Theology cheat sheet
Sources of wisdom and authority
Matthew ‘Eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth… do not resist an evil person’-> Jesus intended his
disciples to be pacifists
Protestant church: ‘Five Solae’, Martin Luther 16th century, Salvation through faith, all Christians have
equal access to God, ‘Priesthood for all believers’
Catholic Church: Apostolic succession, oldest + largest (1.3 billion), Pope Francis ‘papal infallibility’,
Vatican city, Nicene creed, magisterium interpreter of bible and tradition, seven sacraments
Jesus’ authority as human: Adoptionism God adopted Jesus as his ‘son’ at his baptism, Unitarianism
Deist view God set things off and Jesus was a spiritual leader.
Jesus’ authority as God’s: traditional view by Nicene creed, based on NT ‘Divine authority’, ‘I am the
way, the truth and the life, no one comes through the father except through me’.
Young earth: Creation 5,700, literalist, 6 days, rejected science as mistaken human intelligence, fossil
evidence plants by God to make earth look old
Old earth: 13.8 billion, not literalist, 6 stages/ phases, accept Darwin evolution (diluted form), Genesis
and modern science compatible e.g. ‘Let there be light’ (Big bang theory and six days match)
Son of Man: OT, ambiguous term, Jesus’ preferred title, role as ‘suffering servant’ OT, ‘The son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins’.
Son of God: OT, used of Kings, adopted by God, reflects God’s justice, ‘Messiah’.
Bible Evangelist Protestant: fundamentalist, infallible, inerrant, complete authority, some are literalists,
Sola scriptura.
Bible Catholic view: Inspired by God, equal authority to Catholic church, magisterium has important
role in interpretating scripture, Genesis contained spiritual and moral truths e.g. Ex nihilo (not literal)
‘The Bible is not meant to convey precise historical information’- Dei Verbum encyclical
Bible neoorthodoxy: Barth (Swiss), contains word of God, way which humans experience God, not
inerrant, ‘Divine thoughts about men, not human thoughts about God’.
Bible sea of faith: Bible and religion are ‘creations of the human imagination’, written by human beings
writing to make sense of the world, bible has no authority
God
As Love: ‘is love’ (John), ‘For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son’ John, OT uses
‘hesed’ steadfast love dependable commitment, NT agape ‘unconditional/ selfless love’.
As King: Referred to king in sheep and goats, Jesus associated with the inauguration of the kingdom
of God, monarch’s authority absolute.
As father: Nicene creed ‘father almighty’, Patriarchal context, NT protective, parable of the forgiving
father. Pray ‘our father’
As personal: Relate, personal, immanent involved with world + accessible to humans, providence
divine guidance, seen in holy spirit’s active presence and indwelling into each believer.
‘You’re body is a temple of the holy spirit’ (St Paul, Corinthians)
, Unity of essence: same divine substance, incarnate of Son, fully divine.
Unity of purpose: minority view, Jesus is chosen, born to human beings ‘adoptionism’.
Son of God: Authority from God ‘to save humanity from sin’
‘Christ died for our sins’ St Paul
‘I and the father are one’ (John)
‘The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ Gospel of John
Process theology: Griffin, universal has always existed, Persuader (order complexity), Pantheistic.
PT Strength: Support ‘Quantum mechanics’, parallel’s with Polkinghorne, compatible Big bang, God is
close to humanity, emphasises immanence and suffers alongside us.
PT weaknesses: contradicts omnipotence, ex nihilo, Roth: ‘weak and pathetic God’.
Trinity: Belief from Nicene Creed, all 3 possess eternity, omnipotence, omniscience and
omnibenevolence.
‘Make disciples of all nations and baptise them in the name of the father son and holy spirit’ Great
commission
Mutual indwelling: Moltmann says it is one of mutual self giving and receiving love.
Ethical monotheism: One God who is the author of morality- ‘good’ what god commanded.
Christian monotheism: One god, OT, Sinai covenant- lord alone should be worshipped.
‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one’ (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Anthropomorphic lang: used in bible, Human form- develop relationship, help understand attributes,
reflects God’s immanence and involvement in the world.
Weaknesses of Anthropomorphic language: Apophatic way- god is wholly other and cannot be
described using human language, limitations, lead to misunderstanding, becomes a projection of
humans and start to make God ‘in our image’, Feuerbach says that ‘theology is anthropology’.
‘If God is male, then male is God’. Mary Daly.
Descartes: God can do anything logically impossible e.g square circle, logic comes from God.
Aquinas: only do logically possible, can’t sin. Swinburne agrees.
Vardy: God is limited, decided to ‘operate within the natural laws he created, thus self-imposing a
limitation’. Universe fine-tuned (epistemic distance)
Omnipotent creator: Transcendent, Creation ex nihilo ‘let there be…there was’
‘With God, all things are possible’ Matthew 19.
Self, death and afterlife
Physical existence: Aristotle- can’t separate body from soul, Hick replica theory, Augustine res of
flesh, our body is central, ‘He is risen’- appears to 500+ people
Metaphysical: Plato’s immorality- body is prison and soul is immortal + imperishable, Swinburne soul
is lightbulb, HH Price- disembodied soul.
