leaving certificate religion study day 26th … study...11.30am break 11.45pm second...

Leaving Certificate Religion Study Day 26th

November 2016…

in association with

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Contents Timetable for the day pg 3 Search for Meaning & Values pg 4 Moral Decision Making pg 24 Christianity: Origins & Contemporary Expressions pg 29 Exam Technique pg 41 Catholic Theological Studies Degree in Trinity College Dublin pg 43

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Timetable for the Day 10am Registration (Loyola Institute Building) 10.30am First session…Search for Meaning & Values (Hamilton Building) 11.30am Break 11.45pm Second Session…Search for Meaning & Values & Exam technique (Hamilton Building) 12.45pm CTS Presentation...Dr Katie Dunne & Jake Erickson (Hamilton Building) 1pm Lunch (Loyola Institute Building) 1.45pm Third Session…Moral Decision making or Christianity (Hamilton or Loyola Institute Building) 2.45pm Break 3pm Fourth Session… Moral Decision making or Christianity (Hamilton or Loyola Institute Building) 4pm Finish

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The Search for Meaning & Values… Give two examples from contemporary culture that illustrate the human search for meaning. Examples may be taken from music, art, literature, or youth culture

eaning in Music… …how do people express & find meaning in music

eaning in Literature… …how do people express & find meaning in literature

M

M

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Provide two examples of each of the following key questions that emerge in contemporary culture: iscuss the goal and purpose of life;

iscuss the meaning of good and evil;

iscuss the experience of suffering

D

D

D

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Identify cultural factors in contemporary society that can block the search for meaning ddiction …define

…alcohol addiction...how is it cultural factor in society…

…how does it block the search for meaning…

onsumerism …define

…consumerism...how is it cultural factor in society…

…how does it block the search for meaning…

A

C

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Give 2 examples of the contemporary phenomenon of indifference to the search for meaning Indifference defined…

tress…in a contemporary context how does it cause indifference to the search for meaning

ork…in a contemporary context how does it cause indifference to the search for meaning

S

W

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Give a brief definition and explanation of the nature and purpose of philosophy in terms of the search for meaning and values ature of philosophy is to wonder urpose of philosophy is to find knowledge through reason & logic onder in the pursuit of wisdom…avoiding myth Examples…

The Natural Philosophers…

Other examples…

N P W

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In the case of Socrates and Plato present a summary of two of their main ideas and explain why each idea was important in

the development of philosophy ocrates Idea one…

Development…

Idea two…

Development

lato Reality…

Idea One…

Development

Idea Two

Development

S

P

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Outline the place of the Sophists in the society of ancient Greece and their importance in the development of philosophical thought Teachers of the wealthy

Philosophers

thics (grey)…political & economic expediency

an is a measure of all things….

ustice is simply the interest of the stronger…

esult…

ontrast with Socrates…

E

M

J R C

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Provide evidence of religious behaviour in ancient societies from each of the following:…

ites of passage and initiation …STI’s

Native American’s

…A quest for a Spiritual Vision…

ites of burial and sacrifice …Newgrange

…the spirit of the dead goes to be with their god after death, i.e. the sun

R

R

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Mayan sacrifices…

…to appease the blood lust of your god or to ask their god to stop an evil that is plaguing their society, sacrifices were made…again the sun being the god

acred art and artefacts The Venus statuette…

…fertility…rebirth in the after life

S

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Provide evidence of the sense of sacred in contemporary culture Scared is considered to be a person, place or thing that has been in or is in contact with the divine…

roagh Patrick

amino de Santiago

a’ba in Mecca

C

C

K

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ld Trafford

Provide evidence of spirituality in contemporary culture entecostal Christians

ediums/fortune tellers

elief in Ghosts

O

P

M

B

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aize Community

Identify 3 key people in the humanist tradition. In each case, briefly outline one key idea of their teaching

esiderius Erasmus …education

arl Marx …equality

T

D

K

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lbert Camus …dignity & respect

Explain the concept of God in each of the following monotheistic religions

The concept of God refers to how a faith understands or views their God… This is very important because how a believer sees their God dictates how they interact & obey this divinity…

udaism …Yahweh

A

J

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hristianity …Trinity

slam …Allah

Outline the understanding of the transcendent (higher power) in the 2 religious traditions you have studied Islam…

llah

C

I

…A

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Christianity esus

Outline the relationship between the understanding of the transcendent/God and the concept of the person Give 2 examples of how these connections determine behavioural norms in the religious traditions Islam

alah

Christianity

ommunion

…J

…S

…C

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Identify 3 key moments in the emergence of an independent secular (non-religious) value system enaissance

umanism

he Enlightenment

R

…H

T

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uman Rights

0th Century Existentialism

an is condemned to be free

…H

2

…M

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Show how communal values can be shaped by sources other than religion

quality for Women… shaped by Feminism

orking hard for a living…Family (add your own example of values that you have that have been shaped by your family…use a real life story to help you explain how this value was passed on…)

E

W

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Describe 3 different ways in which religions relate to secular culture nison…

onflict…

onsultation…

U

C

C

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Moral Decision Making

ivil law...balancing human rights with the common good...

