2. Foundations b) The person of Jesus Christ (H573)
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‘There is no evidence to suggest that Jesus thought of himself as divine.’ 40 marks
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2. Foundations b) The person of Jesus Christ (H573)
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OCR
Detailed bullet-point revision essay plan written by a student aiming for top grades. Discusses the question ‘There is no evidence to suggest that Jesus thought of himself as divine' and includes a personal thesis statement and conclusion. References scholars such as Gerald O'Collins, Gregory of ...
2. Foundations b) The person of Jesus Christ (H573)
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‘There is no evidence to suggest that Jesus thought of himself as divine.’
Intro:
• Belief of Jesus as the Son of God only confirmed 400 yrs after the life of Jesus.
> Council of Chalcedon.
> Establishes theory of the hypostatic union.
> Jesus was fully God + fully divine.
> Christology from above.
• This gave Jesus authority.
Thesis:
• If the Bible is to be taken literally, then Jesus undoubtedly thought of himself as
divine.
> Performed miracles + displayed a close relationship with God.
> eg, resurrection of Lazarus + God calls from the heavens during Jesus’ baptism.
> Although for Christians, how this works remains a mystery.
• Fundamental to belief in salvation + reconciliation - bridges the gap made by human
sin.
> Although - Jesus didn’t appear omniscient when he didn’t know who touched his cloak
+ absorbed the power out of him.
> Suggests that Jesus was not aware of his divinity all the time.
Karl Rahner:
• If you are genuinely human you cannot be certain about your future.
> If Jesus was constantly aware of his divinity he would not worry about the future -
basic human condition.
> Jesus knew that he was going to die - stated at the Last Supper that someone was
going to betray him.
> For Jesus to have a fully human consciousness he must have had an unknown future -
central to humanness.
> Analogy of layers of an onion.
• However - leaves that question of how Jesus’ divine consciousness and human
consciousness come together.
• Gerald O’Collins argues that we can not speculate about Jesus’ nature because he
never wrote anything down.
> Although we can still analyse examples/events such as his Baptism.
> Jesus’ life was heavily documented.
• Rahner’s analogy does appear to solve the issue of contradicting examples of Jesus’
nature - eg, displaying human emotions/performing miracles + having knowledge of
God’s kingdom.
> Explains surface level of Jesus’ nature - but remains a mystery.
> Fitting with the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
Jesus seemed to have special knowledge of God:
• Jesus called God ‘Abba’ = father.
> Arguably, ‘father’ can be a term of respect - however translated from Aramaic it
means ‘Daddy’ which is more personal.
• God calls him ‘son’ at his baptism.
> Paul distinguishes between Jesus as the natural son of God + believers as adopted sons
+ daughters.
• Transfiguration - Jesus’ appearance changes + hears a voice from heaven.
> Jesus must have been aware of his changed appearance.
• Bishop Apollinarius noted that a human mind is ‘enslaved to filthy thoughts’.
> Suggested that the Word replaced the human mind + soul with a divine one.
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