In this passage, What does Markham describe as a "striking and bizarre claim"?   Question 1 options:    Jesus' Virgin Birth    The Christian doctrine of the Trinity    the claim that Jesus was the Messiah    that God entered human experience

The second is in the area of theodicy. Christianity

has a distinctive answer. It is not a rational answer

(e.g. suffering is a result of past lives - karma or

suffering is a result of free will - although this latter

answer is found in the tradition). Instead it is

an answer that speaks to the heart. The ultimate

Christian response to the mystery of suffering is

that Christians believe God has been there. In

Christ, God Incarnate hangs and dies on the

cross. In this moment we see God's participation

in the pain and suffering of the world.

Readings in Christianity

The Christian Mind

The first text is the marvelous opening of the fourth

gospel. It was probably written around 90 CE. By

this time, some 50 or so years after the death of

Jesus, Christians were convinced that Jesus was not

just a prophet, but God himself. Jesus is depicted as

the logos (Greek for word) of God. In an opening

that echoes Genesis 1, Jesus is identified with the

Creator of the Universe. Jesus' ministry had been

anticipated by John the Baptist, who had pointed to

the light that will transform the world. It captures

the centrality of Jesus in the experience of the

Christian. In Jesus, we encounter God.

139 John 1: 1-13.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word

was with God, and the Word was God. He was

in the beginning with God. All things came

into being through him, and without him not

one thing came into being. What has come

into being in him was life, and the life was the

light of all people. The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose

name was John. He came as a witness to testify

to the light, so that all might believe

through him. He himself was not the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone,

was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came

into being through him; yet the world did not

know him. He came to what was his own, and

his own people did not accept him. But to all

who received him, who believed in his name,

he gave power to become children of God,

who were born, not of blood or of the will of

the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

Worldviews

Monotheism and the Incarnation

The discovery that Jesus was God did not come

easily to the monotheistic culture of first-century

Palestine. Monotheism is the belief that

there is only one God, but if Jesus is God as well

then doesn't this mean that there are two Gods

or at least two bits of God? This problem provoked

considerable argument and disagreement.

Christians were committed to the belief

in one God, yet at the same time Jesus was God.

Very slowly, the Church started to clarify its

position. Instead of talking about God - as a

simple entity, their experience of Jesus meant

that God must be a dynamic entity. God was a

Trinity, which was a complete unity of distinct

persons. Clearly, language was being forced to

the very limits. But this was felt to be the only

way they could explain their experience of God.

Christians shared with Judaism a conviction in

one creator God, but they also had their experience

of Jesus who compelled them to worship.

As a person can only worship God, then Jesus

must be God. Finally, their experience of God

had continued within the Church, which introduced

the Holy Spirit - the third person of the

Trinity.

This discovery is the central claim in the next

text - the Nicene Creed. In many Churches, it is

recited every Sunday. The Council of Nicaea met

in 325 CE. It was called because the arguments

over the relationship between God the Father and

Jesus were threatening to split the Church.

Although our Nicene Creed is not exactly the

same as the declaration affirmed at that council, it

captures the moment when the Church committed

itself to the doctrine of Trinity. God is a

dynamic unity. Within the Godhead, there is relationship.

You cannot have love in isolation, and as

God is love, there must be relations in God.

In this passage, What does Markham describe as a "striking and bizarre claim"?