Welcome to Developments in Christian Thought!
Hello there! Welcome to your study notes for the Christianity component of the OCR A Level. This part of the course is all about "Developments in religious thought." Basically, we are looking at how Christian ideas have changed, grown, and responded to the world over the last 2,000 years.
Don’t worry if some of these theological words look a bit scary at first. We’re going to break them down into simple pieces with easy-to-remember analogies. Let's dive in!
1. Insight: Human Nature and the Afterlife
Augustine’s Teaching on Human Nature
Saint Augustine had a very specific (and some say grumpy!) view of humans. He focused on The Fall (the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3).
Key Concepts:
• Pre-Fall: Before they ate the fruit, Adam and Eve were in a state of perfection. Their bodies and wills were in total harmony. They were "friends" with each other and God.
• Post-Fall: After they disobeyed, human nature changed. Augustine believed we inherited Original Sin. It’s like a "spiritual virus" passed down through the act of procreation.
• Concupiscence: This is a fancy word for "wrong desire." Because of the Fall, our will is broken. Even when we want to be good, our selfish desires (lust, greed) pull us away.
• Grace: Augustine argued that humans are so broken we can’t save ourselves. Only God’s Grace (His generous, unearned love) can fix our rebellious wills and lead us to the Summum Bonum (the highest good/God).
Death and the Afterlife
Where do we go when we die? Christians have three main ways of looking at Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory:
1. Actual Places: Physical locations of happiness, pain, or cleaning.
2. Spiritual States: "Internal" experiences of being close to or far from God.
3. Symbols: Ways to describe our moral life here on Earth.
Quick Review: Who gets saved?
• Limited Election: Only a specific "few" chosen by God are saved (think of a VIP list).
• Unlimited Election: God calls everyone to be saved, but people can choose to reject the invitation.
• Universalism: Eventually, everyone is saved because God’s love is too big to leave anyone behind.
2. Foundations: Knowing God and Jesus Christ
Knowledge of God’s Existence
How do we know God exists? There are two main "routes":
1. Natural Knowledge: Using your brain and your senses.
• Innate sense: John Calvin argued we have a sensus divinitatis (a seed of divinity) inside us. We feel God when we see a beautiful sunset or feel a sense of right and wrong.
• Order of Creation: Looking at the "design" of nature and concluding there must be a Designer.
2. Revealed Knowledge: God "showing" Himself because we are too limited to find Him on our own.
• Faith and Grace: A gift from the Holy Spirit that lets us "see" the truth.
• Jesus Christ: For Christians, Jesus is the ultimate "reveal." If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.
The Person of Jesus Christ
The syllabus looks at Jesus in three ways:
• Son of God: His authority comes from being divine. Evidence includes his miracles (power over nature) and his Resurrection.
• Teacher of Wisdom: His authority comes from his moral message. He taught about repentance, forgiveness, and having a "pure heart" rather than just following rules.
• Liberator: He challenged the "bullies" of his time. He stood up to political and religious leaders to help the poor and marginalised (the outcasts).
3. Living: Ethics and Action
Christian Moral Principles
How should a Christian decide what is "right"? There are three main toolkits:
• The Bible Alone: (Sola Scriptura) Every answer is in the Book. If the Bible says it, you do it.
• Bible, Church, and Reason: A "three-legged stool" approach. You use the Bible, the traditions of the Church, and your own logic.
• Agape (Love) Alone: The only rule is "What is the most loving thing to do?" (This is often linked to Situation Ethics).
Christian Moral Action: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who stood up to the Nazis. He is a great example of putting faith into action.
• Duty to God vs. State: He argued that if the government is doing evil, a Christian has a duty to disobey it (Civil Disobedience).
• Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace:
Cheap Grace is just saying "I believe" without changing your life.
Costly Grace is a faith that might cost you your life or your comfort because you are following Jesus’ call to justice.
4. Development: Religious Pluralism
In a world with many religions, how does Christianity fit in?
The Three "Isms":
• Exclusivism: Only Christianity has the truth. "My way or the highway."
• Inclusivism: Christianity is the best way, but God might save "anonymous Christians" (people from other faiths who act like Christians without knowing it).
• Pluralism: All religions are different paths up the same mountain. John Hick argued that "The Real" (God) is at the top, and we just use different maps to get there.
Did you know? The "Scriptural Reasoning" movement involves people from different faiths (Christians, Jews, Muslims) reading each other's holy books together. It's not about winning an argument, but about understanding each other better.
Key Takeaway: Christians have to decide if they are the only ones with the "truth" or if God works through other religions too.5. Society: Gender and Theology
Gender and Society
Traditionally, many Churches taught that men and women have different "roles" (often with the man in charge). Today, Christians are debating:
• Is the Family structure cultural (made by humans) or divine (made by God)?
• Is Motherhood a liberation or a restriction for women?
Gender and Theology: Two Key Thinkers
Don't worry if these two seem to disagree—they do!
• Rosemary Radford Ruether: She wants to reform Christianity from the inside. She points out that God isn't male or female. She looks for the "female" side of God (like Wisdom/Sophia) and argues Jesus was a "servant-king," not a "macho-king."
• Mary Daly: She was much more radical. She famously said, "If God is male, then male is God." She believed Christianity is so sexist that women should just leave it and find their own spirituality in nature.
6. Challenges: Secularism and Liberation
The Challenge of Secularism
Secularism is the idea that religion should stay out of public life (like schools and government).
• Sigmund Freud: Thought religion was an illusion—a "wish-fulfilment" to make us feel safe from a scary world.
• Richard Dawkins: Argues that religion is "infantile" and causes conflict. He thinks science is all we need.
Liberation Theology and Marx
This started in Latin America. It uses the ideas of Karl Marx to help the poor.
• Structural Sin: Sin isn't just personal (like lying); it's built into systems like Capitalism that keep people poor.
• Preferential Option for the Poor: The idea that God is "on the side" of the poor.
• Orthopraxis before Orthodoxy: "Right action" (helping people) is more important than "Right belief" (memorising doctrines).
Quick Review Box:
1. Augustine = Humans are broken by the Fall.
2. Bonhoeffer = Faith requires action (Costly Grace).
3. Hick = Many paths to one God (Pluralism).
4. Daly = Christianity is too sexist to save.
5. Liberation Theology = Action (Orthopraxis) first!