C

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orality in the 10 commandments

M

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ources of Moral conflict...

S

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ivil authority vs religion authority vs conscience on a moral issue

C

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oral development

M

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Christianity: Origins & Contemporary Expressions

Loyola Institute | RE Revision Day 2016

Christianity: Origins & Contemporary Expressions

Lecture Notes

Jesus’ Ministry

Jesus’ ministry in rural Palestine lasted from only one to three years, reached a limited number of people, and ended in apparent failure,

with the abandonment of his followers, and his execution by Roman authorities. Nevertheless, responsible historical inquiry can yield

important statements concerning Jesus as a person of the 1st-century Mediterranean world.

Such an inquiry involves using all available sources (insider and outsider), testing the sources for bias, determining lines of

convergence among sources, and resisting the urge to speculate beyond what the evidence allows.

Although historians cannot establish a full story concerning Jesus independent of the Gospels, they can state with greater and

lesser degrees of probability important facts about him.

o With the highest degree of probability, Jesus was a 1st-century Palestinian Jew who was executed by the Romans

around the year 30 C.E. and in whose name, shortly thereafter, a movement arose and spread across the Mediterranean,

generating writings in a variety of literary genres.

o With a very high degree of probability, patterns of his activity can be determined: He spoke of God’s rule, taught in

parables, worked wonders, interpreted Torah, associated with marginal elements of his society, and chose 12 followers as

disciples.

o With a high degree of probability, it can be stated that Jesus was baptized by John, that he performed a prophetic

gesture in the Temple, and that he was opposed by elements of the Jewish leadership.

o Although these statements are significant, they fall short of providing a narrative or supplying the self-understanding

and aims of Jesus beyond what is provided by the Gospels.

― Luke Timothy Johnson, The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation (Virginia: The Teaching

Company, 2012), 1-28.

How do we know about Jesus’ history?

&

What do we really mean when we use the word “history”?

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History is not simply “the past” or a historian’s description of “what happened in the past.” It is better understood as a constructive

activity in the present, carried out by historians.

o Historians take the pieces of memory from human events and experiences that have been preserved in some form and subject

them to critical analysis: Are they first- or second-hand primary sources, or are they secondary sources? What are the provenance,

dating, and biases of the sources?

o On the basis of the pieces thus tested, historians then try to construct a narrative concerning the events to which the sources

bear witness.

o Historical accounts, therefore, always have some “fictional” elements, simply because it is impossible to construct narrative

without them. Historical accounts are also, therefore, properly revisionist, both because new information becomes available and

because historical perspective constantly changes.

o As a constructive activity carried out in the present with bits of memory from the past, history is also inherently limited in its

way of knowing reality. It has to do with human events in time and space, but even defining the character of “events” and their

boundaries involves guesswork.

The task of historians is constrained by the availability and state of sources

→ What was said or done had to be perceived, what was perceived had to be written, what was written had to be preserved, and what was

preserved had to be edited, translated, published, and read. Much that is important in human experience falls outside the range of

historiography. Interpretation enters into every step of the process: The point of view shapes perception, perception shapes writing,

assessment as to value determines preservation, and so on. Original sources get lost or destroyed and must be reconstructed from later

publications; some of history’s most memorable persons (like Jesus!) and events have slender evidentiary support.

o The sources for the study of Christian history in its first 1500 years are unevenly distributed in terms of period and language.

For the earliest period, there is little or no material evidence, and the literary evidence is sparse.

In contrast, for the middle and later periods, there is a great deal of material evidence, including cathedrals, shrines,

artwork, and literature. The limitation here is that little of this evidence pertains to the lives of ordinary people. Much of the

history of Christianity comes to us from literate people with some position in society.

o Our richest literary (and material) evidence comes from within the Roman Empire and uses Greek and Latin.

o Our sources are uneven in terms of their perspective

o With some few exceptions, the majority of evidence comes from insider rather than outsider sources

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o Insider sources themselves must be distinguished in terms of their orthodox (“right-thinking”) and heterodox (“other-

thinking”) perspectives; by far the greatest number of sources comes from orthodox authors.


Company, 2012), 6-16.

