Church History Final 2013

Question 1

Bishop’s Bible:

Answer 1

This Bible was produced under the authority of the official English Church. It was created because of the Anglican’s distaste for the Protestant notes in the Geneva Bible. This translation was used as the basis of the King James Bible.

Question 2

Coverdale Bible:

Answer 2

This was the first complete translation of the Bible in English. It was based primarily on other already existing translations. However, it did not receive the official endorsement of the government.

Question 3

Douai-Rheims NT

Answer 3

a translation made by Catholic scholars; based on the Vulgate.

Question 4

Geneva Bible

Answer 4

the main Bible of English-speaking Protestants in the 16th century, translated in Geneva. It contained notes that encouraged protestant theology. To James I its notes seemed to strip the king of his “divine right” to rule as God’s representative on earth.

Question 5

Great Bible

Answer 5

The first officially authorized version of the english Bible. A revised translation of the Matthew’s Bible with its notes removed. Its ordering of the biblical books set the standard for translations to follow.

Question 6

Hampton Court Conference

Answer 6

the KJV ultimately came out of this.

Question 7

John Reynolds

Answer 7

President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He called for the changing of certain words in the Book of Common Prayer (“with my body, I thee worship”) because they implied the worshipping of the wife by the husband. God alone should be worshiped, he said. On the second day of the Hampton Court Conference (1604) he made four demands on behalf of the Puritans concerning 1. the doctrine of the church, 2. pastors, 3. church government, and 4. the Book of Common Prayer. Finally, he proposed a new Bible translation [(which would be the KJV) (McGrath, 159-160)

Question 8

King James I:

Answer 8

his background with Scottish Presbyterianism and his reasons for supporting a new Bible translation
King James was born prince of Scotland–his mother was imprisoned by protestant rebels, and the young prince entrusted to one George Buchanan–who rigorously taught him academics and a instilled in him a love for learning. James became a sharp theologian and a brilliant mind under Buchanan’s tutelage. In England, where he succeeded his distant relative Elizabeth, James assigned the rival catholic, presbyterian, and puritan factions to translate the bible under his supervision. This was an effort at religious unity and gave James significant theological clout.
He also supported a new Bible translation because the notes of the translation popular with the Puritans, the Geneva Bible, rid the king of “divine authority” (the king is given authority by God to rule over the land). The KJV, as a result, would have none of these notes. And that was good.

Question 9

Lewis’s categories of textual influence and his reasons for why the literary influence of the AV (Authorized Version = King James Bible) is less than we might expect

Answer 9

(1) A source,
(2) Flagrant quotation -quotation isolated and proclaimed by typographical devices,
(3) Embedded quotation -sentences or phrases from the KJV that have been artfully worked into an author’s own language so that an ignorant reader might not recognize them,
(4) Vocabulary,
(5) Language architectonics (think structure)-in rhythm, the imagery, or the style. (Lewis, 12-15)

Two reasons for why the KJV’s literary influence is less than what we might expect

1) The Bible as literary pleasure was not treated as such until the 18th-19th century Romantic movement, with its tastes for the primitive and the passionate (think princes tending flocks, drawn spring water, monarchs without guards). In short, until the Romantic taste existed, the AV was not so attractive as a literary achievement, limiting its influence.
2) Its familiarity puts off a deep influence: “an influence which cannot evade our consciousness will not go very deep.”

Question 10

Matthew’s Bible:

Answer 10

A translation written by one of Tyndale’s friends. It was based largely on Tyndale’s translation. It was not authorized by the English government. Written by John Rogers

Question 11

Millenary Petitiona

Answer 11

a document signed by more than 1,000 Church of England ministers pledging faithfulness to the king and calling for reform (i. e. the removal of certain rights and ceremonies in the church).

Question 12

Richard Bancroft

Answer 12

bishop of London (later Archbishop of Canterbury); he was hostile toward both Catholics and Protestants. He was the chief overseer of the translation of the KJB.

