TH 332.1 THE ALETHIALOGY OF CHRISTOKINESIS Professor: FR. WILLIAM J. MALLEY, S.J. Student: JOVENAL F.

LOR

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

1. What is the triple common mind-set of the New Testament authors?

The triple common mind-set of the New Testament authors are the following:

a.

The Mastery of the Sacred Culture of the Old Testament

This is being manifested in their mastery of the Hebrew Theology, Spirituality and Poetic Symbolism. In addition to all the Sacred Writings written in Hebrew, the New Testament writers have manifestly indicated the influence of the Jewish Religious Educators in their lives who wrote in Greek and their theological and spiritual understanding of the Hebrew Revelation. This is why their theological discourses are always along the line and context of the Old Testament theology.

b.

The Lived Experience of the Christian Community

The Christian faith experience of the New Testament authors have made it possible for them to experience that the Crucified/Glorified Jesus was really alive and that they were living in a community that was bonded and enlightened through the Holy Spirit. They manifest very strongly the essence of Christokinesis in the very heart of their own local community. This fact and identity clearly proved their transformation of their mastery of the Theology, Spirituality and Poetic Symbolism of the Old Testament into the first expressions of authentic Christian literature.

c.

The Absorption in the All-Consuming Task of Evangelizing

This is shown in their collegial experience in the collaboration with other Christian presenting the identity of Jesus and His Mission in an appealing manner in a way that was comprehensible to their readers either from a Jewish or non-Jewish cultural background.

This triple common mind-set of the New Testament authors paved the way for their success in their evangelizing efforts. This is why their writings have been preserved and commented on for the last two thousand years and are still an indispensable instrument for evangelizing in the modern world of today.

2.

What is the scriptural method of the New Testament authors? The scriptural method of the New Testament authors is done following:

through the

a.

Sacred History

In this phase, the New Testament authors present the life and Mission of Jesus in three stages:

The first stage presents Jesus as one of the commoners of his time. He was a craftsman living in a family of modest means with an unremarkable and exemplary life. The second stage presents Jesus as a peculiar religious educator, far beyond than the other rabbis during his time. He distinguished Himself in this stage of His Public Ministry in three amazing ways: 1 - He taught with absolute authority. 2 - He performed wonders and signs intended to confirm His authoritative teaching. 3 - He formed a community of disciples from which He chose the twelve to be members of His inner circle.

The third stage, Jesus fulfilled the mission entrusted to Him by the Heavenly Father, which was to become the Crucified/Glorified Savior of the universe and humankind and to create the New Family of the Triune God.

b.

Sacred Exegesis

The New Testament as inspired writings are truly significant in the methodology of Theology as the Fourth Zone of Christic Truth and Vitality. These authors do truly understood the teaching of the Hebrew Faith Experience expressed in the documents of the Old Testament. This Sacred Exegesis that attest the New Testament authors in their understanding of the Hebrew Faith Experience is revealed to them the identity of God the Father as the Transcendental Lover who is the Lord of Creation, History and Intimacy.

c.

Christic Hermeneutics

The New Testament authors and theologians being imbued with the Hebrew Faith Experience were the first ones to interpret the writings of the Old Testament according to their Christic Hermeneutics. They perceived that the Crucufied/Glorified Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the hopes and aspirations expressed in the Theology, Spirituality and Poetic Symbolism of the inspired authors of the Hebrew Tradition.

3. What are the three (3) stages of Jesus life and mission in the New Testament? The first stage presents Jesus as one of the commoners of his time. He was a craftsman living in a family of modest means with an unremarkable and exemplary life. The second stage presents Jesus as peculiar religious educators, far beyond than the other rabbis during his time. He distinguished Himself in this stage of His Public Ministry in three amazing ways: 1 - He taught with absolute authority. 2 - He performed wonders and signs intended to confirm His authoritative teaching. 3 - He formed a community of disciples from which He chose the twelve to be members of His inner circle.

The third stage, Jesus fulfilled the mission entrusted to Him by the Heavenly Father, which was to become the Crucified/Glorified Savior of the universe and humankind and to create the New Family of the Triune God.

4. What was the informal process of collecting the documents of the New Testament? This process is not clearly known to us (as presumed in section 3, Part l of this book Christokinesis). The author, Fr. Malley, said that the process may have began with the thirteen Letters of St. Paul. He further said that some modern biblical scholars postulate that a school of disciples of St. Paul were responsible for collecting and distributing over time these Letters to the young Churches of the Apostolic and SubApostolic era. In the footnote of this same book of Fr. Malley, he said that Onesimus, the slave for whom St. Paul interceded with Philemon and who became a bishop, might have collected the original authentic writings of St. Paul.

