Section B – Faith in Christ – Revision

2nd and 3rd years, this is an important aspect of Section B: The Foundations of Religion – Christianity: FAITH IN CHRIST.

Make sure you know all the details from chapter 9 on these concepts in your book:

The Ascension: For forty days after the resurrection Jesus continued to appear to the followers and told them to wait in Jerusalem for a gift from his father. He was then taken up to Heaven (ascended), body and soul.

Pentecost: All the believers were gathered together in a room. A noise like a loud wind blowing came and tongues of fire appeared above each person. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. This gave them the courage to go out and preach the word of God and baptise others in the name of Jesus.

Missionary work: Continuing Jesus’ work on earth.

The first Christian communities: Peter was the first apostle to preach to large crowds. Many people were baptised and the first Christian communities were formed. They were a close group. They spent their time together sharing ideas about God and praying. They tried to live as Jesus had. They shared all their possessions and all treated each other fairly. Most importantly they remembered Jesus’ words and actions at the Last Supper. This meal of thanksgiving became known as the Eucharist.

Martydom: A martyr is someone who is willing to suffer and even die for their religious beliefs. One such person was a disciple called Stephen. The disciples who preached were soon in trouble with the authorities who had been in conflict with Jesus. They did not want the disciples carrying on his work. Stephen was brought before the elders but the Holy Spirit gave him the strength to carry on. He was stoned to death – Stephen had been willing to die for his faith.

St Paul: A man named Saul was among those persecuting the first Christians. One day he was on his way to a city called Damascus to look for followers of Jesus. Suddenly a light from the sky blinded him and he heard the voice of Jesus. For three days he remained blind. A man named Ananias came and told him he must do God’s work. Saul got his sight back, was baptised and became known as Paul. Paul travelled to lots of different Christian communities, helping them to become united and strong.

DIFFERENT NAMES USED TO REFER TO JESUS:

Jesus is known by many different names and titles. This helps people to understand the different sides to his personality.

Son of Man: This title appears in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus himself used it. It means that Jesus came in human form to serve man. An old Testament prophet Daniel had used this title when referring to the Messiah.

Son of God: The early Church used this title to show that they believed Jesus had a special relationship with God. It shows that Jesus was divine as well as human.

New Creation: Jesus, who was totally different to any other human, was an amazing and unique being that God had given to his people. St Paul used this title when talking about Jesus.

Christ/Messiah: The anointed one. It shows that people believed that Jesus was the one they had been waiting for. Anointed people had a special authority from God. This title meant that Jesus was the Messiah who had come to save the people.

Third Year Revision – Section D

Greetings again!

I know this post is a day late, so you might not have time to complete all of Section D. Nevertheless, give it your best shot. Remember – please use your new revision copy to take notes on chapters 14 – 18. Study these chapters in detail, paying attention to key terms and definitions; then make detailed notes (not just the basic definition) under the following headings:

Section D: The Question of Faith

  • Religious belief
  • Religious practice
  • Changes in religious belief and religious practice over last sixty years
  • Changes and differences
  • The Schism
  • The Orthodox Church
  • History and Politics
  • Second Vatican Council
  • Modernity  & Mass Attendance
  • Reasons why religious practice is less than before:
  • Lifestyle
  • Freedom
  • Church influence
  • Media
  • Changes in vocations
  • Possible reasons:
  • Education and employment
  • Materialism
  • Public opinion
  • The bigger picture
  • World Youth Day (2008)
  • Faith and practice in life of adolescent
  • Positive and negative influences
  • Family, friends, media

 

  • Asking questions
  • Question/questioner
  • Signs of maturity
  • The search for meaning
  • Life with meaning vs life without meaning
  • Sources of meaning:
  • Family
  • Friends
  • Music
  • Money
  • Religion
  • Awe and wonder
  • Humanism

 

  • Forming images
  • Images of God:
  • From stories, Scripture
  • Personal faith
  • Stages of faith:
  • Childhood
  • Adolescent
  • Mature

 

  • Prayer
  • Formal & informal
  • Support, comfort, guidance
  • Prayer and friendship
  • Prayer and music –  Liam Lawton
  • Worship
  • Prayer as a form of worship
  • People of religious faith
  • Examples – Mother Teresa, Frances Margaret Taylor, Gandhi, Maximilian Kolbe
  • Monotheism and polytheism

 

  • Challenges to faith
  • World view
  • Reflecting on the existence of God
  • Theism
  • Atheism
  • Agnosticism
  • Secularism
  • Materialism (remember – it’s not the same as being materialistic)
  • Religion and Science
  • The religious view of creation
  • Fundamentalism
  • The scientific view of creation
  • Galileo, Darwin
  • The Big Bang
  • Working together – point of contact

 

Good luck!! Do as much as you can and do it well. Go to bed early on Sunday night and be prepared for the hard work that will be needed in the run up to the mocks. Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday.

January 6th – Feast of the Epiphany

The Feast of the Epiphany is a celebration of the ‘revelation’ of God in human flesh. Today the Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th. In many European countries the Epiphany, rather than Christmas (Feast of the Nativity), is the day of gift-giving. This is in commemoration of the gifts of the Magi, taken from Matthew 2:1-12. The popular song beginning “We three kings of Orient are…” is well known but it spreads an unlikely interpretation of Matthew’s account of the Visit of the Magi. It is generally believed that the three “kings” were actually astrologers following an unusual star. Had these three men been kings, they were likely to have brought escorts rather than travelling alone.

