Learning Module for Prelim Coverage

RELED 111 – Introduction to Catholic

Theology CHRISTIAN NIEL B. TARIPE
Rel. Ed. Instructor

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is entitled Introduction to Doing Catholic Theology. This is the first subject for First-
Year students. This subject focuses on the basics of Catholicism. This course introduces the
students into the discussion of theology as, on the one hand, something to be “learned” and on
the other hand, something to be “done; to help the students get acquainted with and be
grounded on the sources of Christian Faith and Catholic theology. This course aims that the
students will have comprehensive knowledge about knowing who God is and who we are as
Christian. It aims the students to become a visible image of God with their neighbors in their day
to day interactions.
COURSE OUTLINE
Learning Outcomes/Objectives Topi
c
At the end of the course, you will be able to:  Expectation-Setting
PRELIM  Classroom
1. Outline the general information Rules I.General
and visualize the activities for Introduction
the entire semester
2. Identify the present situation A. Today’s Need of Theologians
adopting the See-Discern-Act  Today’s Need for Theologians
Approach to appreciate the need  Today’s Theologians (The Four Levels of
of Theologians. Theologians)
3. Recall the significant experience of
II. Christian Theology
God in their life A. Understanding the Experience of God and
4. Build up their faith in God and Faith in God
develop a deep relationship with 1.The Experience of God
Him.  In Philosophy
5. Identify God’s existence in  In Sociology
various sciences.  In the Bible
6. Elaborate the meaning of Theology  In Theology
being inspired by the Medieval B. Definitions of Theology
Theologians up to the  Faith and Theology
contemporary.  Doctrine and Theology
7. Differentiate the essence of faith  Philosophy of Religion and Theology
and theology, doctrine and
theology, and philosophy of
religion and theology.
MIDTERM
8. Appreciate the chronological sense
of Christian Theology, from the
beginning up to the contemporary
theology.
9. Discuss the connection of theology
to
other disciplines; science and
philosophy.
C. Christian Theology Today (Catholic
Theology
Today)
 Christian Theology of the Beginning
 Christian theology in a
Homogeneous Culture
 Christian theology in the Age of

10. Apply the three styles in doing
theology according to Gerald
O’Collins.
11. Classify the Object of Theology
and its approaches
PRE-FINALS
12. Dissect the divisions of Catholic
Theology according to content,
method perspective and audience.
13. Discover the foundations of
Christian Faith and sources of
theology.
FINALS
1. Model the Filipino theologians in
theologizing among us; our
community, culture and context.
2. Practice and develop the different
approaches of theologizing
according to our Filipino
Theologians
Pluralism
 Contemporary Theology
Excursus: Theology and Other
Disciplines
 Theology and Philosophy
 Theology and Sciences
Gerald O’Collins speaks of three styles in doing
theology
 academic style
 practical style
 contemplative style
The Object of Theology
 Material Object
 Formal Object
D. Divisions of Catholic Theology
 Theology according to content
 Theology according to method
 Theology according to Perspective
 Theology according to Audience
III. Foundations of Christian Faith and
Sources of Catholic Theology
A. Sacred Scripture
B. Sacred Tradition
C. Magisterium
D. Signs of the Times
IV. Concluding Remarks
How do we theologize in Asia and in
the Philippines?
A. Theology in the Asian Context
B. Theologizing among Filipinos
 Antonio Pernia’s (SVD)
observation
 Dindo Rei M. Tesoro’s Assessment
 Joselito Alviar Jose’s Projection
 Lesson 1 (Week 1)
Due Date: to be emailed or delivered on or before September 4, 2020

I. Topic: Expectation-Setting / Module Rules

II. Objectives: Outline the general information and visualize the activities for the
entire semester.

III. Activities to engage students:

Drawing out your expectation of the Course
1. What do you expect to happen after the Course Subject RelEd 111? (State at
least three expectations.)
a.
b.
c.

2. Formulate five pressing questions you want to be answered in

this course. a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

3. Make a suggestion to help your learning process more effective. (at

least three)
a.
b.
c.

