Natural And Cosmic Theodicy And The Call For A Trinitarian Panentheism Essay

When you think “Christian Worldview,” what comes to mind? I know I automatically think; God, Jesus, Christians, and Prayer. As I have learned through my Christian Worldview class, I have learned that there is a lot more to it and this paper will provide you with what I have learned. Throughout this assignment, I will explain about God, Humanity, Jesus, restoration, my analysis of the Christian Faith, and my reflection.

In William L. Rowe 's paper "The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism" he sets out to accomplish two main goals. The first goal is directed toward theists, while the second attempts to reach the very wellspring of an atheist 's heart. Foremost, Rowe sets out to show that there is "an argument for atheism based on the existence of evil that may rationally justify someone in being an atheist" (335). After he has effectively addressed this first issue he moves on to try and convince the atheist that in light of all the evidence that theists are rationally justified (just as much as the atheist) and therefore that atheists should subscribe to what Rowe calls "friendly atheism."

As individuals on this earth, it is common to seek answers to questions which pertain to the origin of life. While some believe in a major scientific occurrence or some spiritual influence brought forth this world. Some may have no care in the matter, yet a large part of the world’s population has a belief based off the teachings and principles of Christianity. The purpose of this paper is to further explain the Christian worldview and many of its key factors such as God, Jesus Christ and the influence they have in the life of humanity.

John of Damascus was another prodigy of the early Church, having extensive knowledge of a wide range of subjects during his life, which spanned from the late 7th century to the mid-8th century. In this brief excerpt of his book, John of Damascus discusses the same fundamental ideas Augustine covers, namely the in-depth understanding of the Holy Trinity. His purpose, as previously stated, is to clarify misunderstandings the Trinity and to expel false teachings such as modalism and polytheism.

Stephen Seamands proffers a Trinitarian description of Christian Ministry as the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Son, to the Father, through the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the church and the world. The author seems to presume that many in the Christian faith have not adequately observed or applied the doctrine of the Trinity significantly in the vocation of ministry. It is with this perception that he postulates a Trinitarian approach of ministry that emphasizes communion with God shaping our language about God to shape our heart so we might share in the life of God. In arriving at his conclusions, Seamands uses well-grounded Scriptural foundations, along with a descriptive of the Icon of the Holy Trinity painted in 1425 by a Russian Monk, Andrei Rublev, including the historical significance that is traced back to the Enlightenment, and the findings of renowned theologians beginning with Karl Barth. The preponderance of evidence provided supports the author’s contention that the grammar of the Christian faith and life is rooted in the doctrine of the Trinity having created the current Trinitarian renaissance.

ABSTRACT: The dispute between fideists and rationalists seems intractable since those who argue for faith alone claim that they are offended by the use of reason in religion. The advocates of reason claim that they are equally offended by the appeal to faith. This dispute may be resolved by showing that those who rely on faith may be seen as engaging in an experiment of living, so they can become part of a rational experiment without having to alter their practice; in contrast, those who use reason to justify religion can be seen as addressing a spiritual need. From an evangelical point of view, it would be wrong to disparage the mathematician’s use of the mathematical proof of God’s existence (such

This paper on Salvation is defining both objectively and subjectively from the two required reading text. The first text is written by Alistair McGrath’s “Theology: The Basics and the second is written by Dr. Yung Chul Han’s “Transforming Power: Dimension of the Gospel. I will describe how the both texts are in association as well as seeking observations, and other conclusions to gain a better understanding of salvation from both perspectives. According to (Mc.Grath, p.78), the word salvation is referred to as something that has already happened in the past, to something that will happen in the future. Spiritual transformation requires of us what is called dependent responsibility. All the moral commands and exhortations of scripture assume our responsibility. Salvation is deliverance from danger or suffering. The word salvation carries the idea of victory, health, or preservation (www.biblia.com). Salvation can be viewed as a spiritual transformation which the dependency of the Holy Spirit assist in the change of a believers past, self to a vessel of God in the present lives which exemplifies life, deliverance, peace, and a victory won through personal conviction. The victory is one that only Jesus Christ has authority save us which gives believers complete approval to have possession to enter the kingdom of heaven.

