1 call and covenant

8/3/2019 1 Call and Covenant

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1 Call and Covenant

1. Christianity2. The Creed

3. Being Human4. The Call of Abraham5. Creation6. The Creation of Man

1. ChristianityThis is course on about Christian doctrine, which is the teaching of the Church. Aswe ` so we discover some of our intellectual ancestors. By acknowledging our origins, we pay our dues to our forebears. We will meet Abraham, Moses, David,Isaiah, Peter, Paul, Irenaeus, Athanasius, Augustine. We meet Hesiod, Socrates,Plato, Cicero and then again Augustine, Aquinas. We will see how much of the

Hellenic inheritance the Christians have interacted with and we may learn moreabout our own inherited identity through meeting them. This is our pietas, our obedience to fifth commandment, to honour your father and mother. It gives us theintellectual resources by which we ask about our own identity.

Christianity is an education in being human. It offers a very high definition of humanbeing. It is not only intellectual and cerebral and does not merely communicateinformation about being human. It is a course of training in becoming human, or more human than we presently are.

Christianity assumes that the best way to be human is to be communion with allother humans, and the way to achieve this is by being in communion with God. The

only God to be in communion with is the God who wants communion withhumankind. God has initiated this communion, and enables all humankind to comeinto the communion in which we may be in relationship with one another and withhim.

Christianity sets out a course and a syllabus and it offers a set of teachers and of fellow students with whom you my learn. It forms us as members of a company, justas a training makes us members of a troop of soldiers, a football team or a member of a ballet corps, in which the performance of each individual fits within theperformance given by the whole company. It involves minds, hearts and bodies, andbrings these three components into correspondence, making us integrated persons,who are capable of relationship with those unlike ourselves. It is a discipleship which

enables you to regard all your experiences as part of this course of formation.Christian theology makes a particular use of the term ‘Man’ that allows us to refer tothe single person and to all humanity simultaneously. We will discuss the issue of gender and sex when we deal with the concept of nature.

2. The Creed

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The Creed is a statement of the Christian faith. It gives us a minimum. All our presentations of the faith have to measure up to this statement. The creed has beenforged in the contest of ideas. In these contests our predecessors asserted smaller or larger accounts of what humans are capable of, and they have invited, or coerced,one another to understand themselves within the framework of such accounts and tobe content with the status they concede to us. The Christian faith offers a very large

and ambitious account of human capabilities and warns us not to be satisfied withany lesser status. The history of doctrine is the struggle to sustain this minimumstatement about the faith, and so about the possibility of relationship with God thatthe Christian faith presents. .

I believe in one God,

the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the Only Begotten Son of God,

born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

through him all things were made.

At the centre of the creed is the single phrase – of one being with the Father . TheSon is consubstantial (Greek: homoousios) with the Father. The Father and the Sonare two, but they are also one, because they share an underlying being . The Godwho is otherwise beyond our knowledge is of one being with God who has madehimself known in the incarnation. The God we do not know is of one being withJesus Christ who is known by the apostles and other witnesses. The unknown hasmade himself known. The Christian faith, and the homoousion in particular, assertthe possibility of unity and coherence, not only in our knowledge of God but also our

knowledge of creation and of ourselves. All things hold together; they make sense,and it is therefore reasonable to enquire into their sense. It is reasonable to assumethat humanity is a unity and that it is possible for us to be reconciled to one another.The homoousion is the affirmation of our compatibility with one another and thecoherence of all creation.

The Christian faith has been forged in encounters with many rival worldviews.Christians have called these alternative theoretical systems, ‘gnosticisms’: theycombine psychology, sociology and cosmology. In the ancient world they used thevocabulary of piety and of theology; in the modern period our gnostics havediscarded the vocabulary of piety, and therefore of theology too. But though we donot make much use of the term ‘God’, but much of the conceptuality and logic

remains the same. By giving up the conceptuality of theology, our modern Gnosticsalternate between implausibly high and low accounts of man, in which man is either a god without equal or is nothing at all. In their views, God is either part of everythingwe already know, or is entirely beyond all conception. The result is that we have noconfidence that anything we say, whether about God, or about ourselves, or thecosmos, is meaningful or true.

3. Being Human

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Starting-placesWe want to be human, but we cannot be human on our own. Being human involvesbeing in relationship with (all other) human beings, and this involves being inrelationship with God from whom all human beings come. We are human and wewant to become (more fully) human.

