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A Level - Christian Thought > Moral Action > Flashcards

Flashcards in Moral Action Deck (36)
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1
Q

leadership of state - background

A

o Nuremberg Laws and Aryan Clauses passed, Confessing Church publically denounce Reich Church, but not government.
o Because…
• Some taken by Hitler’s pro-Xian propaganda
• Romans 13 convinced most of them that they should submit to the government, ‘let every person be subject to the governing authorities (…) for those authorities that exist have been instituted by God’
• Matthew 22:21 - give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.
o Barmen Declaration of 1934, meeting between representatives of all German confessional churches
• ‘If you find that we are speaking contrary to scripture, then do not listen to us! But if you find that we are taking our stand upon scripture, then let no fear or temptations keep you from treading with us the path of faith and obedience to the Word of God’

2
Q

leadership of state - role of church

A

o Bonhoeffer says the role of the Church is to serve and not rule. Diakonoi of 1 Cor 12:5 were ministers appointed by God, not the Church, so are appointed to serve others.
o Church should never serve their own interests, anything that distracts people from Gospel is forbidden.

3
Q

leadership of state - how church should view gov. leaders

A

o Romans 13:1 makes it clear that all people must be subject to higher powers.
• ‘The world exercises dominion, the Christian serves, and thus he shares the earthly lot of his lord who became a servant’ (Romans)
o Must subordinate themselves to governmental leaders as otherwise you are lapsing into the ways of the world.
• ‘To resist the powers is to resist the ordinance of God’ (Cost of Discipleship)

4
Q

civil disobedience - general

A

• Seem to be contradictions in teachings of Bonhoeffer
• Was a pacifist; it seems contradictory to advocate civil disobedience
• Led to his execution at hands of Nazis, did it because he felt it was truly in line with the will of God
• Says in his three responses by the Church that ‘we are not to simply bandage the wounds of the victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself’
o If the state is causing terrible injustice, the role of the Church is to stop this.
• In book ‘Ethics’, he argues that man is not the final arbitrator of good and evil as this role is reserved for God alone.
• When man decides between good and evil, then he will fail due to Original Sin.
• B bold enough to split from the Reich Church and go to the Confessing Church in his early days. As leader of Confessing Church, felt he should join the German resistance to defeat the Nazis.
o ‘There is no standing amid the ruins of one’s native town in the consciousness that at least one has not oneself incurred guilt’
o One is just as guilty of the town’s destruction for doing nothing as for being amongst those who burnt it down.
• If state is making ‘reasonable people face unreasonable situations’, then should be disobeyed

5
Q

civil disobedience - suffering disobedience

A

o Tyrannicide can be deemed a Christian duty if it establishes social order.
o However, should not try and use idea of duty to justify anything, could allow evil to prevail.
o Dismissed consequentialist ethics, as you can’t guarantee outcomes.
o No rational justification for CD; can only act in faith and pray.

6
Q

civil disobedience - bonhoeffer example

A

o Intrigued by Ghandi, was pacifist.
o Disobedience is always ‘concrete and particular’, not promoting complete disobedience of every government
o Lived life of prayer and seeking God’s will through scripture, felt he had to be obedient to this and be responsible for involvement in Hitler assassination plot.
o Spoke out against Nazi ideas in university where he worked, lost his job.
o Banned from public lectures
o Criticised Confessing Church when it conformed under Hitler’s pressure
o Deemed Hitler the anti-Christ, ‘we must go on with out work and eliminate him’

7
Q

Should Christians practice civil disobedience? Yes: general

A
  • If government negates is own ethical role and is causing complete injustice for the people.
  • If it is the will of God, must follow through even if it leads to his own punishment.
  • Exodus 1: Hebrew midwives disobey Pharaoh instructions to kill all male Jewish baby boys.
  • Acts 5:29 - ‘we must obey God rather than men’
  • If God is a God of justice, would not want people to sit and watch people suffer and instead as the body of Christ, stand up for the oppressed.
8
Q

Should Christians practice civil disobedience? yes: ghandi and luther king

A
  • Influenced by Ghandi, ‘non-violence means the pitting of one’s whole soul against the will of the tyrant’
  • Martin Luther King, ‘the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy’.
9
Q

