recall: LESSON 1: What is theology?

- study of God
- mystery = reality beyond what we think
- faith seeking understanding
- ***** quest for the living God *****
- God is a mystery (reality beyond what we think)
- human spirit is insatiable (never satisfied) --> infinite capacity to know
and learn
- context are changing

3 Ground Rules
1. Acknowledge that God is an ineffable mystery - know something more and more as you delve
into the mystery
2. No expression of God cannot be taken literally - instead of literal understanding, it is always
an analogy
- analogy (similar to metaphor but focuses on the linking of the understandings of 2
terms)
1. affirm
2. negate
3. negate the negations

- example: God is good.

1. affirm that God is good (using our understanding of goodness in this world to
describe God)
2. negate: God is not good (God is beyond your understanding of goodness,
good in a different way)
3. negate the negation: God is not not good
- analogy talking about God in terms of goodness
- but still considering the crack in our language, our language cannot hold
the description of God
3. we give God has many names - no name is efficient for God
- Islam: 99 names for God
- used to describe God

How do we do Theology?
1. Practical Theology
- uses practices
- reflection on practices
- values people hold within the practices
- core in values: person's framework in doing theology
- devotion: "panata" (pledge), a relationship with person and their God
2. Story Theology
- stories hold a particular kind of theology
 - used for centuries
- people live on stories

LESSON 2: Faith - Roger Haight

"All human beings have faith"

- By virtue of them having freedom
- more phenomenological analysis - PHENOMENOLOGY = reflection on a
phenomenon/experience

Faith is a commitment of freedom

Freedom
--> from something (usual interpretation) - from jail, school, etc.
--> for (fundamental) - What are you doing with your freedom?

1. usually understood as categorial freedom = choose

2. fundamental freedom = determination of who you are called to become

categorial and fundamental intertwine

Faith: consists of a dynamic commitment of the whole of human freedom in action

--> fundamentally going towards a commitment of faith
--> actions done go towards a common 'center of gravity' (object of faith)
--> grounded towards one's faith in the certain transcendent object of faith
--> COMMITMENT OF FAITH
--> GIVES MEANING TO OUR LIVES
--> important and meaningful/gives meaning to one's life

------------------------

Faith Narrative - due sept 21

schneider's "Biblical Hermeneutics Since Vatican II"

------------------------

Spirituality: an experience of conscious involvement in a project of life integration through

self-transcendence ultimate value
--> not just abstract, but a practical experience (intentional spiritual practices)
--> life integration: wholeness within yourself and reality
--> how does this come about? --> what makes us whole, gives meaning to my life? --> varies
from person to person
--> example: Black Nazarene in Quiapo
--> panata: pledge, devotion, relationship with who or what they believe in

Religion: a fundamental stance in the world

Spirituality: wings
religion: roots
--> different aspects of human life
--> driven by faith
--> relationship with transcendence

Religion and Spirituality:

beliefs, practice, differs from person to person, develops from experience, insatiability, helps
reflect and seek greater purpose, shapes ones values and interactions

spirituality:
more personal, connectedness with transcendence and reality, broader

religion:
more on following specific traditions and culture, relationship with faith or a more specific
powerful being

--------------------------MODULE 2 BIBLICAL SCRIPTURE: FAITH IN THE OLD

TESTAMENT-----------------------

Sept 13, 2024

biblical hermeneutics since Vatican II

--> significant shifts in biblical interpretation within the catholic church after 2nd Vatican council
--> need for broader hermeneutical framework

3 primary factors:

1. Pope Pius XII Encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943)

 --> document opened a new era for catholic biblical scholarship
--> endorsed modern critical methods such as a form of criticism in the interpretation of
the scripture
--> began to free biblical scholars from rigid doctrinal controls under the council of trent

2. Nouvelle Theologie Movement

--> pre-Vatican II movement
--> focused on returning to the church's sources
--> scripture, patristic, traditions, liturgy
--> emphasized bible's central role in church life
-->sought to reconnect the laity with the richness of scripture
--> inspired rejuvenation of the church's identity as the people of God

