Class 2 – Creation
1. [CCC 296,285,290] Unlike the pagan belief of “Pantheism,” which holds that God is the same as nature, and that He is
the common “soul” of all people, Christians proclaim that God is transcendent – independent of creation – and
that He made all that is “out of nothing.” What is the Latin phrase that describes the Christian understanding of
the origin of the world?
2. [CCC 331; Is 6:1-7, Ez 1:5-21, Ez 10, Rv 4:4-8, Col 1:16, Eph 1:21, 6:10-12] Besides creating the creatures of the
visible world, of which man is the pinnacle, God also created pure spirits in various orders or choirs known as the
Celestial Hierarchy. Besides “Angels” and “Archangels,” list 3 other orders:
3. [CCC 327,362,363-4] Man is unique among all God’s creatures in that he shares in both the visible material creation,
and in the invisible spiritual creation. Man belongs to the physical order by means of his __________, and he
belongs at the same time to the spiritual order by means of his ____________.
4. [CCC 363-4,366,1013] Even though man’s physical body comes from the material universe, and is related to the bodies
of other animals, man’s rational and spiritual soul is uniquely created by God. Because of this, man is not just
“something” but a unique “someone,” who possesses freedom and will like God. Man is the “image and likeness”
of God. This truth is denied if we believe man evolved by chance from lower creatures. It is also denied if we
believe in reincarnation—that the soul returns after death in another form. What is the distinctive concept of
Christianity used to depict this truth about man?
5. [CCC 1704] What are the two spiritual faculties of the soul?
6. [CCC 1849-50] What is it called when we abuse or misuse human freedom, disobeying or rejecting God, and thus
corrupting our human goodness, and introducing moral ugliness into the soul?
7. [CCC 397-400] What is the condition of the human race which has resulted from Adam’s disobedience when he sinned
in his capacity as head of the human race, by which all mankind suffers the loss of God’s sanctifying grace, and is
under the curse of death?