Creed IIB

January 17, 2008

Before Class

• Compete IFG exam and return at next class
• Read Chapter 6 of U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults
• Read all handouts listed below:
  • The Blessed Trinity
  • God the Father
  • Sign of the Cross

Homework

• Read all the handouts listed below:
  • God the Creator
  • Male and Female He Made Them
  • Made in His Image
  • The Dignity and Vocation of Women
• Read other handouts (optional)

To Make Up an Absence

If you are unable to attend this class, please submit to the instructor at the February class written responses to two questions from the chapter and two questions from the handouts (for a total of four questions) from below. Each response should be 2-3 paragraphs in length and address the question completely. Include the question at the top of your response.

Chapter 6: Man and Woman in the Beginning

1. Man, made in the image of God, "is the only creature on earth that God has willed for his own sake" (Gaudium et Spes 24); and "the first man and the first woman were qualitatively different and superior to all other living creatures on earth" (U.S. Catechism, p. 67). How do the creation stories of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 illustrate these statements?
2. Describe in your own words some implications of being created in the image of God. How is this related to the gift of free will?
3. How does a loss of understanding of the concept of original sin affect one's appreciation of the Gospel?
4. "Sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another" (CCC 387). How is this understanding of freedom different from freedom as the right to do whatever one wants to do? How does sinning make us less free?

Handouts

• The Blessed Trinity
  How is the statement "God is love" a summary of the doctrine of the Trinity? How and why is this doctrine a mystery?
• God the Father
  Why do we call the first Person of the Trinity "Father"? Is this merely an analogy to human fatherhood? Explain.
• Sign of the Cross
  How is the sign of the cross a prayer and a public witness to our faith?