3. Integration of catholic biblical studies into the secular academy

--> after Vatican ii
--> catholic biblical scholars increasingly engaged with secular academic disciplines
--> shift led to the application of various modern academic methods to biblical studies
--> such as historiography, sociology, literary criticism
--> opened a door to feminist and liberation theology perspectives
--> new interpretations in the bible

REVELATION:
--> faith is a response to the revelation of God
--> witness to divine revelation
--> God has revealed himself to humanity and his creation
--> creation
--> salvation history - using his creation throughout history to reveal himself
--> Jesus
--> church
--> "revelatio" - removing the vail
--> bible: source and channel of revelation
--> canon: "measure" in Greek
--> not history/science book
--> living word of God
--> preservation of the word
--> sacred text and sacred scripture
--> the community who met the disciples wrote the books
--> Old testament - written in Hebrew
New testament - written in Greek
both were translated to Greek, then Latin (vulgate)

SACRED TRADITION AND SACRED SCRIPTURE

--> sacred scripture, bible: living word of God
--> faith-inspired account of faith-inspired people
--> account of faith, something that gives testament
--> bears witness to the revelation of God
--> DIVINE INSPIRATION
--> bible was written with the help and guidance of God

*who wrote genesis? - less believe that it is moses because he dies in exodus* --> J E D P -
different people wrote different versions of the bible*

Different Worlds (Schneider)

1. the world behind the text - context
--> the world that produce the text
--> authors
--> events

2. the world of the text - text mismo

--> literary genre of the text
--> what the text actually say

3. the world in front of the text - readers

--> world of the reader
--> different traditions (feminist, queer, postcolonial)
--> interaction with the text

SEPT 17, 2024

Book of Job: Old Testament

1. world behind the text

--> unknown author of book
--> suffering of Job

--> Job 1:1-5

--> Job was a busy, rich man
--> Job 1: 6-12
--> Satan's wager: "Job's faith is only driven by the blessings God gave him"
--> God: 'okay, but do not hurt Job'

--> next chapters

--> challenges and loss that made Job suffer
--> friends of Job: 'you must have done something wrong to upset God'
 --> FAITH OF JOB
--> kind of disinterested faith - He loved God = has faith in God

--> world behind the text: doctrine of temporal retribution

--> Jewish
--> BOOK OF JOB IS AGAINST

--> Job 29-31: Job's final defense

SEPT 24, 2024

review:
Revelation
--> channel tradition
--> scripture --> living word and faith-inspired, faith narrative of the people as a framework of
their faith

FAITH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Book of Job --> case of the faith of Job, Why does he still have faith?
--> just because, disinterested faith
--> faith that remains steadfast in terms of the innocent suffering, however, humanity
remains.

--> Satan: common noun - satan

Story of Hagar
--> in the shadows of a bigger story: Abraham and Sarah
--> "go to the land that I will show you, you will have many children"
--> went to Canaan, and tried to conceive with Sarai
--> Sarai: bear children with Hagar!!
--> Hagar --> Ishmael --> met God in wilderness blablabla
--> 3 angels to Abram: "you will have children with Sarai"
--> Sarai: lol
--> Isaac
--> God: "sacrifice your son"
--> Abraham: ok huhu
--> angel: issaprank
--> Isaac never talked to Abraham again --> DADDY ISSUES
 --> Androcentric text: man-centric, patriarchal
--> women are being objectified

--> Feminist interpretation of the text --. HAGAR = focus in the story = agency
--> Genesis 16:1-16
--> after Hagar conceived, she ran into the wilderness
--> encountered God
--> Hagar is the first ever person to name God
--> God called Hagar by her name: God sees her for who she is
--> God: go back and submit to Sarai (mistress)
--> household of Sarai: abusive
--> God wants Hagar to live and survive: "try to survive in the household,
submit"
--> Hagar: being a survivor in the story

--> Genesis 21:9-21

--> Sarah wanted to cast Hagar away again, Isaac and Ishmael were
playing
--> Hagar being the victim, survivor then protagonist of her own story
--> WOMANISM VS FEMINISM
1. Womanist: gender at the intersection of race, social class and
gender
--> has many identities and was oppressed based on
those identities (Egyptian/black, mother, slave, woman)
2.

