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Summary Knowledge Organiser for OCR A-Level Religious Studies Development in Christian Thought
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Full Knowledge Organiser for OCR A-Level RS Development in Christian Thought
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• Bible/Scripture = the collection or canon of books in the Bible which contain the revelation of God BIBLE, CHURCH, AND RE• Church Tradition = the traditions of how Christian life in community works, in worship, practical moral life and prayer, and the teaching and reflection of the
Church handed down across time CHURCH TRADITION AND THE BIBLE
• Sacred Tradition = the idea that the revelation of Jesus Christ is communicated in two ways
→ in addition to Scripture, it is communicated through the apostolic and authoritative teaching of the Church councils and the Pope o Catholics believe the Bible grew out of the Church, on the grounds
o some Protestants seek to exclusively follow the Bible (sola scriptur
• Agape Love = unconditional love, the only ethical norm in situationism
tradition a living expression of the Good News and a living source
PROPOSITIONAL AND NON-PROPOSITIONAL REVELATION o the Bible is the principal source of authority (prima scriptura), but
o arguably, whenever a person reads the Bible they do so, influenced
PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE: o William Spohn and Richard Hays explain this approach, and in so d
• Propositional Knowledge = refers to knowing or accepting that something is so – e.g. knowing when your birthday is or knowing Pythagoras’ theorem
→ propositional knowledge has a ‘truth value’ – it can be true or false, or somewhere in between INFLUENCED BY PRIOR TRADITIONS:
NON-PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE: • is argued you can’t examine scripture without reference to the Church
• Non-Propositional Knowledge = refers knowing how to do something and gain skills through procedures of experience – e.g. knowing how to ride a bike, or whistle → thus the focus should not be on what individual scholars make of
TWO KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE WORK TOGETHER: CHURCH COMMUNITY IS CENTRAL:
• we combine factual knowledge with experience to achieve what we need to do • Church communities and traditions are shaped by scripture, and these
→ the two different ways of explaining how God reveals truths are not incompatible or mutually exclusive – most Christians would say they learn about God • the Church community of faith is the central community to which an i
through the words of the Bible and also see the hand of God in nature and in their relationships with others
DECISION-MAKING AND DISCERNMENT:
• in reading the Bible some knowledge of linguistics and history is necessary to make sense of words used and how they may be interpreted to capture their sense
• Christian Church has a concept of synod, meaning council or assembly
PROPOSITIONAL AND NON-PROPOSITIONAL APPROACHES TO THE BIBLE → key is some sense of decision-making and discernment together
PROPOSITIONAL APPROACH: ANGLICAN TRADITION:
• accepts as truth what the words of the Bible are messages from God – God is revealed directly to the reader through the words on the page
o common Anglican conception of Church tradition refers to early tra
• this approach leads some Christians to view the commandments and Beatitudes as fixed moral principles to be transmitted, the life and work of Jesus as actual
o Bible comes first (prima scriptura), but it is not only source of unde
events to know, and the parables as having fixed meanings
o some non-conformist Protestant Churches (Methodist Church) also
NON-PROPOSITIONAL APPROACH: o the key idea here is that these influences are combined when deci
• God revealed himself in Jesus and lived a human life and died a human death, didn’t write propositions – can be seen as more personal and experiential approach
TRADITION:
• the bible is a gateway into encountering the living God
• Hays: defines Church tradition as the time-honoured practices of wors
• e.g. difference between approaches is difference between getting to know someone through their CV and getting to know someone by having dinner with them • life of prayer and worship, organisation of Church, common preaching
→ tradition shouldn’t be thought of as fixed but a healthy debate as
THE BIBLE AS THE ONLY SOURCE OF AUTHORITY FOR CHRISTIANS INTERPRETATION AFFECTED BY TIMES:
• the Gospels were written when the early Church had already formed,
o is clear Christians can draw on Bible in a number of ways, but for some it is seen as revealing God’s will directly, making it the only authority for Christian ethics
affected by the difficult times they were living through
o Sola scriptura = by scripture alone –Bible is supreme authority in all matters of doctrine and practice: God’s biblical ethical commands that should be followed
o behind this belief is idea scripture is self-authenticating, any rational reader can see meaning which presents CATHOLIC SACRED TRADITION:
→ it is its own interpreter (‘Scripture interprets Scripture’); we do not need any other interpreter as the meaning is obvious and clear from the text
o the bible offers propositional revelation, and that revelation includes clear teachings on morality o the Catholic tradition is quite different
o canon of sacred scripture (authoritatively recognised selection of t
o this involved a process from the first disciples (and the Hebrew Sc
LITERAL WORD OF GOD: and ultimately through the early Church councils an agreement wa
• some christians consider the Bible to be the literal word of God o it was the authority of the Church that decided what the Bible was
