Deck 5: Christian Traditions

Question 1

Christianity is comprised of roughly how many distinct denominational groups?

A) 25,000
B) 1 million
C) 125,000
D) 5,000
E) 50,000

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The doctrine of the Trinity describes God in which of the following ways?

A) The Father existed, then the Son existed, today, only the Spirit exists
B) The Son and Holy Spirit are less divine than the Father God
C) The Christian God is always changing throughout history
D) Three Gods, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, exists in one person
E) One God exists in three persons, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following statements is true of Jesus of Nazareth?

A) He was arrested by the Jewish authorities and sentenced to death by crucifixion.
B) He was raised as a Christian in a Hebrew-speaking family.
C) He began his public ministry around the age of 19.
D) He was an itinerant teacher in the prophetic tradition of his day.
E) He was born in Israel around the year 4 CE.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The Christian "synoptic" Gospels refer to which of the following?

A) Luke, Matthew, and Q
B) Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John
C) John, Luke, and Matthew
D) Mark, Luke, and Matthew
E) Mark, Matthew, and Q

Question 5

Which of the following statements is true of the Gospel of John?

A) It is one of the synoptic gospels.
B) It does not refer to Jesus as messiah and saviour.
C) It is the earliest Christian document.
D) It is a major theological essay.
E) It is a third-century text.

Question 6

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus is the incarnation of what?

A) The Holy Spirit
B) The Father God
C) The divine Word
D) The promised Messiah
E) The eternal Judge

Question 7

What are the Pauline Epistles?

A) Documents written by the Pharisees about the followers of Jesus
B) Gospel accounts written in the second century
C) A series of letters written by the Apostle Paul
D) Decrees sent out by the Roman Emperor Augustus
E) Essays written by church leaders in the third century CE

Question 8

What are the parables of the New Testament?

A) Philosophical teachings that challenged Judaism
B) Mystical reflections that encouraged monastic practices
C) Songs embedded within the Pauline epistles.
D) Gnostic theological teachings that challenged Greek philosophy
E) Simple stories illustrating a moral or spiritual lesson

Question 9

What was a major controversy that raged in the early Jesus movement?

A) Who was responsible for Jesus's death
B) Would it accommodate Gentiles who did not follow Jewish laws
C) Whether women should be ordained as priests
D) Whether or not fertility rituals needed to be maintained
E) Whether one could worship the Emperor alongside of God

Question 10

What does the Eucharist commemorate?

A) The miracles performed by Jesus
B) The last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples before his death
C) A child's baptism
D) Jesus rising from the dead
E) The birth of Jesus

Question 11

Which of the following is a sacrament in the majority of Christian denominations?

A) Ordination
B) Penance
C) Unction
D) Marriage
E) Baptism

Question 12

Prior to political changes in the fourth century, why were Christians martyred?

A) They performed miracles that challenged political authority
B) They refused to pay taxes to support building projects
C) They refused to offer sacrifices to the Emperor
D) They refused to attend the gladiator games
E) They burned down the temples devoted to the Roman gods

Question 13

Which Roman Emperor was the first to advance notably favorable policies for Christians?

A) Decius
B) Diocletian
C) Valerian
D) Constantine
E) Augustus Caesar

Question 14

The early local leaders in provided oversight for the unity of the Church were called what?

A) Priests
B) Popes
C) Deacons
D) Saints
E) Bishops

Question 15

Which of the following cities was NOT one of the major episcopal areas or sees?

A) Jerusalem
B) Avignon
C) Antioch
D) Rome
E) Constantinople

Question 16

How did the Roman Church assumed primary authority over Western Christianity?

A) By launching crusades against Eastern Christians
B) By executing bishops that denied the Pope's authority
C) By claiming the Pope was the direct successor of Paul
D) By claiming the Pope was the direct successor of Peter
E) By executing heretics that spread dangerous teachings

Question 17

Which two lesser offices were open to women in the early Christian church?

A) Priestess and deaconess
B) Priestess and widow
C) Bishop and deaconess
D) Widow and deaconess
E) Priestess and deaconess

Question 18

How many books are in the Christian New Testament?

A) 72
B) 17
C) 27
D) 22
E) 32

Question 19

When did the Christian New Testament became a standard canon in the West?

A) Shortly after the Protestant Reformation
B) In the fourth century with the Christianization of the Roman Empire
C) No standard canon ever existed
D) Within the lifetimes of the original disciples
E) Immediately following Jesus' death

Question 20

Arius taught which of the following doctrines?

A) Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father
B) Jesus was of a similar substance as God the Father
C) Jesus was nothing like the substance of God the father
D) Jesus superseded the substance of the Father
E) Jesus only appeared to be of divine substance

Question 21

Jesus was first professed to be of the same substance with the Father at what Church council?

