Religious Education (Catholic) 25 – Page 5

RS 25: Who is Jesus? (Assignment One)

Lets review what has been learned in class. You are expected to know this.

Kingdom of God: What was Jesus Talking About?

Central to Jesus’ identity, his life, his mission and message, and all of his words and actions is the notion of the Kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus told his listeners to “strive first for the Kingdom of God” (Matt 6:33). His prayer and life experiences led him to identify himself as the proclaimer and possessor of the Kingdom. His parables pointed to and described the Kingdom, and his miracles were signs of its presence in the people’s midst. Let’s explore what Jesus meant by the Reign of God.

The Greek word for kingdom is basileia, denoting “royal power”. Kingdom of God is the sphere of God’s rule. The word kingdom, which is used most often in scripture, can sometimes get in the way of our understanding what Jesus meant when he preached about the Kingdom of God. For us, the Kingdom of God can automatically imply a place or region. When discussing Jesus’ teachings, a better reference might be the Reign of God or the Rule of God.

Parables

What are parables? Parables are like fables. A fable is a pretend story or tale, intended to instruct or amuse; a fictitious narration intended to enforce some useful truth or teaching (such as a moral). Consider the following fable.

Parables are stories that allow us to catch a glimpse of something that is too big for words. The word parable comes from a Greek word parabole meaning “comparison”. It usually builds from a literary device called a simile. In a simile, two very different things are compared to one another in order to illustrate a point. The word like often (but not always) joins the two parts of the comparison.

Thus, we can define a parable as a brief, concise story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. It differs from fable in excluding animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind. Parables often have a surprise twist at the end.

The basic story elements in Jesus’ parables grew out of the land, culture, and family life of his people: farming and shepherding, children playing and adults working at their trades and crafts. Thus, knowing something about the land and daily life (culture) of the Jewish people of Jesus’ time is essential to grasping the meaning of Jesus’ teachings. When we read the parables today, it is often helpful to find parallels between our experiences and those of the people Jesus was directly addressing. That is, we can translate the parables into familiar language. Even better, we should try to see ourselves in the parables.

ASSIGNMENT
Task: select one of the following parables, read it carefully, and then answer the three questions below. You can use oremus Bible Browser to help you do this.

The Parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10 or Matt 15:8-10)

The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7 or Matt 18:10-14)

The Parable of the Prodigal and His brother (Luke 15:11-31 or Matt 15:11-32)

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16)

The Three Parables (Matt 13:44-50)

Questions:

Why might the parable have surprised or caught the attention of Jesus’ listeners?
What is being compared in the story? (The “Reign of God is like…” Or “heaven is like…”)
What does the story say about the “Reign of God,” or the way God rules?

RS 25: Jesus is Central to the Christian Faith (Key Teachings)

Central to Jesus’ teachings is Love. Jesus did not actually use the word love all that much. He spoke more often of the results or expressions of love: service to others, compassion, forgiveness, and reconciliation. According to the teachings of Jesus, love of God cannot be lived out apart from love of our fellow human beings.

Key teachings of Jesus

To understand the words, sayings, and stories of Jesus, we must keep in mind the vehicle by which they come to us, that is, the Gospels. The Gospels are the faith community’s reflections upon and expressions of Jesus’ life and message. In other words, we do not find Jesus’ everyday, casual conversation in the Gospels. We have, rather, his most significant thoughts and ideas – expressed through the words of those who heard him. In most cases, these words were passed on orally for many years before finally being recorded in the Gospels.

ASSIGNMENT

Below are listed some of the key teachings of Jesus as found in the canonical Gospels. Read the texts below and summarize the teaching. You can use oremus Bible Browser to help you do this.

Golden Rule (Matt 7:12 or Luke 6:31)
The Greatest Commandment (Mark 12:28-34 or Luke 10:25-28 or Matt 22:34-40)
Love Enemies (Matt 5:43-48 or Luke 6:27-28, 32-36)
Retaliation (Matt 5:38-42 or Luke 6:29-31)

Reflection: Consider, for a moment, how the world might be a different place if all people chose to follow these four teachings. Set aside any thoughts of, “that will never happen” or “People would never do that”. Just imagine what the world would be like if everyone did. Write a reflection consisting of one or two paragraphs describing how the world would change if everyone chose to follow just these four teachings. Use examples to support your reflection.

Enter your response on your blog, print it and hand it in. The rubric used to grade this reflection is called Reflection Rubric, found on the pages at the right

How do you Cite Resources Properly?

Here is a cool website called Citation Machine. You can use this website to cite resources correctly. It doesn’t matter whether you use a website, book, or any other resource.

Here is its mission:

Citation machine helps students and professional researchers to properly credit the information that they use. Its primary goal is to make it so easy for student researchers to cite their information sources, that there is virtually no reason not to — because…

How to Use:

To use, click on APA and then hit “submit”.
Select what type of resource you used (print or non-print).
Put in the required information, then click “submit”.
Then copy and paste the corrected cited resource.