Should Christians practice civil disobedience? yes: augustine and CCC

A
  • Augustine teaches, ‘a law which is not just does not seem to me to be a law at all’
  • CCC: ‘the citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directing evil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of moral order’.
10
Q

Should Christians practice civil disobedience? lib theology

A
  • James Cone, ‘the human must rebel against all the principalities and powers which make human existence subhuman’
  • Gustavo Gutierrez wrote, ‘present events form part of our own universe and demand of the individual a personal decision, a rejection of every king of complicity’.
11
Q

Should Christians practice civil disobedience? no: bible

A
  • Romans 13:5, people should obey authorities not just because of God’s punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
  • Matthew 23:2-4, Jesus teaches about the Jewish authorities that you ‘must obey and follow everything they do’
  • Titus 3:1-2, reminds Titus to submit to rulers and obey them.
12
Q

Should Christians practice civil disobedience? no: vins and martyr

A
  • Justin Martyr appeals to Matt 22:21, ‘whence to God alone we render worship, but in other things we gladly serve you, acknowledge you as kings and rulers of men’
  • Russian pastor Georgi Vins persecuted by USSR authorities for his faith but said despite this Xians must obey all laws laid down by the state even if they are unjust.
13
Q

God’s will general

A
  • Church has duty to call attention to justice, has role to see difference between good and evil.
  • B believed in Fall, have to live by will of God rather than set rules.
  • ‘If man asks God humbly, God will give him certain knowledge of his will’
  • Told believers uncertain during war to turn to Christ, answers were supposedly obtainable.
  • Instructed people to live single-mindedly; following God may lead to you being placed above the law.
  • Often quotes Luke 9:57-62, JC says he has no where to lie down and that the man should stop burying his father as the dead should be left to bury the dead, JC does not even stand in way of law.
14
Q

god’s will - how to discern it

A

o Each situation we face is different, cannot rely on intuition. Should discern God’s will using ‘heart, intellect, observation and experience’
o We must overcome our fallen nature to be conformed to Christ.
o Claims we will know the will of God ‘in moment of action’. Have to rid ourselves of personal ambition, refused to accept the autonomy school of ethics that applies love, as he believed if love were knowable, then morality would be human and this would reduce God to a human idea.
o Should respond to will of God through prayer, conscience and reflecting on life of Christ and the religious community.
o Will of God may lead us to our own deaths, should never stop looking for will of God.
o It was will of God that led him to give up what he thought was ethical in order to join the resistance in a plot to overthrow Hitler.

15
Q

is it possible to know God’s will? Yes

A

• Can know it through prayer, scripture and dedication to Christ.
• Fundamentalists believe you can know God through scripture due to it being WofG, reflecting God’s will in all things.
• Quakers look to conscience to understand what stands with their conscience and inner light in order to understand will of God.
• Bonheoffer’s dramatic change in heart suggests it is clear when you know God’s will.
B speaks about shared experience of Church community in finding God’s will. This common life stops distortion of how people interpret will of God. Similar to Stanley Hauerwas.

16
Q

Is it always possible to know God’s will? no

A
  • How can we know God’s will without consulting principles and intuition?
  • B’s teachings encourage people to distort will of God to justify acts of violence.
  • Scriptures contradict - differing ideas on same topic, which is will of God?
  • Conscience easily swayed by desire or emotion. Freud made it clear conscience is northing more than super ego, does not eminate from divine source.
  • Augustine idea of Original Sin makes it hard to know will of God.
17
Q

confessing church

A

o Looked towards SOTM, Church will be a ‘visible community’
o Resistance against Hitler’s attempt to make Church instrument of Nationalist propaganda
o Hitler’s Church party gained control of German Evangelical Church. Ludwig Müller threatened authority of Scripture.
o Key problems that led to formation of Confessing Church:
• Aryan Paragraph, restricted Jews from gov
• The Nuremberg laws, stripped Jews of citizenship
o 1933 – B writes essay called ‘the Church and the Jewish Question’, pledged to help Jews.
o B left to England in 1934, to get more support. Barth criticised this saying he had abandoned his Church.