A) Chalcedon
B) Antioch
C) Jerusalem
D) Nicaea
E) Constantinople

Question 22

What theological position was affirmed as orthodox at the Council of Chalcedon?

A) Monophysitism
B) Arianism
C) Tritheism
D) Dyophysitism
E) Nestorianism

Question 23

What is a heresy?

A) A belief or practice contrary to the accepted orthodoxy of the Church
B) A religious debate in which each sides are equally considered
C) An officially recognized subsect of the main Church
D) An official declaration of faith
E) The Emperor's final ruling on religious matters

Question 24

Which early heresy separated God the creator from God the supreme being?

A) Montanism
B) Nestorianism
C) Gnosticism
D) Docetism
E) Pelagianism

Question 25

Which of these teachings comes from Pelagianism?

A) Human beings cannot choose the good without divine grace
B) Human beings have completely lost their free will
C) Human beings are incapable of becoming perfect
D) Human beings could become divine
E) Human beings could use their free will to choose the good

Question 26

What did Gregory the Great accomplish during his papacy?

A) Bolstered the authority of Rome by promoting the cults of St. Peter and St. Paul
B) Restored unity between the Western and Eastern churches
C) Rejected traditions of late antiquity in order to advance new teachings
D) Tolerated superstition as long as Jesus Christ was also worshipped
E) Established the first monasteries in Western Christianity

Question 27

What year is final break between Constantinople and Rome conventionally dated?

A) 1450
B) 481
C) 1054
D) 987
E) 867

Question 28

St. Pachomius is known as the founder of what type of monasticism?

A) Mendicant
B) Anchorite
C) Hermetic
D) Cenobitic
E) Cistercian

Question 29

The term "anchorite" refers to what in early Christianity?

A) A deacon who spread the gospel overseas
B) A priest who preached in public squares in the city
C) A hermit devoted to silence, prayer, and sometimes mortification of the flesh
D) An element of the baptismal rite of initiation
E) A pictorial motif found in the early church

Question 30

What was decided at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787?

A) Iconography of any kind was forbidden
B) Icons were permissible as long as the faithful did not actually worship them
C) Icons were divinely inspired, and thus worthy of worship
D) Icons of Jesus were forbidden, but those of other figures were permissible
E) Icons of Jesus were permissible, but those of other figures were forbidden

Question 31

In what year did the Crusades begin?

A) 1095
B) 637
C) 1054
D) 1261
E) 1453

Question 32

What was the main concern of scholasticism in Christian thought?

A) Reconciling the philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome with Christian theology
B) Decrying the overemphasis on scholarship and learning
C) Emphasizing that scripture must be read literally
D) Increasing literacy rates amongst the peasants
E) Promoting monasticism amongst the aristocracy

Question 33

Which philosopher greatly influenced the thought of Thomas Aquinas?

A) Socrates
B) Plato
C) Aristotle
D) Boethius
E) Plotinus

Question 34

Which of the following best describes the tradition known as mysticism?

A) It was reserved for male priests and monks
B) It was an exclusively Eastern (Greek) movement
C) It emphasizes the daily reading of theology
D) It prioritizes daily theological writing in a journal
E) It emphasizes the certainty of profound personal experience

Question 35

Which group possessed special merit and could intercede to God on the behalf of Christians?

A) Archbishops
B) Nuns and monks
C) Icons
D) Angels
E) Saints

Question 36

Which Christian reformer taught that God predestined some humans for salvation and some for damnation?

A) Martin Luther
B) Ulrich Zwingli
C) Erasmus
D) Henry VIII
E) Jean Calvin

Question 37

Which Christian denomination followed the pacifist principles of George Fox?

A) Calvinist
B) Presbyterian
C) Unitarian
D) Mennonite
E) Quaker

Question 38

What was the defining Roman Catholic religious order of the Counter-Reformation?

A) The Dominicans
B) The Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
C) The Cluniac Fathers
D) The Franciscans
E) The Cistercians

Question 39

Why were Christian Puritans charged with treason in the sixteenth century?

A) They supported the Catholic rebels in England
B) They condemned all forms of church ornamentation
C) They believed the Church was subject to the state through the headship of the monarch
D) They insisted that the state should be subject to the Church
E) They upheld the authority of scripture over clergy

Question 40

How did Christian Deists envision God?

A) As a cosmic helper
B) As a personal friend
C) As Jesus, the Christ
D) As a divine clockmaker
E) As a fearsome tyrant

Question 41

Black Elk was famous for believing what?

A) That indigenous wisdom and Christian belief were complementary
B) That Aboriginal leaders should kill Catholic priests when encountering them
C) That indigenous beliefs should be abandoned in favour of Christianity
D) That Christianity would never spread amongst the First Nations people
E) That Jesus, in his youth, visited the Lakota

Question 42

In Christianity, the term "modernist" was first used in the late 19^th century to refer to whom?

