Verified Test Bank Ch4 The Christian Tradition

Test Bank

to accompany

World Religions Today, Seventh Edition

Esposito • Fasching • Lewis • Feldmeier

Chapter 4

The Christian Tradition

NOTE: Questions marked with “(w)” also appear in the student review quizzes on Oxford Learning Link.

Multiple Choice

1. (w) The significance of Vatican I was that it

a. Modernized Church facilities.

b. Formulated the Catholic Church’s antimodernist teachings.

c. Expressed a new openness to teachings of non-Christian religions around the world.

d. Became open to the teachings of the modernists.

2. (w) What model of education replaced the Evangelical Protestant model at universities later in the nineteenth century?

a. German scientific ideal of scholarship.

b. American Social Gospel.

c. Liberal Catholic.

d. Darwinian theories.

3. (w) Christianity began as a

a. Peace movement.

b. Jewish sectarian movement.

c. Samaritan movement.

d. Zealot movement.

4. (w) The central issue in modern Christianity has been the

a. Growth of industrialization.

b. Growth of urbanization.

c. Struggle between Protestantism and Catholicism.

d. Struggle between modernism and fundamentalism.

5. Which of the four Gospels was most likely written first?

a. Matthew.

b. Luke.

c. John.

d. Mark.

6. What faction opposed the Social Gospel?

a. Protestant fundamentalists.

b. Catholics.

c. Lutherans.

d. Liberal Evangelicals.

7. In Christianity, the highest goal in life is

a. Orthopraxy rather than orthodoxy.

b. To act in harmony with the will of God through dying and rising with Christ.

c. To find harmony and balance with the laws of nature.

d. To learn from history.

8. The significance of Vatican II was that it

a. Modernized Church facilities.

b. Shored up the Church’s antimodernist teachings.

c. Reaffirmed Thomistic theology as the basis of all Catholic teaching.

d. Expressed a new openness to modern trends and ideas.

9. (w) The Old Testament of Christianity is adopted from the sacred writings of what religion?

a. Judaism.

b. Islam.

c. Gnosticism.

d. Zoroastrianism.

10. (w) The Social Gospel movement emerged from the theology of

a. Conservative Evangelicals.

b. Liberal Catholics.

c. Liberal Evangelicals.

d. Conservative Catholics.

11. (w) At a time when Roman rule oppressed the people and they could only see injustice, suffering, and death, the message from Jesus’ life offered them, above all else,

a. Platitudes.

b. Sadness.

c. Morals.

d. Hope.

12. Christians represent how much of the world’s population?

a. One-half.

b. One-third.

c. One-quarter.

d. One-fifth.

13. The Nazarenes were characterized as being

a. Apocalyptic.

b. Rigidly bound to rules of Judaism.

c. Scholarly.

d. Violent.

14. (w) Which of the four Gospels is believed to have been written last and is radically different in tone, content, and structure from the other three Gospels?

a. Matthew.

b. Luke.

c. John.

d. Mark.

15. Which of the following religions emerged as a religious phenomenon in Persia in the time approximately parallel to that between Moses in the thirteenth century and the Babylonian Exile in the sixth century BCE?

a. Christianity.

b. Zoroastrianism.

c. Islam.

d. Buddhism.

16. Which of the following describes Orthodox Christianity?

a. A belief in original sin.

b. Places ultimate authority in the Pope.

c. Has a mystical emphasis.

d. Jesus Christ is presented primarily as the Lord of History.

17. (w) What was an important result from the Roman emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity?

a. It continued the persecution of Christianity.

b. Christianity immediately became a “permitted” religion.

c. Christianity immediately became the official religion of the empire.

d. Christians saw Romans as evil.

18. The 27 books that became the New Testament were first mentioned together in a bishop’s letter in the year

a. 67.

b. 367.

c. 667.

d. 1067.

19. Historians have pointed out that, at the time, the only ones with the power to cause Jesus’s crucifixion were the

a. Jews.

b. Zealots.

c. Greeks.

d. Romans.

20. (w) The ruling that Paul won that was decisive for the growth of the Nazarene movement among gentiles was about

a. Church attendance.

b. Circumcision of gentiles.

c. The apocalypse.

d. The bar mitzvah.

