As previously explained, I've enrolled in the University of Notre Dame's Satellite Theological Education Program (STEP) to pursue their Certificate in Doctrine. My second of the required courses started this week: The Doctrine of Salvation in Jesus Christ:
Pope Benedict XVI began his encyclical God Is Love (2006) with these moving words: “‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him’ (1 John 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny.” The pope has immediately added that “I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others” (#1).
The sacred message that God is love undergirds the Church’s teachings on God’s intention “to redeem” or “to save” creation. As the pope has mentioned in his encyclical, the God of the Bible is intent on bringing about our redemption, our freedom from sin and death. Or to put it another way, God wills our salvation, our healing for eternal life. Again, to quote Benedict XVI: “The one God in whom Israel believes . . . loves with a personal love” (#9). In other words, God knows us by name and wants us to attain the fullness of life forever. Each of this course’s lectures or units explores a major topic within the Church’s teachings on redemption or salvation.
Week 1's theme is:
- The Theme of Salvation in the Old Testament
As usual, there are a series of discussion questions followed by a written assignment memo. In the first course, there was a 150-200 word limit. This course has no such limit, but I'll try to keep to those limits anyway. As before, I'll post my answers on the blog.
Remember: These are the musings of a student based on the assigned readings, lecture, and class discussion.