What do our sources tell us about Jesus of Nazareth?1

Introductory Remarks

Jesus of Nazareth was a preacher of the imminent apocalypse, who proclaimed that God was soon going to intervene in history, overthrow

the forces of evil, and set up a good kingdom here on earth. In the last week of his life, Jesus took his message to Jerusalem, the capital city

of Judea, and there, faced violent opposition. He was arrested, put on trial, charged with imagining himself the future king of the Jews, and

condemned to death by crucifixion. He died as a powerless and forsaken Jewish preacher of an apocalypse that never came. Yet four

centuries later, millions of people throughout the Roman Empire considered Jesus not to be a failed Jewish prophet but to be a divine being,

none other than the God who created the universe, equal in power and stature with God the Father Almighty.

The Life and Teachings of Jesus

The traditional Christian belief about Jesus, found among most Christians of most denominations throughout history, is that he is both

fully God and fully man. This understanding of Jesus as God does not go back to the lifetime of Jesus himself. Jesus did not call himself

God or think of himself as God, and during his life, this is not what his followers thought of him either.

The idea that Jesus was God came about only after Jesus’ life and death.

The reason there have been so many disagreements about Jesus is that our earliest sources about his life – the New Testament Gospels – are

not fully accurate representations of his words and deeds and are highly problematic for reconstructing the events of his life.

There are no other early sources for knowing about Jesus

The Gospels are usually dated to 35 to 65 years after Jesus’ death

They were not written by eyewitnesses but by Greek-speaking Christians living outside of Palestine decades later.

It is almost certain that the authors of the Gospels wrote down stories that had long been part of the oral tradition. As these

stories had circulated by word of mouth over the decades since Jesus’ death, they were changed – sometimes radically – and some

were invented.

This is why there are so many discrepancies in the Gospels, in their minor details, and in their major claims, and in their overall portrayals

of who Jesus was. As a result, scholars have had to establish rigorous historical criteria to help evaluate the Gospels as sources in order to

determine what we can actually know about the life of the historical Jesus.

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First, because stories of Jesus had been circulating for decades – and had been changed and invented – those that are found in a

number of independent sources that have not been corroborated with one another are considered more likely to be historically accurate

than those found in only one uncorroborated source.

Stories or sayings of Jesus that do not simply express what the Christian storytellers would have wanted to say about him or even

that go against what later Christians said about him are more likely to be authentic – because those stories and sayings would not have

been made up.

Any story or saying of Jesus must plausibly fit in the historical context within which he lived – 1st

Century Palestine – if it is to be

accepted as historically accurate.

Scholars who have applied these criteria come to different conclusions. However, one understanding of the historical Jesus has dominated

scholarly discussions – the understanding that Jesus was, and understood himself to be, an apocalyptic prophet.

Apocalypticism

Apocalypticism was an ancient Jewish theology that insisted that this world was controlled by forces of evil, but that God would soon

intervene in history to overthrow those forces and usher in a good kingdom, in which there would be no more pain, misery, or suffering.

This view is called “apocalyptic” from the Greek work apocalypsis, which means a “revealing” or an “unveiling.”

Jewish apocalypticists believed that God had revealed or unveiled to them the heavenly secrets of what was soon to take place on

earth, when he would destroy all that were opposed to him and bring in his kingdom.

This worldview was dominant in 1st

Century Judaism, as we know from numerous Jewish writings of the time, including the Dead Sea

Scrolls, a collection of documents discovered in 1947, that were written by Jews living not too far from where Jesus lived and at about the

same time.

The Four Major Components of Apocalypticism

1. Dualism: Apocalypticists believed that there were two forces in this world, good and evil, with everything and everyone (including

supernatural powers) taking one side or the other.

Historical Component: The present age is controlled by the forces of evil, but there is a good kingdom that is coming that

will be controlled by God and his agents.

2. Pessimism: About the possibilities of life in this age, given that this age was controlled by evil powers.

3. Vindication: God was about to overthrow the evil powers and vindicate his name, his world, and his people.

God would intervene in history by sending a saviour from heaven, sometimes called Son of Man, who would destroy all that

was opposed to God, judge all the people of earth, and punish God’s enemies but reward his followers. This judgment would come to

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those who were alive but also to those who had already died. Apocalypticists developed and promoted the idea of the resurrection of

the dead, when at the end of this age, all who had previously died would re-enter their bodies to face judgment.

4. Imminence: All of this was to happen very soon! They believed that they were living at the very end of the age and that soon, this

world would come crashing to a halt.