• it is almost as if it was dictated by God to the writers,– the writers are not authors, but scribes, recording what Go writes or says (amanuensis)
• the Bible is considered to have authority for Christians because it was ‘inspired by God’
SACRED TRADITION IS EQUAL MEANS OF KNOWING REVELATION:
• Sacred Tradition is an equal means of coming to know the revelation o
BIBLE AS AN INFALLIBLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION: and on to first Christian leaders and down through history to the pres
• are some advantages in holding the belief that the entire Bible is inspired directly and without mistake from God, particularly with regards to moral matters, as it • therefore, Sacred Tradition in Catholic Church has equal authority to B
makes the Bible an infallible source of information – believers will know that they can trust it and rely on what it says → tradition is how the Holy Spirit makes the Risen Lord present
,REASON: LOVE (AGAPE) AS THE
o any decision making requires the operation of reason o for many christians the fundamental New Testament principles of
o reason is needed to make sense of experience and respond to it, to process and reflect on the Bible and tradition and apply the guidance obtained from those o the principle of love is at the root of all of Jesus’ teachings and ac
sources to the problem o these emphasise its challenge, its unconditional, self-sacrificial na
NEGOTIATION BETWEEN NEW TESTAMENT AND PRESENT WORLD: SCHOLAR APPROACHES:
• christians need to negotiate between the world of the New Testament and their particular world in the present to find a way of making moral decisions • some scholars argue ultimately Jesus’ only command was to love, and
→ it may be that in the negotiation or interpretation some factors of the difference between the two worlds become important or prioritised
• Reinhold Neibuhr: wrote that the ultimate law of life is love, and this
REASON CAN PRODUCE DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS: → orthodox christianity tended to become one of two contrasting ty
• reason can produce different interpretations of the Bible and result in differing Church traditions and different responses to ethical decision making which tries to reduce moral behaviour to conformity of traditions
→ on the other hand, a prophetic tradition in Christianity insists on r
A NUMBER OF SOURCES CAN HELP WITH A MORAL DECISION: • Rudolf Bultmann: the challenge of Christian moral behaviour is to mo
• when confronted with a moral question, Christians who draw on the Bible, Church tradition, and reason will consult a number of sources
→ may turn to teachings or rules of their Church on the issue, using catechism or other guidance document
• many Churches provide information about issues and their teachings on those issues PAUL TILLICH: JUSTICE, LOVE, AND WISDOM
• these teachings are developed by leaders of Churches using the Bible and reason to come to conclusion
• some stress the importance in following the rules of the Church and these deliberation o suggested three ethical norms, or rules, should together for Chr
o most important is love, which Tillich saw as being guided by wis
• other Churches encourage members to reach own conclusions, perhaps through process of reasoning and prayer, alone or groups, with previous teachings in mind
• Churches may engage in deliberate focused prayer around a difficult decision before reaching a conclusion
• and sometimes a Church will call a Council to try to decide what to do about a question following the tradition of the early Church – a tradition which, in turn, helps AGAPE LOVE INCLUDES ALL DIMENSIONS OF LOVE:
councils to make decisions about teachings • argues agape love includes all dimensions of love: eros (love of the tru
• describes love as a continuous desire to break through the isolation w
DIFFERENCES:
AGAPE LOVE IS A PERSON-CENTRED MORAL PRINCIPLE:
• is critical of the kind of Christian moral decision-making which follows
THERE ARE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT VIEWS OF HOW THE BIBLE, CHURCH, AND REASON WORK IN MORAL QUESTIONS:
• instead agape love is a person-centred moral principle, binding us to t
• for Catholic Christians, relying on Sacred Tradition is a matter of trust in the authority of the Church → love needs to act in the immediate, concrete moral situation facin
→ Church teachings on moral questions are to be trusted as much as if they were written in the Bible and should be obeyed, although not unthinkingly so as → thought each particular situation has its own voice which cries ou
conscience plays a part
• for Protestant Churches which recognise Church tradition, tradition is a way of interpreting the Bile, which may change with time as practice and meanings are seen • however, Tillich identified a problem for people trying to respond to th
in the light of the present
• however, ultimately, moral authority always rests with the Bible TRADITIONAL LAWS = WISDOM OF THE PAST:
• sees traditional laws as the wisdom of the past, including the comman
• for Catholics, reason provides another source of direct access to revelation, through the moral laws implicit in the created world telling us what do in every situation
• the Catholic Church, Bible, Sacred Tradition, and Reason, each access the one source of revelation differently → this would be against the situation-centred principle of love
• for Protestant Christians , reason is the process of making sense of Bible and Church tradition → therefore, nobody should feel compelled – religiously and morally
• within some Protestant traditions reason operates to make sense of Bible and how it has been interpreted through practices from the early Church to the present
RECOGNISING WHEN TO BREAK COMMANDMENT IS PART OF MORAL LIFE