21. For centuries, Christians turned to which of the following as a model of conversion and spiritual piety?

a. Augustine’s The City of God.

b. Vatican I.

c. Augustine’s Confessions.

d. Constantine’s deathbed conversion.

22. The premodern religious movement that provided the bridge of civilization between the ancient world and the modern world was

a. Lutheranism.

b. Conservative Evangelicalism.

c. Protestant Evangelicalism.

d. Benedictine monasticism.

23. One way that Augustine’s defined “grace” is

a. God making possible what one cannot do oneself.

b. Synchronicity.

c. Divine approval.

d. Divine restlessness.

24. (w) Which of the following is characteristic of Augustine’s “two cities”?

a. The city of God should dominate over the city of humanity.

b. The city of humanity should dominate over the city of God.

c. They should work together to transform the world into a Christian one.

d. The emperor always has the final say over the church.

25. (w) According to the text, the three people most responsible for the shape of Western Christianity are

a. Jesus, Paul, and Augustine.

b. Jesus, Paul, and Pope John XXIII.

c. Jesus, Augustine, and John the Baptist.

d. Jesus, John the Baptist, and Paul.

26. (w) Which of the following does NOT apply to Paul?

a. He became the first great missionary of the Christian movement.

b. His letters form about one-quarter of the New Testament.

c. He taught justification by faith.

d. He contributed no writings to the New Testament.

27. In all the major religions, “mysticism” implies that

a. The practitioner can have a direct religious experience without a mediator.

b. One can have only a mediated religious experience.

c. The practitioner should not attend church.

d. The practitioner should attend church.

28. (w) “Outside the church there was no salvation” refers to

a. That the sacraments could only be administered by an ordained Catholic priest.

b. One must belong to a church no matter the denomination.

c. Members of the church must practice forgiveness, as did Jesus.

d. All of the above.

29. Which sacrament was an adaptation of the Jewish blessing of the bread and wine at the Passover meal?

a. Baptism.

b. Communion.

c. Extreme unction.

d. Ordination.

30. During the Middle Ages, the sixth to fourteenth centuries, who was educated and therefore could read?

a. Almost everyone.

b. All clergy and all nobility.

c. Only the elite among the clergy and the nobility.

d. Christians.

31. (w) Rulers of church and state would most likely turn to this work as a model for the political order.

a. The Confessions.

b. The New Testament.

c. The City of God.

d. The Old Testament.

32. (w) The first serious reform movement in the church was

a. Monasticism.

b. Roman Catholicism.

c. Greek Orthodoxy.

d. Lutheranism.

33. Why was December 25 chosen as the birthday of Jesus?

a. It was his known birth date.

b. To honor the winter equinox.

c. To compete with the popular pagan festival honoring the sun god.

d. To avoid competing with Easter.

34. When Christianity waged war on Islam during the Middle Ages, it was called

a. The Middle Ages War.

b. The Medieval War.

c. The Crusades.

d. God’s Righteous War.

35. (w) The Book of Revelation can be organized around five sections. The first one is

a. Seven Letters to the Churches.

b. The Sounding of the Seven Trumpets.

c. Genesis.

d. The Opening of the Seven Seals.

36. (w) The roots of the split between faith and science began with

a. The via negativa way of thinking.

b. The via antiqua way of thinking.

c. The nominalists’ way of thinking that separated faith and reason.

d. The nominalists’ way of thinking that united faith and reason.

37. (w) Which Enlightenment school of thought viewed the world as a clock and God as the divine clockmaker?

a. Deism.

b. Nominalism.

c. Theism.

d. Pietism.

38. Which theologian modeled the way for the entrepreneurs of the new capitalist era he helped to create?

a. Martin Luther.

b. John Calvin.

c. Augustine of Hippo.

d. Ulrich Zwingli.

39. Which of the following describes Martin Luther’s declaration and became the central doctrine of the Protestant Reformation?

a. Knowledge of God comes through faith and reason.

b. Knowledge of God comes through reason only.

c. Knowledge of God comes through the church.

d. Knowledge of God comes through faith and scripture.

