FCL 3 REVIEWER-1Q EXAM- 2024-25.docx

**[FCL 3 REVIEWER FOR 1^ST^ QUARTERLY EXAM]** I. **DIVINE REVELATION** A. **Nature of Divine Revelation** Definitions: Etymology: Divine Revelation comes from the latin words **"Divinare" (Godlike)** and **"revelare" (to remove the veil/cover; to uncover/unveil something that is hidden)** The...

**[FCL 3 REVIEWER FOR 1^ST^ QUARTERLY EXAM]** I. **DIVINE REVELATION** A. **Nature of Divine Revelation** Definitions: Etymology: Divine Revelation comes from the latin words **"Divinare" (Godlike)** and **"revelare" (to remove the veil/cover; to uncover/unveil something that is hidden)** Theology: **act of revealing divine truths; God's way of communicating himself, letting himself known to us.** **Note well:** The Nature of Divine Revelation implies that it is addressed to Man, since we are the only ones in this world who is capabale of knowing and loving Him. [And the very reason why God reveals himself to us is ***because He loves us***. ] B. **The Stages of Divine Revelation** [**1. First Stage**: Pertains to the period beginning from the **Creation** of the World as willed by God the **Father,** ]who first reveals Himself to our first parents, Adam (who represents humanity) and Eve, up to the story of the Israelites, the people chosen by God to be His representative to all nations. [**2. Second stage:** refers to the **incarnation**, in which **God the Son, was made flesh in the name of JESUS**] [**Christ.** The second stage is the **fullness of God's revelation**] as God makes himself known through Jesus Christ the Son of God who is one with the Father in the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus, we come to know God not just as a strict and powerful King as reflected in the first stage of Revelation (Old Testament) but as a **loving and merciful Father who is ready to sacrifice his Son to die in our place to save us from sin and death, through His suffering, death and resurrection.** **[3. Third Stage: Refers to the Era of The Holy Spirit],** the period after Christ resurrected and ascended into heaven whereby, He sends The Holy Spirit to guide the Church to fulfill the mission that God has entrusted to his disciples: to spread the goodnews of love and salvation for all. **[The third stage which pertains to the Holy Spirit brings about full understanding of what was revealed by Jesus Christ. ]** **Note:** From here we could see how God's revelation progress through human history: 1^st^ stage: **Father:** Initial revelation\--\>2nd stage: **Son:** Fullness of revelation\--\>**Holy Spirit: full understanding of the revelation.** C. **Channels of Revelation: There are different paths, people, things through which/whom God reveals himself to us.** **Sacred Scriptures (see lesson 2)** Through the scriptures God speaks to us His plans, his Commandments, his teachings, his life. **Tradition (see lesson 3):** through the traditions passed down to our generation we come to know God. **[Saints:]** those holy men and women **[who through their lives God reveals his holiness and love.]** **[Life:]** through our experiences, **we come to experiences or somehow feel the great and loving presence of God;** this also entails our families and friends. **D. Types of Revelation: There are different manners/ ways on how God reveals himself to us:** **1. Supernatural / Natural** **-Supernatural:** Revelation above/beyond natural. **Examples**: [miracles performed by Christ to Jewish people; wonders done by God for the people of Israel.] **-Natural**: Revelation through nature or natural phenomena/occurrence. **Examples:** [The seven wonders of the World the reflects God's beauty and grandeur; the order of the Universe.] Example: The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is a supernatural and natural revelation: supernatural because Jesus took the form of man through divine intervention (through the Holy Spirit) natural since God reveals Himself by being one with our nature. **2. Immediate / Mediate** **-Immediate:** Revelation without mediation/ direct revelation. **Examples:** God hands the ten commandments to Moses; Jesus gives a sermon on the mount; Jesus heals the sick; Jesus transfigures before Peter James and John. **-Mediate:** Revelation through mediation or a mediator. **Examples**: God makes a covenant with Israel through Moses; Jesus sends 72 disciples to spread the good news to the people; The Church serves as God's servant in revealing Himself to the world by spreading His Word. **3. Public/Private** **-Public:** Revelation done to the public/ in a public way. **Examples:** The multiplication of Loaves by Jesus Christ; The preaching of the Church; God acting as King of Israel; the public ministry of Jesus which entails his preaching, works, miracles, good deeds, etc. **-Private:** Revelation given to an individual or small group of people in a more discreet way. **Examples:** Jesus' transfiguration at Mt. Tabor before Peter James and John; the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary about her conception of Jesus. **II. SACRED SCRIPTURES** **A. definitions** **-Sacred:** pertains to something that has to do with God or His revelation, intervention or presence. **-Scriptures:** pertains to the inspired writings included in the Bible. **-Bible:** refers to the [collection of books] (from the Greek Plural form of Biblos🡪 **[Biblia]** which means books) that accounts for how [God dealt with His people and how they responded, remembered and interpreted the divine experience.] **B. Characteristics of the Bible: The bible is..