--> unsettling image of God?

--> usually seen as a God of goodness
--> God allowed Hagar to go back and continue to live in an abusive
household
--> unsettling: even if Hagar found a happy ending, it was still a sign of
patriarchy (Abraham's nation through Ishmael)
--> Ishmael had to go through watching his mother be mistreated

Sept 27, 2024

recap on module 2

Bible: faith in the Old testament

--> revelation
--> living word - faith-inspired
 --> faith in the OT
--> Job - disinterested faith
--> Hagar - encounters God in the wilderness and experienced oppression

Jesus
--> incarnation
--> carne: meat: body & flesh
--> body is essential
--> body and soul coexist together

"are we a body? or do we have a body?"

--> body gives you access to the world

--> God became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ
--> interaction with the world

--> incarnation : infleshment : becoming flesh

--> Jesus of Nazareth --> Christos (the annointed one)

--> 0 CE (born in Bethlehem) --> 30 CE (public ministry & reign of God)
--> 33 CE (death and resurrection)
--> 0 CE - Roman empire - AGUSTUS CAESAR
--> empire --> temple system (pharisees) --> starts the
whole story --> going against empire and temple system

--> Poor and Oppressed: center of the gospel

--> sick, disabled
--> uneducated (rabble who know nothing about the law)
--> deprived of their rights
--> low socio-economic status,

--> dependent on others for survival (beggars), dignity issue

--> sinners, disobey the law, "if you are 'poor', you must have done
something wrong"

--> oxlos
--> people, crowd, mass --> masa --> majority, average, marginalized

--> MERCY

--> Gospel - GOOD NEWS

 --> Mk - 60-65 CE - rushed, disciples are failing, persecution of christians
in Rome
--> Mt - 70-90 CE - copied Mark, christian-jewish community - connection
of Judaism and Jesus
--> Luke - 70-90 CE - authors also wrote Acts
--> John - 100-110 CE - authors also wrote Revelation

-------------LEVINE READING OCT 4:2024----------------

Israel's parables

- **Origins of Parables**:
- Found in Israel’s Scriptures (Old Testament/Tanakh).
- Serve as personal, social, and moral critiques.

- **Notable Examples**:
- **Jotham’s Parable of the Trees**:
- Warns against unworthy rulers.
- Emphasizes that valuable members of society do not seek power.
- **Nathan’s Parable of the Ewe Lamb**:
- Confronts King David about his wrongdoing.
- David’s anger at the parable leads to his self-indictment.

- **Purpose of Parables**:
- Encourage listeners to reflect on choices and moral implications.
- Use cultural narratives to engage the audience.

- **Tools for Understanding**:

- Help in grasping deeper spiritual truths.
- Often incorporate humor and absurdity for impact.

- **Challenges for Leaders and Followers**:

- Prompt examination of values and actions.
- Encourage alignment with divine expectations.

### Context Matters

- **Importance of Context**:
- A saying in biblical studies: “A text without context is just a pretext.”
 - Understanding original contexts enhances appreciation of biblical works.

- **Historical Context**:
- Essential for interpreting parables correctly.
- Considerations include:
- Relations between Samaritans and Jews.
- Cultural expectations of family dynamics.
- Contracts between laborers and vineyard owners.
- Social roles available to women.
- Reasons for prayer at the Temple.

- **Consequences of Misunderstanding Context**:

- Incorrect contexts can lead to problematic and abusive interpretations of parables.

- **Cultural References**:
- Example: **The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show**:
- Showed social satire that children missed without understanding Cold War references.
- Highlights how missing context can limit comprehension of deeper meanings.

- **Echoes of Scripture**:
- Parables often reflect earlier biblical stories, enriching understanding.
- Example: The Prodigal Son evokes narratives of Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, etc.

- **Cultural Differences**:
- Biblical cultures differ significantly from modern values and expectations.
- What seems odd today may have been normal then (e.g., property division by fathers).

