Religion and Theology:
You should write careful and thorough responses to each of the questions listed for each chapter. To complete this assignment, copy the questions below and paste them into your Word document. You may then double-space after each question and then type in your response. Save and submit the completed document. If you prefer, after you complete the assignment you may save and submit it as a pdf document.
Preface:
1. What does it mean to really follow Jesus?
First Words:
1. Briefly describe the “two ways” McKnight describes to answer the big question that shapes this book.
2. What is the “big question” McKnight wants to answer in One.Life? What answer does he give on this “First Words” section?
Chapter 1 One.Life:
1. Describe in your own words what you think McKnight means when he talks about your “dream”. Where do you get your dreams?
2. What is “possibility overload”? What does “possibility overload” feel like?
3. How did John Stott answer the question “how can I discern the Lord’s will for my life”? Explain what you think his answer means?
4. I you could do anything with your One.Life that you could do, what would it be?
Chapter 2 Kingdom.Life
1. Explain as clearly and thoroughly as possible what Jesus meant when he spoke about “kingdom”? What did it mean in the minds of his listeners?
2. Describe how McKnight explains the way the Church came to reinterpret or misinterpret the idea of the “kingdom”?
3. Explain the meaning of “ubuntu”? What does this African term have to do with Jesus?
4. How does McKnight, in this chapter, begin to answer the question of what it means to be a Christian?
5. If you do not already know the Lord’s Prayer by heart, I recommend you memorize and pray it daily throughout this class on Christian Faith and Life. Write it out here in whatever version of the Bible you’ve been using in your study. (You can find this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6: 9-13 or Luke 11: 2-4).
Chapter 3 Imagined.Life:
1. According to McKnight, what does a “parable” do? How is a parable like fiction? What is their purpose?
2. Of the eight examples of parables McKnight presents, choose three of them. Locate them in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, or Luke). Identify the reference. How do the parables you choose “imagine” the Kingdom of God?
3. See the question of the bartender (p. 46). Based on your study to this point in the class, how would you answer the question? What are you learning about Christian Faith and Life?
Chapter 4 Love.Life
1. What is the “shema” and why is it so important?
2. Explain what McKnight declares to be the aim or goal of the Christian life?
3. What were the “613” in Jesus’ day? What was their intended purpose? Were they effective? How does Jesus seem to regard them?
4. What is the “Jesus Creed”? (You might consider memorizing it and repeating it each day for the remainder of the Class – along with the Lord’s prayer. At the very least, copy it on a note-card and keep it where you can see it every day.)
5. Describe how McKnight found himself being changed as he began to discover and recite the “Jesus Creed”. How does he relate the “Jesus Creed” to the “Kingdom”?
6. What difference do you think it would make in the world around you (beginning with your family and friends) if everyone took the Kingdom vision of Jesus seriously?
Chapter 5 Justice
This is a very thoughtful, challenging and probing chapter. Before you read it, you might want to read or pray the “Jesus Creed” and the “Lord’s Prayer”. Read the entire chapter before you attempt to respond to the questions. As you read, recall that in this class we are trying to answer the question, “What is the meaning of Christian Faith and Life?”
1. Summarize in a good paragraph what you hear as the central message and focus of this chapter?
2. How does McKnight present the role of the prophet? Who are his examples? Why?
3. How does this chapter answer the question “Why did Jesus come?” Be as comprehensive and through with your response as possible.
Note how his death relates to the concept of justice.
4. Why do you think it is sometimes easier for followers of Jesus to go somewhere away from where they live to perform acts of mercy and justice?