christian tradition

• love which is completely centered on the other person; when you love someone more than yourself
• example:self-gift

a love that finds satisfaction in the person or thing loved

companionship or friendship

1. affirm the goodness of who we are


2. embrace our creaturliness

salvation is the story of gods entry into the world in order to reaffirm the first judgement, which is that god has looked at us and seen that we are good

salvation is not the story of God's rescuing us from evil universe but of god's coming to live in the universe with us

christianity is about particular events that happen at particular time by particular people,it is a report, a gospel of good news and news requires that someone bring the news to us

our relations to god is dependent on our relationship with our brothers and sisters

the church fulfills its role in god's plan of salvation, not by excluding anyone but by including everyone who wants to be included

the confessions was written from A.D. 397 to 400

1.he felt god wanted him to

2. the confessions area long poetic passionate prayer and praise to god for his  glory

3. he wrote it for the many people who questioned his rise to bishop because he was a aniche for 9 years he wanted to tell them of his conversion the good bad and the ugly so they would believe him

4. he wrote it for his fellow christians who could take comfort and encourage them to praise god

the mixture of good and evil in the world was accounted for by the aboriginal existance of two kingdoms one ruled by the goood god and the kingdom of darkness ruled by satan

the kingdom of darkness has attacked the kingdom of light, and though unable to conquer it swallowed certain particles which offered resistance among invaders

the light particle were imprisoned that is why there is tension in humans between good and evil

the material world is evil, the story of its creation by the good god is untrue

genesis and the old testament are to be rejected

jesus was an envoy sent to teach truth and help but had no real body and was not crucified

2 souls light souls was sinless but suffered oppression from the evil soul

moral life consisted of avoiding actions that would increase the dominance of the darkness over the lightness

taught the harsh but strangely comforting doctrine that sex was synonymous with darkness and bore the marks of the evil creator

christ was seen as the savior who could liberate the trapped light particles and let them escape to the religion of eternal light


 no human being could be held totally accountable for his or her sins

believed that god was not omnipotent and struggled against opposing substances of evil

believed the human soul was the same substance of god

all things including the soul had an infinite timeless and unchangeable god as the cause of their existence

 everything existed only to the extent to which it participated in god

a person must turn inward to find god, who is identical with the inner reality of the soul

the soul as the core is divine

evil has no actual existance