CST 1st Midterm
> God exists even without the universe
I. THEISM vs DEISM, PANTHEISM,
PANENTHEISM
Theism
- Deity is transcendent
> separate from creation
- Deity is immanent
> deity created the universe and is still
active in nature today
- Miracles exist
> suspends the laws of nature from time to
time in order to generate miracles
- Prayer is useful
> prayer as a means of personal
communication with the deity, offering
thanks and asking for special favors
- deity has infinite attributes
> omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresent,
all-loving
- 5 Types of Theism
1. Duotheism
- existence of 2 deities who are often
pretty much equal in power
- aka Ditheism, Bitheism
2. Henotheism
- many deities accompanies by many
subservient (subordinate) deities
3. Monotheism
- belief in a single deity
- usually male
4. Trinity
- 3 persons within a single deity
- a version of monotheism
- what Christians/Catholics believe in
- How Theism associates God with the
universe
- sees God and the universe as two separate
entities, but shows that God still connects with
His creation
Deism
- God exists
> God created the universe and it scientific
and moral laws in a state of perfection
> belives that after creation, God no longer
interfered with His creation because the
universe did not need God to keep it
functioning (since it’s perfect)
- God is transcendent
> He is separate from creation
> He is above creation
- God is ​not ​ immanent
> God does not currently work in nature
> the only time God worked in nature was
during the creation
- Miracles don’t happen
> they never happened; neither in biblical
times nor at present
- Prayer is not useful
> even if God were listening, He would not
act
Panentheism
- Deity is immanent
> the deity is an inner “Presence and
Power” that is is within the universe and
everything in it
- Deity is transcendent
> even though the deity is infused within the
universe and everything in it, part of the
deity is external to the universe
- How Panentheism associates God with the
universe
- sees that there is no God without the universe
since the universe is part of what makes God
whole
> God does not exist without the universe
Pantheism Person
- Deity is ​not​ transcendent - Jesus, through the incarnation, was both
> it has no aspect that is beyond the completely human and completely divine
universe - “mercy is entering into the chaos of another”
- Deity is immanent > God showed mercy by coming down to
> deity created the universe and is active in Earth and experiencing human life
nature today - God came at a time when we were not
- may be permanently beyond our ability to prepared
perceive and conceptualize - Jesus came as our savior and redeemer to
save us from our sins so that we may have
transcendent immanent Miracles Salvation
/prayer
The Person of Jesus Through His Incarnation
Theism ✓ ✓ ✓
- truly man and truly God
Deism ✓ - God becoming man
Panentheis ✓ ✓
- salvation = liberty from sin and death
m
“The salvation offered in its fullness to men in
Pantheism ✓
Jesus Christ… is salvation for all people and of the
whole person: it is universal and integral salvation”
God’s Participation
Universal Salvation
Theistic Religions Transcendence Immanence in - the doctrine that all sinful and alienated
Humanity human souls will be reconciled to God
Judaism Yaweh Prophets and because of divine love and mercy
Kings - all people will end up in heaven
Islam Allah Prophets
Integral Salvation
Christianity God Jesus - salvation that embraces our whole being and
our whole life
- Judaism and Islam believe that God - Salvation provided by Christ is for us as
participates/participated in creation/humanity whole persons, addressing the integrity of our
through prophets/the Messiah personhood
- Christianity believes that God himself assumed
human nature in Jesus Christ and walked among III. SCRIPTURES AND TRADITION: WORD OF
us through the incarnation GOD
How Does God Continue to Relate With His People
II. INCARNATION AND THE PERSON OF JESUS in the Present Time?
CHRIST - God continues to speak to us through the
Incarnation Word of God (Scripture and Tradition)
- God assumed human nature through Jesus
so that we will feel His presence Sources Of Faith
- “​who, though he was in the form of God, did - Scripture and Tradition are to be treated as
not count equality with God a thing to be God’s Word
Grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form - Scripture and Tradition are not to be taken
of a servant, being made in human likeness” separately
- God experiences what it is to be a human - the two of them form one depository of our
 faith
- Scripture
> basically the Bible
> it is the speech of God as it is put down in
writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit
- Tradition
> transmits in its entirety the word of God
> it is transmitted to the successors of the
Apostles so that, enlightened by the Holy
Spirit, they may faithfully preserve,
expound, and spread it abroad by their
preaching
which has been entrusted to the apostles
by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit
> the first generation of Christians did not
yet have a written New Testament, and
the New Testament itself demonstrates
the process of living tradition
> Four Traditions promulgated in Vatican
Council II are part of Sacred Tradition
> 3 Stages
1. Jesus Ministry
2. Oral Tradition
3. Written Tradition (Gospels)
> Ex. of Traditions (unwritten)
1. Baptism as initiating sacrament
2. Councils for making major decisions
3. Veneration of Saints
4. Mary’s special role in the Church
Role Of Bishops
- the mission of the 12 apostles was passed
down to the ministry of the Bishops
> Apostolic succession
- the Bishops act in the place of Apostles
- only a bishop has the authority to confer the
sacrament of holy orders
- have the role of preserving the basic truths of
our faith embedded within them
- To the Diocese
> his authority is not limited to the Diocese
- To the Universal Church
> a bishop is responsible for the universal
Church together with other bishops
IV. VATICAN I and VATICAN II
Vatican I
- more exclusive
- believed that salvation was only for members
of the Church and followers of Christ
Vatican II
- inclusive; universal
- believes that salvation is for all people since
God loves all of us equally, including those
who don’t believe in Him
V. ELEMENTS OF CST
1. Principles for Reflection
- fixed and unchanging
- most authoritative
2. Criteria for Judgment
- can vary for different times and places
- societies are different from one another,
always changing
3. Guidelines for Action
- depends on judgments made with information
available at the time
- helps us connect general principles and the
need for action guidelines in specific
situations
VI. SEE-JUDGE-ACT
* just a summary, refer to the yellow handout from sir
Montecillo
- pastoral cycle that has become a prominent
way of reading the signs of the times and
engaging in action for justice in a way that is
transformative
- proposed by Belgian Cardinal Joseph Cardijn
(1882-1967)
- affirmed by Pope John XXIII in Mater et
Magistra
- See, Judge, Act is a necessary means for
education in freedom in its fullest sense,
which leads to interior freedom
See
- reviewing the concrete situation
- seeing, hearing, and experiencing, the lived
reality of individuals and communities
- observing the situation and gathering “data’
- like data collection for research
Judge
- analyzing the situation
- making an informed judgment
- 2 Key Parts
1. Social Analysis
- asking why is this happening?
- what factors affected it?
- considers economic, political, social,
historical, and cultural factors
2. Theological Reflection
- articulate these elements in the social
teachings of the Church
- gaining new insights and meanings
- relate the situation to religious
tradition

Act
- planning and carrying out actions that are
meant to transform the social structures that
contribute to the suffering and injustice
- what can/will you do to change what’s wrong?

VII. READINGS
> Catholic Social Teachings in the Digital Age
> Concluding Reflections by Anthony Gooley
> Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern
World
> Role of the Church in the Modern World

VIII. Read up on the ff:

> Killings in the Visayas since July 22 up to present
> Garbage disposal/dumpsite problems in Cebu
City and Cebu Province