Staircase 1
Forde uses this garage-like tool to describe Christianity's problem of thinking "it has to do primarily with 'going up' somewhere - either to heaven or to some kind of religious perfection."
Ladder
p. 7
The first theme that must be dealt with to "understand the Reformation faith." Luther called this "the key to theological understanding."
The law and the gospel and the relationship between them.
p. 9
From which document does this quote come from:
"I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him..."
Explanation to the third article of the Apostles' Creed in Luther's Small Catechism.
p. 24
What was Luther's answer to: "How can this congenital disease of our race be cured?"
p. 32
As a creature, man/woman is to live by this:
faith
p. 55
This is a power, "a living voice" great enough to stop the voice of the law and bring in here on earth the beginning of the new life of freedom!
This is the end of the law.
Gospel
p. 16-17
This is anything that functions to accuse and terrify.
law
p. 15
Predestination is a threat to us because it implies that God has decided everything and left nothing to our freedom...Protestants often set out to make an arrangement to allow some freedom at least. It often boils down to man having at least the freedom to "_________" God's offer of grace.
"accept"
p. 20
This a spectator theologian. This theologian is not invaded or affected by the cross. He/She simply looks upon the cross to find an objective truth or a lesson. He/She can take or leave the cross just as he/she can a theory about the moon or the fall of Rome or whatever.
a theologian of glory.
p. 33
The semi-Pelagians sold out for a theology of "_____________" (an amount), which Forde applied to freedom, devotion, integrity, etc.
i.e. there is a __________ (an amount) of human endeavor that goes into the enterprise; the majority is God's grace.
"Little Bits"
p. 50-51
Fill in the blank (same word for each blank):
If God has been paid, how can one say that [God] really __________?
If a debt is paid, one can hardly say it is __________.
forgives/forgiven
p. 12
Luther compared the law to this, which could be manifested in many ways - even the rustling of leaves.
Voice
p. 14
Luther made a distinction between
1) those things which God has given man dominion and
2) the things that God has predestined.
Luther's terms for these were things ________ and _________ man. (fill in the blanks)
above and below
p. 19
two parts:
1) What was Christ doing in his death?
2) What gives Christ's death significance (according to a theology of the cross)?
1) dying
2) the resurrection
p. 37
Mad at the semi-Pelagians and their theology of "little bits," Luther was more interested in this amount of justification from God.
total
"Luther believed that faith was the advent of the new and that this new was the movement of God into one's life bringing total salvation and total freedom."
p. 52
This is where the voice of the law "reaches its climactic crescendo."
the preaching of the cross.
p. 15
That the law is intended as a way of salvation/a way to heaven.
p. 9, 14
Erasmus posited that the existence of commandments means that we have some kind of ________.
free will/ability
p. 20
A theology about the cross understands this personal pronoun to be persuadable. A theology of the cross declares that this personal pronoun must be put to death so that the new one can be put in his/her place.
"I"
p. 39
Ladder theology often depicts sinners falling to the bottom of the ladder and needing grace to boost them back up to the top.
According to the biblical picture, the temptation is for man/woman to do what?
Become like God.
i.e. Not sin as falling down the ladder,
but sin as climbing up the ladder.
Forde's call is to bring us back down the ladder to the realm of creation - where we belong.
p. 53
What question is raised when "payment" is part of the equation to gain heaven/salvation?
Was it enough?
p. 12
When it came to the law, what was Luther most interested in?
What it does to you (not what it says) when you hear it.
p. 13
God does not want to be known "in heaven," in his mere "almightiness" or even as "the God of predestination." These concepts are masks that God hides behind. These masks function to terrify and to drive people away. Where did the masks seek to drive people towards? I.e. where does God want to be found?
The manger, the cross, a sermon, Baptism, the Lord's Supper.
p. 26-28
What was important for Luther when it came to atonement?
the distinction between a theology of the cross and a mere theology about it.
p. 41
St. Augustine's opponent who equated grace with nature, denounced original sin, and called for people to make the effort to better themselves - reversing the course of immorality and corruption the world has taken. His followers went by his name. Those who "half-ways" followed him were "semi-" his name.