Sources of Wisdom and Authority

What you will learn:

• The Bible: different Christian beliefs about the nature and authority of the Bible and their impact on its use as a source of beliefs and teachings, including the Bible as inspired by God but written by humans beings.
• The Church: the different perspectives of the Protestant and Catholic traditions on the relative authority of the Bible and the Church
• The authority of Jesus: different Christian understandings of Jesus’ authority, including Jesus’ authority as God’s authority and Jesus’ authority as only human; implications of these beliefs for Christians.
• Christian responses to Jesus’ teaching and his value as a role model with reference to his teaching on retaliation and love for enemies in the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:38-48.