Question 13

Febronianism:

Answer 13

named after Justin Febronius, the pseudonymous author of a book published in 1763 under the title of The State of the Church and the Legitimate Power of the Roman Pontiff. This argued that the church is the community of the faithful, and that the bishops, as their representatives, are to rule the church. Therefore, final authority resides in a council of the bishops, and not in the pope. Pope Clement XIII condemned Febronius’ work as heretical.

Question 14

Formula of Concord:

Answer 14

In 1557, the Formula of Concord was an attempt to intermediate the positions between the Lutherans and Calvinists. For instance, it declared that while it is true that there are some elements that are not essential to the gospel, in time of persecution one should not abandon even these peripheral matters. But on the matter of communion, the Formula of Concord upheld the strict Lutherans, denying any significant difference between Zwingli’s position, clearly rejected by Luther at Marburg, and Calvin’s. As a result, from that point on one of the characteristics of Lutheranism was its understanding of communion, expressed in terms of contrast with Calvinism.

Question 15

Francis Gomarus:

Answer 15

“was a firm believer in predestination in the strictest sense” (Gonzalez) and, as a collegue of Jacobus Arminus, clashed with him on predestination and the true nature of Calvinism. The issue between Gomarus and Arminius was not whether there is such a thing as predestination. On that point they agreed, for both found abundant biblical references to predestination. They debated the basis on which predestination takes place. According to Arminius, predestination was based on God’s foreknowledge of those who would later have faith in Jesus Christ. Gomarus, on the other hand, claimed that faith itself is the result of predestination, so that before the foundation of the world the sovereign will of God decreed who would have faith and who would not.

Question 16

Gallicanism:

Answer 16

an attitude shared primarily by kings and nationalists that opposed the notion of a centralized church under papal authority (Gonzalez, ch. 18).

Question 17

Georg Callixtus:

Answer 17

a German Lutheran theologian who looked to reconcile all Christendom by removing all unimportant differences

Question 18

Jacobus Arminius:

Answer 18

a distinguished Dutch pastor and professor whose theological training had been thoroughly Calvinistic, and had taken place partly in Geneva, under the direction of Calvin’s successor Theodore Beza. Having returned to Holland, he gained wide recognition through his preaching from an important pulpit in Amsterdam. It was due to his good name, and to his fame as a student of the Bible and theology, that the leadership of the church in Amsterdam asked him to refute the opinions of Dirck Koornhert, a theologian who rejected some aspects of Calvin’s doctrine, particularly in the matter of predestination. With a view to refuting Koornhert, Arminius studied his writings and compared them with Scripture, with early Christian theology, and with the teachings of several of the major reformers. Finally, after a struggle of conscience, he reached the conclusion that Koornhert was right. Arminius became a professor at the University of Leiden in 1603, and his opinions became a matter of public debate. One of his colleagues, Francis Gomarus, was a firm believer in predestination in the strictest sense, and soon the two clashed. It was thus that Jacobus Arminius, who considered himself a true follower of Calvin, gave his name to Arminianism, the doctrine that many since then have considered the very antithesis of Calvinism.… Arminius held that the great decree of predestination was the one by which God determined that Jesus Christ would be the mediator and redeemer of humankind. That was indeed a sovereign decree, in no way dependent on human response. But the divine decree having to do with the final destiny of each individual was based, not on the sovereign will of God, but rather on divine foreknowledge, by which God knew what each person’s response would be to the offer of salvation in Jesus Christ. In almost every other matter, Arminius remained a strict Calvinist.

Question 19

Jansenism:

Answer 19

a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity ofdivine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansen, who died in 1638. It was first popularized by Jansen’s friend Jean du Vergier, Abbé de Saint-Cyran, and after Saint-Cyran’s death in 1643 was led by Antoine Arnauld. Through the 17th and into the 18th centuries, Jansenism was a distinct movement within the Catholic Church (Wikipedia). Now, however, Jansenism was less a doctrine regarding grace and predestination, and more a movement of zealous religious reform. The Jesuits had proposed the theory of “probabilism,” which meant that a probability, no matter how slight, that an action was correct made it morally acceptable. To the French Jansenists this was moral indifferentism, and instead they proposed a life of such discipline and rigor that it was said that the nuns of Port-Royal were “as pure as angels and as proud as demons.”