 Experience (content)
Question: From your Basic Education (Elementary, Junior High School &
Senior High School) recall significant learning that mold you spiritually? Identify
teaching strategies that help you grow spiritually.
  Action (Application)

Question: As a student, what attributes you must possess to attain the objectives of
this course. Write at least five attributes. Explain and elaborate.

DEEPENING:
Adopted from Ms. Janus Agustero – Naparan Syllabus on Peace Education
Students of this course are expected to:
1. The students shall follow the deportment imposed by the school as this may
help them live the culture of being SCCians;
2. Equip oneself with relevant, updated and current news and information;
3. Possess extensive knowledge on Word Processing as a means to process
tasks and activities;
4. Participate actively in all of the discussions and exchange of ideas to earn points
for this course using English language as a means of communication;
5. Comply diligently the modular requirements assigned, deliver or email on time;
6. Assert one’s own point of view during the discussion or may initiate discussion/topics
relevant to the course without prejudice, bigotry, biases and discrimination
and consider individual differences;
7. Monitor their emails/personal messages/group chats/google classroom streams
for announcements, assignments and comments. Hence, Hence, if the student
can access in data or internet connection students are encourage to register in
group;
8. Observe proper citations when utilizing published or unpublished works to
avoid violations of Intellectual Property Rights;
9. Share insights to improve Rubrics for each Requirement;
10. Submit required tasks in a neat and presentable manner; and,
11. Prepare, accomplish, submit, present and perform all assigned tasks and
course works required in order to pass this course.
IV. Assessment and Reflection
Questions for Reflection:
1. After answering the questions above, create a consensus statement to help you learn
from this new mode of learning experience. How will you handle the challenges of this
pandemic? How productive you will become despite the minimal interaction with your
teachers and classmate?

V. Feedback
(The teacher will conduct a teleconference through mobile phone for the feedbacking
after the student have complied the requirements of this module)
VI. Additional Resources

https://bit.ly/2PfbXS
m
https://bit.ly/3grYd2
Y
 Lesson 2 (Week 1)
Due Date: to be emailed/delivered on or before
September 9, 2020

I. Topic: General Introduction (Today’s Need for Theologians)

II. Objectives: Identify the present situation adopting the See-Judge-Act

Approach to appreciate the need for Theologians.

III. Activities to engage students:

 Experience (Content)
SEE –JUDGE –ACT Process
Description: A simple method that helps us to stop, stand back from a situation and
reflect on it before we jump in and take action. This process helps us to
develop critical judgment about situations, events, and structures. Often the
three stages overlap and intermingle. Retrieved: ( https://bit.ly/31QBVlj )
See
1. What is happening?
2. Who are the people involved?
3. Who gains from this situation? Who loses?
4. What is the situation doing to people?
5. Why is it happening? Why does it continue?

Judge/Discern
1. How do you feel about this situation?
2. Have you ever behaved or acted like anyone in the situation? If
so, what happened? Why? How did you and/or those involved
feel?
3. What do you think should be happening?
4. What does your faith say about it?
Act
1. What can we do to bridge the gap between what is happening
(the reality) and what should be happening (the ideal/what our
faith says)?
2. What action are we going to take?
3. Who can we involve in our action?
DEEPENING
A. Today’s Need of Theologians
1. Today’s Need for Theologians
“This world desperately needs theologians.” (Walter J. Burghardt, SJ)
This world is filled with paradoxes: a little world but with billions going hungry; a world of
love and hatred, of despair and hope, of skepticism and faith, of tears and smiles, of
people dying for one another and killing one another- all at the same time. Vatican II’s
Gaudium et Spes (no.
4) also speaks of the hope and anguish of the world:

"In no other age has mankind enjoyed such abundance of wealth, resources and
economic well- being; and yet a huge proportion of the people of the world is plagued by
hunger and extreme need which countless numbers a totally illiterate…"

PCP II tells us of the "lights and shadows" of the Philippine experience in the areas like
economy, culture, etc (see Appendix 1 of PCP-II Document, The Contemporary
Philippine Situation):

