Chapter 1: In the Beginning

1. Chapter 1: In the Beginning THE MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION

2. 1. Introductory Lesson – for first day of class Syllabus. How the lessons of this text will be taught. Instructional policy. Materials. Homework.

3. 1. Introductory Lesson – for first day of class HOMEWORK Reading • Chapter 1 through Creation as the Work of the Blessed Trinity, including the sidebars Good Stewardship and What Catholics Believe about the Bible (pp. 2-10)

4. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man ANTICIPATORY SET Incorporate the first creation account in Genesis into the class’s opening prayer (Gn 1—2:3). Have the students free write briefly on the thing that surprised them the most about this passage.

5. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man BASIC QUESTIONS • Who is the origin of all things? • What is man’s original vocation? • What are the Sacred Scriptures? • Can we detect the Blessed Trinity in Genesis?  KEY IDEAS • God is the creator and sustainer of all that exists, whose work is good. • Formed in the image of God, man is the pinnacle of creation and was made to be in friendship with God, to fill the earth with people, and to rule over all creation through wise stewardship. • The Bible is the inspired and inerrant history of salvation of which God is the principal author and men were the secondary authors. It is ancient, religious literature and must be read as such. • Creation is the work of the Blessed Trinity, which can be seen in Genesis in the light of the New Testament.

6. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man FOCUS QUESTIONS What does the “Redemption” mean in theology? It means the atonement or deliverance from sins merited by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. How are man and woman unique in all creation, according to the opening chapters of Genesis? They were created to know and to love God and to share in his divine life.

7. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man FOCUS QUESTIONS How did sin result in a dramatic change in the human condition? Adam and Eve’s sin moved them from paradise to a fallen state, which became the condition of all their descendants. How did God respond to man’s fall? He introduced a plan of Redemption to restore the friendship man had lost.

8. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man GUIDED EXERCISE Have the students free write on the question listed under “In this chapter,” that they currently know the most about. Briefly share responses.

9. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man GUIDED EXERCISE Have the students free write, explaining in their own words why Genesis presents the work of creation in two groups of three days.

10. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man GOD’S GOOD CREATION AND MAN Where does the word “Genesis” come from? It is derived from the Greek word meaning “origins.” What three things do the opening words of Genesis affirm, according to CCC 290? (1) The eternal God gave a beginning to all that exists outside of himself. (2) He alone is Creator. And (3) the totality of what exists depends on the One who gives it being. What is the significance of the Hebrew verb “bara” for God’s role in creation?The Hebrew word for “create,” bara, always has God for its subject.

11. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man FOCUS QUESTIONS What is the literary style of the beginning of Genesis not intending to convey? The scientific intricacies of how the universe came into being or the exact dates on which each part of the universe came into existence. What is the basic message the author was intending to convey? God created the world according to his divine plan. What vocation or mission did God give Adam and Eve? To fill the earth with their offspring and to have dominion over it.

12. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man FOCUS QUESTIONS What concept explains the attitude humans are to have toward dominating creation? Men are to exercise stewardship, that is, to be responsible caretakers of the portion of creation God has given to them to subdue. What was the function of work in God’s original plan? Adam and Eve were to work to bring creation into the service of man. What are the basic tasks man has in regard to knowing and using creation? God wants man to discover the deep mysteries of the created world and the ways creation can be “subdued” or used.

13. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man FOCUS QUESTIONS Within the Blessed Trinity, who created? Although we generally refer to God the Father as the Creator, each Person of the Blessed Trinity acts in concert with the other divine Persons. Thus we can say that creation was an act of each Person of the Blessed Trinity. How does the opening of St. John’s Gospel help us see the person of Christ in the beginning of Genesis? St. John explains that God made all things through the Word, Christ. In Genesis, God simply spoke a word and the thing was created. This word was Christ.

14. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man FOCUS QUESTIONS How does the creation of the world through the “Word” foreshadow God’s re-creation or redemption of the world through the “Word of God”? Through Christ, the Word, all things were originally created, and through his redemption all things will be made anew. How is the person of the Holy Spirit alluded to in Genesis? The “breath of life” or “spirit” that moved on the waters are images of the Holy Spirit. How is the Blessed Trinity present in the Genesis creation, in the view of the early Christian writers? The use of the plural as in “Let us make man in our image,” was seen by early Christian writers as a reference to the Blessed Trinity.

15. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man FOCUS QUESTIONS What is salvation history? It is the story of how God’s plan of salvation has unfolded throughout history. How is salvation history different from other kinds of history? The Bible not only teaches us the meaning of past events, but how those events affect our lives today. What does it mean to say that the Bible is inspired? Inspired means that God himself guided the Sacred Authors, who were enlightened by the Holy Spirit to write what God wanted and nothing more.

16. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man FOCUS QUESTIONS Who are the two authors of Scripture? God is the principal author of Scripture and the human authors are instruments God chose to reveal himself to his people. Why must we affirm that the Bible is inerrant? We must affirm this because God is the principal author of Scripture and he can neither deceive nor be deceived. Why is the Bible sacred literature? It is sacred because God is its author, and it is literature because it uses literary forms and techniques to convey its meaning.

17. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man Guided Exercise Conduct a think / pair / share on the following question: Why it is important to keep in mind that the Bible is “ancient, religious literature” in order to understand it properly?

18. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man CLOSURE Have the students write a paragraph summarizing what Genesis tells us in general about man’s place in creation.

19. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Reading • The Creation of Adam and Eve through the sidebar The Creation of Angels(pp. 10– 15) Study Questions • Questions 1–7. • Practical Exercise 1. Workbook • Questions 1–14.

20. 2. God’s Good Creation and Man ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT Conduct a class discussion on to what extent Genesis supports the idea of environmentalism. With which ideas in the environmental movement does Genesis agree? Which ideas are in contradiction to Genesis?

21. 3. Before the Fall ANTICIPATORY SET Incorporate the second creation account from Genesis (the creation of Eve) into the class’s opening prayer (Gn 2:4–25). Have the students free write on what this passage might be telling them about God’s original intention for marriage.

22. 3. Before the Fall BASIC QUESTIONS What does Genesis mean when it says that Adam and Eve were created in the image of God? What are angels? What does the Church mean when she says that Adam and Eve were created in an original state of holiness and justice? KEY IDEAS God created Adam and Eve in his image with souls possessing intellect and free will. Consequently, man has the special dignity of being able to understand God’s infinite goodness and to reflect his glory. The angels are purely spiritual beings who love and serve God. In their original state of holiness and justice, Adam and Eve shared in God’s life and were in harmony with God, each other, and all of creation. They also enjoyed an inner harmony in which their passions were at the service of their reason and will. They were also immune from suffering and death.

23. 3. Before the Fall FOCUS QUESTIONS Why did God create the universe? To show forth his infinite goodness and love. Why was the creation of human beings a special way of revealing God’s goodness and love? As the only rational beings in the universe, only they had the capacity to understand God’s infinite goodness and to reflect his glory. How is the creation of man and woman the climax of creation? Adam and Eve were created last and different and superior to all other creatures by being made in the image of God.

24. 3. Before the Fall FOCUS QUESTIONS What does it mean to possess the image and likeness of God? It means having a rational soul with the powers of intellect and will. What does it mean to say that man is a composite being? He has a body and a soul. What operations does the human soul carry out? The spiritual soul makes it possible to form concepts, know God, make choices, and love. Through the soul, people also have the capacity of knowing themselves, possessing themselves, giving themselves, and entering into communion with God and other persons.

25. 3. Before the Fall FOCUS QUESTIONS How is natural science a consequence of the soul? The human mind can decipher the complex laws of the universe and can describe them in mathematical formulas. Extension: All the other human sciences are equally the result of our intelligence, which is spiritual. Does the Church see science as an obstacle to faith? No. Science is a great gift that can lead us to a deeper understanding and appreciation of God’s creation, and ultimately of God himself. For example, the rich complexity and fine-tuned harmony of the created world reflect an infinitely intelligent and powerful Creator.

