Abraham is undoubtedly one of the most important Biblical characters. His relevance in terms of shaping Christian thought has been significant. Beyond Christianity, Abraham finds a crucial role in two other monotheistic religions of Islam and Judaism. Notwithstanding his importance to monotheistic traditions, Abraham’s exact history and origins remains obscure. The fact that Abraham’s life…
Category: Religion
Historicity and Origins of Abraham
Abraham is undoubtedly one of the most important Biblical characters. His relevance in terms of shaping Christian thought has been significant. Beyond Christianity, Abraham finds a crucial role in two other monotheistic religions of Islam and Judaism. Notwithstanding his importance to monotheistic traditions, Abraham’s exact history and origins remains obscure. The fact that Abraham’s life…
Eve and Adam: Genesis 2-3 Reread
Abstract: There is mutual antagonism between the Women’s Liberation Movement and the Bible. Those espousing the feminist viewpoint criticize that the Genesis features ‘creation of woman’ towards the end of the story, even after the creation of the garden, trees and the animals. Moreover, they take offense to how women are conceived as ‘helpers’ to…
Biblical Worldview: Paul’s Epistle to the Romans
Introduction/Thesis It is self-evident that an individual’s worldview affects their thought, behavior and action. One’s worldview is a major component of personality formation. Of the many parameters that constitute one’s worldview, belief in God is a crucial one. The worldview of a believer is sharply contrasted to that of a non-believer. Apostle Paul expounds on…
John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio how he understands the relationship between faith and reason.
As philosophers like Frederic Nietzsche have pointed out, Christianity tends to curtail the full meaning of human existence by making it devoid of spontaneity and adventure. In other words, faith in God is made incompatible with ‘seeking’ in its broadest sense. Faith, it would then seem, is merely an “illusion which blocks the path of…
Newman’s understanding of the relationship between faith and reason
Newman finds fault with a certain tendency among the faithful, whereby they are complacent with what is given in scriptures. As a result, they no longer inquire and seek to acquire new knowledge. In other words, they are “not persuaded thereby to see and hear more, are not moved to act upon their knowledge. Seeing…
How does ‘faith seeking understanding’ frame the overall purpose of Anselm’s Proslogion
At the heart of Proslogion is the expression of the idea of ‘faith seeking understanding’. In the very first chapter Anselm implores “Lord my God, teach my heart where and how to seek You, where and how to find You. If You are not here, Lord, where shall I seek You who are absent?” (p.90)…
How does Anselm prove God’s existence and how his proof relates to the rest of the Proslogion.
Anselm makes it clear in his preface that his contemplative work seeks to demonstrate that a. God truly (i.e. in reality) exists, b. That he is the Supreme Good and the Divine Substance. One of the ontological proofs of God’s existence is due to the fact that God cannot be thought not to exist. Adding…
Comparing Wright’s and Borg’s arguments on the Resurrection
While both authors comment on the significance of the event of the Resurrection, their emphasis is quite different. Wright bases the Resurrection to draw upon broader themes within Christianity, like “Why did Christianity arise, and why did it take the shape it did?” (p.111) Wright acknowledges the exceptional nature of Christianity, when at the time…
Comparing two biblical commentaries on Adam and Eve
John Wesley’s explanatory notes on Genesis-3 throws light on the intricacies of the relationship between Adam and Eve. At the outset, the choice of Serpent as the incarnation of devil is explained. The serpent is a sly creature that can operate with subtly in capturing its prey. Since the serpent can strike a fatal blow,…