"Appalling mass poverty is undoubtedly the most tragic aspect of Filipino life. It is a
social problem…But if the economic situation deals death, we are encourages by life-
giving developments. A growing awareness of the magnitude of poverty is mobilizing
more middle income people into cause-oriented groups many of whose leaders are
positively influenced by the social teachings of the Church. The poor people are banding
together into self-help organization…

…social scientists have alerted us to the ambivalence of certain Filipino values, and the negative
consequences (such as bahala na, utang na loob, pakiusap, palakasan, etc.)…We have also, in
our recent political history, precisely at EDSA in 1996, witnessed heroically to the values
of healthy nationalism (such as pagsasarili, pagkakaisa, pakikisama, pagbayani, etc.)."

This is man's experience with the world: absurd yet true. Despite its being absurd,
however, this world has been addressed by God: God has revealed himself in this
world through His Word (Jesus Christ) and is still manifesting himself today through his
word in the Church.

Thus the need for theologians: people who will interpret these bitter-sweet experiences-
on the one hand, to struggle to give expression to all these that happen around us, and
on the other hand, to search out where God has spoken, interpreting what God has said
and what is saying; to take the word of God from wherever it is spoken, wrestle with it,
feel its fire and fling it out to let people live with new life and fresh flame.

2. Today’s Theologians (The Four Levels of Theologians)

One can speak of four levels of theologians, namely, the believer-theologian, the
minister- theologian, the teacher-theologian, and the expert theologian. They theologize
at different levels, but all related and needing one another.

a. Believer-theologians
Believers can be considered theologians in the first level. Their articulation of faith is
fragmentary and even unconscious. Their source for theological reflections is the every
day life experience where they probe the meaning of life or the sense of an event and
explain it to others. But their theologizing, fragmentary though, is vital. It even makes up
the expression of the faith of the Church and is at the basis of theology, attuned with the
world and the contemporary man’s experience. This theology is the basis of the so-called
indigenization of theology where one finds the hopes, aspirations and fears of men and
women making up the signs of the times.(providing us matters to reflection)

b. Minister-theologians

For the sake of the whole Christian community and for the surer, deeper and more rapid
growth in the expression of faith, a greater systematization of the community’s faith is
called for. Ordained ministers of the Church- the second level theologians- do this for the
community of the faithful. Catechists and other church ministers share in this task. Their
sources include the Scripture, Tradition, Magisterial pronouncements and the faith-
experiences expressed by the Christian community.

c. Teacher-theologians

There are those who help train ministers for the Church. These theologians on the third
level function both as mediator and initiator: responsible for providing the future ministers
with a view of the Bible, Tradition, Magisterium and the discoveries of the experts,
presenting data relevant to the students’ present and future ministry and for bringing the
students to personal consciousness so that in turn they might become more aware of the
consciousness of others, systematize it and put it side by side with Tradition, Scriptures,
Magisterium, and theological reflections. Their sources of theologizing include the Bible,
Tradition, Dogma, and ancillary disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, psychology,
literature, etc.

d. Expert -theologians

There are those who contribute something new to theological discipline. They attempt to
articulate as accurately and creatively as possible the faith-experience of the community:
providing scientific confirmation to the intuition of the first level theologians; nourishing
the ministers with their works by helping them discern the content of the experience of
faith; and providing the depth out of which theology teachers will be able to perform their
function as trainers of future theologizing ministers. They make use of all possible and
relevant sources, collaborating with as many disciplines as possible, engaging in in-
depth analysis of the data available.
  Action/ Application
After answering the SEE-JUDGE-ACT Process what is you Plan of Action?

