Christianity, Exam 3

Question 1

Define the primary beliefs of Gnostics.

Answer 1

Gnostics: largest group of heretics, they were dualistic: they believed that physical matter is evil and everything that is spiritual is good
Gnostics were concerned with spiritual world and how one could be liberated from the material world that they thought was driving them down
Gnostics believed that the god of material things was the god of the OLD testament: the Jewish God
Gnostics believed in supreme, good God who is purely spiritual
Gnosis: saving knowledge; Gnostics themselves say that their knowledge cannot be written

Question 2

Define the primary beliefs of the Orthodoxy.

Answer 2

Orthodox Christians believed that divinely inspired teachings from God were to be found only in scripture; unlike Judaism and Islam, once the cannon of the scripture is set, you cannot add to it

Question 3

Define the Milvean Bridge.

Answer 3

where Constantine fought his battles
Hundreds of padlocks put by couples on the Milvian Bridge; people write their names of

Question 4

What did the Roman symbol of P with a letter ‘X’ through it symbolize?

Answer 4

/(meaning Our Christ, Constantine required that his men in battle display this on their armory

Question 5

Define the Edict of Milan.

Answer 5

Edict of Milan: Constantine and another co-emperor write this document to grant Christians toleration (before this Christians could be put to death under law for not worshiping the Roman gods) (also said that clergy should be free from performing public ceremonies like Romans had to)

Question 6

Define “Pax Deorum”

Answer 6

keeping peace and the right relationship with the gods

Question 7

Define the Council of Nicaea.

Answer 7

first ecumenical council (ecumenical meaning concerned with promoting unity and agreement within the church), first council promoting unity and agreement

Question 8

define the Nicene Creed.

Answer 8

the result of the agreement between Council of Nicea, list of things that Christians believe: Jesus was the son of God existing along with the “Father”, Christ is the mediator or redeemer of Christians and makes it possible for Christians to have eternal life: very powerful to have one statement of beliefs agreed upon by the leaders of the faith

Question 9

Define the arguments of Irius.

Answer 9

proposed that Christ did not have full divinity; Christ was like any other created individual but in an elevated status (target of the majority of the bishops issues) ^^^^

Question 10

Why did Constantine wait to the end of his life to convert faiths/be baptized?

Answer 10

Constantine officially decided to be a Christian when dying; all his life he was hedging his bets and decided to be on the safe side and convert–or he believed that he should wait to be baptized at the end of your life to erase all sins; Constantine dies a Christian and lived long enough to see this religion well established

Question 11

Define the Divine Comedy.

Answer 11

Daunte goes to hell at the start of his journey and ends with seeing the face of God, he describes it as perfectly superimposed circles: one bears the image of the man: deepest circle of hell, being chewed on by satan was the person who executed Cesear ( Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus), person who executed Jesus (Judas),

Question 12

Define partials.

Answer 12

father and son and holy spirit are different parts of God, each ⅓ part of the divine

Question 13

Define moralism.

Answer 13

3 in one, trinity

Question 14

What creed was used to describe the Christian Trinity?

Answer 14

Athenian Creed

Question 15

Define purgatory.

Answer 15

place of suffering for some time, but then the sin will be purged and then person will be brought to heaven

Question 16

Define Simean Stylites.

Answer 16

lived 26 years on top of a pillar in the middle of the town market; hermits over time developed reputations as holy and wise people; as such, people would look to hermits for advice for their problems

Question 17

Who translated the Greek/Hebrew Bible into Latin?

Answer 17

St. Jerome

Question 18

Define the concept of original sin.

Answer 18

hat act of sin forever marked humanity, such that every human being is sinful and has a natural inclination for evil

Question 18

Define the concept of original sin.

Answer 18

hat act of sin forever marked humanity, such that every human being is sinful and has a natural inclination for evil

Question 19

Define the Iconoclastic Controversy.

Question 20

Define nestorians.

Answer 20

Nestorianism therefore denied the reality of the Incarnation and represented Christ as a God-inspired man rather than as God-made-man. Since the 5th century all the principal branches of the Christian church have united in condemning Nestorianism and have affirmed that Christ is a single person, at once wholly human and wholly divine.

Question 21

Define Monopsyhites.

Answer 21

argued that Jesus only had a divine nature, but he himself was not divine:
a person who holds that in the person of Jesus Christ there is only one nature (wholly divine or only subordinately human), not two.

Question 22

Define the Orthodoxy Position.

Answer 22

eld that both the human nature of and divine nature were united and unmixed in Jesus: he was both fully human and fully divine (Chacedonian Definition of Faith)

Question 23

Define nosmadics.

Answer 23

study of money

Question 24

Define Persian Imperial Coinage.

Answer 24

Gold coinage: daric
Silver coinage: siglos
Persian Gold darics were named for King Darius were issued almost unchanged in design from 521-330 BCE

Question 25

Define Tetradrachms of Alexander the Great

Answer 25

Alexander established 20 major mints including one at Ake in Judea
Portrayed with Hercules, Zeus on a throne, surrounded by the Greek inscription Alexander

Question 26

Hasmonean Coinage

Answer 26

During time of the Maccabees: dynasty created independent Jewish kingdom
Small bronze coin
Inverted anchor and sun wheel bronze prutah: assimilate the symbol of their enemies

Question 27

What are coins an indication of?

Answer 27

Material culture, political/economic climate

Question 28

Herodian Coinage.

Answer 28

Built many palaces and temples
Low quality, still bronze
Imagery is not Jewish on the coins, but also not offensive to Jews: first coins with ONLY Greek

Question 29

Which ruler stayed in Judea the longest?

Answer 29

Pontius Pilate stays in Judea the longest

Question 30

Coins of Pilate

Answer 30

First coinage had three ears of barley surrounded by the Emperor’s name and regnal year
Second type: featured curved lituus (augur’s wand) which was used by Roman priests, and date with wreath

Question 31

Define Shekel of Tyre.

Answer 31

most significant of all Bible coins, pure silver, produced in large quantities, became the standard silver coinage in the Phoenician-Judewan era, REPLACED THE COINS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT; depicted with Egyptian style eagle with its right claw resting on a ship’s rudder, a club (Hercules) and the Greek inscription “Tyre the Holy and Inviolable”, date recognized years since Tyre’s independence from Syria

Question 32

Define Widow’s Mite.

Answer 32

: small bronze coins; star and anchor type coin struck by Alexander Janneaus (the widow that gave two mites and Jesus said she had given more than all the rich people with large volumes of silver)

Question 33

Define Tribute Penny.

Answer 33

: Roman tax collected (tribute) for the Roman emperor, in addition to the numerous local Judean taxes
^^Silver denarius issued by Emperor Tiberius

Question 34

Why did Jesus flip the temple tables?

Answer 34

Money changers: exchanged other currency for Shekel of Tyre; charged 26% interest rate to exchange the currency for people paying taxes (why Jesus flipped the temple tables)

Question 35

Define the First Revolt Coinage.

Answer 35

, The Silver Shekel: when the Jewish revolt broke out in 66, captured Jerusalem and the access to treasury, inscribed with the year of revolt and surrounded by Hebrew Inscription “Shekel of Israel”

Question 36

Define the second revolt coinage.

Answer 36

Bar Kochba silver Shekel: when Jews took back their independence; the name Shimon appears on all of the coins of the Second Revolt except for a few types issued at the beginning of the revolt with name “Eleazar the Priest”