Son of God (divinity)
Knowledge of God
- ‘the Father and I are one’ John 10:30
- The notion of the trinity is vital to understanding of God in Christianity
which asserts Jesus as the Son of God
Miracles
- Mark 6:47-52 Jesus walks on water which stops the storm and is a physical
impossibility
- John 9:1-41 Jesus heals the blind man and spreads the message of God. ‘I
came into this world for judgement so that who do not see may see.’
This symbolises how Jesus has come to convert and change the spiritual
blindness of the world.
Resurrection
- most Christians consider Jesus’ rise from the dead the most important part of
doctrine, St Paul argues if the resurrection didn’t occur then faith is pointless
Strengths
1. Barth and Augustine admit the trinity isn’t comprehensible and requires faith
to be accepted
2. Wright defends the bodily resurrection as a historical event as Judaism was a
very conservative religion and the notion that women found an empty tomb
would be unthinkable to make up. ‘that is why as a historian I cannot
explain the rise of early Christianity unless Jesus rose again, leaving an
empty tomb behind him.’
Weaknesses
1. The Synoptic Problem undermines the claim of multiple attestation as the 3
gospels (Luke, Matthew and Mark) aren’t separate sources they copied much
from Mark and Quelle. The son of god narrative is not present in the synoptic
gospels
2. ‘A wise man apportions his belief to the evidence at hand.’ Hume, the
gospel evidence undermines Jesus as Son of God
3. John’s gospel is the only gospel where Jesus uses the term son of god himself
4. Ashton argue s the son of god is a trinitarian understanding which is against
how a Jew would’ve understood divinity. ‘Son of God may be the most
important- it is certainly the most misunderstood of all titles.’
5. How can Jesus be both human and divine, especially as his humanity is vital
to his story. Council of Chalcedon asserted that Jesus is of one substance,
both wholly human and divine
6. Scientific challenge to the gospel teachings of the miracles
7. the hypostatic union and defying the laws of nature are logical
impossibilities, which are rejected by many theologians as outside the
possibility of omnipotence. ‘a logically impossible event is not an event,
just as a dead person is not a person.’ Swinburne
Knowledge of God
- ‘the Father and I are one’ John 10:30
- The notion of the trinity is vital to understanding of God in Christianity
which asserts Jesus as the Son of God
Miracles
- Mark 6:47-52 Jesus walks on water which stops the storm and is a physical
impossibility
- John 9:1-41 Jesus heals the blind man and spreads the message of God. ‘I
came into this world for judgement so that who do not see may see.’
This symbolises how Jesus has come to convert and change the spiritual
blindness of the world.
Resurrection
- most Christians consider Jesus’ rise from the dead the most important part of
doctrine, St Paul argues if the resurrection didn’t occur then faith is pointless
Strengths
1. Barth and Augustine admit the trinity isn’t comprehensible and requires faith
to be accepted
2. Wright defends the bodily resurrection as a historical event as Judaism was a
very conservative religion and the notion that women found an empty tomb
would be unthinkable to make up. ‘that is why as a historian I cannot
explain the rise of early Christianity unless Jesus rose again, leaving an
empty tomb behind him.’
Weaknesses
1. The Synoptic Problem undermines the claim of multiple attestation as the 3
gospels (Luke, Matthew and Mark) aren’t separate sources they copied much
from Mark and Quelle. The son of god narrative is not present in the synoptic
gospels
2. ‘A wise man apportions his belief to the evidence at hand.’ Hume, the
gospel evidence undermines Jesus as Son of God
3. John’s gospel is the only gospel where Jesus uses the term son of god himself
4. Ashton argue s the son of god is a trinitarian understanding which is against
how a Jew would’ve understood divinity. ‘Son of God may be the most
important- it is certainly the most misunderstood of all titles.’
5. How can Jesus be both human and divine, especially as his humanity is vital
to his story. Council of Chalcedon asserted that Jesus is of one substance,
both wholly human and divine
6. Scientific challenge to the gospel teachings of the miracles
7. the hypostatic union and defying the laws of nature are logical
impossibilities, which are rejected by many theologians as outside the
possibility of omnipotence. ‘a logically impossible event is not an event,
just as a dead person is not a person.’ Swinburne
