Mock exam  27 th February  1 ½ hours  Both halves of the course – answer one question on each half

Scripture  If the bible is the Word of God, do we have to obey it?  Leviticus 19:27-28  Leviticus 20:9  Deuteronomy 21:18-21  Matthew 5:27-30  Mark 10:21  Could a person believe that the Bible is the Word of God but not follow these teachings?

SCRIPTURE The concept of revelation through sacred writings

Aims  To examine different theories of revelation  To evaluate propositional and non-propositional views

Task – 5 minutes  What is revelation?  What are the characteristics of a revelation?

Which of the following events count as ‘revelation’?  A vision  A miraculous healing  Recovering from cancer  Having a baby  Feeling God is with you  Admiring the beauty of nature  Having a near-death experience  Winning the lottery  Understanding mathematics  Reading the Bible  Visiting a Mosque  Praying

Revelation in the Bible  For Christians, the Bible reveals God, but it might do this in different ways:  Propositional Revelation  Non-propositional Revelation

Discussion  What is faith?  Is it primarily about believing that religious statements are true?  What else might it involve?

Task – 15 minutes  Read p  What is propositional revelation?  What is non-propositional revelation?  Which approach to interpreting the bible is better and why do you think this?

PropositionalRevelation Factualsentences One-waycommunication by God Faith = believing the statements Preserves the truth from heresy

Should we interpret Genesis 1-3 literally?  Did Darwin Kill God?   \\damm\rmmultimedia\Streaming Media\Religious Studies\Did Darwin Kill God.mpg \\damm\rmmultimedia\Streaming Media\Religious Studies\Did Darwin Kill God.mpg

Propositional Revelation StrengthsWeaknesses

Criticisms of Propositional Revelation  The human mind could make mistakes and fail to record the revelation accurately  Psychologists reject the idea that the human mind can simply receive information passively  How can the hearer know which revelations are true and which are false?  Different religions claim propositional revelation has given different truths – how can these contradictions be resolved?  There is no way to verify that revelations really do occur

Communication  What are the key differences between the following types of communication?  A government report  An article in the Guardian  A story told in a dramatic way  An article in the Sun  Someone looking deeply into your eyes but not saying a word  Which type of communication might be closest to the way that God is thought to communicate with humanity?

Non-PropositionalRevelation Insight into God’s nature Two-waycommunication Faith = understanding the message Bible is a human book Historical and cultural context

Non-Propositional Revelation  Does the idea that the events in the Bible have been written down as stories by human beings undermine its claim to be the word of God?  If the Bible reflects the culture in which it was written does this undermine its message?

Discussion  Can you tell the ‘story’ of how you spent the last week in an unbiased way, without leaving anything out?

Non-Propositional Revelation StrengthsWeaknesses

Criticisms of Non-Propositional Revelation  Non-propositional revelation reflects human understanding and interpretation and is therefore open to error  There are no objective facts to appeal to – it is very subjective

Next time…  Three approaches to interpreting the bible:  Traditional  Fundamentalist  Liberal