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Course 26 · Lesson 3.3

Sample questions and what a good answer contains

8 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 26 outline

Module 1: Comprehensive Biblical Knowledge Examination

  1. Preparing: a review plan for the whole Bible
  2. The examination: books, story, genres and key passages
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers and planning review

Module 2: Historical Theology Examination

  1. Preparing: a timeline, key figures and key councils
  2. The examination: periods, controversies and primary texts
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers and planning review

Module 3: Systematic Theology Examination

  1. Preparing: an outline of the doctrines
  2. The examination: God, Christ, humanity, salvation, church and last things
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers, especially on fairness across traditions

Module 4: Philosophical Argument Evaluation and Historical Apologetics Assessment

  1. Evaluating a philosophical argument: premises, validity and objections
  2. Exercises: cosmological, moral, evil and hiddenness arguments
  3. Assessing historical evidence: sources, dating, witnesses and bias
  4. Exercises: the resurrection, the reliability of the New Testament and the canon

Module 5: Written Defense of Three Christian Propositions

  1. Choosing three propositions and defining the terms
  2. Building the case: arguments, evidence and sources
  3. Stating and answering the strongest objections
  4. Evaluating your defenses against the criteria

Module 6: Statement of Faith and Rule of Life

  1. Writing a personal statement of faith
  2. Relating the statement to the creeds and the traditions
  3. Writing a personal Christian rule of life
  4. Making the rule concrete and reviewable

Module 7: Reflection on Theological Development

  1. Mapping your development: beliefs held at the start and now
  2. Changes of mind: what changed and what caused the change
  3. Writing the reflection

Module 8: Strengths, Uncertainties and Continued Study

  1. Scoring the results of the components
  2. Naming your uncertainties without shame or evasion
  3. A plan for continued study, with dates for review

All courses

Program / Course 26: Comprehensive Assessment / Lesson 3.3

What you will learn

  • Recognize what a strong answer in systematic theology contains.
  • Use outline answers on authority, the Trinity and salvation as marking guides.
  • Write each tradition’s position in terms its members would accept.
  • Mark an answer for accuracy and for fairness separately.

The big idea

A strong systematic answer states the doctrine accurately, names the main positions by tradition, uses each tradition’s own terms and avoids caricature. It can be short. The outlines below are marking guides for a private self-assessment, not scripts. A student writes from memory, then counts how many points are present and rates fairness separately. Nothing is submitted, and the suggested standard of 70 percent is a personal option.

Key terms

Sola scriptura
A Latin phrase meaning Scripture alone. The Protestant principle that Scripture is the final authority for doctrine. Protestants differ on how it relates to tradition.
Teaching office (magisterium)
In Catholic teaching, the authority of the pope and bishops to interpret Scripture and tradition authoritatively.
Perichoresis
A Greek term for the mutual indwelling of the three persons of the Trinity.
Imputation
In much Protestant teaching, the counting of Christ’s righteousness as belonging to the believer.
Theosis
The Orthodox teaching that humans are called to share by grace in the divine life.
Caricature
A distorted description of a view that makes it easy to reject.

Background

The course plan supplies a model for a systematic answer. On the authority of church and Scripture, Catholic teaching holds that Scripture and sacred tradition together are the word of God, interpreted authoritatively by the teaching office of the church, including the pope. Orthodox teaching holds that Scripture lives within the church’s tradition, expressed above all in the councils and the Fathers, without a single universal teaching office. Protestant traditions hold that Scripture is the final authority, though they differ over how much weight tradition and confessions carry. A good answer uses each tradition’s own terms and avoids caricature.

The same method works for the other topics. First state what the traditions share. Then state each difference in three short lines, one for each tradition, in its own language. Last, if the question asks for it, name one reason each tradition gives for its view.

Separate marks for accuracy and fairness are useful. An answer can be accurate in each fact yet unfair in tone or emphasis, for instance by presenting only the weakest argument for a position. Mark each separately, and be strict.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Sample question on the Trinity

Question: Explain the doctrine of the Trinity and why Christians hold it.

Outline answer: one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who share one divine being; the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, yet they are not three gods; the doctrine arose from the witness of Scripture to the Father, the Son and the Spirit, and was stated at Nicaea and Constantinople; the Western church adds the filioque, which the East rejects. A strong answer notes that Catholic, Orthodox and most Protestant churches hold the doctrine, and that some groups that call themselves Christian do not.

Step 2: Sample question on salvation

Question: Compare Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant teaching on how a person is saved.