Jesus as Prophet

Jesus appears to have held these views – These are the ideas he proclaimed in our earliest surviving sources, especially the three earliest

Gospels (The Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke – These are called Synoptic Gospels because they are so similar to one another

that they can be “seen together” – the literal meaning of synoptic. Mark is the earliest Gospel c. 65-70C.E. and was used by Matthew and

Luke for many of their stories about Jesus c. 80-85 C.E.)

Jesus’ preaching focuses on the coming kingdom of God, a real kingdom on earth, where the righteous would be rewarded but the wicked

excluded. This kingdom would be brought by the Son of Man, a cosmic judge from heaven.

Jesus almost certainly did not think of himself as the Son of Man. It’s true that in the Gospels, he calls himself by that name,

but we must remember that the Gospels are Christian texts written by Christian authors. These authors had heard their stories about

Jesus from Christian storytellers, and for decades, the stories, including the sayings of Jesus, had been changed.

The later storytellers believed that Jesus was the Son of Man, and thus, naturally, when they told their stories about Jesus’

teaching, he gives himself that name. However, in some of Jesus’ teachings, he appears to be talking about someone else. It is those

sayings about the Son of Man that appear to go back to Jesus himself, not to his later followers.

In these sayings, Jesus speaks about a future cosmic judge of the earth who would bring destruction prior to the appearance of God’s

Kingdom.

In the kingdom, people must obey God’s will as expressed in Scripture, by loving their neighbours as themselves, and by trusting

God as a child trusts a good parent.

The 12 disciples would be rulers in the future kingdom.

The Son of Man was to appear very soon; the kingdom of God was imminent.

Those who followed Jesus’ teachings of love and mercy and justice and compassion were already beginning to see what the kingdom

would be like in the here and now.

Summary: Jesus was a Jewish apocalypticist, one who expected the imminent end of history as we know it and the miraculous arrival of a

judge from heaven, who would bring in God’s utopian kingdom here on earth.

― Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God (Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2014), 30-35.

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What about secular sources of evidence for Jesus of Nazareth?

There are three Roman writers who explicitly mention the “Christian question” in the second century (these secular sources combine to

provide strong evidence for the existence of Jesus and his followers):

1. Pliny: The governor of the Roman province of Bithynia in Asia Minor. He wrote a famous letter in 112 C.E. to the Emperor Trajan

asking advice on how to deal with people called “Christians.” He says that they were fooled by a “degraded and extravagant

superstition.” According to Pliny, Christians refused to offer sacrifices to the emperor for which they deserved punishment. Pliny also

talks about some of the Christian practices: “meeting before dawn on an appointed day, and saying with one another a form of words to

Christ, as if to a god.” Pliny ultimately denounces the “superstition” as a “contagion spreading through villages and country, till the

temples were emptied of worshippers.”

2. Tacitus: A friend of Pliny’s. Tacitus was documenting the history of the Emperors in Rome (the famous Annals). He had to

document the reign of Nero (54-68 C.E.) and the Great Fire of 64 C.E.in his work. Rumour had it that the Emperor had started the fire

(and played the violin as the City burned). Tacitus had to find another explanation – a scapegoat – the “Christians.” Tacitus writes: The

author of that profession was Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was capitally punished by the procurator, Pontius Pilate. The deadly

superstition, though checked for a while, broke out afresh; and that, not only throughout Judea, the original seat of the evil, but through

the city . . . a vast multitude were convicted, not so much for the firing of the city, as of hatred of mankind” (Annals, XV, 44). This is an

account of the beginnings of Christianity in the execution of Jesus under the Roman Governor of Judea.

3. Suetonius: Corroborates the testimony of Tacitus: “Capital punishments were inflicted on the Christians, a class of men of a new

and magical superstition.”

― Thomas Norris and Brendán Leahy, Christianity: Origins & Contemporary Expressions (Dublin: Veritas, 2004), 67-69.

Bart D. Ehrman asks an important question: Did Jesus think he was God?2

(Conflict with Establishment)

“In only one of the Gospels, (the Gospel of John c. 90-95C.E.), the last of the four to be written, does Jesus declare himself to be God. In the

earlier Synoptic Gospels, Jesus preaches about the coming kingdom of God, to be brought by a cosmic judge called the Son of Man. Even his

ethical teachings in these Gospels must be situated in this apocalyptic context: Jesus’ concern was that people should behave in ways that

God desires so that they may enter the coming kingdom. Rarely did Jesus teach publicly about himself, and his public proclamations show

that he considered himself a prophet of God, not God himself.”

― Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God (Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2014), 36.

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Jesus in the Gospel of John

Jesus makes a series of stunning declarations about himself, in which he indicates that he existed in eternity past in the glory of God and that

he himself is equal with God.

