o The beginning of Dialectical Theology
• Began teaching Reformed theology in 1921. At Basel from 1935 onward |
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Term
| The Legacy of Nineteenth-Century Protestant Liberalism |
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Definition
1. Authority
a. Reason & human conscience ultimate arbiters of truth
2. History
a. Search for unchanging, unifying essence of Christianity
b. Scientific study of history reveals crucial truths of Christianity
3. Knowledge of God
a. Confident that knowledge of God derives from religious experience, feeling, intuition (subjective) |
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Term
| Commentary on Romans (1918, 1922) |
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Definition
• “[F]ell like a bombshell on the playground of the theologians”
• In Romans, B. discovered “the strange new world within the Bible”
• Discovered Søren Kierkegaard’s (1813-1855) emphasis on the “infinite qualitative difference between God and man,” time & eternity |
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Term
| Commentary on Romans Cont. |
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Definition
o Huge gulf between God and humanity, we cannot get to the other side, God has to build the bridge.
o God is the “Wholly Other”
o Liberalism confused God and humanity, time and eternity
• God became a glorified version of the self
• God cannot be known through pious experiences or be found within us
o God must breach the divide (revelation) |
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Term
| • Message of Romans is message of Bible |
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Definition
o Message of God’s “No” and “Yes”
o God’s “No” = judgment, we are not God.
o God’s “Yes” = communion w/God still possible (Jesus is God’s word to us and he bridges the gap between us)
• God’s “Yes” manifested through Christ |
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Term
| • Message of Romans is message of Bible |
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Definition
o Message of God’s “No” and “Yes”
o God’s “No” = judgment, we are not God.
o God’s “Yes” = communion w/God still possible (Jesus is God’s word to us and he bridges the gap between us)
• God’s “Yes” manifested through Christ |
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Term
The Emergence of Dialectical Theology
• Movement led by Barth |
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Definition
Shared two critiques of Prot. Liberalism:
1. Historical research cannot be basis of faith
a. Historical research simply reminds us that world of faith is beyond power of humans to comprehend on their own
b. Historical research reminds us that Bible contains human testimonies only
2. God cannot be known directly
a. Cannot be known either through history or nature
b. We only know God through an act of God |
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Term
| The Theology of Karl Barth: Select Themes |
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Definition
• God as the “Wholly Other”
o Distance between God & humanity
o “There is no way from man to God”
• The Bible and the Word of God
o Witness to the “Wholly Other”
o Not infallible or inerrant, authority doesn’t lie in its author, but who it points to, beyond itself to the “Wholly Other”
o Bible becomes God’s Word (Jesus) from word of God (Bible) |
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Term
| The Theology of Karl Barth Cont. |
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Definition
• Election (God has damned and elected, but Calvin got the focus wrong). Jesus Christ is the electing God and the elected human
• Christ alone is God’s “No” (the only elected to be damned). In Christ, we all become God’s “Yes”
o Apokatastasis? The difference between non-Christians and Christians? Christians know that there is no difference, all humanity stands before God in equal need, and He must look at us all equally. “The purpose of life is not death but resurrection”, God always has the final word.
• We cannot become God but he chooses to come to us, you have to accept the no to embrace the yes. |
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Term
| Barth on communicating with the infinite |
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Definition
| God must stoop down to us to communicate, and he uses scripture to do that, but it is a witness and point beyond itself. The infinite cannot communicate with finite creatures through an infinite way, he cannot communicate with himself the same way he communicates with you. Jesus is God’s way of communicating with you because he can only do it through a human. |
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Term
| Existentialist Philosophy: Major Themes (what it means to be human) |
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Definition
1. Human existence is starting point – existence precedes essence.
2. Limits of “objective” knowledge – reason can get us to truth, except we never encounter truth objectively, it must become part of who we are.
