Theology Final Review

1. How and why does the Church define the doctrine of the Trinity?

Jesus is human, Jesus is divine, and Jesus is both human and divine

2. Explain the following: the Trinity is one ousia, three hypostases.

The Trinity is the essence of God, as one God in three persons

o Each person is not a part of God, rather the whole God
The Father is the source and origin of all divinity
The Son is eternally begotten of the Father not made
The Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the Son

3. What is a Trinitarian person?

The monotheistic Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a singular being, yet
separate entities.
The Trinity is the essence of God, as one God in three persons
o Each person is not a part of God, rather the whole God

4. How are the Trinitarian persons distinct from each other?

The Father is the source and origin of all divinity

The Son is eternally begotten of the Father not made
The Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the Son

5. Explain the following: The doctrine of the Trinity

demonstrates that the inner meaning of being is to-befor.

The doctrine of the Trinity is grounded in the distinction of relation

to-be-for: Oriented towards another in love
If God is to be for, we must be love
If God is to be for, we must be to be for
The relational name of God the father that points to his Son. Helps relate
to the Christian understanding of God the father

6. How do we know Jesus was an historical person?

Corroborated by Tacitus who located Jesus in the reign of Tiberius under

the Pontius Pitlate

7. According to the synoptic gospels is Jesus aware of his divinity?

Yes, he is conscious that he is the Son of God

He performs miracles and gives his disciples the power to perform
miracles in his name
He claims the power to forgive sins, something which only God can do, and
also gives this power to his disciples

8. What is the hypostatic union?

The union of two natures, divine and human, in the one divine person of
Christ

Jesus can only be one person because he is the second person of the
Trinity

9. What is the Trinitarian question? What are the possible answers

to this question? Which answer/s represent the orthodox
solution?

What is the relationship between the father and the son?

The son is less than the father, the son is equal to the father, the son is
the same as the father, and the son is distinct from the father.

10.
What is the Christological question? What are the possible
answer/s to this question? Which answer/s represent the
orthodox solution?

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What is the relation between the human, the divine, and Jesus
The divine replaces the human, absorbs the human, the divine and human
are separate, and the divine and human both belong to the same person

What did Eusebius believe about Jesus?

Jesus is less than the Father, as the Father must pre-exist the Son because
the Sons existence depends on the Fathers will.
There is a separation between the unoriginate Father and the originate
Son, as the Son shares the Fathers glory.

What did Arius believe about Jesus? Why?

Jesus is just as divine as the father due to Gods absolute transcendence.
If God were divisible, he would be being, not becoming. Therefore,
anything else that is created must come from nothing.
The Son must be a creature that was created from nothing with an
absolute beginning
Jesus cannot have direct knowledge or communication with God because
Gods wisdom is his incommunicable essence.

What did the Council of Nicaea say about Jesus?

Jesus
Jesus
Jesus
Jesus

is
is
is
is

equal to the father yet has a distinct origin

begotten, not made
true God, not God to a degree
God by nature, not by grace

What did Nestorius believe about Jesus?

15.
Elaborate on the following: Christian faith is not
centered on ideas, but on a person, on an I . . . (Ratz.,
210).

First set slide 36

The inner nature of this I is this Love
Disciples experienced this radical love of Jesus
Asked two questions: Must be not be identical with God? Is he not the most
human of men?

16.

What is the simplest profession of Christian faith?

Jesus Christ

17.
What does the Christological title Son of God mean?
Where did this title originally come from?

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The title Son of God entails kingship as a servant, and as the servant of
God he is king
The title originally was inherited from David who was also called a son of
God

What does the Christological title Son mean?

Title was first used by Jesuss disciples, Son corresponds to his selfidentification
Jesus is Son because God is his Father

What does it mean to say that Jesus is the New Moses?

Since Moses could see the face of God, the New Moses must be in an
immediate relationship with God, enabling him to communicate Gods will
and word
Since the New Moses has a direct knowledge of God, he will be able to
speak with full authority

What does it mean to say that Jesus is the High Priest?

Theologically the cross and the exultation of Christ the High Priest is the
day of atonement for the whole world in which the whole world of history
in the place of all human sin and its destructive consequences finds its
meaning and is aligned with its true purpose and identity.

What is the sacrifice of the New Covenant?

In this new sacrifice of the New Covenant one no longer offers animal
blood, but rather one unites one heart to God, purified in the Blood of the
Lamb of God

What is Holy Eucharist?

Mystery of God himself
Jesus gives up Himself to us and we receive the total person of Christ
This gift reveals the ultimate origin of Gods love

What is Transubstantiation?
It is a change through a substance. When we eat something, it becomes
us, therefore, when we eat the body of Chris, Jesus becomes us.

24.
Why does St. Thomas call Holy Eucharist the
Compendium of Salvation?

Eucharist reveals:
o Creation: God lowers himself in creation
o Incarnation: God lowers himself by taking on human flesh, by suffering
and dying

o
o
o

Justification: Transition from sin to grace

Glorification: Union with God. God lowers himself by uniting himself
for all eternity with his creation
Transubstantiation: True conversion of bread and wine into the body
and blood of Christ

25.
Why can the Holy Eucharist be described as the Sacrament
of Love?

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It unites God in Love and is the foundation for love of neighbor. It then
leads to communion with God and neighbor

Why is Holy Eucharist the Food of Truth?

God becomes food to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom. We
consume God so that we might be consumed, transformed, into Him

Why is Holy Eucharist the Sacrament of Humility?

God lowers himself to the lowest of elements: bread and wine. They are
the lowest of elements because they are common everyday items, and
their purpose is to be consumed

In what does Christian worship consist?

The primary Christian act of worship is the Eucharist, as we are grateful for
Gods act of salvation.
Worship is primarily how God acts towards us, rather than how we act
towards God

29.
Explain the following: For Sacred Scripture teaches
that man was created in the image of God . . . but God
did not create man a solitary being. From the beginning
male and female he created them. This partnership of
man and woman constitutes the first form of communion
between persons (Gaudium et Spes 12).?

The point of departure is the creation narratives in Genesis 1 and 2

People are supposed to interact with each other, that is why he created
Eve
Communion (everyone coming together)

30.
What does it mean to say that Christ is the New Adam?
Steve Weinberg has written: Over many centuries science has
weakened the hold of religion, not by disproving the existence of
God, but by invalidating arguments for God based on what we
observe in the natural world. For the Christian is God primarily
an explanatory principle?
How science affects religion?