This is very different from anything Jesus says about himself in the earlier Gospels. It is striking that Jesus never makes any claims to

be divine in any of these earlier Gospels or their sources. How could that be if John – our final Gospel – is correct that this was the very

burden of his entire message? Did the earlier Gospels and their sources choose simply not to mention Jesus’ divinity?

o Historians of the Gospels have long concluded that the idea that Jesus called himself God is not historical. If it were, it would

be in the earliest Gospels; this is a view that is distinctive to John, the last of the Gospels to be written.

Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels

Jesus preaches about the coming kingdom of God, to be brought about by a cosmic judge that Jesus called the Son of Man. In these Gospels,

Jesus rarely speaks about himself.

He also speaks about how people should live. Jesus is often seen as a great ethical teacher, one of the greatest moral instructors in the

history of the world. But it’s important to understand the apocalyptic character of Jesus’ ethical teachings.

o Jesus did not teach ethics so that people would know how to get along over the long term. For him, there was not going to be

a long term! Instead, Jesus taught ethics so that people who lived as God wanted them to could enter the coming kingdom.

Moreover, those who lived in these ways would begin to see what life would be like in that kingdom, where there would be no

more war, hatred, oppression, injustice, poverty, or disease.

Jesus appears to have seen himself as a prophet of the coming kingdom, not as God on earth. Some people have argued that some of Jesus’

actions show that he thought he was God, but in every case, these actions can be explained in other ways.

o Is it true that Jesus performed miracles? Even if he did, this would not make him God any more than it would make any

other miracle worker God – e.g. the prophet Elijah of the Hebrew Bible.

o Is it true that Jesus forgave sins? Even if he did, this would not make him God any more than it would the Jewish priests who

forgave sins in the name of God.

o Is it true that people bowed down before Jesus in worship? Even if they did, this would not make him God any more than it

would the thousands of kings in antiquity before whom people constantly bowed down.

The Messiah

Jesus’ preaching, rather than being about his own divinity, was about God’s coming kingdom – and about God’s coming king.

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In ancient Jewish tradition there was a term for the future king of Israel: Messiah. The messiah was not supposed to be God but a

human.

The kings of Israel were sometimes called “God’s anointed one.” The Greek form = Christos, from which we get the word Christ.

For most Jews, the coming messiah/Christ was not to be a divine figure but a human figure. Note: No Jew ever thought the messiah

was God.

o Moreover, we have no record of any Jew thinking that the messiah was someone who would die for the sake of others and

then be raised from the dead. That is what later Christians said the messiah was supposed to do, based on their views that Jesus

was the messiah and that he had died and been raised. Prior to Christianity, no Jew thought this. In no passage of the Hebrew

Bible that mentions the messiah is there any reference to a death and resurrection, and among no Jewish interpreters of the Bible

was there any sense that this was to be the fate of the messiah. The messiah was to be a great and powerful figure who overthrew

the enemy and established God’s kingdom on earth.

Jesus, too, expected a future figure to be the messiah, a human ruler of God’s kingdom, and saw himself not as God but as the prophet at the

end of time, predicting that the messiah was soon to appear.


Jesus’ Death: Conflict with Establishment

The most well-documented period of Jesus’ life are the days before his crucifixion, and a major key to understanding him is to know about

the events that led up to his death.

There are two virtually certain facts about Jesus’ death (which occurred in or around the year 30 C.E.):

1. He was crucified by the Romans on the orders of the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate;

2. The charges against him were political – he had been calling himself king of the Jews.

Jesus at the Feast of Passover

In considering the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, it is important to remember that the historian can never simply take what is said in

one of the Gospels – especially the Gospel of John – at face value as giving historically reliable information. We need to look at the earliest

sources – the Synoptics – and apply historical criteria to them.

It is virtually certain that Jesus spent almost his entire public ministry in the northern part of the land, in Galilee, proclaiming the

coming kingdom of God.

It is also virtually certain that in the last week of his life, he made a trip to Jerusalem with his disciples to celebrate the feast of

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Passover.

o Passover is an annual festival celebrated by Jews to commemorate the formative event of the nation of Israel: its escape from

slavery in Egypt under the powerful hand of Moses. It involves a special meal consisting of symbolic foods that helped the

participants remember the story, as told in the book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible. Many Jews believed that to celebrate it

properly required them to come to Jerusalem and participate in the sacrifice of the Passover lambs in the Temple, lambs that were

then taken home and eaten at the Passover meal.

