MSCE Religious and Moral Education cheat sheet

Trinity: one God in three co-equal, co-eternal persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit; each is fully God, yet there is only one God (Nicene Creed, 325/381 CE).

Incarnation: the belief that the eternal Son of God took human flesh in Jesus of Nazareth; orthodox teaching holds Jesus is fully divine and fully human, not a mixture.

Atonement theories differ: substitution/satisfaction (Christ bears penalty for sin), Christus Victor (Christ defeats sin, death and evil), and moral exemplar (Christ reveals God's love and models obedience).

Resurrection: the bodily rising of Jesus on the third day; 1 Corinthians 15 makes it the foundation of Christian hope and of belief in life after death.

Creation: Genesis 1–2 presents God as sole creator; interpretations range from literal six-day creation to theistic evolution, but all affirm God as source of all that exists.

Salvation is by God's grace, received through faith; Catholic and Orthodox traditions add sacraments and cooperation with grace, while most Protestant traditions stress faith alone (sola fide).

The problem of evil: moral evil comes from free will, natural evil from a fallen or evolving world; responses include soul-making (Irenaeus), free-will defence (Augustine) and process theology.

Jesus' ethical teaching centres on the two great commandments - love God and love neighbour - with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) as its core text.

Eschatology: creeds affirm Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, leading to resurrection, final judgement and eternal life.

Baptism: water rite of initiation; infant baptism (Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed) versus believer's baptism by immersion (Baptist, Pentecostal).

Eucharist/Lord's Supper/Mass: bread and wine recalling the Last Supper; transubstantiation (Catholic), consubstantiation (Lutheran), and memorial/symbolic (many Free Churches).

Confirmation, confession/reconciliation, anointing of the sick, ordination and marriage complete the seven sacraments in Catholic and Orthodox practice.

Liturgical year: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter (the central festival), Pentecost, and Ordinary Time structure worship and readings.

Sunday is the main day of worship because of the resurrection; Sabbath-keeping on Saturday is retained by Seventh-day Adventists and some others.

Prayer forms include set liturgical prayer (Book of Common Prayer, rosary, Divine Office) and free extempore prayer; the Lord's Prayer is the common model.

Pilgrimage: Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela and Lourdes are major destinations; pilgrimage expresses devotion, penance and thanksgiving.

Charity and mission: tithing or stewardship funds the church; evangelism, aid agencies (e.g. Christian Aid) and monastic service express discipleship.

Clergy and authority: episcopal (bishops), presbyterian (elders) and congregational polities differ over who may ordain and lead.

Sources of moral authority: scripture, tradition, reason and experience (the Wesleyan quadrilateral); churches weight these differently.

Natural law (Aquinas) holds that reason can discern God-given purposes in human nature, making some acts intrinsically wrong regardless of consequences.

Situation ethics (Joseph Fletcher) judges acts by agape love in the situation; it is relativist and rejects fixed rules.

Just war theory (Augustine, Aquinas) requires legitimate authority, just cause, right intention, proportionality, last resort and non-combatant immunity.

Pacifism follows Jesus' teaching on non-violence (Matthew 5:38–42); Quakers and Mennonites are historic peace churches.

Liberation theology reads the gospel from the perspective of the poor, stressing structural sin and political action for justice.

Christian community life: the parish or congregation, diaconal care, marriage and family, and ecumenical bodies such as the World Council of Churches.

Sexual ethics vary: Catholic teaching reserves sexual acts for marriage and is open to life; most Protestant churches accept contraception and some accept same-sex relationships.

Tawhid: the absolute oneness and unity of Allah; shirk (associating partners with God) is the gravest sin in Islamic teaching.

Six articles of faith (Sunni): belief in Allah, angels, revealed books, prophets, the Day of Judgement, and divine decree (qadar).

Prophets: Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and Muhammad are key; Muhammad is the final prophet (khatam an-nabiyyin) and the Qur'an is the final revelation.

Qur'an: 114 surahs revealed to Muhammad over about 23 years; it is regarded as the literal, uncreated word of God in Sunni orthodoxy.

Angels are created from light and have no free will; Jibril brought revelation, Mikail controls provision, and Israfil will blow the trumpet.

Day of Judgement: bodily resurrection, the scales (mizan) weighing deeds, the bridge (sirat), and heaven (jannah) or hell (jahannam).

Qadar and free will: Sunni theology affirms God's decree while holding humans responsible; Mu'tazilite and Shi'a positions stress human freedom more strongly.

Shi'a distinctive beliefs include the Imamate, the Twelve Imams, and the Occultation and eventual return of the Mahdi.