** A **Library** -- it is a collection of books of different authors, written at different places, at different times for different readers for different purposes.\ A **Witness** -- it attests to the experiences of the Bible characters and how these experiences helped them become other people's inspiration and strength\ Documentation -- it accounts what happened in the past, this is the reason why the Bible mentions names, places, and events which are part of World History\ A **Literature** -- it is mostly composed of stories and poems which are considered important to religion, culture, and faith of group of people and thus are embedded to their identity\ A **Diary** -- the characters in the Bible are similar to people in real life who have strengths, weaknesses limitations, sufferings and hardships, trials, and sins, but they are used by God to reveal his power, grace, and forgiveness.\ An **emblem** -- it is the concrete representation and expression of faith of the people who considered the Bible as sacred to Christianity and to their personal lives; [it is the symbol of God's love]. **C. Stages in the development of the Bible** **1. Oral tradition:** the scriptures included in the bible was first preserved through memorization, oral preaching/teaching/ narration. 2\. **Written Tradition:** Oral accounts of biblical events were written to preserve them from impending oblivion (to be forgotten or lost) due to wars, calamities, or other hindrances or threats to the preservation of the tradition -- making the tradition more permanent and widespread. 3\. **Canonization:** process by which books/writings were recognized as authoritative or inspired by God. Those sacred writings that came from many sources and timelines were collected, studied and recognized by the Church as sacred. **[Note: the Church did not canonize the scriptures; it simply recognized the authority of the books that God inspired.]** **4. Translation:** The [Old Testament] is composed of **Hebrew** (language of Israelites) and [translated into **Greek (common language of the people during the time of the writers of the new Testament)**] around the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC.\ The [New Testament] is composed in **[Greek]** during the 2nd half of 1st century AD. Then The bible was translated to **Latin**, [then after the Second Vatican Council], it was translated to the various languages of the World, **with the hope that it wouldn't be only translated through the spoken languages of peoples, but also in the lives of many.** **D. Divisions of the Bible** **1. OLD and NEW Testaments:** The Bible is generally divided in the OLD and New Testaments. The Old Testament occurs first and shows us how the world began and how the people of Israel came to be. Whereas the New Testament comes after and documents how the world is saved through what Jesus did for his people. Both the Old and New testaments pertain to the **COVENANT of God with Man. [Covenant]: [It refers to the solemn agreement/contract made between God and His people;] a commitment between two parties.** **[-Old Testament: (first half: 46 books):]** it portrays God as an omnipotent/powerful being in his act of creation and freedom of Israel. It is characterized by the Old Covenant of obeying the ten commandments of God to be saved. Old Covenant: a commitment/agreement between God and the people of Israel "I shall be your God, and you shall be my people; if you obey my commandments, you shall live." **[-New Testament: (Second half of the Bible: 27 Books):]** portrays God as a merciful and loving Father through Christ his son. Characterized by the New Covenant offered by Christ to the World: "Take this all of you, this is my body... this is my blood... the cup of the new and everlasting Covenant, which will be poured for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in remembrance of Me" New Covenant: if you enter in a life of communion with Christ, thus living the life he lives, you will be saved. **2. Categories (kinds of books) within the Bible** **-Old Testament: four sections:** 1\. **books of the Law:** [the first five books of Pentateuch] (which corresponds to the Jewish Torah): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers 2\. **the history books:** telling the history of the Israelites, from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon; 3\. **the poetic and \"Wisdom books\"** dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world.\ a good example that belongs to this category is the **book of Psalms** [which contain lyrical lines useful for divine worship] 4\. **Prophetic Books**[:] pertains to the prophets sent by God to spread his warning of the consequences of turning away Him. **-New Testament: four sections:** **1. 4 Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.** These books tell the stories about Jesus\' life, ministry, and death. **2. Historical book: Acts of the Apostles,** written by the author of the third Gospel (\"Luke\"), describes the spread of the Christian church from Jesus\' death to the death of the apostle Paul. 3\. **21 epistles or letters.