IV. Assessment and Reflection

Make a Reflection Paper from the process you have gone
through. (minimum of 200 words)

V. Feedback
(Teleconference will take place to feedback on what happened during the process of doing
the student Activity)
VI. Additional Resources
Please open this link if you have a chance to visit internet café/shop for additional
information and resources.
https://bit.ly/31Qtlms Today needs Theologians
https://bit.ly/2E1apcC What is the Role of Theologian Today?
https://bit.ly/2Fs1Zvx Who Needs Theologians During Global Coronavirus
Crisis? https://bit.ly/33cz88g (What type of Theologian are You?)
 Lesson 3 (Week 2)
Due date: to be email/deliver on or before September 14, 2020
I. Topic: Christian Theology (A. Understanding the Experience of God and Faith in God)
II. Objectives: 1. Recall the significant experience of God in your life
2. Build up their faith in God and develop a deep relationship with Him.
3. Identify God’s existence in various sciences.
III. Activities to engage students:
 Experience Content

1. Recall one significant experience of God in your life that created an impact to
you? Share your experience.

2. Have you doubted the existence of God? If yes, why? If no, why not?
Elaborate on your experience.

DEEPENING
Christian Theology

A. Understanding the Experience of God and Faith in God

1. The Experience of God

In Philosophy, Thomas Aquinas presented five ways to prove God’s existence:

“The First Way: Argument from Motion

 Our senses prove that some things are in motion.

 Things move when potential motion becomes actual motion.
 Only an actual motion can convert a potential motion into an actual motion.
  Nothing can be at once in both actuality and potentiality in the same respect
(i.e., if both actual and potential, it is actual in one respect and potential in another).
 Therefore nothing can move itself.
 Therefore each thing in motion is moved by something else.
 The sequence of motion cannot extend ad infinitum.
 Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other;
and this everyone understands to be God.
The Second Way: Argument from Efficient Causes

 We perceive a series of efficient causes of things in the world.

 Nothing exists prior to itself.
 Therefore nothing [in the world of things we perceive] is the efficient cause of itself.
 If a previous efficient cause does not exist, neither does the thing that
results (the effect).
 Therefore if the first thing in a series does not exist, nothing in the series exists.
 If the series of efficient causes extends ad infinitum into the past, for then
there would be no things existing now.
 That is plainly false (i.e., there are things existing now that came about
through efficient causes).
 Therefore efficient causes do not extend ad infinitum into the past.
 Therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone
gives the name of God.
The Third Way: Argument from Possibility and Necessity (Reductio argument)

 We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, that come into
being and go out of being i.e., contingent beings.
 Assume that every being is a contingent being.
 For each contingent being, there is a time it does not exist.
 Therefore it is impossible for these always to exist.
 Therefore there could have been a time when no things existed.
 Therefore at that time there would have been nothing to bring the currently
existing contingent beings into existence.
 Therefore, nothing would be in existence now.
 We have reached an absurd result from assuming that every being is a
contingent being.
 Therefore not every being is a contingent being.
 Therefore some being exists of its own necessity, and does not receive its
existence from another being, but rather causes them. This all men speak of
as God.
The Fourth Way: Argument from Gradation of Being

 There is a gradation to be found in things: some are better or worse than others.
 Predications of degree require reference to the “uttermost” case (e.g., a thing is said
to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest).
 The maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus.
 Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause
of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call
God.
The Fifth Way: Argument from Design
  We see that natural bodies work toward some goal, and do not do so by chance.
 Most natural things lack knowledge.
 But as an arrow reaches its target because it is directed by an archer,
what lacks intelligence achieves goals by being directed by something
intelligence.
 Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are
directed to their end; and this being we call God.”
In Sociology, Peter Berger, an American sociologist of religion, talked about “signals
of transcendence” instead of “proofs of the existence of God” as did Thomas Aquinas and
other medieval theologians. These “signals” render some accounting of the
experiential foundations of faith in those who believe. Based on Berger’s idea,
Kathleen Fischer and Thomas Hart consider the following areas as indicating an
experience of God:

 The testimony of conscience

There is in man the feeling of being bound by certain moral obligation to do some
things- a claim one cannot simply shake off- even if they go contrary to immediate
self-interest. One feels peaceful and good when he obeys it; troubled and guilty when
he does not.