Five Pillars (Sunni): shahadah (declaration of faith), salah (five daily prayers), zakah (annual alms, normally 2.5% of eligible wealth), sawm (fasting in Ramadan), hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah).

Shahadah: "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" - recitation with conviction marks entry into Islam.

Salah: performed at dawn, midday, afternoon, sunset and night, facing the qiblah (Makkah), preceded by wudu (ablution); rak'ahs differ per prayer.

Sawm: abstention from food, drink and sexual relations from dawn to sunset during Ramadan; exemptions include illness, travel, pregnancy and old age (with fidyah).

Hajj: performed in Dhu al-Hijjah; rites include ihram, tawaf around the Ka'bah, sa'i between Safa and Marwah, standing at Arafat, and stoning the jamarat.

Zakah purifies wealth and funds eight categories of recipients named in Qur'an 9:60; sadaqah is voluntary charity distinct from zakah.

Jihad means striving; greater jihad is inner struggle against sin, lesser jihad is defensive armed struggle governed by strict rules forbidding harm to non-combatants.

Shi'a practices add wilayah (allegiance to the Imams) and commemorate Ashura, mourning the martyrdom of Husayn at Karbala.

Festivals: Eid al-Fitr ends Ramadan; Eid al-Adha coincides with the hajj and commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice.

Shari'ah is derived from the Qur'an, Sunnah, ijma (consensus) and qiyas (analogy); ijtihad is independent reasoning by qualified scholars.

Fiqh rulings fall into five categories: obligatory (fard), recommended (mandub), neutral (mubah), disliked (makruh) and forbidden (haram).

Halal and haram govern food, drink and conduct; pork, carrion, blood and intoxicants are haram, and meat must be slaughtered with the name of Allah.

Islamic finance bans riba (interest) and gharar (excessive uncertainty), using murabaha, mudarabah, musharakah and sukuk instead.

Family law: marriage (nikah) is a contract with mahr; divorce (talaq) is permitted but disliked, with waiting periods (iddah) protecting paternity and reconciliation.

The ummah is the worldwide community of believers; the mosque (masjid) serves as prayer hall, school and social centre, and the imam leads prayer.

Bioethics: most scholars permit organ donation and IVF between spouses, oppose surrogacy, and differ on abortion timing, commonly allowing it before 120 days for serious reasons.

War ethics: jihad may be declared only by legitimate authority, must be defensive and proportionate, and forbids killing non-combatants, children and destroying crops.

Supreme Being: most African traditions affirm one high God (e.g. Nyame, Olodumare, Mwari, Chukwu) who is often distant and approached through intermediaries.

Intermediaries include divinities or orishas, ancestors and spirits; ancestors (the living-dead) are honoured for protection and moral guidance.

Creation myths vary by people; many describe the high God withdrawing from humanity after a breach, explaining the need for intermediaries.

Life after death: ancestors continue to exist in a spirit world and are remembered through libation, naming and annual festivals.

Divination systems such as Ifa among the Yoruba and the oracle among the Ndebele reveal causes of misfortune and prescribe remedies.

Rites of passage mark birth, naming, initiation, marriage and death; initiation often transmits moral teaching and adult responsibility.

Moral order is upheld by taboos, communal sanctions and the belief that wrongdoing offends ancestors and disrupts the community's well-being.

Sacred specialists include priests, diviners, healers and rainmakers; they serve the community rather than forming a separate hierarchy.

Modern issues: inculturation in Christianity and Islam, and debates over labelling practices as superstition or as cultural heritage.

Meta-ethics: descriptive claims state what is; normative claims state what ought to be; moral realism holds that moral truths exist independently of opinion.

Consequentialism judges acts by outcomes (utilitarianism: greatest happiness for the greatest number); deontology judges acts by duty and rules (Kant's categorical imperative).

Virtue ethics (Aristotle) asks what a virtuous person would do, stressing character, habit and the golden mean between extremes.

Human rights: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) sets civil, political, economic and social rights; duties and rights are often paired.

Applied debates: abortion (right to life versus bodily autonomy), euthanasia (autonomy and mercy versus sanctity of life), capital punishment, and genetic engineering.

Environmental ethics: stewardship (humans as caretakers), deep ecology (intrinsic value of nature), and sustainability as intergenerational justice.

Justice theories: Rawls' veil of ignorance yields fairness; distributive justice concerns how goods are shared; retributive versus restorative justice differ over punishment's purpose.

Religious moral reasoning typically combines scripture, tradition and reason, and often appeals to the sanctity of life and the common good.