40. (w) When Marxist socialism swept through Latin America in the early twentieth century, it gave rise to

a. Orthodoxy.

b. Existentialism.

c. Liberation theology.

d. Evangelical charismatic Christianity.

True/False

1. (w) “Biblical criticism,” as it applies to biblical study, means to find the truth of sacred writings.

2. Most Christians define “sin” in terms of the Nicene Creed.

3. The Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Christianity interpret the Nicene Creed differently with respect to the divine nature of Jesus Christ.

4. (w) Christianity is the largest religion in the world today.

5. (w) In nineteenth-century America the growth of industrialization fueled urbanization, which was accompanied by a dramatic growth in both Protestant and Catholic churches.

6. (w) The highest goal of life in Christianity is to learn from history.

7. The Social Gospel movement was a Catholic fundamentalist response to modernization.

8. Fundamentalists typically interpret the Bible very liberally.

9. (w) Media coverage of the Scopes trial in 1925 made the general public think that fundamentalists were ignorant hillbilly types.

10. The intent of the Second Vatican Council in 1962 was to reinforce the Church’s antimodernist teachings.

11. (w) Both Protestant and Catholic antimodernist responses wanted to prevent modernization and historical change from entering the church.

12. (w) Pius IX called the First Vatican Council in 1869 because he felt the Catholic Church had become too strong and powerful.

13. It was 25 years after Jesus’s life before the New Testament came into the form that we have now.

14. Matthew and Luke both appear to have used Mark’s material as a model in writing their versions of the life of Jesus.

15. The Pharisees were the first Christians.

16. (w) Most of Paul’s letters to the churches he founded were lost, and therefore, none made it into the New Testament.

17. (w) Christianity began as a Jewish sectarian movement.

18. Biblical scholars agree that the book of Revelation was written by the apostle John.

19. (w) The Gospel of John was the earliest New Testament writing.

20. Paul argued that gentiles should not have to be circumcised to convert to Christianity.

21. (w) Each Gospel had a single author, whom we know for certain the identity of.

22. (w) The Council of Chalcedon in 451 declared that Jesus was wholly divine.

23. (w) Early Christian teaching typically blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus, a view that contributed to the persecution of Jews throughout much of Western history.

24. (w) Eastern Orthodox Christianity leaves no room for individual mystical experience.

25. The Roman emperor Constantine was the first monarch to champion the rights of Christians.

26. Eastern Christianity decisively and exclusively shaped the road to modernity for Western civilization.

27. The Council of Nicaea in 325 declared that Jesus was not a mortal being.

28. Augustine of Hippo is the one postbiblical theologian who has influenced the shape of Western Christianity more than any other individual.

29. (w) In the Middle Ages, most people learned about religion by reading.

30. (w) Since the time of Augustine, most Christians have assumed that it is the role of Christianity to transform every society into a “Christian society.”

31. By witnessing the transformation of the Roman Empire from a pagan empire into a Christian empire, Augustine concluded that God intended to use the Roman Empire to spread the Gospel around the world.

32. The power of Zoroastrianism’s Ahura Mazda is opposed by another power, that of the Christian God.

33. (w) Monasticism is the most recent reform movement in the church.

34. The first Christian sacraments could be administered by anyone.

35. Eastern Orthodox Christianity was distinctive for its mystical emphasis.

36. (w) The first followers of Jesus of Nazareth believed that the earth is not at the center of the universe.

37. The first followers of Jesus seemed to have believed Jesus would return very soon to judge the living and the dead.

38. Christianity is known for a peculiar absence of diversity.

39. (w) In 1920 the movement popularly referred to as “fundamentalism” was understood to refer to militantly antimodernist evangelical Protestants.

40. (w) The first monks were community oriented.

Fill in the Blank

1. (w) Idolatry and injustice are two dimensions of _______.

2. The legal case that decisively formed the public image of _______ was the Scopes trial in 1925.

3. The sacred scriptures of Christianity are found in the _______.

4. Zoroastrians developed a view of _______ for each person leading to either a heavenly existence or punishment in a hell-like state until the end of time, when evil will be overcome, and all will be redeemed.

5. (w) Augustine’s view of history as a tale of two cities referred to the human city and the city of _______.