3. Authentic vs. Inauthentic Existence
a. Human quest for authentic existence – we strive to live authentic lives, but we don’t.
b. Precondition for authentic existence = anxiety (what characterizes all humans, not the same as fear, self awareness)
i. Awareness that world does not give meaning
c. Meaning of our existence cannot be found unless we move beyond worldly concerns
d. Inauthentic existence = bondage to worldly concerns (seek meaning in worldly concerns) |
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Term
| Rudolph Bultmann (1884-1976) |
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Definition
• The Mythical vs. the Modern (historical research cannot be used in theology)
o NT embedded in a mythical framework
o Modern people cannot accept this framework (most modern people believe you have to accept the mythological to believe in the theology)
• Bultmann: Faith is not in the Jesus of History – Christ of faith can be affirmed through demythologization (interpreting the myth, not completely throwing the theology out) |
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Term
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Definition
Demythologizing the NT:
o To have faith in Jesus, we must demythologize the Bible (recognize most of the NT is packaged in myth, and we have to unpackage it and recognize the myth underneath)
o Myths of NT must be interpreted existentially
• What are they trying to tell us about who we are?
• How are we to live truly human lives?
o Fundamental question of Bible: What is the truth of human existence? (what does it mean to be an authentic human being?) |
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Term
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Definition
• German Lutheran Theologian
• Dismissed from U. of Frankfurt in 1933
• Moves to U.S. and teaches at Union (NYC), then later at Harvard Divinity School and U. of Chicago
• Initially influenced by Barth but diverges from him on place of philosophy in Christian theology
• Wrestles with the problem of human existence and what it means to be human (trying to theologize it to open it up) |
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Term
| Tillich Two criteria for theology: |
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Definition
a. Purpose of theology is to focus on “ultimate concern”
i. Problem is that humans are prone to idolatry – making the preliminary the ultimate (we get invested in patriotism, and we think it is what gives us meaning, but this is wrong to give national identity ultimate concern)
b. Content of “ultimate concern” = that which determines our being and non-being
i. This excludes all things that lack the power to threaten or save our being (that which does not give meaning to our existence)
• Religion is defined by, what is your ultimate concern, and we have to make sure our preliminary concerns do not take a front seat. |
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Term
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Definition
James Cone main representative of Black Liberation Theology
o Teaches at Union in NYC Union Theological Seminary
o Born in 1930s in Arkansas, the experience of the jim crow laws and discrimination shaped him.
o First book on BLT came out in 1969 (Civil rights) |
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Term
| James Cone - Black Liberation Theology |
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Definition
• A black theology of liberation “arises from an identification with the oppressed blacks of America, seeking to interpret the gospel of Jesus in light of the black condition. It believes that the liberation of the black community is God’s liberation.” Cone
• Black theology analyzes the nature of the gospel of J.C. in light of the oppressive conditions in which blacks find themselves (need to hear something from the gospel that is relevant to them, a transformation of this world, not just getting into heaven) |
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Term
| Black Theology as Christian Theology |
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Definition
Cone makes this identification on two grounds
o There is no genuine theology unless it arises from an oppressed community.
• The God revealed in Christ is the God at work among the weak and helpless of society.