** Most of these New Testament books are records of correspondence between a church leader and a Christian community; the New Testament [epistles address issues of Christian belief, practice, and ethics.] Thirteen of these books claim to be written by Paul (though, as we will see, New Testament scholars doubt the reliability of some of these claims). **4. Prophetic/apocalyptic book: is Revelation,** a Christian apocalypse. The author of this book, John, describes the events leading up to the destruction of this world and the appearance of the world to come. **E. PARTS OF A BIBLE PASSAGE** **(Title) (Chapter of the Book) : (First verse of the passage) -- (Last Verse)** **Example: GENESIS 1:1-31** The number 1 before the colon **":"** pertains to the chapter of the book and the numbers after the colon pertain to the first and last verses of the biblical passage. **F. Authorship: God is the sole author of the Bible, his Word the writers of the His WORD are not his co-authors but only his servants whom he inspired through His Spirit to become instruments in writing His Word.** **III. APOSTOLIC TRADITION** **A. Definitions** -Tradition: customs, beliefs, stories, practices, cultures, thought, preserved through the passing down through generations. -**Apostolic Tradition:** This is the tradition handed by the Apostles of Christ to its successors from the first generation and until at present. [It is mainly about the life and teachings of Christ handed down by the apostles down to their successors.] **[B. Parts/kinds of Apostolic Tradition]** [The apostolic Tradition is divided in to two parts: **Oral and written traditions**] **[C. FATHERS OF THE CHURCH: the church recognized prominent Church leaders as Fathers of the Church through this standards:]** **1. Antiquity of writings:** the greater the antiquity of the writing, the more it is authentic as it dates back nearer to the time of Christ and his Apostles, which entails the faithfulness of the writings to the tradition handed down by the apostles of Christ. **2. Orthodoxy of Doctrine:** It refers to the universality of the teachings of those church leaders; universal means it is accepted by all members of the Catholic church since the teachings or writings are free from error, heresies (belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine), contradictions, and are very clear, always relevant, deep and rich in meaning. **3. Holiness of Life/witness of faith:** a member of the Church who is considered a Church Father is expected to "walk the talk". Examples of Church Fathers: Pope Clement I, Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp who all died martyrs for the faith. D. **Some** **teachings of two great Church Fathers about Divine Revelation** **1. [St. Augustine: The Subject ]**[of Divine revelation is the **Trinity. God always acts in unity of three persons**] For example, In the Stages of Divine Revelation, God the Father is always one with the Son and the Holy Spirit in creating the world. (Genesis 1:2 says "the Spirit of God was hovering through the waters" and it is implied that God created everything through his Word (which pertains to the Son of God, the "Word made Flesh") 2\. **[St. Thomas Aquinas: Divine Revelation is a saving action of God. God reveals Himself for us to be saved.]** In revealing Himself, his love and his life, God invites us to unite ourselves in this divine life and love so as to be free from evil and be saved from eternal damnation. **IV. MAGISTERIUM** **A. Nature of Magisterium** **-Magisterium** from Latin word for ["Magister" meaning teacher;] **Magisterium is a Latin** word which means "The Office of the Master"**: [it refers to the official teaching body of the church which is mainly composed of the Pope and the bishops (including ofcourse the archbishops], which has the authority to teach the contents of the faith: dogmas, doctrines, practices, catechisms, etc.** **NOTE: [The Nature of Magisterium revolves around the reality that it "is not superior to the Word of God but its servant" as it only teaches what is handed to it by God under His command and guidance -- nothing more, nothing less.]** **B. Purpose of Magisterium:** [The primary task of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church is to **interpret the Word of God.**] By virtue of the ordination established by Christ to perpetuate his successorship, the Church leaders are given the grace to interpret God's Word through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. **C. Role of Magisterium:** The Church Magisterium has three important roles: **1. Devoutly listens to the Word of God;** [before having mastered the teaching and preaching of God's word, the Pope and his college of bishops are first servants of God who listens to him.] **2.** **Conscientiously guards the word of God;** [the Magisterium treasures the richness of God's word, protects it against heresies, without losing or adding anything to it.] **3. faithfully explains the Word of God;** [The Magisterium teaches the faith to the members of the church, in utmost clarity, purity, and simplicity to be understood correctly by its members.] **NOTE: Our understanding of the Bible should always be under the guidance of the Magisterium, its servant, who is called by God to interpret, and teach only what is handed down to it in God's command and guidance.**