Scripture
and Salvation History
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2.
Revelation: God's
Self-Communication to Man in History
Outline: God's
Self-Revelation
through Salvation History Reflection Question:
On the first day in class, we
read the quotation by Karl Barth, who claimed that
when you begin to question the Bible, you find
that the Bible is questioning you. When you ask:
“What is this book?” you find that you are also
implicitly being asked: “Who is this that reads
it?” Here is my question. Who is it that
is about to study this book that we call “the
Book,” the Bible?
Who is reading it and why? What
assumptions and fundamental questions do you bring
to your reading and study in this course?
4. Starting with the
Foundation: Covenant Walter Brueggemann, * Scripture: Gen 15:1-18 (Covenant with Abraham) * Scripture: Ex 24 (The Covenant at Sinai) * Scripture: Josh 24:1-27 (Renewal of the Covenant at the Jordan) * Scripture: 2 Sam 7:1-16 (Covenant with David) * Scripture: Jer 31:31-33 (The New Covenant) * Scripture: Ez 36:23-28 (The New Law) Reflection Question 4: If you enter into a marriage covenant with someone, are there obligations that follow from this? If so, what? 5.
Salvation History in the Old Testament Bernhard Anderson,
6.
Salvation History in the New Testament Outline: Salvation
History in the New Testament Salvation
History
Questions 7.
Reflection
Question 7: If I were to ask you to write
a short essay for the mid-term exam on the
relationship between the Exodus event and Christ’s
death and resurrection, what would you write? (Remember,
this is something you would need to do on the exam
in under 20 minutes.) Dei
Verbum, ch.
III: Divine Inspiration and the
Interpretation of Sacred Scripture N. P.
Miller, "Dramatic Speech in the Roman Historians" Outline: An
Outline
of Dei Verbum, Chapter III
Robert
Frost’s poem The Most of It A
chapter by F. J. Aspenleiter titled "The Twilight
of the Middle Ages" What
are the differences between them? (By
this, I mean what are the differences in the
nature of the literary form --- the differences other
than the fact that each narrates a different
event and other than the fact that one is
a poem and the other two are histories.)
9.
10.
* Outline: The
Difference Between Creation and Change 11. Pope
John Paul II, Alexander
Schmemann, Reflection
Question 12: 13. Joseph
Ratzinger, In the Beginning, 41-58
Reflection Question 13:
Is healing a purely physical thing? Is it a
purely mental thing? What do we learn from
the selections for today? 14. Pope John Paul II, Veritatis splendor, "Freedom and Law," 31-50 *Scripture: Gen 2-3 (The Garden and the Fall) Reflection Question 14:
Pope John Paul II comments on the image of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis
2. What does revelation teach us by means of
this imagery, according to the Pope? What
does the Pope mean when he says, toward the end of
section 41 that, “Law must therefore be considered
an expression of divine wisdom: by submitting to
the law, freedom submits to the truth of
creation”? 15. * Outline: The Threefold Alienation of Sin Reflection Question 15:
How might we live our lives so that death would
not be seen as such a punishment; so that, indeed,
we might even look upon it as a gift? Talk
about this in respect to our relationship with our
own bodies, with respect to our relationships with
others, and finally, our relationship with God.
SECTION III: "The
Relationship
Between the Mosaic Law and the Natural Law
According to Thomas Aquinas"
Reflection Question 16: The Commandments, says George Weigel (echoing Pope John Paul II) are not "peremptory moral decrees of some out-of-this-world divinity." If not, what are they? They are not, continues Weigel, "imposts from 'outside' our human condition." If not, what are they? "To live freely" involves what, according to Weigel?
Louis Bouyer, The Meaning of
Sacred Scripture, "Amos
and the God of Justice," "Osee
and the God of Mercy,"
Reflection Question 17:
According to Fr. Bouyer, if God does not wait for
us to be just in order to love us, it is because
what must be true of His love? (Note: The
answer is NOT merely that it is given
freely. I am looking for something else
here.) What,
according to Fr. Bouyer, is the "supreme creation
of God" that truly expresses God's unique, truly
creative power? How is this idea taken up
and echoed in later prophets such as Jeremiah and
Ezekiel? Louis Bouyer, The Meaning of
Sacred Scripture, "Isaias
amd
the
God of Holiness," Jeremias
and the God of the Heart" Reflection
Question 18: In the Second Vatican
Council's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation (Dei Verbum), chapter 1, section
5, the document talks about "the obedience of
faith" that should be given to God who has
revealed Himself to us. Fr. Bouyer too talks
about "obedience" in conjunction with "faith" in
his discussion of Isaiah. How might these be
related to your answer to this earlier question:
If you enter into a marriage covenant with
someone, are there obligations that follow from
this? SECTION 19. Jacques Maritain, The Living
Thoughts of
Reflection Question 19: What are the three “intuitions” of St. Paul that Jacques Maritain discusses in this chapter of his book The Living Thoughts of St. Paul. 20. Roch Kerezsty, Jesus Christ: Fundamentals of
Christology (“Son * Outline: Suffering
Servant
and Son of Man
Reflection Question 20:
How, according to Fr. Roch, does Jesus combine in
Himself the promises of the Son of Man and the
Suffering Servant. (This is another one of those
final exam-type questions.) 21. Please read the beginnings of
each of the four Gospels, and the beginning and
end of the Acts of the Apostles Acts
1 and Acts
28:16-31
Reflection Question 21:
I’ve asked you to read the beginnings of each of
the four Gospels.
Which of them do you like best and why? 22. Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus
of
Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus
of Nazareth, pp. 9-45 * Scripture: Mt
3:13-17, Mt 4:1-11, Mk 1:12-13, and Lk 4:1-13
Reflection Question 22:
Those who pray the Our Father ask God:
“Lead us not into temptation.” Would
God ever “lead us into temptation”? If not,
why do we make that prayer? What do you think it
means? 23. Jesus of Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth,
pp. 46-63 Reflection
Question 23: The apostolic letter
"Faithful for Life: A Moral Reflection" includes a
commentary on the relevance of the Parable of the
Good Samaritan. Do you know anyone who would
be willing to go out of his or her way to help
others this way? Describe this person. 24. Jesus of Pope Benedict, Jesus
of Nazareth, pp. 64-99
Reflection Question 24:
The “beatitudes” are statements that begin:
“Blessed are the ….”
Among those who are “blessed” (meaning
“happy”) in this list are the poor, the meek,
those who mourn, and those who are persecuted. Most
people don’t associate these things with
happiness. Did
Pope Benedict’s description of these beatitudes
change you mind at all? Explain
why or why not. 25. The Good News: The Cross and Resurrection Fr.
Roch Kereszty, Jesus Christ:
Fundamentals of Christology, ch. II: "The
Death and Resurrection of Jesus" *Overhead: St.
Paul and the Resurrection No
reflection due today. |
713.942.5059 | rsmith@stthom.edu