General summary of the book, I believe in God by Thomas Rausch.
Thomas P. Rausch presents an important account of the heart of Christian doctrine from a Catholic perspective, taking seriously the skepticism of our age, as well as the fine trends toward religious consumerism new forms of Gnosticism present in contemporary North American culture. His presentation of the creed pays careful attention to many popular and competing interpretations of Christian doctrine, weighing them against the biblical and historical sources of the Christian tradition.
In his first chapters, Rausch articulate that, man can experience God with certainty, through logical reason, on basis of God’s works. But when it comes to the order of divine revelation, man cannot understand on his own powers. Through revelation ,orally and written( through the whole content of sacred scriptures), God choose to reveal himself: that is, his being to humans, his moral will and his redemption plan for mankind through his son Jesus Christ. Christ has accomplished revelation through his work, his deeds and words, his death and resurrection and through the sending of the Holy Spirit.Through God’s revelation, the religious truth , have been made available to all humankind with no trace of error. When christians recite the Creed, they affirm in this truth about God that has come to them through the church. The church has been given
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the opening line of the creed reveals important aspects of God, as being the loving father, sovereign and Almighty and the maker of heaven and earth.This first article of the creed helps christian to affirms that there is only one God, the father almighty and that he is creator of all
Rauschenbusch has introduced many new ideas into the theological point of view. He still uses many of the same ideas of the “old theology”, but has just made some important changes to add his own thoughts on what theology should be about and how it should be used to influence people’s daily lives throughout the world. Rauschenbusch says,
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We should live by this truth and meditate on it day and night. The Creed is based on Scripture. The One who the truth points to is the Almighty God. God is omnipotent and He does whatsoever He rightly and justly will. He created us in His image. Yet we fell into sin and corrupted our lives. The wages of sin is death. Because of this, God sent His Perfect Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us as a way to pay all our debt. The Father and the Son both have divine nature. Both are God, and both are Holy. There is only one God, and He is a Triune God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God in one Divine Nature. God does not change, He does not grow or learn, He is almighty and never-changing. Jesus Christ became humble and low by becoming human. He came down to earth and exemplified servant hood. He suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried for sinners. Nevertheless, the eternal son of God has always existed, similar to the eternal Father. There was no beginning to God. Augustine explained that Jesus showed us in the cross what we have to endure, and He showed us in the resurrection what we have to hope. Job teaches us that God will give and take away. God is the ultimate leader of our lives and we, as humans, are sinful followers of Him. Sometimes God causes us to learn through suffering, trials and tribulations. We should be very thankful because Jesus died for us, which allows
It mentions that all human beings exist in a relation to a triune God which is also known as the Trinity. This Trinity is known as one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As explained by the first claim, in the Catholic Tradition, being fully human and living a life of meaning and purpose means joining in this relationship of the triune God. This claim mentions that we have to be fully human, meaning knowing what good and bad, helping others and doing all the good things that God wants us to do, living a life of meaning and purpose that’s the foundation or means joining in the relationship of Love. By Love, they imply to God. In Genesis we are shown that God is love and he loved and respected the human being. We are also shown that an indication of plurality in Godhead, meaning that God is not just one person but he is made of more than one person. In Genesis 1:26 He says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” He doesn’t say I’m going to make man in my image, but uses the plural, ‘our’. This shows that God's actions in the creation are not just his works but he is helped by someone with the same intentions as him, and human beings exist because God loves us. Human beings are related to God as they represent him and were made in his
The Bible holds first God’s identity and who he is, labeled as the creator. By understanding
"EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Unlike the Eastern Orthodox Church, the “truly Trinitarian framework [of] our worship and life has rarely been found” in the Western Church (pg. 6). Possibly due to the early church’s Hellenistic influence, emphasis has always been placed on worshiping the ONE high God. So much focus on one God created an irrelevance to the requirement of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. Similarly, when the doctrine was attacked by reason in the enlightenment period, Christians st...
“Christianity, along with all other theistic belief systems, is the fraud of the age. It serves to detach the species from the natural world, likewise, each other. It supports blind submission to authority[control of the masses].”(Zeitgeist 2007) In this essay, we will explore the different roots of religion and the plagiarism that Christianity and a number of different religions have committed.
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest body of Christians in the world. Catholics are concentrated more heavily in North America, Europe and South America than any other place. The traces of the beginning of the Catholic Church began about A.D. 30; this is the time when Jesus Christ was mandating his apostles to spread the teachings about the Kingdom of God. (Gills Web). Catholics have the belief that Christ inaugurated the church to carry to his people the salvation that he had brought to the world. They also believe that with the aid of God they have managed to preserve his teachings. Belief in God’s revelation is religious faith. Some beliefs that the Roman Catholic’s acquire are the Trinity and creation, Sin, the Incarnation, and salvation, Life after death, Worship and Baptism, Confirmation, and Mass. (Gills Web). Trinity and creation is where Catholics presume there is only one God. This one God exists of a unit of three persons – The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three persons form the Holy Trinity. (Gills Web) Although this is true there is still only one God.
Throughout the modern age the subject of Gnosticism has stood in contrast to the concepts of traditional, orthodox Christianity. The subject of Gnosticism has served to represent the ideas and practices of Christianity that were not sanctioned by orthodox Christianity. Generally, we have come to understand that the world of Christianity has been assembled and constructed in the first five centuries after the death of Christ. In a sense, events such as the Council of Nicaea represent arbitrary decisions to compile the official church-sanctioned version of Christianity. Any writings or practices that fell outside of the formal circle of Christian doctrine became candidates for the label of Gnosticism.
The first section of the creed, Belief in God the Father, is an important part in deciphering our faith. Often, it is easy to ask who God is. In the first section it states: I believe in God, the Father, Almighty. This is important in allowing us to understand who God is. He is the creator and ruler of all, the Father, and
There are several key historical references that were influential and these references are imperative to understanding the full context of the canonical books and their relevance to the Christian faith. In most instances, the opposition of generally accepted truths is challenged and when the opposed truth is the winner, it emerges more accepted than it was before. This is the case for the canonical books as well. Challenges of opposing faiths are a major part of their emergences as the truth. Therefore, early Christianity experienced opposition from individuals and their following, thusly creating a devote need for clarification and a solidified statement of beliefs for all Christians. This was a part of the events that shaped the canonical books and it also contributed to the clarification and interpretation of what it actually meant to be a Christian and the consensus of what that meant to an individual seeking to serve the one true living God (Brueggeman 1978). In an analysis of the most prolific influences of the canonical books, the Gnostics, the ideals of...