In this passage, What does Markham describe as a "striking and bizarre claim"? Question 1 options: Jesus' Virgin Birth The Christian doctrine of the Trinity the claim that Jesus was the Messiah that God entered human experience
The second is in the area of theodicy. Christianity
has a distinctive answer. It is not a rational answer
(e.g. suffering is a result of past lives - karma or
suffering is a result of free will - although this latter
answer is found in the tradition). Instead it is
an answer that speaks to the heart. The ultimate
Christian response to the mystery of suffering is
that Christians believe God has been there. In
Christ, God Incarnate hangs and dies on the
cross. In this moment we see God's participation
in the pain and suffering of the world.
Readings in Christianity
The Christian Mind
The first text is the marvelous opening of the fourth
gospel. It was probably written around 90 CE. By
this time, some 50 or so years after the death of
Jesus, Christians were convinced that Jesus was not
just a prophet, but God himself. Jesus is depicted as
the logos (Greek for word) of God. In an opening
that echoes Genesis 1, Jesus is identified with the
Creator of the Universe. Jesus' ministry had been
anticipated by John the Baptist, who had pointed to
the light that will transform the world. It captures
the centrality of Jesus in the experience of the
Christian. In Jesus, we encounter God.
139 John 1: 1-13.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was
in the beginning with God. All things came
into being through him, and without him not
one thing came into being. What has come
into being in him was life, and the life was the
light of all people. The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose
name was John. He came as a witness to testify
to the light, so that all might believe
through him. He himself was not the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone,
was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came
into being through him; yet the world did not
know him. He came to what was his own, and
his own people did not accept him. But to all
who received him, who believed in his name,
he gave power to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood or of the will of
the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
Worldviews
Monotheism and the Incarnation
The discovery that Jesus was God did not come
easily to the monotheistic culture of first-century
Palestine. Monotheism is the belief that
there is only one God, but if Jesus is God as well
then doesn't this mean that there are two Gods
or at least two bits of God? This problem provoked
considerable argument and disagreement.
Christians were committed to the belief
in one God, yet at the same time Jesus was God.
Very slowly, the Church started to clarify its
position. Instead of talking about God - as a
simple entity, their experience of Jesus meant
that God must be a dynamic entity. God was a
Trinity, which was a complete unity of distinct
persons. Clearly, language was being forced to
the very limits. But this was felt to be the only
way they could explain their experience of God.
Christians shared with Judaism a conviction in
one creator God, but they also had their experience
of Jesus who compelled them to worship.
As a person can only worship God, then Jesus
must be God. Finally, their experience of God
had continued within the Church, which introduced
the Holy Spirit - the third person of the
Trinity.
This discovery is the central claim in the next
text - the Nicene Creed. In many Churches, it is
recited every Sunday. The Council of Nicaea met
in 325 CE. It was called because the arguments
over the relationship between God the Father and
Jesus were threatening to split the Church.
Although our Nicene Creed is not exactly the
same as the declaration affirmed at that council, it
captures the moment when the Church committed
itself to the doctrine of Trinity. God is a
dynamic unity. Within the Godhead, there is relationship.
You cannot have love in isolation, and as
God is love, there must be relations in God.
In this passage, What does Markham describe as a "striking and bizarre claim"?
Question 1 options:
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Jesus' Virgin Birth |
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The Christian doctrine of the Trinity |
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the claim that Jesus was the Messiah |
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that God entered human experience |
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