26. 3. Before the Fall FOCUS QUESTIONS What objection do some people make to claims about knowing about God through reason? They argue that human knowledge is restricted to what can be deduced solely from empirical data. If this argument is true, then we can say nothing about God from reason because God cannot be empirically detected or measured. What is metaphysical knowledge? It is knowledge derived from our capacity to know things that go beyond empirical data.

27. 3. Before the Fall GUIDED EXERCISE Conduct a think/pair/share on the following question: Explain how, in the Church’s view, it takes three to make a human being: the mother, the father, and God? 

28. 3. Before the Fall FOCUS QUESTIONS According to CCC 356, what is the fundamental reason for human dignity? Man is the only creature God willed for its own sake and God’s will is for man to share in God’s own life by knowledge and love. Why did God endow the human person with the capacity for knowledge and love? So we could share in God’s love and friendship. What was Adam and Eve’s relationship with God like before the Fall? Before Original Sin, Adam and Eve possessed a clear awareness of God’s presence and enjoyed a profound and loving relationship with him.

29. 3. Before the Fall FOCUS QUESTIONS In what “state” did God create Adam and Eve? In a state of holiness and justice. What was the grace of original holiness? It was a “share in . . . divine life.” What does the state of original justice mean? It means that in fidelity to God’s will, Adam and Eve were in a right relationship with God, each other, and the rest of creation.

30. 3. Before the Fall GUIDED EXERCISE Present a mini‑lecture on empirical versus metaphysical knowledge. The purpose is to show students that the claim that only empirical knowledge is valid is invalid. Empirical knowledge is that which can be known by direct experience or observation. Generally it means the facts that can be gathered from the senses and measured. Metaphysical knowledge is that which is gained through abstract thought. Empirical knowledge is essential in the natural sciences. For example, the time it takes for a marble to drop one meter is empirical knowledge. Whenever one is dealing with ideas, one is using metaphysics. For example, love or liberty cannot be directly observed or measured but are real.

31. 3. Before the Fall GUIDED EXERCISE (continued) At the beginning of the twentieth century some philosophers of science tried to reduce all knowledge to empirical knowledge. They ruled out any nonempirical knowledge as nonsense. This idea itself is unable to be proven empirically and, therefore, by its own definition has no scientific validity. However, some philosophers and scientists still adhere to it. Science requires scientists to exercise great creativity, to create abstract models of physical reality, to devise methods of testing, and to use conventions (or agreements). Even a task like classifying rocks is a metaphysical exercise, since one is abstracting qualities and sorting the rocks. A further reason that strict empiricism fails is because some branches of modern science study aspects of reality that simply cannot be directly observed, like sub-atomic particles. Yet we know a lot about them due to ingenious theories and complicated experiments that measure the effects of invisible interactions. 

32. 3. Before the Fall GUIDED EXERCISE To learn more about the good angels, have the students work with a partner todo a bulletpoint summary of Supplemental Reading 2: “The word ‘angel’ denotes a function rather than a nature” (p. 28).

33. 3. Before the Fall GUIDED EXERCISE Have the students work with a partner to make a bullet-point list of gifts that Adam and Eve enjoyed because of their original state of holiness and justice.

34. 3. Before the Fall FOCUS QUESTIONS What does the Nicene Creed mean when it refers to God as the creator of “all that is . . . unseen”? It is referring to the angels and to the human soul. What are God’s two spiritual creations? The human soul and the angels. What is an angel? It is a purely spiritual or noncorporeal being with intelligence and will but no physical body. Because angels have no body they are immortal. What does the word angel literally mean? Messenger.

35. 3. Before the Fall CLOSURE Have the students write a paragraph on the physical, mental, and moral state of Adam and Eve before Original Sin. 

36. 3. Before the Fall HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Reading • Original Sin through The Consequences of Original Sin (pp. 15–20) Study Questions • Questions 8-13. • Practical Exercises 3, 4. Workbook • Questions 15-21.

37. 3. Before the Fall ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT Have the students free write for five minutes on how they personally experience their own dignity. Why do they think they have intrinsic rights that no one should violate? Do they think they are “like God” in any way?