18
Q

b at finkenwalde - role of church and discipline

A

o Role of Church as Body of Christ/To Serve
• States 1 Cor 12:12, ‘Jesus Christ is at once himself and his Church’
• Church is not institution, but a person in the unique sense of Christ
• Baptism abolishes religious distinctions
o Discipline
• Leads to action
• Basic life
• Body and spirit must be disciplined

19
Q

b at finkenwalde - brotherhood

A
  • Community bound by love of Christ
  • Director changed regularly to avoid monotony
  • Strong alumni presence to extend brotherhood beyond Finkenwalde e.g. reports/letters
  • Taught a rigorous theological education to young trainee pastors
20
Q

b at finkenwalde - meditation and bible

A

o Meditation
• Discipline developed through meditation
• Foundation for prayer
• Ordered day of prayer, study, meals and confession, including self-disclosure
o Bible
• Frequent reading and discussion part of life
• Belief in debate and lectures to develop understanding

21
Q

b at finkenwalde - community for others

A
  • Visible community, referred to Matt 5:13-16. JC entrusts work to those on earth, community must be faithful to the mission that Christ has called them to do.
  • If Church becomes invisible then it is defying the call of God.
  • Emphasises asceticism, material good can lead away from Christ.
  • ‘The good works are poverty, peregrination, meekness, peaceableness and finally persecution and rejection’ - self-sacrifice focused
  • Community forgives, nobody is perfect
  • Church must be outward looking as Christ died for all human beings
  • Encourage oral confession to each other, followed JC’s SOTM.
22
Q

cheap grace general

A

o Grace given freely to people, includes forgiveness of sins and offer of eternal life
o B criticises Church’s use of salvation as incentive, people don’t use grace in everyday life, means grace is achieved without any cost. Church does not place any expectations that people should struggle to be a good Christian.
o Need to ‘pick up our cross’ as Christ did. Knowledge of being forgiven misleads people into thinking they do not have to make any changes to their lives.
o ‘Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God’

23
Q

cheap grace example

A

o E.g. Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38)
• JC criticises Martha for being so busy in her home that she does not listen to him
• Praises Mary who sits quietly at his feet listening to is every word
• B also criticises the Pharisees who listen to God’s commands but never really act on them
• B emphasises that we need to listen to the will of God and act accordingly.

24
Q

costly grace general

A

o Costly grace is ‘treasure hidden in field’
o Rule of Christ must be taken seriously, this is costly, as involves making changes to our lives, ‘it is costly, because it costs man his life’
o Argued against Luther, who believed in justification by faith alone, B claims this is misinterpretation as it suggests the commands of JC can be disobeyed.

25
Q

sacrifice and suffering - general

A
  • Epitomised in B’s life, includes giving up all that is comfortable/worldly to turn towards God
  • Appears in story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38 – Mary sacrifices cleaning of house to listen to JC
  • B speaks about link between discipleship and the cross, quotes Matt 8:31 when JC prophesises the SofM will suffer and that we must deny ourselves and take up our cross
  • B claims the ‘suffering and rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity’ - we must share in JC’s suffering. Peace and suffering coincide on the cross.
  • Disciple must abandon attachment to the world and give their lives over to death. Literal? Or just leave job etc.?
  • If we refuse to suffer, we forfeit our relationship with JC. Call of Christ often contradicts desires.
26
Q

sacrifice and suffering - beatitudes

A

o ‘Blessed are they that mourn for they will be comforted’
o Must bear suffering in strength of Christ
o ‘Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake’
o Refers to the suffering that can come from standing up for a just cause.
o Must pray for our enemies and forego revenge, holy struggle.

27
Q

sacrifice and suffering - letters from prison

A

o Says he is suffering no less in prison than those on the outside living in the war
o Physical pain is of course suffering, but the spiritual suffering, ‘that is what Christ is supposed to have taken from us’
o Goes onto say he is ashamed of the Church emphasis on suffering
o God of Gaps theory
• Felt it was wrong, God wants us to realise his presence with us in all areas inc. suffering
• Must see God as present in everything, not just seek him when times get bad
o Claims suffering is sent by God (e.g. OT blessed such as Abraham and Joseph also suffer a lot’
• Suffering goes in hand with the NT and JC’s suffering.
o Suffering is ‘an extension of our action and a completion of freedom’.