A) Protestant theologians who rejected the faith tenets of the medieval Church
B) Roman Catholic theologians who advocated for the use of technology
C) Roman Catholic theologians who adopted a critical and skeptical attitude toward traditional Christian doctrines
D) Lutheran theologians who rejected the Bible as the source of God's revelation
E) Protestants who employed Enlightenment principles within theological teachings

Question 43

What was formed in 1985 to discuss and debate whether the saying of Jesus originated from him or were attributed to him later?

A) The Christ Seminar
B) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
C) The Jesus Seminar
D) Critical Christology
E) The Jesus Quest

Question 44

In Christianity, the word glossolalia refers to which of the following?

A) Church music
B) Missionary activity
C) Pamphlets handed out by missionaries
D) Collection of spiritual teachings
E) Speaking in tongues

Question 45

The renewal movement that gave rise to Christian Pentecostalism was led by which American evangelist?

A) Joseph Smith
B) Walter Rauschenbusch
C) Dorothy Day
D) Charles Parham
E) Paul Tillich

Question 46

In Christianity, how does process theology perceive God?

A) Eternal and righteous judge
B) Changeable in relationship with the unfolding universe
C) Dead and Unchangeable
D) Divine clockmaker
E) Immutable and omnipotent over all creation

Question 47

In twentieth-century Christianity, which group is most widely known for focusing on the concerns of oppressed groups?

A) Neo-orthodoxy
B) Process theology
C) Liberation theologies
D) Millenarians
E) Existentialist philosophy

Question 48

"Ecumenism" comes from the Greek term meaning what?

A) "Inhabited world"
B) "Colonization"
C) "Love"
D) "Good news"
E) "Peace"

Question 49

Who does the World Council of Churches represent?

A) Most major Protestant and Catholic bodies
B) All major religions
C) All Christians
D) Christians, Jews, and Muslims
E) Most major Protestant and Orthodox bodies

Question 50

What is the largest Christian denomination in the world?

A) Roman Catholic
B) Orthodox
C) Anglican
D) Pentecostal
E) Baptist

Question 51

Jesus of Nazareth was raised as a Jew.

Question 52

Of the canonical gospels in the New Testament, John was probably written first.

Question 53

The Apostle Paul was Jesus' most beloved disciple.

Question 54

Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have seven sacraments.

Question 55

Augustine is regarded as the first great Christian Emperor.

Question 56

Augustine taught that human beings can choose the good by exercising their free will.

Question 57

The filioque debate was one of many issues that separated the Orthodox and Roman Christian traditions.

Question 58

Emperor Constantine's pro-Christian initiatives led to the construction of much larger and grander worship spaces known as basilicas.

Question 59

Baptism has its roots in Greek mythology.

Question 60

In Christianity, anchorite monks withdrew from society.

Question 61

Under the Ottoman Empire, Orthodox Christians were tolerated but forbidden to proselytize.

Question 62

Eastern Orthodoxy was carried from Byzantium to the people of Eastern Europe.

Question 63

In the ninth century, Cyril and Methodius travelled to Moravia (today's Czech Republic) where they preached in the vernacular of the people.

Question 64

The earliest center of Russian Orthodoxy was Moscow.

Question 65

The Second Council of Nicaea forbade Christian Churches from displaying icons.

Question 66

In 1099, Pope Boniface VIII launched the first of what would be a series of crusades.

Question 67

The crusades occurred within a one hundred period before the Spanish Inquisition.

Question 68

Pope Boniface VIII, in a bull known as Unam Sanctam, decreed that it is necessary to be subject to the pontiff in order to ensure salvation.

Question 69

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine abbess who was involved in politics and diplomacy.

Question 70

In the fourteenth century, the papal court moved to Avignon in southern France for a period of 67 years.

Question 71

The kernel of the medieval conciliar theory is located in the teachings of Marsilius of Padua.

Question 72

Scholasticism as an intellectual movement believed that reason alone is needed for salvation.

Question 73

Anselm's ontological argument finds proof for God implied in the very idea of God.

Question 74

Thomas Aquinas identified seven "ways" for proving the existence of God.

Question 75

Catherine of Sienna was a mystical writer in Italy who had no ties to any monastic order.

Question 76

The Carthusian monastic order demanded a vow of silence from its members.

Question 77

The Franciscans and Dominicans are both known as Mendicant Orders.

Question 78

Priests were responsible for the landholdings of the monastic communities associated with nuns.

Question 79

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary is worshipped as if almost divine.

Question 80

Erasmus was an Enlightenment philosopher who rejected the writings of Jean Calvin.