Man grows up to maturity. There are two aspects to this story and two narratives .1. As an individual each of us grows up to maturity. Each of us has our own path andcareer. This is our own adventure, which is as much in the future as in our past.2. Mankind grows up to maturity, by discovering civilization and peace for example.

The Western Intellectual tradition is about the growing-up-to-maturity of mankind,and then about our doubts about the possibility of this growing up.

A first definition: The successful man can sustain relationships with all he meets,even with the difficult and antagonistic. The true man is not forced to give up onrelationship with anyone, regardless of how that person holds out against that

relationship.

A first concept:Man is made in the Image of God:UprightRight, JusticeMutuality (male and female)Freedom Becoming human implies a creature with aspiration and ambition, forward-orientated.There are many versions of human being, and course of formation. In this course wecontrast just two, the Christian and the Pagan. Initially we are going to assume that

we can deal with Jesus Christ and Israel as though they are synonymous andinterchangeable. Israel is an amplification of Christ, while Christ is Israel in miniature.

We can make a contrast. On the one hand there is Israel, and on the other there iseveryone else. We will start by contrasting Israel and all other peoples, with their worldviews and forms of life. Israel refers to all other nations as ‘Pagans’ or as‘Gentiles’, and for convenience we will do so. We can compare their two rivalworldviews. We can compare these worldviews by comparing the figures that theypresent to us. If we take Jesus as our representative member of Israel we can askwho is more successful at being human – Jesus, or... and here we can name anyoneelse we care. Who is more successful – Jesus, or Caesar? Or Socrates? Or Gandhi?

4. The Call of AbrahamJourney and Covenant – Israel’s account of human beingWe will start our examination of the Christian worldview by looking at the theology of Israel on which it is based. We will start by considering Abraham.

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and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you

renew the face of the ground. (Psalm 104.27-30)

Creation speaks, telling us that it is God who has given it all its glory.

The heavens declare the glory of God the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day

after day they pour forth speech… their voice goes out into all the earth their words

to the end of the world (psalm 19)

Creation is fertile, and it gives us a share in its abundance.

From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of

your work. You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use,

to bring forth food from the earth. (Psalm 104.13-15)

The Lord divided…. The six Days of Creation are the six primal Decisions by which creation is renderedan amenable place for man.

The Lord raised his arm and carved into two what existed– light and darkness. TheCuts: Gen 1.1 – 2.4.

God takes something that he has made and opens it up for us. This shows us thatevery creature and all creation obeys him, and will obey us when we address it withthe authority of God.

The Lord passes through the created elements that Abraham offers to him to show

him that the Lord will lead Abraham to his future homeland.

Abram brought these to him cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite eachother… a smoking brazier and blazing torch passes between the pieces(Genesis

15.10-17).

Creation does not represent a closed wall to God. It is more like a crowd that opensto let him through as he approaches. All creation recognizes the Lord, acknowledgesthat he is its Lord and gives way to him.

Creation observes its limitsThe Lord set the bounds of creation. The wild forces may not rage out of control.God holds back the forces of chaos and maintains the peace and integrity of allcreation. The psalms tell us about God's ongoing act of subduing creation and

preserving its peace and fertility for man’s sake.

You set a boundary that they cannot cross, never again will they cover the earth

(psalm 104)

He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were calmed (psalm 107.29)

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‘The Lord makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out

chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are

extinguished, quenched like a wick’ (Isaiah 43.16).

6. The Creation of ManThe climax of creation is man. The Lord makes a copy of himself. That copy is goingto be like God in that he is free.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that

you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals

that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and

crowned them with glory and honour. You have given them dominion over the works

of your hands; you have put all things under their feet…(Psalm 8)

Steward of CreationGod has appointed man to be steward of creation. He is to be the deputy of God,who will exercise the authority of God, on earth. The Lord intends to let man join him

in doing the work of husbandry for creation.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and take

care of it (Genesis 2.15).

Man is the representative of God for all other creatures. It is his task to keep creationin order. He must not be afraid of creation, or of any creature in it. If he speaks to itwith the authority of God all creatures will obey him. When man exercises thisauthority, all the elements of creation are content with their proper places. Man is togive justice to creation. Everything depends on man. If man does not carry out thisoffice, creation grows out of kilter. As long as man fails to exercise this authority,creation is confused, violent and miserable.

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