CHRISTIANITY
TOPIC NOTES
, TOPIC ONE - RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, VALUES, AND TEACHINGS
TOPIC ONE A - THE NATURE OF GOD AS PERSONAL AND AS CREATOR
Christian beliefs about God are based on two fundamental ideas:
- God is the creator of all things
- He continues to have personal involvement in creation, and particularly in the lives of human being
THE NATURE OF GOD FOR CHRISTIANS
OMNIPOTENCE
Christians believe that God created the universe and all that it contains
Because everything in the world is contingent, meaning that it cannot explain its own existence, Christians believe that it
must have been created by an eternal, supreme being
The immensity of the universe is such that it could only have been brought into existence by someone with almighty power,
and therefore God is also described as omnipotent or all powerful
Matthew 19:26 ‘But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’
Psalm 147:5 ‘Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure’
Challenges to God’s omnipotence
Paradox of the stone
- Can God create a stone he cannot lift? If he can, then his omnipotence is under question because there is
something he cannot do (lift the stone). But, of he cannot create the stone, then there is still question to his
omnipotence, because is cannot do everything (he cannot create a stone he cannot lift)
Solutions to the challenges to God’s omnipotence
William Ockham
● There are two powers of God
- Once there was a time when God could do anything (absolute power). However, God chose to establish
a order of things and this order remains until the end of time (ordering power)
- Once God chose to order the world, his power was restricted to acting within the order he has made
● Therefore God does have complete omnipotence but he chooses not to use his full omnipotence to keep the
world in the natural order that he created
● God has chosen ‘divine self limitation’. He has limited himself as he committed to a course of action and rules of
nature
Process theodicy
● The Process God is everlasting rather than transcendent or eternal. This sort of God doesn’t have a beginning or
an end, but he exists within time: he has a past and a future and, crucially, a change
● Process theology suggests that God is not (yet) completely perfect: he is journeying towards perfection, evolving
into a perfect being, but hasn’t attained perfection yet
● The idea of a changeable God solves certain problems in theology:
- A changeable God could react to prayers (because God might have been intending to do one
IMMUTABILITY
God himself is believed by most christians to be pure spirit, and therefore immutable, meaning that he is unchanging
This contrasts with the material world, which is seen to be in a constant state of change and decay
For Chritians, God's immutability also refers to his character. His will does not change and he will be faithful to the promises
he made to human beings, as recorded in the Bible
God is not made of matter and is therefore not limited by time nor subject to decay
Malachi 3:6 ‘For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed’
Job 23:23 ‘But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does’
The idea that God is immutable also lead people to argue that God is unable to suffer
Because God cannot undergo change or alteration of His emotional state, he cannot suffer
GOD IS CREATOR: EX NIHILO
Ex nihilo is the belief that there was no pre-existing matter and everything had to come from God
, - The existence of the universe is down to God’s freedom, goodness, and nature
The decision to create the world is an example of a personal God making a decision to create the world
Against previous theological and philosophical arguments in favour of an eternal cosmos, the Church fathers asserted the
biblical doctrine of creation and in doing so they emphasised not only the transcendent otherness of God but also the
astonishing immensity of God’s power
Augustine affirmed that creation was ex nihilo. It is a changeless and timeless God who creates out of nothing
The reality and act of creation is solely down to the will of God. god creates because he wants to, and out of goddess, not
because the creative act is somehow a necessity
Ex nihilo proves that:
● God acts freely
● God is sovereign of all matter - there are no other creators
● God exists apart from (separate from) matter and so cannot change
● God can do anything (providing he does not create a contradiction)
● All matter shares in God’s likeness because it is created by him alone
● Creaton does not involve any change in matter itself because there is no pre-existing matter from which it can be
derived.
- Aquinas = ‘Creation is not a change’
Isaiah 40:28 ‘Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the
earth’
Genesis 1:1 ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth’
Criticisms:
Absolute nothingness cannot be conceived
We have no evidence in the history of the universe after the big bang that entities can emerge instantaneously from
absolute nothingness
If God once had the power to create from absolutely nothing, then why did he choose to include evil in the world?