Outline answer: all three hold that salvation is the gift of God in Christ and not earned; Catholic teaching describes justification as a real renewal by grace, received in baptism and sustained by the sacraments, with faith working through love; Orthodox teaching describes salvation as healing and union with God, called theosis, within the life of the church; Protestant teaching in the Lutheran and Reformed traditions describes justification as by faith alone, with works as its fruit, while Wesleyan teaching stresses growth in holiness. A strong answer says that the traditions use different languages and that the extent of real disagreement is itself discussed.

Step 3: Sample question on the church

Question: What do the three traditions teach about the nature and authority of the church?

Outline answer: the Catholic Church teaches that Christ’s church subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the bishops in communion with the pope; the Orthodox teach that the church is the communion of bishops in the apostolic faith, with councils as the highest expression and no universal head on earth; Protestants differ, some stressing the church as the whole company of believers and others the visible church ordered by a confession, with church order ranging from episcopal to congregational. A strong answer reports these without rating them.

Step 4: Mark for accuracy and for fairness

Score accuracy by the points present. Score fairness by asking whether a member of each tradition would say that the account matches what the tradition teaches. If you cannot be sure, check the tradition’s own text. Record both scores.

  1. Did I state what the traditions share before I stated how they differ?
  2. Did I use the terms each tradition uses of itself?
  3. Did I present each position at its strongest and not its weakest?
  4. Did I name the Protestant tradition I meant?
  5. Did I add any judgment of my own that the question did not ask for?
  6. Would a member of each tradition accept my account?

Examples

An unfair answer

Catholics believe that people earn salvation by works. This misses the Catholic teaching that grace comes first and that good works are fruits of grace. (A constructed example.)

A fair answer

Catholics teach that justification is a gift of grace which renews the person, and that good works done in grace are meritorious by that grace. Protestants of the Reformed tradition teach that works are the fruit and evidence of faith, not its ground. (A constructed example.)

Another unfair answer

Orthodox Christians are Catholics who do not accept the pope. This ignores differences on the filioque, purgatory and the way the church defines doctrine. (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholics hold that Christ established a church with a visible structure and a teaching authority that preserves the faith. They would want an answer on authority to include the role of the bishops and the pope.

Orthodox

Orthodox Christians hold that the church’s faith is preserved in the whole body, under the bishops, in the councils and in worship. They would want an answer to avoid describing the East as a Western church lacking a pope.

Protestant

Protestants hold that Scripture judges all teaching. They would want an answer to avoid suggesting that they reject all tradition, since most Protestant churches use creeds and confessions.

Ecumenical scholars

Scholars in dialogue note that many past disputes involved misunderstandings of terms, and they advise that statements be checked with a member of the tradition described.

Why it matters

Fairness is an intellectual skill and a moral one. A student who can state another tradition’s view so that its members agree has understood it, and has also earned the right to say where they disagree.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Being fair means agreeing with every position.

Correction: It does not. It means describing each position accurately. The student may still hold that some are better supported.

Misunderstanding: A sample outline is the one right answer.

Correction: It is a guide. Another answer may be equally correct and may order the points differently.

Misunderstanding: If an answer is accurate, it is automatically fair.

Correction: Selection and tone also matter. An answer can state true facts and still present a tradition in its worst light.

Knowledge check

State the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant views of authority in one line each.

Catholic: Scripture and tradition together, interpreted by the teaching office including the pope. Orthodox: Scripture within the tradition of the church, expressed in the councils and the Fathers, with no single universal teaching office. Protestant: Scripture is the final authority, with differing weight given to tradition and confessions.

Why mark accuracy and fairness separately?

An answer may include only true statements and still be unfair by what it emphasizes or leaves out. Two marks make the student ask two questions: is it true, and would its holders recognize it. Using one mark could hide a weakness in either.

What shared claim lies under the differing accounts of salvation?

All three traditions hold that salvation comes from God through Christ and is not earned as wages. They differ on how it is received, how faith, works and sacraments relate, and the language used to describe it, such as justification or theosis.

What should a student do when unsure of a tradition’s view?

Check the tradition’s own source, such as the Catechism, an Orthodox author or a Protestant confession, or ask a knowledgeable member. If doubt remains, say so in the answer, and avoid stating the view with more confidence than the evidence allows.

Think it through

  1. Which tradition do you find easiest to describe unfairly without noticing?
  2. How would you answer if a friend from another tradition read your account?
  3. Where do you think the differences are mostly wording, and where substance?
  4. What would you add to the sample outlines?

Independent assignment

A three tradition answer

In your own notebook, write 400 to 500 words. Choose one sample question and write an answer from memory in three short sections, one per tradition, then a closing paragraph on what they share. Mark it for accuracy and for fairness, and cite the source you used to check each tradition. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.

Further study