Overview of the Old and New Testament

• Christians use the term "Bible" to refer to the writings they consider authoritative.
• The Old Testament contains The Five Books of Law, historical books and the prophets.
• Alternate names for the Old Testament include: The Hebrew Bible, The First Testament and Tanakh.
• The Passover is an important Old Testament festival linked to the exodus from Egypt.
• Genesis introduces the idea of a covenant between God, Abraham, and Abraham's descendants.
• Jerusalem became the center of Israel's religious life after David conquered it.
• The priesthood in Israel was responsible for cultic purity and sacrifices for the sins of the people.
• Elijah and Elisha are prophets in Israel.
• Other prophets include Jeremiah, Haggai, and Malachi.
• Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who conquered Babylon, allowed the exiles from Judea to return.
• The Gospels were not written during Jesus' lifetime.
• In premodern cultures, the recitation of narratives important to a community was routine.
• The Synoptic Gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
• Paul is credited with the largest collection of letters in the New Testament.
• Criteria for acceptance into the New Testament canon include apostolic origins or connections.
• Further criteria include securing general acceptance within Christian communities and use in liturgy.
• The early church initially had hesitation about the 27 books of the New Testament.
• Christianity provides a specific reading of the Old Testament which differs from Jewish readers.
• Christians view the New Testament as continuing and extending the witness to the words/deeds of the God of Israel.
• Christians do not view the coming of Jesus of Nazareth as unconnected to the hopes of the people of Israel.
• The majority position in Christian theology emphasizes continuity and distinction between the Old and New Testaments.
• Martin Luther translated the New Testament from the original Greek into everyday German.
• The Authorized Version, or King James Version, was the standard, widely used English translation of the Bible before WWI.
• According to McGrath, translation is a never-ending task.
• Irenaeus argues that heretics interpret the Bible after their own taste.
• Irenaeus argues that orthodoxy interprets the Bible in ways their apostolic authors would have approved.
• Simony refers to the buying and selling of church offices.
• Martin Luther was consistently worried about confessing all of his sins.
• Indulgences were built based on the merits of the saints.
• Martin Luther believed in unattainable standards demanded by a just God.
• Luther thought to combine attempts at righteousness with the sacraments.
• Luther believed that works cooperate with God's grace.
• For Luther, God's righteousness is his grace.
• For Luther, God's grace allows one to stand in His presence.
• Martin Luther believed in salvation by grace.
• Martin Luther posted 95 theses objecting to the Roman Catholic practice of indulgences.
• Martin Luther was not excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
• After breaking with the Roman Catholic Church, Martin Luther did not continue to practice the 7 sacraments.
• Ulrich Zwingli was a contemporary of Martin Luther and a reformer in Zurich, Switzerland.

Influences on the thought of John Calvin:

• Study of Greek and Latin.
• Consciousness as the center of moral life.
• Unity and equality of humanity.
• Corruption of humanity from sin.
• Dependence on and sovereignty of God.
• Henry VIII appealed to the Universities when he broke with the Roman Catholic Church.
• He asserted his rights as a sovereign.
• Major elements of the English Reformation include liturgical unity, scripture/tradition, and justification by faith.
• Major Protestant positions include justification by faith and use of the vernacular.
• Protestants follow 2 sacraments - communication in both kinds and reject Papal authority
• Other major positions are priority of Scripture and priesthood of all believers.
• Protestants believe tradition is helpful but not authoritative.
• They reject purgatory and have suspicion of ML through the veneration of saints.
• Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuits.
• The Jesuit oaths include obedience, poverty, chastity, and to obey the Pope.
• Francis Xavier was not a well-known missionary to Columbia.
• Reforms prescribed by the Council of Trent include removing simony and benefices.
• Bishops were required to visit their churches and local seminaries.
• The goals were to ensure the Bishop is pastor and teacher, the Mass is regulated, and no reform of the Pope.
• Catholic doctrine reaffirmed by the Council of Trent includes the authority of the Vulgate.
• It affirmed transubstantiation, communion in one kind, the 7 sacraments and authority of tradition.
• Catholic doctrine also reaffirmed salvation is only in the Catholic church, clergy cannot marry and cooperation of free will.
• The Peace of Augsburg established that religion is a personal choice.
• The Peace of Westphalia established freedom to choose religion.
• The Holiness movements include Anabaptists, Puritans and Pietists
• John Wesley focused on prevenient grace and free will.
• The Great Awakening was characterized by an emphasis on conversion and conviction of sin.
• During the Enlightenment, revelation was not seen as the primary source of authority.
• The idea that true existence is found "in the mind thinking" is characteristic of Rationalism.
• The idea that nothing is purely objective is characteristic of subjectivism.
• Friedrich Schleiermacher did not believe that the center of Christianity was feeling.
• Kierkegaard believed that faith was messy and risky.
• Pope Pius IX was an opponent of modernism
• The infallibility of the Pope was proclaimed during Vatican 1.

Decisions of Vatican II:

• Seek Christian unity and pastoral reform
• Participate in the ecumenical movement
• Inclusion of Eastern Orthodox
• Regard protestants as separated brethren
• Use of the vernacular
• Mass should consider the needs of individual cultures
• Encourage reading the Bible
• Hesychasm does not suggest that union with God is impossible.
• The conversion of Queen Olga is seen as the foundation of Russian Orthodoxy.
• Peter the Great subjected the Russian Orthodox Church to the Russian State.
• Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of knowledge.
• Paul Tillich posited the theory of correlation.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer participated in the plot to kill Hitler
• Karl Barth founded Neo-Orthodoxy.
• Pentecostalism is the theological movement associated with the Azusa Street Revival

Points of emphasis of Evangelicalism:

• Authority of Scripture
• Exclusivity of Christ and atonement through his death on the cross
• Personal conversion experience
• Urgency of mission/evangelism
• Oppressed groups impacted by liberation theology include Black theology, feminist theology, and queer theology.