38. 4. Original Sin ANTICIPATORY SET Incorporate a reading of Genesis 3, the fall of Adam and Eve, into the class’s opening prayer and then have the students free write for five minutes on why Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. Briefly share responses.

39. 4. Original Sin BASIC QUESTIONS What is Original Sin? Who are Satan and the demons? What are the effects of Original Sin? KEY IDEAS The Original Sin was Adam and Eve’s disobedience of God’s command under the temptation of the Serpent. Devils are originally good, but fallen, angels who are enemies of God and bent on our destruction. The Original Sin deprived Adam and Eve of their original state of holiness and justice and wounded their souls.

40. 4. Original Sin FOCUS QUESTIONS What was the one limitation God had placed on Adam and Eve’s freedom in the Garden? They were forbidden to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which would result in death. What lie did the serpent tell Eve? He said, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” According to Genesis, for what reasons did Eve disobey God’s prohibition? Eve “saw” that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to look at, and that it could make her wise.

41. 4. Original Sin FOCUS QUESTIONS In the Old Testament, how is the word “nahash” used? It is used to describe powerfully evil creatures. According to Catholic tradition, who is the serpent? It is Satan, the leader of the fallen angels. How did Jesus describe Satan? Jesus called him “a murderer from the beginning” and the “father of lies.”

42. 4. Original Sin FOCUS QUESTIONS Were the demons created evil? No. “The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.” What is the self-appointed mission of Satan and his followers and how do they carry it out? Their mission is to sabotage God’s loving plan for his people through temptations, lies, and deceits that lead us away from God and toward our destruction.

43. 4. Original Sin GUIDED EXERCISE Have the students work with a partner to write and answer three focus questions on the sidebar: “Satan and the Fallen Angels” (p. 17). Have students answer each other’s questions.

44. 4. Original Sin FOCUS QUESTIONS What was the nature of the sin of Adam and Eve? Disobedience. How could the first sin be described as a sin of pride? In the Original Sin, Adam and Eve preferred themselves to God, wishing to possess the absolute freedom and knowledge that can belong only to God, rejecting the fact that they were creatures and not God. Why was the Original Sin particularly grave, compared to our own? Our personal sins are partly committed under a weakness of soul, a disorder of our appetites and passions, and an inclination to sin called concupiscence. In contrast, Adam and Eve were not influenced by these disorders but were completely free, deliberately choosing to disobey and distrust God.

45. 4. Original Sin FOCUS QUESTIONS What were the consequences of Original Sin for Adam and Eve? They lost their state of original holiness and justice, as well as their friendship with God, and consequently were expelled from the Garden of Eden. What were the consequences of Original Sin for Adam and Eve’s descendants? Adam and Eve’s sin injured all their descendants. They lost original sanctity and justice for us and made us subject to suffering and death. What was the effect of Original Sin on our minds and wills? The human intellect became clouded and limited in discerning God’s laws. Bodily desires now would enslave the will. People became selfish.

46. 4. Original Sin FOCUS QUESTIONS According to Gaudium et Spes, how is human life now a moral drama? Man still desires the good, but his nature bears the wound of Original Sin and, thus, is inclined to evil and subject to error. Because of this, the life of individual men and all of society is a dramatic struggle between good and evil. What is the significance of Adam and Eve realizing they were naked? It signaled the experience of loss of innocence and purity, replaced by disorder in their passions and appetites. What is concupiscence? It is the inclination to sin. Does creation become evil because of Original Sin? No. God’s creation is inherently good, especially the human person.

47. 4. Original Sin GUIDED EXERCISE Have the students complete the following table to see how the four major wounds of Original Sin relate to the four cardinal virtues.

48. 4. Original Sin

49. 4. Original Sin GUIDED EXERCISE Have each student complete a paragraph shrink on the paragraph beginning, “Satan told our . . .” (p. 20).

50. 4. Original Sin FOCUS QUESTIONS What was the effect of Original Sin on sexual relations? Once the intimate harmony that existed between God and man, and between man and woman, had been damaged, the body became an object of lust. Sexual relations become marked by lust and domination. Did Original Sin destroy our ability to know the truth or to act freely? No. It damaged or wounded our human nature, but it didn’t destroy it.