CRITICISMS OF THE ‘BIBLE, CHURCH, AND REASON’ APPROACHES: • recognises it can be difficult to know how and when to bend or break
PROTESTANT CONCERNS ABOUT ‘SACRED TRADITION’ ULTIMATE AUTHORITY TO A CHRISTIANS OWN DELIBERATION OF ACTION:
• for many protestants the catholic view that tradition is equal to the bible as a distinctive way of knowing the one source of revelation is problematic • the way Tillich thinks love influences Christian ethics is radically differe
• some Christian communities today are sceptical about the role of tradition act as principles that tell us what to do
→ non-conformist protestant churches see Catholicism and Anglicanism tradition as separate from rule of God → also different from those who think the Bible and Church tradition
→ perhaps this process of following traditions is a distraction from the moral commands found in the Bible • gives ultimate authority to individual Christian’s own deliberation of w
, • Will = the part of human nature that makes free choices WOMEN SEEN AS MORE LIKELY TO SIN THAN MEN:
• Sin = disobeying the will and commands of God • despite being forbidden to eat the fruit from the tree of the kn
• Grace = in theological terms, God’s free and undeserved love for humanity, epitomised in the sacrifice of Jesus • this fall has led to a tradition in which some see women as bei
• The Fall = biblical event in which Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden
• Neoplatonism = philosophical thinking arising from the ideas of Plato CONSEQUENCES OF DISOBEDIENCE TO THE WILL OF GOD:
• Redeemed = in theological terms, ‘saved’ from sin by the sacrifice of Christ • then, for the writers of the book of Genesis, the enmity betwe
• Concordia = human friendship a living, and the inevitability of death can all be accounted for
• Cupiditas = ‘selfish love’, a love of worldly things and selfish desires • before the Fall, when Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Ede
• Caritas = ‘generous love’, a love of others and of the virtues; the Latin equivalent of the Greek word agape → when their disobedience comes to light, they are banishe
• Concupiscence = uncontrollable desire for physical pleasures and material things God readily and where there is a barrier between them a
• Ecclesia = heavenly society, in contrast with earthly society
• Summum Bonum = the highest, most supreme good HUMAN NATURE AND WILL BEFORE AND AFTER THE FALL:
AUGUSTINE’S TEACHING ON HUMAN NATURE, THE FALL, AND ORIGINAL SIN o before the Fall, Augustine thought, Adam and Eve must have l
o they would have lived in harmony with other living creatures,
EFFECTS OF THE FALL ON HUMAN RELATIONSHIP: o God had made them exactly the way he wanted to, and so in A
• Augustine’s ideas about human nature were all about effects of the Fall on the human relationship with God the way that God planned people should live
→ the moment when Eve and Adam chose to disobey God was the turning point for the whole of creation
THREE KEY FEATURES: BEFORE THE FALL:
• according to Christianity, humanity to be understood primarily in terms of the human relationship with God • God commanded them to ‘Be fruitful and multiply’, so they wo
• Christianity emphasises three key features of this relationship: people are created by God, they are ‘fallen’ in nature, they can be redeemed governed by lust, because lust was part of the punishment Go
• when Adam and Eve sin, they immediately realise they are nak
‘IN THE IMAGE OF GOD’: with no suggestion that there was anything wrong with being
• christianity teaches humanity is deliberately created and planned, to occupy a special place in the universe
THE VALUE OF HUMAN FRIENDSHIP:
→ people are made ‘in the image of God’ to rule (or ‘have dominion’) over the earth and the other species • Concordia = the easy, comfortable, and understanding relation
• didn’t mean they were ‘just friends’ in any sense of having les
PURPOSE OF CREATION IS STEWARDSHIP:
in what he thought was the best of all possible human relation
• in the first creation story in Genesis, God has a purpose for creation of humanity, which is one of stewardship
• people are made to be ‘stewards’ of the earth (caretakers), looking after God’s property and keeping it in order FREE WILL:
• held firm belief human beings have free will, given to them by
IMAGO DEI: → however, was convinced people are in grip of sin, and bor
• Christian teaching usually interprets ‘imago Dei’ to mean that people share something of the nature of God, in that they have rationality, → there is nothing we can do by ourselves to become free fr
relationality, freedom, and a moral nature
→ people are self-aware and have freedom of choice; they also have the capacity for loving relationships
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL:
→ perhaps is also is implicit idea that all people are, in fundamental way, equal, because they all share aspect of being made in God’s image
• problem of evil was a special interest: he had difficulty with ex
• Augustine’s response to problem of evil was focused on the id
PEOPLE ARE PART OF THE NATURAL WORLD:
• in the second Genesis creation story, God creates a man from the dust of the ground, showing that although people might have a special place in
the universe, they are at the same time part of the natural, physical world, and made from the same material as the rest of nature EVIL IS DUE TO HUMAN MISUSE OF FREE WILL:
• God animates the man he has made by breathing into his nostrils: not with any kind of detachable soul of the sort that Plato had in mind, but • when God made Adam in his image, he made him with freedo
with a life-giving force • however, this same freedom also made it possible for Adam to
there had to be other options too
→ evil in the world was entirely due to human misuse of fre
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