o Black theology is centered on Jesus Christ
• Black theology maintains that Christ can be found at work particularly in the black community (try to get beneath what he means for black and white, or is he referring to some greater reality) |
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Term
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Definition
• Arose in 1960s, fed by three movements
o Civil rights and anti-war protests pointed to class and racial discrimination (lead by catholic women)
• Ordination of women
o From late 1950s, mainline Protestants began ordaining women: Methodists and N. Presbyterians (1956), Lutherans (1965), Episcopalians (1975)
o Women’s ordination increased enrollment of women in theological schools, and this helped feminist theology gain a footing in these institutions
• Vatican II |
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Term
| Themes of Feminist Theology |
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Definition
Scripture: Who is reader? Which texts should be read? How to deal with problematic texts? (men imposing men-ness into the scripture and interpreting things that are not there)
• Sex and Gender (biological, social construction): Sex, gender, bodies, female experience – all important for doing theology (male assumptions of female experience)
o Analyze constructions of “feminine” and “femininity” in Christian tradition
• The Maleness of God? (conceiving of God in sole masculine terms and language. It is reinforced in almost all churches, it reinforces in the imagination that God is identified with a male. Language shapes reality) |
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Term
| Themes of Feminist Theology II |
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Definition
| • The Maleness of Christ? (Can a male savior save women, if the Christian tradition has claimed historically that god was made into a male human, what theological challenges does that pose for women, relying on the male savior, what is the significance of Jesus being a man) (Reuther would say if Jesus is going to be a savior for when it is not because of his maleness, but since the church is obsessed with it, it has lost sight of what makes him a savior, he saves because he liberates and challenges the status quo, he tries to overturn the gender paradigm, and women can relate to him for this reason and not because of his maleness) |
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Term
| Themes of Feminist Theology |
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Definition
(Jordan says the church wanted to put Jesus beyond others in terms of his maleness and genitalia as well as his sexuality, the church has been selective in how they use the maleness of Jesus and downplay his sexed being, which makes it hard for us to relate as sexed beings.)
• Sin (moving away from the individual transaction, think more about social structures, sin is embedded in social structures that demean women. The world needs to reflect a kingdom where men are women are equal in the eyes of god.) |
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Term
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Definition
• Builds on Queer Theory
o Rejects view that sexuality has an eternal or essentialist quality to it
o Heterosexuality/homosexuality, gay/straight = social constructs (not timeless, rooted in people identifying, not thinking about sexual identity as being fluid. See who drives them, let go of the need to categorize)
o To “queer” is to deconstruct and destabilize sexual identities deemed “natural” (challenging the ideas that have been engrained in us) |
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Term
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Definition
• Queer Theology problematizes (destabilize) or “queers” religious norms and definitions of sex, sexuality, and sexual identities (religion full of people in positions of power who decide what is sexually right and what is not, queer theology seeks to undermine the "God's will"
• Church obsessed with Christ's body but not what makes him a man - Jordan, he is either fully human or not. |
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Term
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Definition
| claimed God's love is universal and that God has a preferential option for the poor (can they be reconciled) Takes sides, not neutral. The catholic church has chosen sides, even when they say they are and don’t get involved in politics. hopes all will be transformed, and God not damning anyone. If someone loves a poor person, and they choose to not act to help them, the church must do something about it, and if they don’t they are disobeying the scripture. |
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Term
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Definition
Salvation is not an otherworldly reality, but it is happening in the world. We are participating in salvation when we help the poor and fight oppression. The gospel is political, challenging the structures that alleviate poverty comes form the gospel itself. Doing nothing is doing something.
Sacrament is supposed to reveal salvation, the church is supposed to embody what God intends for the world, it is supposed to be a sacrament. |
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Term
| Theologies of Religious Pluralism |
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Definition
Concerned with how other religions fit into God’s salvific plan, how Christianity is related to other religions (how should we understand these)
Among the questions they grapple with:
• Is Christianity one path to salvation among many, or does Christianity offer a unique path to salvation?
• How do Christians affirm the uniqueness of Christianity without rejecting the possibility that God is at work in other religions? |
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Term
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Definition
• Dominant in the history of Christianity
• There is only one true religion
• Are other religions paths to salvation? No!