Many people came to Jerusalem during Passover. It was a time of tension and danger, especially for the Roman occupiers of the land

of Israel.

o The festival commemorated the time when God had saved Israel from the oppressive hand of a foreign power, and many Jews

participated in the feast not merely looking back to what God had done but also to what he would do to deliver them from

Rome.

o The Romans understood this full well. This was one time of the year when the Roman governor would come to the city from

his residence in Caesarea, bringing troops to station around the city to quell any possible riots.

In all sources, in the last week of Jesus’ life, he went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Why?

o Was it to die for the sins of the world? That would be a theological answer!

o Historical answer? Jesus had been proclaiming his message in the remote, rural areas of Galilee; he was now bringing his message to

the heart of the Jewish nation, the Jewish people, and the Jewish religion – to Jerusalem at Passover.

o Evidence that this was his purpose is found in the Gospels: It is during this week that he preaches most forcefully his message of the

coming destruction to be brought by the Son of Man before the appearance of God’s future kingdom.


Events in Jerusalem and Jesus’ Betrayal

There is little doubt about what Jesus did when he first arrived in the city of Jerusalem, on what was possibly his first visit. He entered the

enormous Temple compound, found what was happening there disturbing, and began to overturn the tables and attack some of the Jews

who were helping to run the Temple cult.

o Was Jesus upset that some Jews were using the Temple cult to make money off religion?

o Some scholars have maintained that Jesus’ actions in the Temple were a kind of enacted parable, showing what would happen when

the Son of Man arrived: All those who were against God – including the leadership of the Jews in Jerusalem – would be destroyed.

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o It is no wonder that these Jewish leaders – who probably had never heard of Jesus before – did not take kindly to him or his

message. And they no doubt saw his actions could indeed create a following; the masses were eager to hear how God was soon to

intervene in their situation.

o Thus, the Jewish leaders – the chief priests and the members of the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) – kept a close eye on Jesus.

Ultimately, they believed they had to act to remove him from the public eye. But how were they to do so without causing a

disturbance that could lead to even more trouble?

The sources are consistent in stating that the Jewish authorities bribed one of Jesus’ closest disciples, Judas Iscariot, to betray him. This view

passes historical criteria, but a question remains: Did Judas simply tell the authorities Jesus’ whereabouts when the crowds were not present?

It seems that there may have been more involved.

o There is no doubt that Jesus was killed by the Romans, not the Jews, and that his execution was for political treason – for calling

himself the king of the Jew.

o Jesus was not the only Jew from antiquity who claimed to be the messiah; the Romans reacted violently against all such

messianic claimants, routinely killing them for political insurgency.

Note: Jesus is never recorded as calling himself king of the Jews in any of his public proclamations. Why would he be crucified for

something he never called himself?

o We are repeatedly told in the Gospels that Jesus taught his own disciples privately. And we have a good indication of one thing he

taught them: a saying that appears in Matthew and Luke (meaning that it comes from the early source Q) that no later Christian would

have made up; thus this teaching is almost certainly historical. Jesus told his disciples that they would be the rulers of the 12 Tribes of

Israel in the future kingdom.

o If the disciples were rulers, who would rule them? The answer was that Jesus was their leader now. He was the one who called

them. It was following his teaching that they would enter the kingdom.

o It appears that Jesus taught the disciples that just as he ruled them now, so, too, would he rule them later – that when the Son

of Man arrived, Jesus himself would be made king of the coming kingdom. And this would happen within their own lifetimes,

when he was made messiah of the coming kingdom.

This is the secret that Judas betrayed. He told the authorities that Jesus was calling himself the future king of the Jews.

For this reason, when the authorities became fearful of a riot, they had taken Jesus into custody and handed him over to

Pontius Pilate for trial.

Pilate would not have cared if Jesus disagreed with the Jewish authorities on matters of the Jewish religion or if he had ever committed

religious blasphemy. Pilate was a Roman governor of a Roman province, and he cared only for threats to Rome.

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o The charge against Jesus was that he was claiming to usurp the power of Rome, claiming to be the future king when only Romans

could appoint the king.

o Pilate evidently questioned Jesus about whether he called himself the king of the Jews, and Jesus either did not respond or answered

truthfully, that he was to be the future king.

o That is all Pilate had to know. He ordered Jesus to be crucified. Jesus was flogged and taken to the cross, and according to our

earliest records, he was dead within six hours.

― Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God (Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2014), 41-47.

The Consequences?

The death of Jesus must have radically disconfirmed for the disciples what they had thought of him.

o Remember: No ancient Jew imagined that the messiah would be one who would die for the sake of others. Instead, the messiah was

to be the great and powerful deliverer of his people from their foreign oppressor.

o During Jesus’ lifetime, his disciples may have thought that he was to be king of the coming kingdom – the great and powerful

messiah – but after his death, it seemed clear that he was not. He had not overthrown the enemy but was destroyed the enemy. He had

not established a new kingdom but was executed by the rulers of the present kingdom.

o Therefore, the death of Jesus must have sent his followers into despair, a despair that would only disappear when they came to think

that God had raised him from the dead.

― Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God (Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2014), 51. See also, Thomas P. Rausch, Who is Jesus? An

Introduction to Christology (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2003), 1-37; Thomas Norris and Brendán Leahy, Christianity: Origins &

Contemporary Expressions (Dublin: Veritas, 2004), 59-87.

The Resurrection of Jesus

According to the earliest Christian writings, Christianity did not begin with what Jesus said and did before his death. It began with

experiences of Jesus after his death by his followers in a new mode of existence: As resurrected from the dead and exalted to God’s presence,

Jesus is “Lord” and “Christ.”

Paul’s letters provide evidence for the claims made by the first believers, which are all the more startling because they were at odds

with believers’ empirical circumstances. First, believers claimed to have been saved; this salvation is not, in the New Testament, a future

or a hoped-for state but a present reality.

The early believers’ claim was not that Jesus avoided death, or lived on in some fashion in the memory of followers, or was resuscitated for a

time. None of these equals “the good news.”

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The gospel message (“the good news”) is that after his death, Jesus entered fully into the power and presence of God, that he was exalted—

enthroned—to a full share in God’s own life.

o He is, therefore, “Lord,” sharing the designation of Israel’s God (Kyrios).

The Resurrection of Jesus is not an event of the past but a condition of the present, not something that happened only to Jesus but also to

his followers, not a weakened form of presence but a more powerful form of presence of Jesus among his followers through “the power of

the Holy Spirit.”

o Because of this experience, believers saw themselves “in Christ.” They saw themselves not only as a “new covenant” within

Judaism but as a “new creation” and a “new humanity.”

o Jesus was not simply a messiah for Jews but was the “image of God” for all humans. This claim to the experience of divine

power in an immediate and transforming fashion marked the first Christians and accounted—much more than their moral

teaching or manner of life—for their appeal to others. That a human being had joined the divine realm as a “son of God” and was

a lord and benefactor to humans would not have seemed strange to Gentiles.

o To Jews, the claim that Jesus was a messiah was not theoretically a problem, but the claim that he was Lord made his

followers appear as polytheists and, therefore, as heretics.


Company, 2012), 28.

Summary: A Complex and Tense Religion

From the time of its birth and earliest growth, Christianity was a complex and tension-filled religion.

Sociologically, it was underdetermined: Beginning as a sect of Judaism, it was expelled from the synagogue and became a Gentile

association (an intentional community) without obvious boundaries.

Culturally, it was mixed, with a symbolic world shaped by a Judaism that was already Hellenized (Greek) and with steady success

among Gentiles rather than Jews.

Religiously, it made claims to an experience of ultimate power through the Holy Spirit that were cosmic but disproportionate to the

actual situation of believers in the world. Conceptually, the founding figure of Jesus presented a set of major challenges to understanding:

Was he cursed or the source of blessing? If he was Lord, then what does that mean for monotheism? Many of the subsequent issues faced

by Christians would involve the same tensions that marked the entry of the religion into the world and its first expansion.

Additionally, we must realise that there are numerous incidents in the Gospels that we cannot know about or that we cannot accept as

historically certain. What is certain is that Jesus was executed by Pilate for calling himself king of the Jews. This unexpected turn of events

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must have driven the disciples of Jesus into deep despair until they came to believe that God had reversed the judgment of the world by

raising Jesus from the dead. This reversal led the disciples to proclaim that far from being a discredited messiah, Jesus had been made divine.

― Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God (Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2014), 51 and Luke Timothy Johnson, The History of

Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation (Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2012), 30-31.

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Exam Technique

Timing & length –

80 mark question = 30-36min answer and between 3-4 pages 40 mark question = 15-18 min answer and between 1.5 – 2 pages 30 mark question = 10-11 min answer and between 1-1.5 pages 25 mark question = 8-10 min answer and just over 1 page 20 mark question = 7-9 min answer and 1 page

Know the Paper – www.examinations.ie …examination material archive…examination papers for all the papers from 2005-2016…Past papers app

too… o Also look at the marking schemes for each exam, which will give you a feel of what the examiner is looking for in

answering the questions on the paper.