- **Surprises in Parables**:
- Some elements may seem odd but are intentional (e.g., the use of "hide" for yeast).
- Identifying what is surprising in the parables is crucial for interpretation, as Jesus’s parables
often contain unexpected elements.

### The Parables of Jesus

- **Understanding Context**:
- Important to hear parables as first-century Jews in Galilee and Judea would have.
- Requires several assumptions about authenticity and audience reception.

- **Authenticity Challenges**:
- Uncertainty about whether Jesus told the parables or how he delivered them.
- We have no direct writings or biographical accounts from Jesus.
- **Transmission of Parables**:
- Parables are found in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and the Coptic Gospel of
Thomas.
- Interpretations filtered through early followers' concerns and linguistic differences.

- **Thematic Consistency**:
- Many parables reflect Jesus's broader teachings on economics, relationships, and priorities:
- **Economics**: Emphasizes caring for the poor, debts, and wealth management.
- **Relationships**: Highlights caring for others and servant leadership (e.g., The Sheep and
the Goats).
- **Priorities**: Urges action in light of the approaching Kingdom of Heaven.

- **Parables as a Teaching Method**:

- Jesus used parables to challenge listeners and provoke thought rather than simply convey
information.
- Often taught using metaphor and imagery to prompt self-reflection.

- **Celebration and Feast Motifs**:

- Jesus’s parables often include themes of celebration, reflecting Jewish views of the afterlife
as a banquet.
- Emphasizes joy in community and sharing (e.g., feasting with diverse groups).

- **Cultural Context**:
- Parables resonate with Jesus’s cultural background, requiring adaptation for different
audiences.
- They must have made sense within first-century society without relying on later Christian
interpretations.

- **Form Criticism**:
- Parables exhibit variations across texts, indicating adaptations by storytellers for their
audiences.
- Analogies made to folklore highlight structural similarities and thematic consistency.

- **Interpreting the Evangelists**:

- Gospel writers adapted parables for their audiences, which can alter intended meanings.
- Their interpretations often frame the parables in ways that may limit original provocation.

- **Conclusion**:
- Parables need to be understood in their original context to appreciate their full meaning and
significance.
- They challenge audiences to engage with the core messages about life, relationships, and
the Kingdom of God.
### The Parables Today

- **Relevance Across Time**:

- Parables must speak to each generation and individual, evolving beyond their first-century
context.
- Like any great literature, they should yield new interpretations and insights for contemporary
readers.

- **Key Questions**:
- How do we understand the parables through the perspective of a first-century Jewish
audience?
- How can we translate their messages for modern contexts while retaining their original
potency?

- **Historical Context**:
- Exploring Jesus as a Galilean Jew provides a deeper understanding of why his stories
resonated with his audience.
- This historical inquiry aims to enrich current interpretations, not replace established readings.

- **Contemporary Interpretation**:
- Parables remain significant in Christian teaching and should inspire ongoing exploration of
their meanings.
- Misinterpretations can lead to prejudice or oversimplification, so careful study is necessary.

- **Corrective Purpose**:
- The work serves as a corrective measure against anti-Judaism and other misinterpretations,
ensuring the parables retain their intended provocations and relevance.

### Auditory Atrophy and Aids to Hearing

- **Listening Skills**: Many people struggle to understand the original challenges posed by
parables, often leading to simplistic interpretations that distort their meanings.

- **Children’s Stories**: In churches, parables are often reduced to children's tales, which
obscures their deeper messages and provocation.

- **Clergy Challenges**: Many clergy avoid challenging themes, opting instead for comforting
messages that neglect social issues, thus failing to convey the true complexity of Jesus's
teachings.
- **Congregational Expectations**: Some congregants see sermons as entertainment rather
than opportunities for spiritual growth and reconciliation, leading to a loss of the parables' depth.

- **Anti-Jewish Stereotypes**: Misunderstandings about Jesus's Jewish context can perpetuate

harmful stereotypes, leading to misinterpretations of the parables.

- **Historical Context**: A focus on modern interpretations often neglects the historical and
cultural settings of Jesus's time, resulting in distorted readings.