This is not just a matter of childhood conditioning. There seems to be a law imposed
upon man by a power greater than himself. This experience points one to a power to
which he is subject.

 The massive mystery of the world

There are a lot of questions confronting man from the moment he gets up in the
morning which cry for explanation. How did all of these come to be? They call for
explanation for none of these explain themselves. Someone has the answer!

 The experience of beauty and goodness

People experience beauty, goodness and joy in living. The mystery of goodness is
equally baffling as we are confronted with the mystery of evil. Where do all the good
and wonderful things come from?

 The testimony of time

Countless generations of human beings living in diverse circumstances believe in

God. Belief in God has a lot of time on its side: the more than 2000 years of the belief
of Christians; the Jews were way ahead of Christians; the theistic religions of Africa,
Asia, and America. Despite the prediction of the Enlightenment since the 18 th
century, considering faith as incompatible with scientific sophistication, faith has not
died out and does not seem to be dying out. It may have waned, but then it waxes
again. Can something so durable be based on unreality?

 The witness of outstanding human beings

So many outstanding individuals have believed: great philosophers, learned

historians, brilliant scientists, well-known artists; those highly educated and gifted and
wise. If religious faith had no real foundation, could any intelligent people believe?
  The spiritual power of faith-filled lives

People who lived out of a deep faith struck others by their goodness and the
fruitfulness of their lives. These they attributed to faith; faith made this difference.
Their lives seemed to be genuinely transformed by something deep within, who
manifested something like God or spirit in the whole manner they conducted
themselves. The saints whose height of prayer and extraordinary self-giving for
others pose a prodigious puzzle to us: If there were no God, how are they accounted
for?

In the Bible, God is a mystery but He comes unspeakably close to creatures by

communicating Himself. He enters into the human world and history and establishes
the history of salvation which is also called the economy of salvation.

St. Paul uses the notion of mystery to illumine his preaching. The Pauline mystery is
the plan hidden in God in the beginning, but has been revealed and proclaimed.
From all eternity God conceived a plan, a design for our glory (1 Cor 2:7), but He kept
it hidden from the rulers of this world (1 Cor 2:8), from men (Eph 3:5), and even from
the angels (Eph 3:10). God, however, has so arranged this plan that He could reveal
it at a predetermined moment which St. Paul calls “the fullness of the times” (Eph
1:10). In the fullness of the times God reveals this plan through the Spirit (1 Cor 2:4-
5), first obliquely in the Old Testament, then more clearly and fully in the New
Testament. The fullness of the times is nothing else but the Christ-event:

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by
the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he has also
created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact
imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful
word (Hebrews 1: 1-3)

Jesus himself said: He who sees me sees the Father (John 14:9)

The perfect revelation of the mystery in Christ is followed by its proclamation by the
Apostles. Now the mystery is brought to the attention of men and women by the
Church. For St. Paul, the mystery is neither something hidden nor reserved to a few.
It is meant to be widely spread, to be proclaimed before angels and men. The
proclamation is brought about by Apostolic preaching (Tit 1:1-3).

In Theology, to talk about the experience of God:

 Karl Rahner speaks of God at the edges of consciousness. There is always a

peripheral experience of God included in the experience of anything else. We
do not see God but He is the horizon against which we see everything else,
hence, always at the fringes of our awareness.

 Paul Tillich also speaks about the God in the depths of things. God is in the
depths of things and the ground of being. He suggests: Forget about God
and ask yourself where you experience depth. One encounters the mystery of
God in a love relationship with someone, in profound loneliness, in the
awesome beauty of a rose, a child, a piece of music. Things are not God, but
God is the profound mystery hidden in the depths of them and partly
revealed through them. Hans Kung finds
 indications of the existence of God in the trustworthiness of reality. But is
reality trustworthy? While other do not experience reality as trustworthy, yet
some do trust it. In fact, science is based on this trust, so also man’s other projects
and ethical choices. People trust reality and throw themselves into life in spite
of uncertainties and risk. People still celebrate the new year although they do
not know what it will bring. They celebrate each new birth although they know
life is filled with challenges and difficulties. People still hope, and in this hope,
there is an implicit act of trust in God. Only if God exists do reality and human
existence have a ground. Those who deny God and still trust reality at the
same time do not realize the implication of their trust.

