Final Study Guide Textbook Questions Flashcards
Why did early Christianity appeal to Rome’s lower classes?
Supplied answers to questions Plato, Aristotle and their disciple had been asking for nearly 500 years
Origen’s theology undermined traditional paganism by giving Christianity what?
Conscience, inner voice
Took away the cruelty and savage nature of the age
Inner voice for all believers
To early Christian historians, what was Constantine?
He was the image of God
His authority was absolute
Augustine taught that the fall of Rome would be followed by what?
Res Publica
Heavenly city will replace the Earthly City with a genuine community of hearts and minds united under God
What was Boethius’ most important legacy in the Dark Ages?
First Christian thinker to realize that Plato and Aristotle were indispensable to Western civilization
Wrote “The Consolation of Philosophy”
Demonstrated that Western Civ wouldn’t survive if it forgot its classic roots
Future of Europe and its reeducation
What discipline did Peter Abelard help to make mainstream?
First to coin the term “theologia”
Scholasticism - techniques by which theology could become as rational and logically disciplined a subject as philosophy
Bernard of Clairvaux opposed Abelard’s logic based on what belief?
The self-sacrificing, unwavering love that raises knowledge of ourselves to a mystical union with God
Believed self-love was root of all evil
Said Abelard acted out of self-love, even self-obsession
Gothic Cathedrals were build to display what?
“Style of continuous light”
Emphasize principle of harmonious proportion
Radiant tribute to the abbey’s famous founder and to his celebration of light as the radiance of God
God’s kingdom
Neoplatonist theology of light was crucial for Suger
Which Muslim scholar helped popularize Aristotle’s reasoning in Europe?
Averroes OR
Gerard of Cremona OR
Dominic Gundislavi
What concept is Thomas Aquinas’ most important contribution to Western thought?
“Lex naturalis”
Natural law
Laws of nature are foundation of all our knowledge and conduct in the world
What power did William of Ockham claim the people have over their rulers?
“We need only one truth”
Religion is belief not reason or logic or truth
If any idea is not required either as a matter of observation and demonstration or as a matter of religious faith, then scratch it out
Ockham’s razor
According to Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, is it better to be feared or loved?
Feared
“It is better to be feared than loved if one cannot be both”
What did Renaissance art and philosophy attempt to synthesize?
Platonism = Renaissance philosophy
Quest for spiritual perfection that bound together all the great religions and civilizations: Egypt, the Chaldeans and Babylonia, Persians and Hebrews, Greeks and Romans
Same spiritual Big Push
Different aspects of the One
What did Erasmus do for Europe’s education system?
Moved away from universities and towards homeschool
Humanist education created its own schools
In the Reformation theology of Luther and Calvin, what is free will?
Luther: salvation through faith alone
Calvin: predetermined salvation
No free will for humanity
