ALEXAMENOS SEBETE THEON
Graffiti: Alexamenos worships his God, Palatine Hill, Rome, ca. 200 CE
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Graffiti: Alexamenos worships his God, Palatine Hill, Rome, ca. 200 CE
Graffiti: Alexamenos worships his God, Palatine Hill, Rome, ca. 200 CE
1. How does Zwingli disagree with the radical Reformers, or Anabaptists, regarding the ritual of baptism? How does Zwingli disagree with Luther regarding the issue of the eucharist?
ReplyDeleteAnabaptists believed that no one belonged to the Church until they made a personal decision to become part of the church. For this reason, Anabaptists supported adult baptism and rejected infant baptism. This they believed would ensure a devoted Church community. Zwingli, on the other hand, was pro infant baptism and against adult baptism because the need to rebaptise suggested a lack of effectiveness of the sacraments. This idea ultimately won out in Zurich and was well enforced.
Zwingli called for strict adherence to the scripture whereas Luther was more lenient in that regard. Luther was okay with things like stain glass windows so long as they were not in direct conflict with the scripture. Zwingli did not believe in transubstantiation because he did not believe that Jesus could be in heave and in the material world here on earth. He believed that the phrase “this is my body” was simply a figure of speech. Luther on the other hand, was somewhere in between the two ideas saying that Christ was present during the eucharist, but not in the material sense. This is clearly stated in Martin Luther’s Sermon on the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, against the Fanatics, which was written in response to Zwingli.
---Kate Flexter
Wednesday 11 am Discussion (Group #2)
ReplyDeleteJohn Wesley, “The Scripture Way of Salvation” (BB)
11. What are the two parts of Christian religious experience according to Wesley?
According to Wesley, a Christian experiences justification and sanctification. Justification (another
word for pardon) is the forgiveness of all our sins and our acceptance with God. Right after
justification, sanctification begins where we are inwardly renewed by the power of God.
-Stephanie Chow
Martin Luther, "That These Words of Christ..."
ReplyDelete5.
Zwingli believes that the body and blood of Christ is not at all present in the bread and wine, saying that the Eucharist is simply representative of Christ’s body and blood. Luther responds to Zwingli by saying his teachings are too extreme and that Zwingli is actually blaspheming God through his teaching about the Eucharist because they contradict what Christ specifically said in the Bible. Luther derives his point of view on the Eucharist from a more literal translation of the Bible, pointing to when Christ says “Take, eat; this is my body” as proof of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. Zwingli on the other hand, takes Christ’s words figuratively in this situation, saying that Christ meant the bread and wine to be simply representative of Christ’s body and blood.
-Ryan Kennedy
Zwingli was deeply influenced by the Renaissance literary humanism of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. What kind of reasoning does he rely upon to argue against Luther?
ReplyDeleteZwingli disagrees with Luther on the issue of the eucharist because of the idea of the presence of Christ during the last supper. Zwingli argues that the body of Christ is present through faith alone (but not his actual body) . He continues that if Christ’s body was physically present in the supper (which is what happens according to Luther), then the disciples would have masticated the body with “mouth and teeth.”
In this manner, Zwingli uses literary humanism to describe the body of Jesus as a figurative, rather than a literal, nature when he states during the Last Supper that “This is my body.” He describes how the Last Supper and Jesus’s body is used to feed the soul. A corporeal substance cannot feed the soul as a spiritual substance cannot feed the body. Therefore, we must conclude that Christ’s presence at the Last Supper was through “faith” and spirituality, but not in corporeal form.
-Jordan Wong
Study Question - 9
ReplyDeleteQ. How are scripture and Church related in Calvin’s view?
A. According to Calvin, Scripture has the prime authority over church. He believes that church is laid on the foundation of the scriptures, therefore, the scriptures have the primary authority. He thinks that it is foolish of people to question whether the text is valid or not, because the scripture is what makes the congregation not the other way around. Scripture came before the Church, so clearly it is more authoritative. He mentions that the knowledge and truth of God is not suposed to depend upon the decision of men. Therefore, the scripture has the authority over the church according to Calvin.
John Wesley, “The Scripture Way of Salvation” (BB)
ReplyDelete11. What are the two parts of Christian religious experience according to Wesley?
According to Wesley the two parts are justification and sanctification. Justification is the forgiveness of ones sins and the acceptance of god in their life. Sanctification occurs immediately after justification and is when one is "born again" only this time from the holy spirit, allowing gods grace to be shed upon oneself. These two experiences are Wesleys alternative to many christians views of salvation. He does not believe that when one dies they go to heaven or paradise.
-Daniel Brown
John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion” (R 641-642) [Read only I.A and I.B]
ReplyDelete6. What are the two fundamental kinds of knowledge, according to Calvin?
6. The two fundamental kinds of knowledge, according to Calvin are knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves. God is infinite wisdom, righteousness, goodness, mercy, truth, power, and life.
Knowledge of God: All things in heaven and on earth have been created for his glory. He is a just judge and therefore is going to take harsh vengeance on those who turn against him. He is willing to save anybody and everybody who puts there trust in him.
Knowledge of Man: Adam is a parent to us all and was created in the image and likeness of God. Adam was endowed with wisdom, righteousness, and holiness and was so clinging by these gifts of grace to God. Adam slipped into sin and all of these attributes that were endowed in him were gone and canceled. Because he sinned we all now have ignorance, iniquity, impotence, judgment and death.
----William Berger