EMANATION
The idea of emanation teaches that all secondary things (including all matter in creation) proceeded or flowed from a
primary source, which is God
- Thus, creation is not simply understood as an act of construction (refers to God’s role in creation as an architect,
shaping matter into the world as we know it), because this would imply that God made use of matter that was
already in existence, and his role would then simply be that of a craftsmen
Genesis 1:3 And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light
Criticisms:
Implies that creation was a kind of involuntary act, whereas the Bible teaches that God decides to act for himself in the
matter of creation
Emmanaion doesn’t support the idea of a personal God who expresses his love in the action of creation
CONSTRUCTION AND CREATIVE EXPRESSION
Christians also believe that creation involves both design and artistic expression, that the world as we see it bears the
hallmarks of God’s intelligence and beauty
The order that is present in the universe, the intricacy of many parts of creation, and the beauty of many things within
nature, are all understood as part of God’s deliberate plan to create a universe that reflects his own nature
- These ideas are explored in a number of versions of the teleological argument, which understands God as the
supreme architect
Criticism - if the universe is a work of art, why is there evil and suffering in the world
GOODNESS OF CREATION
Christians believe that the created world is fundamentally good because it has been created by a supremely perfect God.
1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love’
, Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there
was morning, the sixth day
STEWARDSHIP
Because creation belongs to God, Christians believe that they do not have dominion over it, but rather are given the role of
stewards
This can affect the way they treat the planet, seeking not to over exploit its resources but rather to preserve it and protect
its fruitfulness
Genesis 1:28 ‘God blessed them and said to them “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’
GNOSTIC BELIEF ON THE NATURE OF GOD
During the first three centuries of Christianity, there was no central authority until after the conversion of Roman emperor
Constantine the Great in 312 CE. Christian communities taught many different views. In the 2nd century CE, some groups,
now collectively referred to as Gnostic Chritians, claimed to have access to ‘secret knowledge’ about the nature of the
universe, the nature of Christ, and what his appearance on earth meant to believers
Gnostics agreed that the creator God in Genesis created the universe, but creation consisted of evil matter. In some Gnostic
systems, the God of Israel was not only evil, but Satan himself. Thus, the commandments of the God of Israel were deemed
invalid
For most gnostic systems, Jesus was not incarnated into a human body. They preached the concept known as docetic or
‘appearance’. Jesus only appeared in the form of a human so that he could communicate with humanity
Gnostic writings often describe God as incomprehensible and unknowable. This idea conflicts with Christianity’s concept of
a personal God who desires a relationship with human beings
Gnostics believed that the world was divided into the physical and spiritual realms. The created, material world (matter) is
evil, and therefore in opposition to the world of the spirit, and that only the spirit is good
The gnostics were condemned as heretics by the Church fathers
Augustine on the nature of God
God is so omnipotent, that even out of nothing, that is out of what is absolutely non-existent, He can make good things
both great and small, both spiritual and corporeal
The highest good, than which there is no higher, is God, and consequently He is unchangeable good, hence truly eternal
and truly immortal
EVALUATION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BELIEFS ABOUT THE NATURE OF GOD FOR CHRISTIANITY
The belief is important / justified The belief is not important / not justified
Omnipotence Incredibly important for Christianity, as this part if God’s nature Guiding humans to morality is not synonymous with
provides the grounds for many of Christianity’s principles and omnipotence
teachings
If God is not omnipotent, then God would not have been able to Mackie argued that the idea of God being omnipotent is
create the universe in the way that the Bible teaches incompatible with the existence of evil and his being unable
If God is not omnipotent, this would completely undermine the idea to actualise a morally perfect world
that God is the ultimate judge of human behaviour and the being Thus, one could argue that the existence of evil could be
who commands the moral laws used to evidence the idea that God is not omnipotent, and
- A God who is not all-powerful would not have the power thus the omnipotence of God should not hold any
to create, dictate, and judge the morality of all of importance for Christianity, because that belief is false
humanity
God’s supreme power gives him authority over humanity
- Without this, humans may not feel as much of a need to
worship or follow God
