Creed II

Before Class

• Read chapters 4-6 in U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults
• Read the following handouts:
  • The Blessed Trinity
  • God the Father
  • Male and Female He Made Them
  • The Mystery of Evil

Homework

• Read chapters 7-8 in U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults
• Read the following handouts:
  • The Sanctity of Human Life
  • Temptation
  • What is Sin?
  • True God and True Man
  • Did Jesus Always Know He Was God?

To Make Up an Absence

If you are unable to attend this class, please submit to the instructor at the next class written responses to two questions from each section below (for a total of eight questions). Each response should be 2-3 paragraphs in length and address the question completely.

Chapter 4: Bring about the Obedience of Faith

1. How can faith be both a gift from God and a free, human act?
2. What is often meant by the phrase “blind faith”? Is faith “blind”? (see CCC ¶156, 158)
3. How is faith a pilgrimage? Why must we be pilgrims in this life? What are some consequences for us of being always “on the way”?
4. How is faith similar to and different from reason? Is one superior to the other? Explain.
5. Why are creeds called “symbols of faith”?

Chapter 5: I Believe in God (Trinity and Creation)

1. Why do we call the first Person of the Trinity “Father”? Independently from his creation, how is God “Father”?
2. How did God progressively reveal his mystery as a unity of three Persons? How would you teach this doctrine about God to others?
3. What is the difference between physical evil and moral evil? How is this difference relevant to a discussion of the theory of evolution?
4. Gaudium et Spes teaches that “methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith...” Give an example of such research. What is an example of research that does conflict with the faith?
5. How are some theories of evolution incompatible with Divine Revelation? Describe a theory of evolution that is compatible with Revelation.

Chapter 6: Man and Woman in the Beginning

1. Man, made in the image of God, "is the only creature on earth that God has willed for his own sake" (Gaudium et Spes 24); and "the first man and the first woman were qualitatively different and superior to all other living creatures on earth" (U.S. Catechism, p. 67). How do the creation stories of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 illustrate these statements?
2. Describe in your own words some implications of being created in the image of God. How is this related to the gift of free will?
3. How does a loss of understanding of the concept of original sin affect one's appreciation of the Gospel?
4. "Sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another" (CCC 387). How is this understanding of freedom different from freedom as the right to do whatever one wants to do? How does sinning make us less free?

Handouts

• The Blessed Trinity
  How is the statement "God is love" a summary of the doctrine of the Trinity? How and why is this doctrine a mystery?
• God the Father
  Why do we call the first Person of the Trinity "Father"? Is this merely an analogy to human fatherhood? Explain.
• Male and Female He Made Them
  What is the "nuptial meaning" of the human body? How does the difference of the sexes help us to image God?
• The Mystery of Evil
  How is the existence of evil made possible by God's loving gift of free will? How are Christians called to respond to the mystery of evil?