Exam 8: The Great Fathers and the Quest for Union With God

The Pelagian controversy proved to be an important debate in the history of Christianity. What are your views on free will? Did the Council of Orange succeed in your mind in settling the issue? Explain.

According to Origen, why did God create the world?

What was the Donatist controversy about?

What best characterizes Augustine's influence in the Eastern church?

What religion did Augustine investigate and become a member of before he became a Christian?

What was the fourfold method of interpretation?

Origen was one of the first fathers of the church to challenge the goal of apatheia as not Christian.

How did Origen die?

When Origen was nineteen years old, he was appointed to which of the following?

What was unusual about Ambrose being made a bishop of Milan?

According to Gregory of Nyssa, one had to bypass the natural way of knowing to come to a supernatural way of knowing.

How did Gregory of Nyssa explain God sending plagues to the Egyptians in Exodus?

Augustine came to Milan to become court orator to the emperor.

Which aspects of Platonic philosophy do you think are beneficial to Christianity? Which ones do you think are particularly harmful?

What was Origen's reputation in the patristic church?

The Donatist controversy began with the problem of the authority of bishops who had renounced the faith under persecution, but were now restored. Augustine's position was that the sacramental power that they administrated had nothing to do with their personal holiness but only God's grace. Is this a coherent position? How is it defensible or not to have sinful ministers who still have sacramental authority?

Did the church fathers generally believe that one had to transcend the physical world for direct encounters with God?

According to the author, which of the Cappadocian fathers was the most systematic in his theology?

How did Augustine become a priest?

What did Gregory of Nyssa mean by despoiling the Egyptians?