Answer the question asked…

This is the cardinal sin of every student…not answering the question being asked…

Read the question fully…

Show that you understand the question

Write an accurate/worthwhile answer

Show personal engagement…

NAME, EXPLAIN, EXAMPLE

http://www.examinations.ie/

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Make sure an argument is well presented and thought through

…You can do this by planning your answer before you write it out fully…take between 1 min to do this for each question …Use key words from the question …Refer back to the question if it asks you to …If there is a quote in the title of the question please refer back to it …Never go over your time limit

Go to the next question and come back to the incomplete question at the end of the exam Only if you have exhausted the options mentioned above can you waffle in any way…

The exam questions will have key words and ideas from the outcomes for learning but my not appear in the manner you think they will. To counteract this, you need to know the topics well and be able to discuss them in the context of different but connected ideas from the course… i.e. you may be asked to discuss the ideas of Plato, of Jean Paul Sartre and humanism in relation to the search for meaning. For more details, please see “How to succeed in Leaving Cert Religious Studies” on studyclix.ie

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Catholic Theological Studies degree in Trinity College Dublin What is Catholic Theological Studies? Theology is a fascinating, vital subject that challenges students to reflect critically about God, human existence, the world we live in, and the role of religion in our lives. The Catholic theological tradition has been shaped by some of the greatest minds and movements globally. It has influenced culture, art, literature and ethics in Western thought for centuries. The study of theology challenges students to think critically and holistically across a wide range of disciplines. It encourages students to think for themselves about the big questions of today. It enables them to be at the leading edge of contemporary engagement with these issues.

How can I study it? There are two ways you can study Catholic Theology as an undergraduate:

A Moderatorship in Catholic Theological Studies (CAO: TR030)

Two Subject Moderatorship (TSM). TSM is a two subject, joint honours, undergraduate arts degree course with honours degrees being awarded in both subjects. With the TSM programme you can combine your course in Catholic Theological Studies with:

Early Irish [TR186]

History [TR187]

Italian [TR189]

Modern Irish [TR188]

Philosophy [TR190]

The Course For You? This course is designed for all students interested in the big questions of today. If you are interested in analysing the moral and religious questions lying at the heart of today’s world you will find this a stimulating and challenging course. This degree will equip you with the skills to get employment in today’s marketplace, and to make a positive difference in the world we live in. At the Loyola Institute in Trinity you will find a lively and welcoming community. Our small class sizes offer ample opportunity for questions, vibrant discussion and acquiring the skills of dialogue and debate. Consistent tutorial support provides you with ready access to guidance and advice for each of your four years at Trinity.

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A unique aspect of the Catholic Theological Studies degree is a 3rd year module on social activism, in which students have the opportunity to learn through immersion experiences in agencies, such as those working with homeless people. Trinity is home to the Book of Kells. Another unique aspect of this degree is the opportunity to study this marvellous manuscript from a theological perspective. At the Loyola Institute we take a special interest in Irish theology through the ages, and the course includes field-trips to places of historic and theological importance such as Clonmacnoise. The Loyola Institute regularly hosts major international speakers who are world leaders in their fields. Students are encouraged to attend these events. Loyola’s lecturers have worked internationally in universities such as Yale, Edinburgh and Cambridge. They are regular contributors to the media and also sit on the boards of various educational and not-for-profit organisations. Loyola Institute Scholarship for Undergraduate Degree The Loyola Institute is offering a scholarship to a student applying through the CAO to do Catholic Theological Studies in the academic year beginning autumn 2017.

New Scholarship that the Loyola Institute is pleased to announce a new scholarship for 2017/2018 which consists of a payment of €6,500 per year and payment of the student contribution (currently €3,000). To be eligible students will: Have sat either the Leaving Certificate or A levels in 2016 or 2017. Have been offered a place to study the BA Moderatorship in Catholic Theological Studies (CAO: TR030). The scholarship does not apply to the two subject moderatorship (TSM). Have a minimum of 430 points under the CAO system. Be ordinarily resident in Ireland or Northern Ireland and be an EU citizen applicant. The final decision on award of the scholarship will be made after interview of all eligible students by 15th September 2017. Graduate skills and career opportunities: CTS is a brand new degree course in Ireland and has no graduates as yet. Current students aspire to a wide range of occupations, including journalism, law, teaching, academics and work in human rights. Surveys in other countries show that graduates of theology have developed flourishing careers in these areas, and in a wide range of other occupations. A degree in theology equips students to think clearly and logically, to see the big picture and address a problem from many angles. These are skills that 21st century employers are seeking. The small size of CTS classes means that students get ample opportunities for teamwork, debating, and making presentations to their peers.

See https://www.tcd.ie/loyola-institute/undergraduate/ for more details…

https://www.tcd.ie/loyola-institute/undergraduate/

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Come and visit us on Trinity Open Day

10th December 2016

leaving certificate religion study day 26th … study...11.30am break 11.45pm second...

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