God is like the ocean where a fish swims. Mainly three areas are investigated by
theologians today with regard to possible experience of God:

 The cosmos, the universe, the world

Can we find God in the technical achievements of our day? This particular question
concerns the enormous progress in technology. But natural sciences are increasingly
facing questions they cannot answer by their methods. Can those problems be
solved only by assuming a “creator”?

The dialogue between theology and sciences is of great importance in this respect.

 The human being himself

Can the human person find God in his or her subjectivity? Is God present in this
conscience? Can God be found in the negative situations of life, in suffering, guilt,
lack of success, death, in as far as the person experiences that he or she cannot
master life and in this way comes closer to the transcendent mystery of God?

The human conscience commands with authority to do what is good. In similar

manner the deep human relationships could be a field where God shows Himself: in
mutual love, fidelity, responsibility, truthfulness. Man’s sense of justice and freedom could
also open the access to God in as far as the human person cannot put them into
practice without God.

 History

Can God be experienced in the history of our world, in its development and future?
The so called theology of hope, political theology and also theology of liberation try to
find responses by showing that only God can be the future of our world, in as far as
this world will reach its perfection only in Him, and certain indicators of God’s definitive
coming can be found already now.
Theologians challenge Christians to reflect on whether their faith can be verified and
proved true in their actual life experience, as they form the community of the Church
and practice their faith as groups and individuals in this Church. This is a rather
practical approach to the problem of God. But this is justifiable and even necessary
because experience of God is really a kind of spiritual experiment, a challenge to our
faith.

The loving and tremendous God can be experienced. Experience plays an important role in
our “understanding” of God. The mysterious God may not be fully understood but can
be truly experienced. This concept “experience of God” has to be clarified, however.

The English word “experience” in theological context translates from two German terms
erlebnis and erfahrung. Erlebnis means “an interior experience of an intensely felt
motion”. This implies that erlebnis is an individual event, even a momentary one
realized intensely in the area of feelings and emotions. Erfahrung is an active
synthesis established between events, perceptions and sentiments on the one hand,
and signification, decision or action on the other. Thus, erfahrung is more than
erlebnis. It does not exclude, but integrates and transcends the feeling area by
submitting it to reason. The intellectual component is characteristic of erfahrung.
Moreover, erfahrung does not refer to one event only. It is the result of a series or
chain of events. Even the area of decision and action is included in erfahrung in so
far as insights gained from certain events are put into practice in order to verify them.

An erlebnis could be a basis, a foundation, a starting point of religious experience. It

is an indispensable condition and prerequisite and an integral part of the experience
of God. But because it impresses us emotionally, it is ambiguous in its nature,
objectively and subjectively. It can vary in different persons, even in one and the
same individual in different situations. As “emotional” event, it may not simply be
identified with the whole experience of God or at least not indiscriminately (even if they
occur in a liturgical celebration). It is the experience as erfahrung which is to be
considered truly a religious experience. It integrates and at the same time transcends
the individual events, forming them into a kind of chain and confronting them to the
assessment of reason. There is a real (religious) experience when the individual
happenings that touch the feelings are picked up by our intellect and given a
connection among themselves and are moreover inserted and integrated into the
totality of our life.

2. Faith in God

Man, as image of God, is called to a relationship with his Creator. God has revealed
Himself, offering a relationship with man. Man’s acceptance of the offer is faith.

 Biblical Perspective of Faith

In the Bible, faith is the integral response of the human being to God who reveals
Himself as Savior. Faith accepts the message, promises and commandments of God. It is
both man’s trusting submission to God who speaks and an assent of his mind to the
message of salvation. While the Old Testament emphasizes the aspect of trust, the
New Testament brings out more fully the aspect of assent to the message. In both
understanding, however, there is the suggestion of the reliability of the God in whom
believers trust as well as the security of those who rely on Him.