Question 20

John Smyth:

Answer 20

an early Baptist minister of England and a defender of the principle of religious liberty. Historians consider John Smyth as a founder of the Baptist denomination (wikipedia). After he was convinced that infant baptism was invalid, he baptized himself
with a bucket and ladle; “critics dubbed him ‘the self-baptizer’” (Gonz. 195).

Question 21

“Philippists” vs. Strict Lutherans

Answer 21

The Philippists (represented by Philip Melanchthon) were willing to compromise with Catholics on ‘peripheral’ points of their faith, which they did, headed by Melanchthon, in the Liepzig Interim. The strict Lutherans, who had firmly refused to sign the Interim in spite of the displeasure of the emperor, accused the Wittenberg “Philippists,” of having forsaken several elements of Luther’s teachings. Melanchthon responded by establishing a distinction between the central elements of the gospel and those that are peripheral to it. The latter he called by the Greek name of “adiaphora.” The essential must not be abandoned at any cost. The adiaphora, although important, must not be confused with the essential. Therefore, in a situation such as the church was facing at the time, one could be justified in leaving aside some of the secondary elements in order to have the freedom to continue preaching and teaching the essential. The strict Lutherans, under the leadership of Matthias Flacius, responded that, although it may well be true that there are some elements essential to the gospel, and others that are peripheral, there are circumstances that require a clear confession of faith. At such times, some elements that could otherwise be considered peripheral become symbols of the faith itself. To forsake them is to deny the faith. Furthermore, the strict Lutherans accused the Philippists of giving too much credit to human participation in salvation. These controversies led to the Formula of Concord.

Question 22

Quietism:

Answer 22

advocated total passivity before God. A believer is simply to disappear, to die and be lost in God. Any activism, be it of the body or of the soul, must be set aside. Contemplation must be purely spiritual, having nothing to do with any physical or visible means—including the humanity of Christ. The same is true of ascetic discipline, which is another form of activism. When the soul is lost in contemplation of the divine, it must consider nothing else—not even the neighbor.

Question 23

Remonstrants (know the content of their Remonstrance):

Answer 23

In 1610, the Arminian party issued a document or “Remonstrance,” and thereafter were commonly known as “Remonstrants.” The document itself contains five articles dealing with the issues under debate. [Gonzalez, Justo L. (2010-07-25). Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day (Kindle Locations 3472-3473). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.]
Content:
Article 1 - Ambiguous teaching on Predestination
Article 2 - affirms that Jesus died for all human beings, although only believers actually receive the benefits of his passion
Article 3 - tries to deal with the accusation of Pelagianism, by declaring that humans can do nothing good on their own account, and that the grace of God is necessary in order to do good
Article 4 - Rejection of irresistible grace
Article 5 - though their teaching suggests that Christians can lose their salvation, the Remonstrants responded that biblical teaching on this point is not clear, and that they would need clearer scriptural proof before committing themselves in one direction or the other (Largely drawn from Gonzalez).

Question 24

Synod of Dort (know the content of the Canons of Dort):

Answer 24

The canons of the Synod of Dort affirmed five doctrines the Remonstrants could not accept, and from that point on those five doctrines have become the hallmark of orthodox Calvinism. [Gonzalez, Justo L. (2010-07-25). Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day (Kindle Locations 3501-3502). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.]
Content
1) The doctrine of unconditional election. This means that the election of the predestined is not based on God’s foreknowledge of each one’s response to the offer of salvation, but only on the inscrutable will of God.
2) Limited atonement - the Remonstrants claimed that Christ had died for all humankind. Against them, the Synod of Dort declared that he died only for the elect.
3) Total depravity & its extent - the synod affirmed that, although there is still in fallen humans a vestige of natural light, human nature has been so corrupted that that light cannot be properly used. And this is true, not only in that which refers to the knowledge of God and to conversion, but also in things “civil and natural.”
4) Irresistible grace.
5) Perseverance of the saints, that is, that the elect will persevere in grace, and cannot fall from it. Although such perseverance is not the work of the believer, but of God, it should serve to give us trust in our own salvation, and steadfastness in doing good, even though we see the power of sin still active in us.