- **Fresh Engagement**: The aim is to re-engage with the parables in their original context,
inviting new insights and deeper understanding that resonate with both historical and
contemporary audiences. Each chapter aims to provide a literal translation and contextual
analysis to refresh our listening.

-----OCT 4, 2024------
Public Ministry --> Jesus talking about the vision and REIGN OF GOD
--> ministry: poor and oppressed
--> live in the context of the Roman Empire and temple system -->
divided people into clean and unclean

Poor and Oppressed - dependent, uneducated, excluded, "sinners", MASSES-MAJORITY

(ochlos)

Response of Jesus when he met the poor and oppressed

--> superpowers of Jesus
1. COMPASSION (SPLAGCHNIZOMAI) and mercy
--> drives Jesus to do his public ministry
--> Greek: splagchnizomai
--> splagchnon: intestines
--> 'center of the human body' - during that time
--> compassion is felt in Jesus' gut
--> something is fundamentally wrong with what he
is seeing
--> response of Jesus comes from the
center of his soul
--> Movement of mercy
1. feeling pain of the other - try to understand what they are going
through
 2. makes that pain his own - carry the pain with the other person
3. allows that pain to move him into action

--> Parable of the Good Samaritan

--> summary of the whole gospel
--> dynamics of splagchnizomai

--> prophets - Jesus: criticizes the wrong things they see

2. FAITH ~ Hope ~ Conviction

--> when Jesus healed people: "Your faith has healed you"
--> faith cleansed and frees them from oppression and the things
they were accused of
--> sick and oppressed feel fatalism - accept the fate that they are poor
and oppressed
--> faith comes in through Jesus' creating an atmosphere of faith
and hope
--> that they will be forgiven
--> miracles
--> faith motivates to not give up

MIRACLES: deemed impossible made possible

--> 5 loaves and 2 fish - miracle of sharing
--> there's a deeper sense of liberation and justice

3. TABLE FELLOWSHIP
--> Jesus just eats and drinks - accused of being a drunkard and glutton
--> RADICAL INCLUSION especially to the poor and oppressed
--> ate and drank with the 'unclean'
--> believed to be a defile experience and it will also make
you unclean, eating is sacred
--> Jesus defied the social beliefs

--> very hard for a normal person to be forgiving and have

compassion
--> hard to practice all the things Jesus did

------------OCT 8, 2024----------

Oct 18, deadline of Exo Jesus Paper

Parables
 --> meant to disturb and provoke
--> talks about social reality
--> PROPHETS --> sees something wrong in society --> criticizes the social
reality --> energizes the people towards a different reality
--> Levine: not meant to have one moral or meaning
--> interpretation of the moral is different depending on the person
--> genre is not invented by Jesus

--> Prodigal son: forgiveness and faith, brother: Pharisees being jealous of tax collectors

--------------- OCT 11, 2024-----------------

Public ministry --> REIGN OF GOD

Parables: short stories that help people reflect on their actions

Gospels
--> goes against exclusions and discrimination against the poor and oppressed
--> it is anti-reigns --> reign of power, prestige and money

Reign of God: alternative vision

--> reign: state, condition
--> anti-reign
--> Luke 4:18
--> imagine Jesus as a prophet and "activist"
--> reign of God = liberation and salvation
--> Luke 1:47-56, Mary proclaiming God even before Jesus

---------------------OCT 18, 2024-------------------------

October 25: ESCALER HALL - MAKE PAPER ABOUT PRIDE MONTH TALK

Followers of Jesus: Disciple - Discipleship

DISCIPLES
--> anyone who follows God
--> example: 12 apostles, Mary Magdalene (1st disciple to proclaim the
resurrection of christ)
--> Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Nazi German, Christian Theologian, plotted to kill Hitler
--> "How are we to follow and make sense of Jesus while many wrong things are
happening in Jesus' name (WWII)"
--> book - discipleship
 --> cheap vs costly discipleship
1. Cheap: for surface level reasons, selfish (only wanting to go to
heaven)
2. Costly: being a true disciple, following Jesus and its
consequences
--> when you are called into discipleship - follow Jesus into
the reign of God - invitation to the cross, struggle, sacrifice - invitation to resurrection that comes
after

