HTH-350Topic 3 and Topic 4 Reading Questions
Ensure that you properly cite references when answering the questions on this assessment. Each
question should be answered in at least 50-100 words.
1. According to McGrath, what is the purpose and place of historical theology?
From McGrath's perspective, it is important to study historical theology because a “students who
intend to minister in a particular Christian tradition, or who are interested in deepening their
understanding and appreciation of their tradition, will find the history of that tradition to be of
particular importance” (McGrath, pg.8, 2003).
2. How would Augustine respond to the question of whether God created evil? What does
Augustine mean when he says that evil is the privation of the good? Thomas Aquinas also
answers this question. How is his response similar or different?
Augustine’s turned the question around by asking, God created everything and everything he
created is good, evil is not good, so God did not create evil, evil must be something else.
Thomas Aquinas see evil as something different, but it is the “the world is better for having evil
within it, because evil serves a greater good. Natural evil contributes to the goodness of creation,
and God sometimes inflicts evil as punishment in order to maintain the just order of the universe.
Lions kill asses, fire consumes air, humans learn to right wrongs and to endure suffering, and all
this is natural and good”.
Both men see Evil as something different, but Aquinas sees Evil as a type of a type of Yin and
Yang – exact positive of the other.
Reference
Tina Beattie, Mar 2012, Thomas Aquinas, part 7: the question of evil, Retrieved:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/12/thomas-aquinas-question-evil
3. How would Augustine explain the relationship between faith, works, and forgiveness?
What does the Triune God (especially Jesus and the Holy Spirit) have to do with
forgiveness/salvation?
Augustine wrote strongly about the defense of love faith in God and the law, drawing from
scripture and his own like he taught about grace for salvation. “We cannot live as we ought
unless first justified by faith. We are powerless to help ourselves. We cannot observe the Law
, without grace. Time and again, he stresses that the Law cannot save ; rather it serves to point up
sin. It tells us what we should do but does not give us the means to do it. “For the Law gives its
prescriptions to this end alone that when one has failed to fulfill these commandments he will not
be filled with pride ; thus, by frightening him, the Law fulfills its purpose of pedagogue-leading
him to love Christ, Without the Spirit and love the Law is a dead letter”.
What he is saying is that the law cannot save us alone, but it points us to the love and forgiveness
of Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Reference
54. Augustine Ad Simplicianum 1,2,21 (BA 10, 502) ; 1,1,2 (Ibid., 412) ; 1,1,12 (Ibid., 428)
retrieved from: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/pdf/10.1484/J.RA.5.102376
4. How does Augustine explain the doctrine of the Trinity? Why does he think the doctrine
is so important?
“While we might see the work of the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit more distinctly in particular
situations (the Father in Creation, the Son on the Cross, the Spirit at Pentecost), you can never
divorce one from the other: “Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of
the Persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one
another” (CCC, 255). The Father reveals the Son, the Son reveals the Father, and the Father and
the Son are revealed by the Holy Spirit”.
Augustine explain the doctrine of the Trinity as their different roles or acts that they do, they are
3 divine persons, but they are not inseparable from each other.
Reference
Caitlin Sica, Jul 11, 2019, St. Augustine's Analogy for Understanding the Trinity, McGrath
Institute for Church Life, University of Notre Dame. Retrieved from:
https://mcgrathblog.nd.edu/st.-augustines-analogy-for-understanding-the-trinity
5. According to McGrath, why did monasticism rise in prominence? By using the example
of The Life of Antony, explain the nature and life of a monk.
Monasticism grow because of strict medieval monastic life consisted of manual labor, prayer,
and reading, this resulted in the nuns and monks becoming closer to God, also they worked hard
at copying manuscripts, teaching others, developing the arts and spreading the gospel.
6. According to McGrath, what is Byzantine theology and how did it develop??
Ensure that you properly cite references when answering the questions on this assessment. Each
question should be answered in at least 50-100 words.
1. According to McGrath, what is the purpose and place of historical theology?
From McGrath's perspective, it is important to study historical theology because a “students who
intend to minister in a particular Christian tradition, or who are interested in deepening their
understanding and appreciation of their tradition, will find the history of that tradition to be of
particular importance” (McGrath, pg.8, 2003).
2. How would Augustine respond to the question of whether God created evil? What does
Augustine mean when he says that evil is the privation of the good? Thomas Aquinas also
answers this question. How is his response similar or different?
Augustine’s turned the question around by asking, God created everything and everything he
created is good, evil is not good, so God did not create evil, evil must be something else.
Thomas Aquinas see evil as something different, but it is the “the world is better for having evil
within it, because evil serves a greater good. Natural evil contributes to the goodness of creation,
and God sometimes inflicts evil as punishment in order to maintain the just order of the universe.
Lions kill asses, fire consumes air, humans learn to right wrongs and to endure suffering, and all
this is natural and good”.
Both men see Evil as something different, but Aquinas sees Evil as a type of a type of Yin and
Yang – exact positive of the other.
Reference
Tina Beattie, Mar 2012, Thomas Aquinas, part 7: the question of evil, Retrieved:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/12/thomas-aquinas-question-evil
3. How would Augustine explain the relationship between faith, works, and forgiveness?
What does the Triune God (especially Jesus and the Holy Spirit) have to do with
forgiveness/salvation?
Augustine wrote strongly about the defense of love faith in God and the law, drawing from
scripture and his own like he taught about grace for salvation. “We cannot live as we ought
unless first justified by faith. We are powerless to help ourselves. We cannot observe the Law
, without grace. Time and again, he stresses that the Law cannot save ; rather it serves to point up
sin. It tells us what we should do but does not give us the means to do it. “For the Law gives its
prescriptions to this end alone that when one has failed to fulfill these commandments he will not
be filled with pride ; thus, by frightening him, the Law fulfills its purpose of pedagogue-leading
him to love Christ, Without the Spirit and love the Law is a dead letter”.
What he is saying is that the law cannot save us alone, but it points us to the love and forgiveness
of Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Reference
54. Augustine Ad Simplicianum 1,2,21 (BA 10, 502) ; 1,1,2 (Ibid., 412) ; 1,1,12 (Ibid., 428)
retrieved from: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/pdf/10.1484/J.RA.5.102376
4. How does Augustine explain the doctrine of the Trinity? Why does he think the doctrine
is so important?
“While we might see the work of the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit more distinctly in particular
situations (the Father in Creation, the Son on the Cross, the Spirit at Pentecost), you can never
divorce one from the other: “Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of
the Persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one
another” (CCC, 255). The Father reveals the Son, the Son reveals the Father, and the Father and
the Son are revealed by the Holy Spirit”.
Augustine explain the doctrine of the Trinity as their different roles or acts that they do, they are
3 divine persons, but they are not inseparable from each other.
Reference
Caitlin Sica, Jul 11, 2019, St. Augustine's Analogy for Understanding the Trinity, McGrath
Institute for Church Life, University of Notre Dame. Retrieved from:
https://mcgrathblog.nd.edu/st.-augustines-analogy-for-understanding-the-trinity
5. According to McGrath, why did monasticism rise in prominence? By using the example
of The Life of Antony, explain the nature and life of a monk.
Monasticism grow because of strict medieval monastic life consisted of manual labor, prayer,
and reading, this resulted in the nuns and monks becoming closer to God, also they worked hard
at copying manuscripts, teaching others, developing the arts and spreading the gospel.
6. According to McGrath, what is Byzantine theology and how did it develop??