Assessing the Response Rubric

Ethical Values Assignment

Ethical values (Core ethical values) and (Medical values)

Six values that are commonly used in medical ethics discussions

Autonomy – a person has the right to make their own choices. In Medicine, the patient has the right to refuse or choose their treatment.
Beneficence – decisions involve having the other person’s best interests in mind; a practitioner should act in the best interest of the patient.
Non-maleficence – “first, do no harm”
Justice – to provide what a person is entitled to; concerns the distribution of scarce health resources, and the decision of who gets what treatment
Dignity – Humans are to be honoured and treated with respect; the patient (and the person treating the patient) have the right to dignity.
Fidelity – Keeping promises, being honest, telling the truth; the concept of informed consent has increased in importance

Directions: Select one of the bioethical issues below and using the handout provided in class, come to an informed decision on the issue you selected.

Bioethical Issues

(Should having a baby after menopause be allowed?) Is 66 to old to have a baby?
(Should collecting sperm after a man has died be allowed?) Judge OKs Dead Son’s Sperm and Judge OKs …
(Should euthanasia or Abortion allowed legally?) Decriminalizing euthanasia and Euthanasia Bill and End of Life Decisions
(When should organs be harvested for organ donation?) When does death occur? and Doctors Debate

Dead Man Walking Assigment

Introduction

Amnesty’s annual report (2012) has China topping list of executions with over 1,000, Iran second with 314, US fifth with 43. The United States only country in the Americas practicing execution. (see YNet News)

The Amnesty International report says 682 executions in 2012 in all countries other than China were verified to have been carried out last year —only two more than 2011 —as five countries carried through with the death penalty for the first time in many years…The country that had the highest increase in the number of executions was Iraq, with almost double the 68 killed in 2011. (see Amnesty International)

Canada, on the other hand, does not have a death penalty. (see 35 years of abolition) In most cases, the most serious sentence for murder is life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 25 years. However, if a person has a long history of violent crime, then they can be declared a “dangerous offender.” With this classification they are given an indefinite sentence with little chance of ever being paroled.

An Angus-Reid poll released in March, 2012, suggests three out of five Canadians (60%) support reinstating the death penalty for murder. (see Amnesty International)

Sources: Amnesty International and Religious Tolerance.org

Assignment:

Do some research to find out the arguments for and against capital punishment (death penalty)? There are some links below to start off with. Then take a stance on the following statement:

Should Canada reinstate the death penalty for criminals who commit first-degree murder?

This does not have to be in the form of a formal essay, but be sure to support you arguments with factual information. Include in your discussions, the answers to the following questions.

How does Ezekiel 33:11 apply to the question of capital punishment? “As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live.”
The concept of equal retribution “Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot” (Deuteronomy 19:21) was actually given in order to control the all-out vengeance that had taken place up to that time. What does Jesus tell us about vengeance? Read Matthew 5:38-42; Luke 6:27-36; Romans 12:19, and 1 Peter 3:9 to find out. (Just go to NRSV Bible, and type in the book, chapter and verse. When you do this, the verse(s) will come up.) How do these scriptures apply to modern day capital punishment?

Here are some links to start off with:

Against arguments: Catholic Culture and Amnesty International USA

Pro arguments: Pro death penalty and Pro death penalty page (keep in mind some of these are websites of individuals, so one has to question their reliablity for statistics, etc.)

Contains both arguments: Religious Tolerance and Arguments for and against

Movie Study Assignment Rubric

Dead Man Walking Reflection 2

Select one of the questions to answer.

Scene: Matthew finally confesses to Sr. Prejean. The dialogue went as follows:
Sr. Prejean:    “Do you take responsibility for both of their (the victims) deaths?”
Matthew:    “Yes ma’am.” (Matthew breaks down and cries)
Sr. Prejean:    “…You did a terrible thing. But you have dignity now. Nobody can take that from you. You are a Son of God, Matthew”.
Matthew: (crying)     “Nobody ever called me a Son of God before. They’ve called me a son of a you know what…”

What does Helen mean by “dignity”? What does the above conversation tell you about Matthew’s self-esteem? You may need to draw from your unit one notes. Why was Sr. Prejean so insistent that Matthew takes responsibility for his actions? What does Sr. Prejean mean by “You are a Son of God, Matthew.”

2. During another discussion between Sr. Prejean and Matthew   Poncelet the following dialogue occurs:
Sr. Prejean:    “Was your Daddy a racist?”
Matthew:    “What kind of question was that?”
Sr. Prejean:    “You have to teach a child to hate. I was just wandering who taught you.”
Matthew:    “I just don’t like niggers.”
Sr. Prejean:    “Have you ever known any black people?”
Sr. Prejean:     (Talking about black people) “...I know some pretty cool people. A lot of hard working people.”
Matthew:    “I know a lot of welfare taking coloreds sucking up tax dollars”
Sr. Prejean:   “Have you ever been the object of prejudice?”
Matthew:    “No.”
Sr. Prejean:    “What do you think people say about men on death row?”
Matthew:      “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me.”
Sr. Prejean:    “They’re all monsters. Disposable human waste. Good for nothing sucking up tax dollars.”