o extra ecclesiam nulla salus |
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Term
| Cyprian of Carthage (c.200-258) |
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Definition
| “Let them not think that the way of salvation exists for them, if they have refused to obey the bishops or priests…The proud and insolent…cannot live outside [the Church], since there is only one house of God, and there can be no salvation for anyone except in the Church.” |
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Term
| Inclusivist Approach (Rahner, 2nd Vatican Council) |
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Definition
• Increasingly embraced among mainline denominations
• Other religions have value – God is at work within other religions
• Are other religions paths to salvation? Maybe? Jesus must be mediator (sooner or later for a Buddhist to be saved they must converge on the Christian path) |
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Term
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Definition
• Rejects uniqueness in favor of the common ground
• The various religions “constitute different ways of experiencing, conceiving, and living in relation to an ultimate divine Reality which transcends all our varied versions of it” (Hick) (no one religion can ever fully understand ultimate reality)
• Are other religions paths to salvation? Yes (no superior path to salvation or to receiving truth) |
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Term
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Definition
• Emphasizes the real differences between religions (aren't all trying to do the same thing) (different mountains)
• No real common ground – Do different religions speak the same language? (Nirvana is not the same as heaven)
• Are other religions paths to salvation? Yes! Perhaps to different kinds of salvation? |
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Term
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Definition
| “The most rigid liberal and conservative approaches share a largely undefended assumption that there is and can be only one religious end, one actual religious fulfillment. They then differ fiercely over the means to the end, one way or many ways…[But] despite the explicit testimony and evidence that seem to set the traditions on diverse paths, any real divergence is dismissed.” |
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Term
| Karl Rahner and the Doctrine of the Anonymous Christian |
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Definition
Rahner’s Doctrine of the Anonymous Christian: A Brief Glance
“[A]ccording to the doctrine of the Church…an individual can already be in possession of sanctifying grace, can in other words be justified and sanctified, a child of God, an heir to heaven…even before he has explicitly embraced a creedal statement of the Christian faith and been baptized.” |
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Term
| The Theological Foundation of Rahner’s Doctrine: Revelation |
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Definition
• Foundation is the doctrine of revelation
• In revelation, God communicates God’s self to the humanity through a universal gift of grace (not revelation of truths)
• All humans receive this universal grace, and this grace contains God’s very self or being
• Revelation not a set of propositions but gift of God’s self to us - God dwells within us |
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Term
| Rahner's The Human Experience of Revelation |
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Definition
• What do we experience when we encounter God’s presence?
o Longing for communion with God (part of what it means to be human)
• We look beyond ourselves and the material world to have our longing for God fulfilled
• Religions are concrete historical and cultural expressions of this universal longing – religions externalize the internal longing for divine communion |
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Term
| Rahner's The Purpose of Revelation |
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Definition
• God gives humans a “burning longing for God” so that we have the possibility to have this longing fulfilled
• How does this possibility become a reality?
o Jesus Christ becomes the sole mediator of God’s grace
o Through Christ, the human longing for communion with the divine finds fulfillment
• Is the salvific grace of Christ found only in Christianity?
o R. responds in doctrine of the anonymous Christian |
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Term
| Rahner’s Doctrine of the Anonymous Christian |
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Definition
• Thesis One: Christianity as the Absolute Religion
• Thesis Two: Salvation in Non-Christian Religions
o Problem: Two conflicting principles - -
• a) God wills all to be saved
• b) Salvation is possible only through Christ
o Solution: Christ’s salvific grace must be universally
• Thesis Three: Anonymous Christians
• Thesis Four: Christianity as the Fulfillment of All Religions |
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Term
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Definition
| if Christ is god's final revelation and the means by which we are justified by god how can we be open to other possibilities to salvation? THe purpose of sitting own at the table is to convince the others that the only path is through Jesus Christ. |
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Term
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Definition
| the doctrine of the anonymous Christian is that god is at work in other religions and can be saved without converting and becoming Christian, this shows we can hold onto Jesus without damning other religions. Revelation is God's self communication and everyone receives it. The religions we are formed by are a means of externalizing this revelation. An atheist is suppressing their true selves. God will hopefully find a way to reveal himself to everyone and so hell would be empty, but history shows us that this is not always possible. Anonymous Christian theology still is saying that Christianity is the ultimate religion. |
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