Question 25

Ultramontanes:

Answer 25

Those who defended the authority of the pope were called “Ultramontanes,” for they looked for authority “beyond the mountains,”—that is, beyond the Alps.

Question 26

Westminster Assembly:

Answer 26

The English Parliament convoked a body of theologians to advise it in religious matters. This was the famous Westminster Assembly, which included, besides 121 ministers and thirty laymen appointed by Parliament, eight representatives from Scotland. Since the Scots had behind them the strongest army in Great Britain, their influence on the assembly was decisive.… although some of its members were “independents”—that is, supporters of the congregational form of government—and others leaned towards episcopacy, the Assembly opted for the Presbyterian form of government, and recommended that Parliament adopt it for the Church of England.

Question 27

Westminster Confession (be familiar with the main points of doctrine in the document):

Answer 27

one of the clearest and most important examples of the spirit of Calvinist orthodoxy. The Westminster Confession is much more detailed and extensive than the canons of Dort, for it deals with a great variety of themes. [Gonzalez, Justo L. (2010-07-25). Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day (Kindle Locations 3525-3526). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.]
Content (I know this is a long summary, but its a big document, and this is actually pretty good - if you want to condense it, please do so): The first chapter deals with the authority of Scripture, the “Supreme Judge” in all religious controversy. Since not all the Bible is equally clear, it states that “the infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself” (1.9). This means that any obscure texts must be interpreted in the light of clearer ones. After discussing the doctrine of the Trinity in traditional terms, the Confession moves on to “God’s Eternal Decree,” about which it affirms that from all eternity God did “freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass” (3.1). Part of this decree is that some people and angels have been predestined to eternal life, and others to eternal death. Furthermore, this is in no way based on God’s foreknowledge of the future actions or responses of individuals. The Westminster Confession also agrees with Dort that the result of Adam’s sin is “this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil” (6.4). And it also affirms limited atonement in declaring that Christ saves all those whose redemption he also acquired. After sin, human beings have lost all freedom to incline to salvation, which can only result from the “effectual calling” with which God works in the wills of the elect, “determining them to that which is good” (10.1). These elect are justified when the Holy Spirit, at the proper time, applies to them the work of Christ. Then follows sanctification which, although imperfect in this life, is inevitable. Such people “can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved” (17.1). This is then followed by a long series of chapters on the matters being discussed in England at the time of the Puritan revolution, such as the manner in which the Lord’s Day is to be observed, whether or not it is lawful to make an oath, the organization of the church, and so forth. But it is clear that the theology of the Westminster Confession is very similar to that of Dort, both in content and in its careful attention to strict orthodoxy. Thus, the study of the canons of Dort and of the Westminster Confession shows the nature of Calvinist orthodoxy in the seventeenth century—and even into the eighteenth.

Question 28

Translation process of the KJV

Answer 28

6 teams
3 for the OT
2 for the NT
1 for the Apocrypha
After each team was done translating their respective sections, two delegates were picked from each company of the translators (for a total of twelve delegates). These would meet together “to review and revise the entire work.” (178)
Based on the Textus Receptus (“Received Text”) (McGrath 241)

In the KJV, the translators sought to:
“1. Ensure that every word in the original was rendered by an English equivalent; 2. Make it clear when they added any words to make the sense clearer, or lead to better English syntax. These words were originally indicated in roman type, the remainder of the biblical text being typeset in black letter type. In more recent times, they are indicated by italics, following a precedent set by the Geneva Bible in 1560.
3. Follow the basic word order of the original wherever possible.”  (250)

The translation of certain Greek words posed a problem for the translation teams. They often read older, classical meanings of Greek words into the Koine Greek of the New Testament. E.g. they translated apantesis as “meet” in Acts 28:15, not realizing that it was a distinguished sort of welcoming, not your everyday kind of meeting (here, Roman Christians welcomed Paul “as he traveled along the Appian way”; 238).