Provides grounds for the belief in the incarnation
TOPIC NOTES
, TOPIC ONE - RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, VALUES, AND TEACHINGS
TOPIC ONE A - THE NATURE OF GOD AS PERSONAL AND AS CREATOR
Christian beliefs about God are based on two fundamental ideas:
- God is the creator of all things
- He continues to have personal involvement in creation, and particularly in the lives of human being
THE NATURE OF GOD FOR CHRISTIANS
OMNIPOTENCE
Christians believe that God created the universe and all that it contains
Because everything in the world is contingent, meaning that it cannot explain its own existence, Christians believe that it
must have been created by an eternal, supreme being
The immensity of the universe is such that it could only have been brought into existence by someone with almighty power,
and therefore God is also described as omnipotent or all powerful
Matthew 19:26 ‘But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’
Psalm 147:5 ‘Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure’
Challenges to God’s omnipotence
Paradox of the stone
- Can God create a stone he cannot lift? If he can, then his omnipotence is under question because there is
something he cannot do (lift the stone). But, of he cannot create the stone, then there is still question to his
omnipotence, because is cannot do everything (he cannot create a stone he cannot lift)
Solutions to the challenges to God’s omnipotence
William Ockham
● There are two powers of God
- Once there was a time when God could do anything (absolute power). However, God chose to establish
a order of things and this order remains until the end of time (ordering power)
- Once God chose to order the world, his power was restricted to acting within the order he has made
● Therefore God does have complete omnipotence but he chooses not to use his full omnipotence to keep the
world in the natural order that he created
● God has chosen ‘divine self limitation’. He has limited himself as he committed to a course of action and rules of
nature
Process theodicy
● The Process God is everlasting rather than transcendent or eternal. This sort of God doesn’t have a beginning or
an end, but he exists within time: he has a past and a future and, crucially, a change
● Process theology suggests that God is not (yet) completely perfect: he is journeying towards perfection, evolving
into a perfect being, but hasn’t attained perfection yet
● The idea of a changeable God solves certain problems in theology:
- A changeable God could react to prayers (because God might have been intending to do one
IMMUTABILITY
God himself is believed by most christians to be pure spirit, and therefore immutable, meaning that he is unchanging
This contrasts with the material world, which is seen to be in a constant state of change and decay
For Chritians, God's immutability also refers to his character. His will does not change and he will be faithful to the promises
he made to human beings, as recorded in the Bible
God is not made of matter and is therefore not limited by time nor subject to decay
Malachi 3:6 ‘For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed’
Job 23:23 ‘But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does’
The idea that God is immutable also lead people to argue that God is unable to suffer
Because God cannot undergo change or alteration of His emotional state, he cannot suffer
GOD IS CREATOR: EX NIHILO
Ex nihilo is the belief that there was no pre-existing matter and everything had to come from God
, - The existence of the universe is down to God’s freedom, goodness, and nature
The decision to create the world is an example of a personal God making a decision to create the world
Against previous theological and philosophical arguments in favour of an eternal cosmos, the Church fathers asserted the
biblical doctrine of creation and in doing so they emphasised not only the transcendent otherness of God but also the
astonishing immensity of God’s power
Augustine affirmed that creation was ex nihilo. It is a changeless and timeless God who creates out of nothing
The reality and act of creation is solely down to the will of God. god creates because he wants to, and out of goddess, not
because the creative act is somehow a necessity
Ex nihilo proves that:
● God acts freely
● God is sovereign of all matter - there are no other creators
● God exists apart from (separate from) matter and so cannot change
● God can do anything (providing he does not create a contradiction)
● All matter shares in God’s likeness because it is created by him alone
● Creaton does not involve any change in matter itself because there is no pre-existing matter from which it can be
derived.
- Aquinas = ‘Creation is not a change’
Isaiah 40:28 ‘Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the
earth’
Genesis 1:1 ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth’
Criticisms:
Absolute nothingness cannot be conceived
We have no evidence in the history of the universe after the big bang that entities can emerge instantaneously from
absolute nothingness
If God once had the power to create from absolutely nothing, then why did he choose to include evil in the world?