28
Q

Does B place too much emphasis on suffering? yes

A
  • Writings seem too extreme, Xian life not all about suffering
  • View of God makes him seem passive, denies omnipotence. God rejects the idea that we should ask God for help, questions his omnibenevolence, surely he wouldn’t want us to suffer?
  • Against Prosperity Theology, Kenneth Copeland would argue that financial blessing and happiness is God’s will for them.
  • Neglects idea of resurrection through emphasis on suffering. Also neglects idea that God can do the miraculous, against evangelical beliefs in power of HS’ intervention.
29
Q

Does B place too much emphasis on suffering? - no: general

A
  • Xian message is about suffering, JC warns disciples that they will suffer; B does simply not shy away from this fact.
  • When in prison, B does not consider himself to be suffering, and simply following the will of God.
  • Writing in WW2 – context justifies his emphasis
30
Q

Does B place too much emphasis on suffering? no: scholars - nicholls

A
  • Stephen J Nicholls argues that for B, suffering produces joy and patient endurance. By understanding B’s suffering, Xians will understand how to deal with small earthly sufferings.
  • Moltmann put forward the idea that if God could not suffer, he ‘cannot be involved’. B highlights how Church has glossed over God’s suffering with the people.
  • Luther – B continues his ideas that the cross is a decisive event of divine suffering.
31
Q

solidarity general

A

• Felt it was right to return to Germany with his people in the suffering they were facing.
o Went back to Berlin after 26 days in US, felt he had to live through difficult time with his people.
• Felt we meet God when we are helping our neighbours.
• Terms solidarity with those in need, ‘existence for others’. Must take on sufferings of others and love the downtrodden.
• JC was never ashamed of the disciples, bore shame of world on cross, should do the same.
• Must have solidarity with God’s suffering in response to weaknesses of the Church.

32
Q

solidarity - religionless Xianity

A

• Emphasises need for ‘religionless Christianity’. I.e. does not look to God to come and sort out our problems, instead looks to suffering God shown through JC.
o Claimed personal autonomy was key
o Deemed modern Western culture as world come of age which was embracing rational view of the world
o Feared the Western void that had arisen as he felt that other dangerous beliefs may replace Xianity
o B argued for reformed ‘religionless Xianity’ not influenced by past/present ideology.
• Deus ex machina – mechanical being that arrives to solve problems. This is how many Xians see God, rejects this.
• Must model life of Christ who existed for others, as ‘the church is not the Church unless it exists for others’. B willing to expose himself to pain, imprisonment and death for the suffering of others.

33
Q

are his ethics compatible with plural moral societies: yes

A

• + Bonhoeffer seems to support the idea that we should be tolerant of others’ beliefs up to the point where they seem to cause harm to others.
o Fletcher shares this view.
• Fletcher refers to the example given by Bonhoeffer about Mother Maria (volunteered to sacrifice her life to save a Jewish girl in a concentration camp). Fletcher approves B’s argument that telling the truth depends on the situation and place.
• ‘Bonhoeffer is as radical a version of the situational method as any Christian relativist could call for’.

34
Q

are his ethics compatible with plural moral societies: no

A

It could be argued that B is not a moral relativist as his view is formed outside secular society and developed within a Christian community.
o Unlike Fletcher, Bonhoeffer does not deem telling the truth as relative. Truth is absolute but has to be applied to each situation using faith and conscience. Deems the relativising of moral values results in the undermining of the very idea of truth.

35
Q

solidarity scholars

A
  • Geffrey B Kelly claims God does not offer a rational explanation for suffering, yet suffers with us.
  • David H Jensen, ‘life in Christ can be nothing less than solidarity with the world’
36
Q

Does B place too much emphasis on suffering? no: scholars - moltmann and luther

A
  • Moltmann put forward the idea that if God could not suffer, he ‘cannot be involved’. B highlights how Church has glossed over God’s suffering with the people.
  • Luther – B continues his ideas that the cross is a decisive event of divine suffering.