The story of the Visit of the Magi makes an important point about the role of the Messiah. Jesus is called “the newborn king of the Jews” by the magi who travel from the east. These men were not Jewish yet they paid homage to the King of the Jews. Matthew, who wrote to a Jewish audience, hoped to express the universal role of Christ in this story. These men were foreigners but they honored Jesus as their king. Herod, who is not an heir of King David and not the rightful King of the Jews, was threatened by this new king and attempted to kill him. This reveals another important theme of the Gospels: Jesus was not to become a political King of the Jews to dethrone Herod or even the emperor; he was to usher in a new kingdom that extended beyond political regimes.

The gifts of the magi (as described in Matthew) are also symbolic:

  • Gold for royalty, wealth and the kingship of Christ
  • Frankincense, made of gum from an Asian and African tree. It may be burned to produce aromatic smoke used in worship, and symbolizes divinity and prayer
  • Myrrh is a bitter resin used in ancient times to anoint bodies before burial. It is a symbol of suffering and death, foretelling Christ’s giving of self through death.

 

 

 

Third Year Revision – Section C

By now third years, your revision notes should be well under way. I hope you have made lots of detailed notes on Sections A and B in your revision copy. It is not too late to start now, so good luck with your work.

Section C: Major World Religions

Please study chapters 10 and 11 (Islam and Judaism). Make detailed notes under the following headings according to each chapter. Pay attention to key terms and definitions.

Islam:

  • Cultural context – the time and the place in which Islam began and how people lived (know map)
  • Importance of Mecca and Kaaba
  • Polytheism
  • Founding of Islam:
  • The story of Mohammed and how Islam began
  • Ramadan
  • Angel Gabriel
  • When and why muslims fled Mecca
  • Hijra, Medina, Kaaba
  • Sources of evidence:
  • Qur’an
  • The Sunnah
  • Beliefs:
  • Each of the five pillars in detail
  • Practices and rituals:
  • Birth and death
  • Festivals, (When, why and how they are celebrated)
  • Eid al Adha
  • Eid al Fitr
  • Place of worship: Mosque
  • Description of mosque
  • Islamic symbols
  • Development and expansion;
  • Persecution of first followers
  • After Mohammed died – new caliph(s)
  • Where muslims travelled to
  • Schism
  • Muslims in Ireland
  • Tradition, faith and practice of Islam today
  • Lifestyle – food and clothes (haram and halal; hijab, burqua, thobe)
  • Community structure
  • Interfaith dialogue
  • Compare Islam and Christianity (smilarities and differences)

Judaism:

  • Cultural context – world in which Judaism began
  • Founders of Judaism
  • Story of Abram – covenant, promised land, patriarch, Abraham
  • Story of Moses – Jews, slavery, Egypt, God – Moses, Moses – Pharoah, ten plagues – last plague, Exodus, ten commandments
  • Jews/Israelites reach the Promised Land
  • Judges, Kings, split in kingdom, prophets, exile (development of Judaism)
  • Role of prophets
  • First destruction of temple (Babylonians/exile)
  • Home, new temple, Torah, scribes, rabbis
  • Roman invasion- second destruction of temple
  • Scattering of Jews
  • Sources of evidence (know each in detail):
  • Torah (Pentateuch)
  • Nevi’im (Prophets)
  • Ketuvim (Holy Writings)
  • All three called Tenakh
  • From oral to written tradition
  • Jewish beliefs:
  • Monotheism, Identity, Covenant – rites and rituals
  • Practices and ritual events:
  • Birth (Covenant of Circumcision)
  • Adulthood (Bar Mitzvah/Bat Mitzvah)
  • Marriage – Kiddushin, huppah, ‘Mazal tov’
  • Death –  prayer of mourning: Kaddish; three stages – shiva, sheloshim, yahrzeit
  • Festivals and special times (when, why, how):
  • Passover
  • Hanukkah
  • Yom Kippur
  • Prayer and practice: weekend, family home and in synagogue
  • Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath) – at home
  • In synagogue – Shema
  • Tallit
  • Kippah
  • Tefillin
  • Kosher food
  • Place of worship – synagogue – other purposes, ark, Ner Tamid, tablets, bimah
  • Western Wall (Wailing Wall)
  • Jewish symbols: menorah, Star of David, Mezuzah
  • Persecution and expansion of Jews
  • Troubled history:
  • Diaspora
  • 1290 expelled from England
  • 1880’s forced to leave Russia
  • Early 20th century moved to Palestine
  • 1933-1945: Holocaust
  • Schism
  • Orthodox vs Reform Jews
  • Hasidism
  • Jews in the world today
  • Jews in Ireland
  • Tradition, faith and practice of Judaism today:
  • Community structure and leadership, education
  • Compare Christianity and Judaism (similarities and differences)
  • Interfaith dialogue

Take two to three days to complete this section of the course. Work as hard as you can – it will all pay off in the end. I will post some revision headings on Section D on Friday.

Best of luck to you all!