At the center of the Christian faith is a mystery. This mystery has everything to do with the identity of God, the nature of Christian community, the salvation history and our understanding of Christology. This is the mystery of the Trinity – how is the Godhead fully three persons, and yet one nature? Theophilus was the first to name the ‘triad’ nature of God in his letter To Autolycus in 170 A.D. Tertullian was the first to offer terminology to describe this mystery in Against Praxeas claiming “the Trinity” involved three ‘persons’ of one substance. This theology emerged from the Biblical witness, even though scripture offers no doctrine of the Trinity itself. Even more so, the development of the doctrine of the Trinity grew from the early church’s worship, witness and corporate experience. When faced with a mystery, heresies can’t help but emerge. Docetism and Arianism, Adoptionism and Monarchianism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism are just a few of the heresies that emerged in attempts to explain away the mystery. And yet, theologians from the second century to the twenty-first century are faced with the challenge of witnessing to this mystery in both the theologia and the oikonomia of the Trinity. The church experiences the economic Trinity as new believers are drawn into Trinitarian community through an ongoing

There are many different opinions as to what is true when it comes to religion. All over the globe, many diverse cultures look up and pray to a variety of gods or perhaps none whatsoever. Yet, how does one define what is existent? What is truly divine and worthy of the utmost worship and praise? As humans, we are limited to fully comprehending and understanding exactly who God is and what the afterlife looks like. This paper will discuss the aspects of the Christian faith viewing God, humanity, Jesus, Restoration and the Christian Worldview, as well as, a reflection of what I believe in my own personal life.

Adolf Deissmann’s Die neutestamentliche Formel “in Christo Jesu” initiates scholarly interest in examining the phrase “in Christ” in Paul. Deissmann suggests that the 164 occurrences of “in Christ” in Paul have to be interpreted in the sense of Christ-mysticism. The phrase occurs so often that according to Deissmann, the formula “is really the characteristic expression of [St. Paul’s] Christianity.” He views the phrase as reflecting “a mystical concept of intimacy with Christ.” His interpretation of the phrase as locative is also exclusive, which means that the believer literally lives in the spiritual Christ. For him, “in Christ” is “the peculiarly Pauline expression of the most intimate possible fellowship of the Christian with the living spiritual Christ.” Deissmann argues that “in Christ” should be interpreted as a literal local dative of personal existence. Thus, he primarily emphasizes locative significance to the phrase. After an exhaustive examination in this monograph, he concludes that St. Paul’s construction of the formula ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησου is not that peculiar because it was already used in non religious language. He further states that the phrase pointed to the relation between

The use of the Stoic idea of logos in thinking about Jesus in relation to God is one of the most apparent impact of Stoicism in Christian thinking. The writings of Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenized Jew best epitomize the process and consequence of Hellenization. Having studied philosophy and being a committed student of the Old Testament, many of Philo’s writing integrates and harmonizes philosophical thoughts with Jewish theology, such as incorporating Plato’s theory of Forms (McGrath, 2012). For instance, Philo redefined the logos as a demiurge, which is the intermediary agent between God and the cosmos (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). This demiurge is thought of as the bridging agent that acts on the material physical world on behalf of God.

Over the centuries, Christianity has organised its beliefs into a systematic theology that draws from its sacred writing and tradition. While the main beliefs of Christianity are shared by all Christian variants, there are degrees of different in the interpretation of these beliefs and how they are lived out in everyday life. This can be seen in the important of sacred text, principle belief of the concept of salvation in John 3:16, principle belief of divine and humanity in ‘John 1:14’, principle belief of resurrection in ‘Mark 16:1-8’, principle belief of revelation in ‘1 corinthians14:6’, and beliefs through the Trinity in ‘2 Corinthians 13:14’. This essay will explain the important of the sacred text and the principal beliefs of Christianity.

The purpose of the paper is to differentiate between Christ of faith and Jesus of history. New Testament biblical scholars from the 19th Century have been preoccupied by the notion of Christ of faith versus Jesus of History. Jesus of history can be described as the quest for historical Jesus, while the Christ of Faith is the Christ of Christian belief either through the Church or historically. Some traditions even went ahead to argue that the Jesus of History could never be found and therefore the Christ of faith is the only way forward for Christians. On the other hand, those who have been promoting the Jesus of History have often assumed that the historical Jesus is much superior as compared to the Christ of Faith. Despite the key differences between Christ of faith and the historical Jesus, both these aspect have an implication for Western Christianity.

Mary Ann Fatula’s The Triune God of Christian Faith provides for the reader the inner life of God as well as insight into the human reality. Fatula’s writing draws the devotional discussion of the Trinity as the present-day effect of the Trinitarian faith is called to support attempts to articulate and live the Trinitarian mystery. The Trinity in a human’s life is the content of our definition of our human meaning and for an infinite gift: love. Each of us has a desire for achieving meaning, for love, and for wholeness. Fatula in her book develops the study of the divine ‘persons’ and states the importance of understanding what it is to be truly a ‘person’ of both human and divine potential.

The Church went through a period of cruel persecution under various Roman Empire emperors prior to the 4th century. The church also had to go through the issue with heretics inside the church. During this crucial period in church history, one of the important theological and ecclesiastical question concerned Christology. Christology deals with the life of Jesus Christ. One bishop, Arius, taught that Jesus was not God the Son. God providentially sent a man, St. Athanasius, to defend the Lord’s church.