Sources of wisdom and authority
Matthew ‘Eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth… do not resist an evil person’-> Jesus intended his
disciples to be pacifists
Protestant church: ‘Five Solae’, Martin Luther 16th century, Salvation through faith, all Christians have
equal access to God, ‘Priesthood for all believers’
Catholic Church: Apostolic succession, oldest + largest (1.3 billion), Pope Francis ‘papal infallibility’,
Vatican city, Nicene creed, magisterium interpreter of bible and tradition, seven sacraments
Jesus’ authority as human: Adoptionism God adopted Jesus as his ‘son’ at his baptism, Unitarianism
Deist view God set things off and Jesus was a spiritual leader.
Jesus’ authority as God’s: traditional view by Nicene creed, based on NT ‘Divine authority’, ‘I am the
way, the truth and the life, no one comes through the father except through me’.
Young earth: Creation 5,700, literalist, 6 days, rejected science as mistaken human intelligence, fossil
evidence plants by God to make earth look old
Old earth: 13.8 billion, not literalist, 6 stages/ phases, accept Darwin evolution (diluted form), Genesis
and modern science compatible e.g. ‘Let there be light’ (Big bang theory and six days match)
Son of Man: OT, ambiguous term, Jesus’ preferred title, role as ‘suffering servant’ OT, ‘The son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins’.
Son of God: OT, used of Kings, adopted by God, reflects God’s justice, ‘Messiah’.
Bible Evangelist Protestant: fundamentalist, infallible, inerrant, complete authority, some are literalists,
Sola scriptura.
Bible Catholic view: Inspired by God, equal authority to Catholic church, magisterium has important
role in interpretating scripture, Genesis contained spiritual and moral truths e.g. Ex nihilo (not literal)
‘The Bible is not meant to convey precise historical information’- Dei Verbum encyclical
Bible neoorthodoxy: Barth (Swiss), contains word of God, way which humans experience God, not
inerrant, ‘Divine thoughts about men, not human thoughts about God’.
Bible sea of faith: Bible and religion are ‘creations of the human imagination’, written by human beings
writing to make sense of the world, bible has no authority
God
As Love: ‘is love’ (John), ‘For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son’ John, OT uses
‘hesed’ steadfast love dependable commitment, NT agape ‘unconditional/ selfless love’.
As King: Referred to king in sheep and goats, Jesus associated with the inauguration of the kingdom
of God, monarch’s authority absolute.
As father: Nicene creed ‘father almighty’, Patriarchal context, NT protective, parable of the forgiving
father. Pray ‘our father’
As personal: Relate, personal, immanent involved with world + accessible to humans, providence
divine guidance, seen in holy spirit’s active presence and indwelling into each believer.
‘You’re body is a temple of the holy spirit’ (St Paul, Corinthians)
, Unity of essence: same divine substance, incarnate of Son, fully divine.
Unity of purpose: minority view, Jesus is chosen, born to human beings ‘adoptionism’.
Son of God: Authority from God ‘to save humanity from sin’
‘Christ died for our sins’ St Paul
‘I and the father are one’ (John)
‘The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ Gospel of John
Process theology: Griffin, universal has always existed, Persuader (order complexity), Pantheistic.
PT Strength: Support ‘Quantum mechanics’, parallel’s with Polkinghorne, compatible Big bang, God is
close to humanity, emphasises immanence and suffers alongside us.
PT weaknesses: contradicts omnipotence, ex nihilo, Roth: ‘weak and pathetic God’.
Trinity: Belief from Nicene Creed, all 3 possess eternity, omnipotence, omniscience and
omnibenevolence.
‘Make disciples of all nations and baptise them in the name of the father son and holy spirit’ Great
commission
Mutual indwelling: Moltmann says it is one of mutual self giving and receiving love.
Ethical monotheism: One God who is the author of morality- ‘good’ what god commanded.
Christian monotheism: One god, OT, Sinai covenant- lord alone should be worshipped.
‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one’ (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Anthropomorphic lang: used in bible, Human form- develop relationship, help understand attributes,
reflects God’s immanence and involvement in the world.
Weaknesses of Anthropomorphic language: Apophatic way- god is wholly other and cannot be
described using human language, limitations, lead to misunderstanding, becomes a projection of
humans and start to make God ‘in our image’, Feuerbach says that ‘theology is anthropology’.
‘If God is male, then male is God’. Mary Daly.
Descartes: God can do anything logically impossible e.g square circle, logic comes from God.
Aquinas: only do logically possible, can’t sin. Swinburne agrees.
Vardy: God is limited, decided to ‘operate within the natural laws he created, thus self-imposing a
limitation’. Universe fine-tuned (epistemic distance)
Omnipotent creator: Transcendent, Creation ex nihilo ‘let there be…there was’
‘With God, all things are possible’ Matthew 19.
Self, death and afterlife
Physical existence: Aristotle- can’t separate body from soul, Hick replica theory, Augustine res of
flesh, our body is central, ‘He is risen’- appears to 500+ people
Metaphysical: Plato’s immorality- body is prison and soul is immortal + imperishable, Swinburne soul
is lightbulb, HH Price- disembodied soul.
