TH101 Reading Journal day 9 PDF

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Week 9 Reading...

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TH101 READING JOURNAL

STUDENT NAME: Nathan Pintabona

ID:20141404

Tuohy, Anne. “Christian Anthropology,” in Chap. 9, 93-103. Foundations of Christian Faith, ed. Damien Casey, Gerard Hall, and Anne Hunt. Social Science Press, 2004.

DAY NINE:

In the box below write 100 word theological reflection on one of the main issues in the reading. Anthropology means to study humanity, exploring what does it mean to be human? This answer varies between communities with each community responding in ways that reflects the culture and history of their time. Regardless of their historical or cultural time, human communities are basically concerned with their origins and destiny in light of their lives and the world in which they live. Christian Anthropology: The close association between God and humanity is deeply embedded in the biblical traditions belief that creation and all its contains is a result of a graced and dynamic relationship with the loving, just, liberating God. Christian anthropology maintains human persons are essentially: 1. Covenantal - The human person is understood in terms of radical relationships with God, other people and the created world. 2. Transcendent - Human persons have a creative freedom and opens to the ultimate mystery that goes beyond the immediate material reality of human life. 3. Ethically orientated - The human person has an ethical constitution, the roots of which are centred in belief in a particular kind of God. Christian Anthropology is Covenantal (a binding agreement) Human Relationally Personal autonomy is often now equated with being independent of others influences and concerns. Personal autonomy and individualism is becoming universally accepted in western societies, now that many consider little need for intimate relationships, worldly relationships or divine relationships. We require a fundamental inter-dependence of human persons as it allows us to understand our own humanity. Our existence as human beings is so radically related to our relationships with others that we cannot become human without them. Covenantal Relationships The essential relationally of the human person is underscored at the beginning of the Bible in the creation stories and reinforced throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. The Biblical notion designates a relationship a bond between God and humanity as a personal, dynamic and redemptive relationship. This inter-personal relationship is both graced and relational. Christians imitate Jesus on the basis of a deeply personal commitment to live within a particular relationship with God. Christian Anthropology is Transcendent Human Freedom Freedom is a universal powerful human drive. Human freedom is that which allows people to fashion themselves to become “more than” the material reality of their situation. Freedom marks the transcendent quality of being human. Created in the Image of God: Imago Dei The freedom of human persons is linked to the freedom of God and reflected in the belief that to be human is to “image” God, sharing in free creative activity of God, as creation belongs to God. There are two movements associated with the creation of the human person. 1. Places humanity within the goodness of creation itself. 2. Acknowledges the profoundly intimate relationship between God and human persons.

Blessed by Grace; Broken by Sin; Re-forged in Redemption Grace and Sin Grace, sin and redemption stress the dependence of human life on God. Grace meaning free gift, that all creation are blessed by the constant presence and care of God. This combined with providence (ongoing presence of God in creation) show our commitment to God. Sin is the deliberate rejection of God’s presence and care in our lives. It is the “shadow side” of the human capacity for freedom and creativity. Therefore we live in the tension between grace and sin. Redemption Both grace and sin come together in the Christian notion of redemption, that the divinely - intended harmony and wholeness of the relationships within creation will prevail. Redemption is an activity of faith that affirms the ongoing grace of God for humanity and the world. Original sin was restored by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore death is not the end of human existence as we are transformed since humanity is destined for life with God. Christian Anthropology has an Ethical Dimensions Human Morality By virtue of our covenantal relationships and the freedom to determine ourselves and our world, there is always a moral dimension to human life. Ethics is reflected in the social order integral to every human society. The Dignity of the Human Person The ethical orientation of human persons is that which integrates and nourishes our relationships and our freedom at all levels of human life including the personal, local, national and even global levels. In the struggle for justice both the oppressor and the oppressed are robbed of their humanity. The heart of Christian ethics can be found in the covenant itself. The covenant was never understood as a merely religious obligation but as a commitment to a whole new way of life. It requires Christians to grow in “love and knowledge of God” and so mirror the love, compassion and justice of God in their lives and the world. When human persons move against the goodness and balance of creation, when they use their freedom to diminish human life and devalue creation, things go wrong. Human life has a God-given dignity and creative freedom that is both gift and responsibility which are rooted in the free and dynamic relationship established between God and humanity at the beginning of creation.

REMEMBER TO TAKE A COPY OF THIS JOURNAL TO YOUR TUTORIAL AND SUBMIT IT TO BLACKBOARD PRIOR TO YOUR TUTORIAL.

Remember, assessment items must be completed to pass the unit! TUTOR’s name: Jim Cregan

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