5.

What were the four (4) criteria for canonicity? The four criteria for canonicity are the following:

1 it must have an Apostolic Origin which means it was attributed to or based on the teaching of the first-generation of Apostles or their closest companions;

2 it was accepted and acknowledged by all major Christian Communities in the Mediterranean world by the end of the fourth century and used by the important theologians or Fathers of the Church of the Patristic period;

3 it was part of the Christian Liturgy since it was read publicly along with the readings of the Old Testament when early Christians gathered for the weekly worship of the Lords Supper;

4 it had to be consistent with the doctrines found in the other Writings of the New Testament and compatible with lived teachings of the Church.

6. What is the difference between the search for the Transcendent in the philosophy and the Transcendent in the Christian Faith Experience? Anselm of ll. Their difference echoes the Christic Faith Experience of a) St. Canterbury, b) St. Thomas Aquinas, and c) Blessed Pope John Paul

St. Anselm of Canterbury once said: Fides quaerens intellectum (Faith Seeking Understanding, and Pope John Paul ll said: Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason). According to Fr. Malley in his book Alethialogy (p. 67) this explains the journey of seeking this understanding as the search for the Absolute Truth: Men and women are on a journey of discovery which is humanly unstoppable a search for the truth and a search for a person to whom they might entrust themselves. Christian faith comes to meet them, offering the concrete possibility of reaching the goal for which they seek. St. Thomas Aquinas said that mans possession of the truth is attained through reason and also through divine revelation that entails, inevitably, the exercise of faith. Hence, through these two man can transcend his humanness to the communion of the his Transcendental Lover, who is the Lord of Creation, the Lord of History and the Lord of Intimacy.

7. What were the four (4) stages of the Epiphany of Descending Christokinesis in Jesus earthly life?

Fist Stage signifies the pre-existing Transcendental Word of God becoming a part of the created universe by being conceived in the womb of Mary, His human mother.

Second Stage is Jesus hidden life at Nazareth for thirty years (or I suppose 22 years). Jesus is presented as royalty and descendant of the dynasty of King David. The visit of the Maggi and the flight into Egypt in the gospel of St. Matthew stress that He belongs to the ruling elite. But still the gospel of St. Matthew and Luke present Jesus living in Nazareth as a simple carpenter.

Third Stage refers to Jesus solidarity in sympathy with the poor and alienated during His Public Ministry. In this stage of His life and mission He is also pictured as grappling with the forces of evil. He showed himself as a sympathetic Peace-Bringer by healing the alienated and victims of evil and by encountering the forces of evil in their uncompromising opposition to His public Ministry.

Fourth Stage the forces of evil would be responsible in this stage during which He would be plunged in the abyss of human misery. At this stage of His earthly career, He would experience at the depth of His soul and body every type of evil and alienation during His Passion and Death. But Jesus, being the Transcendental/Human Steward and Peace-Bringer, overcame His being the victim of every kind of evil through His perfect patience and loving forgiveness of all who were inflicting the injustices and suffering on Him. He would now be able to practice not just sympathy but empathy for victims of evil because He became Himself, the victim of alienation and evil.

8. What are the meanings of the Epiphanies of Ascending and ReDescending Christokinesis in the crucified/Glorified Jesus life and mission?

The Epiphany of Ascending Christokinesis in the Crucified/Glorified Jesus life and mission would mean that the Eternal Father did grant His Son everlasting salvation when the Crucified Jesus was raised from the dead and glorified at the right hand of the Father in majesty. The Crucified/Glorified Jesus now and forever exercises dominion over the whole of creation and universe as the Transcendental/Human Prophet/Rabbi, the Transcendental/Human Liberator/Reconciler, and finally, the Transcendental/Human Servant/Leader. Consequently, Jesus Paschal Mystery would mean that the salvation of Filipino Christian Stewards includes firstly, freedom from alienation and evil and secondly, freedom from exercising the task that the Heavenly Father has entrusted to each member of the New Family of the Triune God.

The Epiphany of Re-Descending Christokinesis in the Crucified/Glorified Jesus life and mission tells us that from Jesus complete communion with the Father, the Crucified/Glorified Jesus entered into His Re-Descending Christokinesis with the descent of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirits bonding force and enlightening has created Jesus Real Presence as Transcendental/Human Steward and Peace-Bringer in the Church and he World until His Second Coming at the Parousia. The Epiphany of Re-Descending Christokinesis in the Crucified/Glorified Jesus life and mission paved the way for the birth of the Church and its strength amidst its trials and downs through history.