REED 1: Salvation History made Israel a people, his people; thus his

people is chosen gratuitously, in keeping

and Life of Christ with a loving design conceived as far back
as the Creation and one which stays
operative despite the infidelities of men.
Origin of the patriarchs: The patriarchs in the
 From the beginning there is an implicit
history of Salvation
covenant with Adam. This is made explicit
The following is taken from the Navarre Bible
with Noah, Abraham and, later, with Moses,
Pentateuch (footnote for Genesis 11:27-50:26):
i.e., with the whole people through Moses. In
 it is a story of clans and tribes, set in a
the Patriarchs we see the pattern of
chronological framework with references to
Promise, Election and Covenant. Later with
geographical places in the Middle East.
Moses the element of Law is also added.
 Abraham emerges as the father of Ishmael
(Casciaro and Monforte, God, the World and
and Isaac. Ishmael is the ancestor of the
Man, p. 315)
Ishmaelites (or Arabs); Isaac, the father of
 To promise means to pledge to a person
the chosen people. Isaac is the father of
both one's strength and one's fidelity,
Esau and Jacob. Esau is identified with
proclaiming that one is sure of the future and
Edom; Jacob (or Israel) will be the father of
sure of oneself; it also elicits from the other
twelve sons, who go down to Egypt and
person commitment of heart and generosity
whose descendants came back from there,
of faith.
forming the twelve tribes, the people of
 For God promising already means giving,
Israel. The people of Israel form the subject
since he can never fail and never deceive.
of the book of Exodus.
His promise inspires a faith capable of hope
 In this patriarchal history the main thing the
that the gift will come. In Israel the promises
Bible wants to show is that God's plan is
God made to Abraham are the key to a
being put into effect--his plan to choose one
history of salvation, which is about the
people so as to make a covenant with it, the
fulfilment of God's prophecies and oaths.
covenant of Sinai; that is prepared for by
The divine promises are irrevocable, even
means of earlier covenants that God makes
though the infidelities of Israel will entail
with the patriarchs. God's saving plan begins
some hold-ups on the way.
to take concrete form with Abraham.
 The promises God made to Abraham are:
 Abraham came from the city of Ur, in the
1. a multitude of descendants
south of Mesopotamia, along the banks of
2. God will provide for those descendants
the Euphrates River, close to the Persian
in a special way
Gulf. When he first migrated with his father
3. The possession of the land of Canaan
Terah, they went to Haran, to the northeast,
4. Victory over their enemy
between the two great rivers. It is from
5. All nations will be blessed in him and
Haran where he set out for Canaan,
his descendants
sometime between 1800 and 1600 BC
 The fundamental promise, the ground of
many future promises, is to be found in
Genesis 12:1-3. Here the author continues
the historia salutis sketched out in the first
11 chapters of Genesis, but from a new
vantage point. In Gen. 3:15 (the
Protoevangelium)
 The choice of Abraham, his calling, uproots
him from his fatherland and kinsfolk, to make
him the father of a great people and the
Periods of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:
instrument of God's blessing on all the
election, promise and faith
nations of the earth. And Abraham's faith,
 In the Protoevangelium a future salvation is
trust and submission to God make him a
promised to Adam and Eve after the original
model for all future generations.
sin.
The call of Abraham is a key passage to
 Later, after the flood, Noah is guarantee a
understanding the theology of biblical and
new order in the world. There follows the
world history.
divine promise to the patriarch Abraham,
 Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Go from your
which is renewed to his descendants Isaac
country and your kindred and your father's
and Jacob and which extends to all their
house to the land that I will show you. And I
descendants.
will make of you a great nation, and I will
 This promise has to do, immediately, with
bless you, and make your name great, so
their obtaining the country where the
that you will be a blessing. I will bless those
Patriarchs lived (the Promised Land), but it
who bless you, and him who curses you I
involves much more than that: it means
will curse; and by you all the families of the
there is a special, unique, relationship
earth shall bless themselves." (Genesis
between Israel and the "God of the fathers".
12:1-3)
 For Yahweh has called Abraham to perform
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
a special mission, and this calling prefigures
teaches us
the election of Israel. It is Yahweh who has
 The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great
eulogy of the faith of Israel's ancestors, lays
special emphasis on Abraham's faith
 "By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was
called to go out to a place which he was to
receive as an inheritance; and he went out,
not knowing where he was to go." (Hebrews
11:8; cf Genesis 12:1-4) By faith, he lived as
a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land.
(Cf Genesis 23:4) By faith, Sarah was given
to conceive the son of the promise. And by
faith Abraham offered his only son in
sacrifice. (Cf Hebrews 11:17)
God repeats his promise a number of times,
the most solemn instance being that in the
passage about the sacrifice of Isaac, his
son :
 And the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham
a second time from heaven, and said, "By
myself I have sworn, says Yahweh, because
you have done this, and have not withheld
your son, your only son, I will indeed bless
you, and I will multiply your descendants as
the stars of heaven and as the sand which is
on the seashore. And your descendants
shall possess the gate of their enemies and
by your descendants shall all the nations of
the earth bless themselves because you
have obeyed my voice." (Genesis 22:15-18).
 Yahweh swears solemnly and confirms his
promise to Abraham as a reward for his
heroic faith and obedience.
God renews the covenant with Isaac, when
God intervenes in favour of Isaac at the time
of his meeting with Abimelech:
 And Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Do
not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of
which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land,
and I will be with you, and will bless you; for
to you and to your descendants I will give all
these lands, and I will fulfil the oath which I
swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply
your descendants as the stars of heaven,
and I will give to your descendants all these
lands, and by your descendants all the
nations of the earth shall bless themselves:
because Abraham obeyed my voice and
kept my charge, my commandments, and
my laws." (Genesis 26:2-5)
 The promises is passed on like a family
heirloom to Jacob, even though Jacob had
been away from Canaan for 20 years, and
his life has been marked by a certain degree
of profanity.
 And behold, Yahweh stood above it and
said, "I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham,
your father, and the God of Isaac; the land
on which you lie I will give to you and to your
descendants; and your descendants shall be
like the dust of the earth[...]" (Genesis 28:13-
14).
ENGLISH 1: Purposive
Communication
Communication and Globalization
Globalization – is the process by which people
and goods move easily across borders.
 Globalization has speeded up
enormously(hugely/largely) over the last
half-century, thanks to great leaps in
technology.
 The internet has revolutionized (developed)
connectivity and communication, and help
people share their ideas much more widely.