--> Metz: dangerous memory

--> climax/core of mass: last supper, communion

--> remembering the core of our Christian
faith: Jesus' sacrifice of his body
--> implication of remembering these memories
--> remembering God = COSTLY

1. Begins with an invitation from Jesus = "Follow me."

--> only Jesus can invite you into discipleship
--> relationship with God
--> could not come from anyone else

2. Following the vision of the Reign of God

3. Cross
--> carry your own and different crosses with other people

4.Resurrection
--> Mary found Jesus alive

--> Richie Fernando: "the guy who jumped on the bomb"

--> Jesuit brother, called to follow Jesus in that way
--> Cambodian student wanted to bomb the whole school
--> Fernando jumped on the bomb to save everyone there
--> "I know where my heart is." --> poor and oppressed, students, Jesus

--------------OCT 30------------------
Review: Christology
--> Who do you say that I am?
--> Public Ministry of Jesus
--> Poor & Oppressed
--> Reign of God
--> mercy
--> faith
--> table fellowship

Death Of Christ
1. Why was Jesus killed?
--> emphasizes how Jesus was killed
--> historical
--> political accusations
--> claiming to destroy the temple nearby
--> peace and order
--> rebellion
--> religious
--> threat to destroy temple in Jerusalem
--> blasphemy
--> claiming to be a prophet
--> messiah
--> forgiving of sins

--> INRI = Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews

--> He was preaching an alternative ministry for the poor and oppressed
--> Martyr death - dying due to fighting for a certain belief, religion

2. Why did God die?

--> emphasizes on an all powerful and eternal being dying
--> theological
--> subfield: soteriology (study of salvation and savior)

------------------NOV 5--------------------

--> God is all powerful and omnipresent

--> common: "to save us from our sins"
--> SOTERIOLOGY - study of salvation of a savior *see chart handout*
--> explains how and why God saves and redeems us from sin
--> when Jesus died on the cross = altar upon which a sacrifice is made
(reference to the old testament)
--> New testament Jesus: priest, altar and sacrifice

--> RANSOM THEORY of salvation

 -->"world is the ocean", we are fish, there is an evil fish
--> fisherman uses bait to catch evil fish to save other fish
--> Jesus is the fisherman
--> devil has dominated humans?

--> Vicarious satisfaction theory

--> Anselm
--> relationship between lords and servants
--> king punishes, but in order to be spared from punishment,
compromise and make peace
--> humans had sin --> different punishments
--> human has to do an act of satisfaction
--> since sins are so great, God has to intervene by
saving them from sin using His divinity

--> Moral Exemplar Theory

--> sacrifice of Christ: gives birth to a new world
--> similar to mother's sacrifice
--> shows us what it means to sacrifice and offer oneself to
another
--> Ciudad Juarez - city
--> 1990s - women were abused, objectified
--> caused a lot of killings
--> survivors of women : "never again to the killings" --> painted
the crosses pink
--> planted on the location where the women were killed =
scandal and meaningless suffering
--> pink crosses = women being crucified
--> salvation can happened in the here and the now
--> with the efforts and solidarity we have
with each other

--------------NOV 8-------------------------------
Christology --> revealing public ministry
--> to the masses (poor and oppressed)
--> reign of God
--> mercy, faith, table fellowship
--> reason why he was killed

RESURRECTION:
1. continuity
--> Same body --> Jesus
--> same wounds
2. Radical transformation
--> when Jesus was resurrected --> combined --> being both earthy, bodily and divine,
eternal--> bridge of heaven to earth by his being
--> example: Avatar the Last Airbender

3. communal reality
--> spirit of resurrection is with them
--> resurrection drives people to share the reign of God

Eschatology --> eschaton (the last things)

--> where do we go after we die?
--> we can learn from Jesus and his resurrection
--> same bodies (continuity), radical transformation, communal

Poem: resurrection from the experience of the people

--> what is it like?
--> resurrection pathway from death into new life
--> struggles towards that which is ideal
--> main image
--> in between death, suffering and new life, salvation --> LIMINAL SPACE