Old Testament. Instead of giving a systematic survey of the biblical texts in the Old
Testament which are related to the discussion on faith, we will just have a look at the
experience of Abraham, the father of faith, as found in the book of Genesis,
particularly the three relevant passages:

In Genesis 12:1-9, both Abraham’s calling and his trust are graces from God. God takes
the initiative in calling Abraham. God gives Abraham a promise which is rather obscure
due to
the latter’s human condition. However, Abraham does still as Yahweh tells him. He is
obedient to and trustful and hopeful in God as he sets out for an unknown land. Abraham’s
trust in the beginning seems to be unreserved since he asks no question. God, on
His part, proves Himself faithful as He appears to Abraham and repeats His promise.
Abraham expresses his commitment to God by building an altar to worship Him.

In Genesis 15:1-6, Abraham’s faith and hope are not “blind”. His trust in God is out of
question. But Abraham, as a sensible and sober person, requests some evidences
for the promise. When Abraham is “doubtful,” God renews His promise, God Himself
removes the fear. Human fear and insecurity, after all, do not destroy personal faith in
God; they even make part of it. Note especially v. 6: “Abraham puts his faith in the Lord
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness“. Here we see the deep personal
relationship between God and Abraham. The dialogue is very personal.

In Genesis 22:1-18 God puts Abraham’s faith to the test. This story is marked by what we
call the darkness or obscurity of faith. God seems to contradict Himself as He
demands something contrary to His promise and wants to take away what He has
given before under extraordinary circumstances. Abraham must be confused, but he
still obeys God in this most difficult situation. Indeed, there are times when God may
be extremely demanding in His love for the human person. Faith in God is one
response to the demand that seems almost impossible.

New Testament. The interpersonal aspect of the New Testament faith makes it akin
to the faith of the Old Testament. Faith is both trust and surrender to God who is
present in the words and actions of Jesus (Synoptics). It is born of the attraction
exerted by God (Father) who invites human beings to share in the life of the Father,
Son and Spirit. But on the part of man, it is an acceptance of the testimony of the
Father and the Son [and the Spirit] (John).

To a greater degree than in the Old Testament, faith in the New Testament is an
assent to a message. Indeed, faith’s original source is God. For Paul and the author of
the Acts, faith proceeds from the eschatological action of God in raising Jesus and in
the preaching that makes Him known. Faith is man’s obedience to God’s word which
assimilates the person to the crucified and risen Jesus and bestows the Spirit on him
making him child of God. Abraham is the model of faith in this regard. In Romans
4:13-25, Abraham believes God’s word. He hopes “against hope”, basing Himself on
God’s promise. His faith is, therefore, not weakened by the actual reality (of his body
which was “as good as dead”). It is, on the contrary, strengthened because it relies in
God’s power to fulfill His word. In his faith Abraham gives glory to God. His faith is
also credited to him as justice. For Paul, through faith we will attain salvation.

But the understanding of faith in the New Testament will never be complete without
the reference to the teachings of James. For him, faith unfolds in the activity of moral
life and acts through fraternal love (Jam 2:14-26). He insists that faith without works
is dead. He proposes here not the “works of the law” but charity to the needy.

Source: Bishop Bong Lunas prepared Reading Material

  Action/Application
1. If you have experience the presence of God, how would you respond to Him?

2. If you experience doubt, what is God’s invitation to you?

IV. Assessment and Reflection

Reflective Journal
(Write a letter to God in a form of Prayer. You may follow this form of Prayer (Adoration,
Contrition, Thanksgiving, Supplication) Tell him all your heart’s desire.) Please do it creatively.

V. Feedback
Questions: How do you feel about the process of the Activity? Are your questions/doubts
answered? What feelings evoke in you as human, as one of God’s children?