6. (w) The doctrine of the Trinity affirmed that God is _______ all things.

7. (w) After the Council of Chalcedon in 450 ce, Jesus was considered one person with two natures—divine and _______.

8. The _______ resulted in a reversal of more than 400 years of church attempts to reject the emerging modern world.

9. (w) The purpose of the First Vatican Council was to shore up the teachings of the church against the threat of _______.

10. Christians believe that sacred scriptures show that Jesus of Nazareth is the _______, or the anointed one or messiah.

11. (w) When modernization split evangelical theology in two, Protestant _______ opposed the Social Gospel.

12. The _______ condemned Jesus to die because they thought he was an enemy of the state.

13. Of the four gospels, the one that is different in tone, content, and structure from the other three is the Gospel of _______.

14. (w) The _______ of the Renaissance and Reformation fostered a new modern way of thinking and feeling.

15. _______ began as a Jewish sectarian movement.

16. (w) The _______ monasteries were all answerable to a central command, and their model for organization was adopted by Pope Gregory VII for Roman Catholicism.

17. The letters of _______ form about one-quarter of the New Testament.

18. (w) It can be argued that the _______ of Constantine was the single most important political event in the history of Christianity.

19. After the Protestant Reformation, only _______ of the seven sacraments retained the status of sacraments.

20. (w) It was the work of _______ that provided the first model for church and state.

21. (w) The first monks tended to be _______ but eventually began to form monastic communities.

22. In the history of Christianity the book _______ has been very controversial.

23. (w) When Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses against the Sale of Indulgences, it marked the beginning of the _______.

24. (w) In the modern church, some Protestant denominations with mystical or Gnostic roots provided more leadership opportunities for _______.

25. (w) The _______ were meant to change the fact that Christianity’s holy sites in Palestine had come to be in the hands of Muslims.

26. Modernization secularized the world by _______ faith and reason.

27. _______ initiated the Protestant Reformation.

28. (w) In postmodern Africa, and especially in Asia, we have witnessed the emergence of a _______ model of Christianity; that is, its adherents are dispersed as minority communities among other nations and cultures.

29. (w) The _______ work ethic, as developed by John Calvin, demanded that one live simply and work hard.

30. The _______ became the object of persecution when they spoke out against the Church of England’s doctrine as not being pure enough.

31. Those Christians who first embraced a social Gospel believed they had an _______ calling to cooperate with God’s will.

32. (w) Responding to the philosophy of deism, the movement called Pietism emerged, giving rise to _______ Christianity.

33. The theological response to the poverty and oppression caused by colonial exploitation is called _______ theology.

34. Luther was objecting to the selling of _______ when he posted the Ninety-five Theses on a church door.

35. Liberation theology in North America was shaped most of all by the _______ movement.

36. (w) When the first followers of Jesus looked up into the starlit night sky in the first century, they thought they were looking into the _______ and unchanging realm of heaven.

37. (w) After the invention of the printing press as more people learned to read the Bible, there emerged much more _______ in interpretations of the Bible.

38. After Vatican I the final authority for Catholics on how the Bible was to be interpreted was the _______.

39. (w) The first-century faction led by _______ won the argument that gentiles could be exempt from circumcision and other Jewish ritual obligations.

40. The _______ vision of the world separates church and state.

Discussion

1. (w) Describe the positions of modern-day Christian fundamentalists and postmodern Christians.

2. (w) What environment did the Social Gospel movement emerge from?

3. (w) How did the First Vatican Council and the Second Vatican Council differ?

4. Discuss some of the controversies surrounding the book of Revelation.

5. Explain how Paul influenced the emergence and development of Christianity.

6. Discuss the relationship between early Judaism and Zoroastrianism.

7. (w) How does Eastern Orthodox Christianity differ from Western Christianity?

8. Why is it said that Augustine was the chief architect of the idea of the separation of church and state?

9. How did John Calvin influence the future of Western capitalism and colonialism?

10. (w) Explain the paradox that although modernity appeared to be a threat to Christianity, modernity had actually been nurtured by Christianity itself.

11. Explain the concept of original sin.

12. (w) How did the invention of the printing press lead eventually to an increase in the diversity of religious expression?