What is prejudice? Does prejudice come from ignorance? Are people taught to hate? Explain. Do you agree that people on death row are “all monsters? Disposable human waste. Good for nothing sucking up tax dollars.” Why or why not? Remember, your opinion has no validity unless you provide reasons with evidence or examples.

3. During a discussion between Sr. Helen Prejean and a Catholic Priest, the Priest says, “Are you familiar with the Old Testament? Thou shalt not kill (Exod 20:13). If anyone sheds the blood of man, his blood shall be shed.” (Gen 9:6). Sr. Helen responds with, “Yes Father. Are you familiar with the New Testament where Jesus talks about grace and reconciliation? (Matthew 6:14)” Why is there two very differing views on how to deal with murderers in the bible? Explain. Which testament (old or new) should be given president? Why? Is using scripture text to justify your position acceptable? Why or why not?

To help you understand the two dominant images of God in scripture, go to bible, and enter Genesis 6:11-13 to get a feeling of the OT image of God. Then to get a feeling for the NT image of God, enter 1 John 4:7-9 and 1 John 16-17.

Reflection Rubric

Dead Man Walking Reflection 1

Select one of the questions to answer.

1. Scene: Matthew’s lawyer, Millard Farmer, was discussing the up coming Pardon Board hearing. During that discussion, the lawyer says, “It’s easy to kill a monster. It’s hard to kill a human being. That’s why we need people that know you.” Is it possible for a human being to be less than a human being? Explain. If needed, Get More Info before you take the decision. Does society justify killing by viewing people as something less than human? Support your answer with examples. Here is an example of where dehumanization language was used, Severin suspended.

2. Mr. Percy, Hope’s (one of the murder victims) father, says, “Matthew is God’s mistake!” Do you agree with Mr. Percy? Does God make mistakes? Here is an interesting response to that question from explorefaith.org. What causes human beings, created in the image of God, to commit such inhuman acts as rape and murder? Provide a detailed response to this question.

Dead Poets Society Assignment

The Movie Study Assignment Rubric will be used to grade this assignment.

Directions: Describe examples from the video Dead Poets Society for each of the following concepts.

An example of an ethical principle followed by one of the movie characters in the movie. Explain how the movie character’s ethics affected their morality.
An example from each level of Kolberg’s postulates. It does not matter which stage of each level you use.
An example of an arbitrary law followed or not followed by one of the characters in the movie.
An example of a natural law as it applies to one of the characters in the movie. For example, it could be a movie character who followed or did not follow a natural law.
A movie character whose action portrays aspects of narcissism.
A movie character whose actions indicates inertia.
A movie character from the movie that responds to authority with altruism.
A character from the movie that responds to authority with utilitarianism.
An example of a movie character that depicts personality rather than their true character.
A person of character rather than just represents personality.
An example of a movie character that used a defensive evasion of self-esteem or developing character. Describe the specific evasion.
An example of a movie character that used an offensive evasion of self-esteem or developing character. Describe the specific evasion.
Which worldview – anthrocentrism or theocentrism – was prevalent in the video? Explain your answer.

Be sure to describe the scene or movie character thoroughly. When describing a movie character be sure to clearly describe behaviors that undoubtedly illustrate the concept (narcissism, altruism, etc.) that you want to represent.
picture-2

Dead Poets Society Reflection 2

The following are two sets of questions relating to the movie Dead Poets Society. Answer one of the sets of questions. The reflection rubric will be used to grade this assignment.

Set One:

Answer the following three questions in a paragraph

Would Neil Perry still have eventually committed suicide if Mr. Keating, his English teacher, had never come into his life? Why exactly did Neil take his own life? [Note: To properly answer a questions such as these, find out why people commit suicide ] Who really was to blame for Neil’s death?
Could have Neil’s death have been prevented? Could of his classmates have prevented his suicide? [Note: To properly answer a questions such as these, find out how suicide can be prevented ] Could Neil have found another way out of his predicament? Was suicide his only answer?
With similarly screwed up parents as Neil’s, why didn’t Todd take the same way out?

Set Two:

Answer the next two questions in a paragraph

Just before the boys are called to testify, Cameron enters the room and is forced to defend his decision. He tells his friends, “Look, in case you haven’t heard, there is a honor code at this school, alright. If the teacher asks you a question, you tell the truth or you’re expelled”. Was Cameron following natural law? Why or why not? Was Cameron demonstrating character? Explain using specific examples from the movie.
In the initial screenplay, Todd specifically does not sign the paper at the end. In the movie, we are not told one way or the other. Did Todd sign it or not? Why or why not? What would a person of character do? Explain.