EMANATION
The idea of emanation teaches that all secondary things (including all matter in creation) proceeded or flowed from a
primary source, which is God
- Thus, creation is not simply understood as an act of construction (refers to God’s role in creation as an architect,
shaping matter into the world as we know it), because this would imply that God made use of matter that was
already in existence, and his role would then simply be that of a craftsmen
Genesis 1:3 And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light
Criticisms:
Implies that creation was a kind of involuntary act, whereas the Bible teaches that God decides to act for himself in the
matter of creation
Emmanaion doesn’t support the idea of a personal God who expresses his love in the action of creation
CONSTRUCTION AND CREATIVE EXPRESSION
Christians also believe that creation involves both design and artistic expression, that the world as we see it bears the
hallmarks of God’s intelligence and beauty
The order that is present in the universe, the intricacy of many parts of creation, and the beauty of many things within
nature, are all understood as part of God’s deliberate plan to create a universe that reflects his own nature
- These ideas are explored in a number of versions of the teleological argument, which understands God as the
supreme architect
Criticism - if the universe is a work of art, why is there evil and suffering in the world
GOODNESS OF CREATION
Christians believe that the created world is fundamentally good because it has been created by a supremely perfect God.
1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love’
, Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there
was morning, the sixth day
STEWARDSHIP
Because creation belongs to God, Christians believe that they do not have dominion over it, but rather are given the role of
stewards
This can affect the way they treat the planet, seeking not to over exploit its resources but rather to preserve it and protect
its fruitfulness
Genesis 1:28 ‘God blessed them and said to them “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’
GNOSTIC BELIEF ON THE NATURE OF GOD
During the first three centuries of Christianity, there was no central authority until after the conversion of Roman emperor
Constantine the Great in 312 CE. Christian communities taught many different views. In the 2nd century CE, some groups,
now collectively referred to as Gnostic Chritians, claimed to have access to ‘secret knowledge’ about the nature of the
universe, the nature of Christ, and what his appearance on earth meant to believers
Gnostics agreed that the creator God in Genesis created the universe, but creation consisted of evil matter. In some Gnostic
systems, the God of Israel was not only evil, but Satan himself. Thus, the commandments of the God of Israel were deemed
invalid
For most gnostic systems, Jesus was not incarnated into a human body. They preached the concept known as docetic or
‘appearance’. Jesus only appeared in the form of a human so that he could communicate with humanity
Gnostic writings often describe God as incomprehensible and unknowable. This idea conflicts with Christianity’s concept of
a personal God who desires a relationship with human beings
Gnostics believed that the world was divided into the physical and spiritual realms. The created, material world (matter) is
evil, and therefore in opposition to the world of the spirit, and that only the spirit is good
The gnostics were condemned as heretics by the Church fathers
Augustine on the nature of God
God is so omnipotent, that even out of nothing, that is out of what is absolutely non-existent, He can make good things
both great and small, both spiritual and corporeal
The highest good, than which there is no higher, is God, and consequently He is unchangeable good, hence truly eternal
and truly immortal
EVALUATION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BELIEFS ABOUT THE NATURE OF GOD FOR CHRISTIANITY
The belief is important / justified The belief is not important / not justified
Omnipotence Incredibly important for Christianity, as this part if God’s nature Guiding humans to morality is not synonymous with
provides the grounds for many of Christianity’s principles and omnipotence
teachings
If God is not omnipotent, then God would not have been able to Mackie argued that the idea of God being omnipotent is
create the universe in the way that the Bible teaches incompatible with the existence of evil and his being unable
If God is not omnipotent, this would completely undermine the idea to actualise a morally perfect world
that God is the ultimate judge of human behaviour and the being Thus, one could argue that the existence of evil could be
who commands the moral laws used to evidence the idea that God is not omnipotent, and
- A God who is not all-powerful would not have the power thus the omnipotence of God should not hold any
to create, dictate, and judge the morality of all of importance for Christianity, because that belief is false
humanity
God’s supreme power gives him authority over humanity
- Without this, humans may not feel as much of a need to
worship or follow God
Provides grounds for the belief in the incarnation