VI. Additional Resources

https://bit.ly/30XwkdB Christian Theology
https://bit.ly/3aqfVBz History of Christian Theology
 Lesson 4 (Week 3-4)
Due date: to be email/deliver on or before September 18, 2020
I. Topic : Definitions of Theology
II. Objectives:
 Elaborate the meaning of Theology being inspired by the Medieval
Theologians up to the contemporary.
 Differentiate the essence of faith and theology, doctrine and
theology, and philosophy of religion and theology.
III. Activities to engage students:
 Experience (Content)

IDENTIFYING EVIDENCE
Identify evidences that God do really exist.

DEEPENING
Definitions of Theology

The word theology comes from two Greek words: theos (God) and logos (meaning;
study). Thus, etymologically, theology is an account of the gods or God.

Christian theology began with the Apostles when they started to articulate their
experience of God through Jesus Christ. They had to do this for the following reasons:
to reconcile their old experience with YHWH with that of the new experience in Christ;
and to preach the Gospel to peoples of various cultures and interpret Jesus for them.

But only in the post-apostolic period, with the Fathers of the Church in particular, did
the Christian use of the term become widespread.

• For Clement of Alexandria, theologia is the knowledge of things divine.

• For Augustine, theology is the intellect’s attempt to understand the faith. The believing
spirit, in love, yearns to achieve the whole of what is loved.
The following theologians of the Medieval times had the following definition of theology:

• Anselm defined theology as faith seeking understanding.

• According to Thomas Aquinas, theology is that which unfolds and explains in
the light of human understanding by its own laws that which faith accepts as a gift.
Beginning with a clearer recognition of supernatural truths, those received from
Revelation alone, theology orders the totality of truths of faith into a rational synthesis
when it adds those truths about God which are attainable by reason alone.

The following contemporary theologians define theology:

• Karl Rahner: theology is the science of faith; a conscious and methodical

explication of the divine revelation received and grasped in faith;
• John Paul II: theology is the (cognitive) process through which the human
mind, illuminated by faith and stimulated by love, advances into the immense
territories the divine Revelation has thrown wide open before it;
• Richard McBrien: theology as the act or process of bringing to speech one’s
experience of the Absolute.

A note on McBrien's definition:

We make McBrien's understanding of theology as our working definition. This

understanding of theology is broader than that of the classical definition. This covers all
the possible levels of theologizing persons. Besides, to bring the faith-experience to
speech is broader than merely giving a rational assent to God’s communication and
explaining the faith. Although it is held that theology in its more recognizable form is the
spoken or the written word, it is also affirmed that there are other forms of theologizing. “
To bring to speech,” in particular, ranges from speaking to God in prayer which is very
often through faltering and halting words to a more coherent and systematic language
about God. It is the whole range of manner of expressions, thus opening to a still wider
scope and forms of theology such as paintings, music, architecture, etc.

Points for Clarification

• Faith and Theology

Faith is the personal knowledge and relationship with the God who encounters us. It is
primarily God’s gift and secondly - and at the same time- man’s acceptance of the gift.
Theology comes into play when the person becomes conscious of his faith and articulates it.
It is basically man’s activity.
 • Doctrine and Theology

Doctrines are those believed and taught. Theology is a critical function applied on
doctrines (as help in formulation and/or a kind of evaluation), ensuring consistency with
the Bible, Tradition and ancient witnesses of the Church.

• Philosophy of Religion and Theology

Philosophy of religion is a study and articulation of somebody’s faith, a faith not being shared.
Theology is the believer’s interpretation/articulation of his own faith by way of faith.

 Action/Application
POSTER MAKING
Instruction: Creatively, recall your own experience of God and express it in drawing.
You may use crayons, painting materials, and any art materials that will help you
illustrate your experience. Please write an explanation about your drawing. You may
use another sheet.

IV. Assessment and Reflection

Reflection paper
Direction: Write a Reflection Paper inspired by your Poster above. (minimum of 200
Reflection Paper

words)
V. Feedback
How was the flow of the activity? What feelings or emotions evoked while doing the task?

VI. Additional Resources

Definitions of Theology
https://bit.ly/3fZoHaE What is Theology
https://bit.ly/3iJaP6w