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Course 26 · Lesson 3.2

The examination: God, Christ, humanity, salvation, church and last things

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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 3.2

What you will learn

  • Lay out a systematic theology examination in six sections.
  • Write questions that require each tradition’s position to be stated in its own terms.
  • Include at least five points of difference among Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant teaching.
  • Take the examination in closed book conditions and record them.

The big idea

The systematic examination has six sections that follow the order of doctrine: God, Christ, humanity and sin, salvation, the church and sacraments, and last things. The plan asks the student to write answers that state the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant positions on at least five points of difference. The questions test accuracy and fairness together. The exam is private and self-marked. No certificate, credit or degree follows, and the standard of 70 percent is a suggestion.

Key terms

Hypostasis
A Greek word used for a person of the Trinity, or for the one person of Christ in the Chalcedonian definition.
Original sin
The teaching that humanity is affected by the first sin. Churches differ on whether this includes guilt or chiefly mortality and a disposition to sin.
Grace
God’s undeserved favor and help. Traditions differ on how grace relates to the human will.
Real presence
The teaching that Christ is truly present in the Lord’s Supper. Traditions differ on how.
Ecclesiology
The doctrine of the church: what it is, how it is governed and how it teaches.
Fair statement
A description of a view that its holders would recognize as accurate.

Background

The course plan asks the student to answer on God, Christ, humanity, salvation, the church and last things, stating the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant positions on at least five points of difference. A balanced exam has about four questions in each section, with the five or more differences woven through them. The time is up to the student.

The plan also gives a model of how a good systematic answer looks. On the authority of church and Scripture, an outline answer says that Catholic teaching holds Scripture and sacred tradition together to be the word of God, interpreted authoritatively by the teaching office 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 Scripture to be the final authority, though they differ on the weight of tradition and confessions.

A review note for this course asks that the Orthodox account of authority be checked so that Orthodox readers would find it acceptable. That is a good reminder for the student too: the safest way to describe a position is to use the language the tradition uses about itself, and where possible to read its own texts.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Questions on God and on Christ

Write about eight questions. Ask for an account of the Trinity and what is meant by person and nature. Ask what the Council of Chalcedon taught about Christ. Add one question on a difference: the filioque, which Catholic and many Protestant churches accept and Orthodox churches reject.

Step 2: Questions on humanity and salvation

Write about eight questions. Ask what the traditions mean by sin, and where they differ on original sin. Ask how each tradition understands justification and the role of faith and works. Ask for an account of the atonement in at least two images, such as sacrifice and victory over evil.

Step 3: Questions on the church and sacraments

Write about eight questions. Ask for the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant understandings of church authority. Ask about baptism and the Lord’s Supper in three or more traditions, including Lutheran, Reformed and Baptist views. Ask about the number of sacraments.

Step 4: Questions on last things

Write four to six questions. Ask what the traditions teach about death, judgment, resurrection, heaven and hell. Ask about purgatory, which Catholics teach and Orthodox and most Protestants do not in that form. Ask about the main Protestant views on the millennium.

Step 5: Sit the exam

Take the examination closed book, with a timer. For each point of difference, write three short statements, one for each tradition, using the language that tradition would use. Afterward, record the date and conditions.

  1. Have I included at least five points of difference?
  2. Does each question ask me to state a position, not to judge it?
  3. Have I included more than one Protestant tradition where they differ?
  4. Do I know the Orthodox terms, such as theosis and economy?
  5. Can I define the key terms without notes?
  6. Is the exam long enough to test depth but short enough to finish?

Examples

A question on authority

Compare Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant teaching on the authority of the church and Scripture. State each in its own terms and name one point where its members would object to a common description. (A sample question.)

A question on the Lord’s Supper

State the Catholic teaching of transubstantiation, the Lutheran teaching of the sacramental union, the Reformed view of spiritual presence and the memorial view held by many Baptist churches. (A sample question.)

A question on salvation

Explain why Christians describe the work of Christ with several images, and give two. Say which tradition emphasizes which image, being careful to note that none excludes the others. (A sample question.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic teaching includes the seven sacraments, the real presence in the Eucharist by transubstantiation, the role of the pope as successor of Peter, purgatory, and the veneration of Mary and the saints, all set out in the Catechism.

Orthodox

Orthodox teaching includes the seven holy mysteries, the real presence in the Eucharist without a technical theory, the conciliar life of the church, theosis as the goal of salvation, and the veneration of Mary and the saints and of icons.

Protestant, Lutheran and Reformed

Lutheran and Reformed churches teach justification by faith alone and the final authority of Scripture. Lutherans hold the real presence in the Supper, and Reformed teaching, following Calvin, holds a real spiritual presence by the Holy Spirit.

Protestant, Baptist and others

Baptist churches practice believers’ baptism and often regard the Lord’s Supper as a memorial. Other Protestants, such as Anglicans and Methodists, hold varied positions, and they also affirm the early creeds.

Why it matters

A systematic exam shows whether the student can hold the whole of Christian teaching in view and can describe the differences without distortion. This is the most demanding of the knowledge components, because accuracy and fairness are tested together.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: A fair statement means having no view of your own.

Correction: A student may hold a view. Fairness means describing others as they would describe themselves.

Misunderstanding: Protestant means Lutheran or Reformed.

Correction: Those are two traditions among many. A complete answer notes that Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals and others differ from them on some points.

Misunderstanding: Orthodox teaching is the same as Catholic teaching without the pope.

Correction: The two share much, but they differ on more than papal authority: the filioque, purgatory, original sin and the way doctrine is defined are among the differences.

Knowledge check

What are the six sections of the systematic exam?

God, Christ, humanity and sin, salvation, the church and sacraments, and last things. Each has a few questions, and at least five points of difference among Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant teaching are included across the sections, stated in each tradition’s own terms.

Give the three-tradition outline on authority.

Catholic teaching holds Scripture and tradition together, interpreted by the teaching office. Orthodox teaching holds that Scripture lives within the church’s tradition, expressed above all in the councils and the Fathers, without one universal teaching office. Protestant traditions hold Scripture as final authority, differing on tradition and confessions.

Why name the Protestant tradition and not just Protestant?

Protestant churches differ widely. Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Baptist and Wesleyan teaching differ on baptism, the Supper, predestination and church order. Naming the tradition makes a statement accurate, whereas a general claim about Protestants is usually either too broad or wrong.

Who grades the systematic exam?

Only the student. Nothing is submitted, and the site offers no certificate, accreditation, credit or degree. The suggested standard of 70 percent is a personal option, and fairness to the traditions is judged by the student against their own sources.

Think it through

  1. Which of the five points of difference would you find hardest to state fairly?
  2. Do you tend to describe your own tradition in its best light and others in their worst?
  3. What would a member of the other traditions say about your description?
  4. Which doctrine would you most like more time to study?

Independent assignment

Write and take the systematic examination

In your own notebook, write 24 to 30 questions in the six sections, including at least five points of difference. Prepare an answer key that cites each tradition’s own source. Then take the exam closed book on a date you set. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.

Further study