Lesson 11

Question 1

Waldensian movement begins

Answer 1

1175

Question 2

Francis renounces wealth

Answer 2

1208

Question 3

Great Schism

Answer 3

1378

Question 4

Hus burned at the stake

Answer 4

1415

Question 5

Explain the importance and necessity of studying church history

Answer 5

1. Christianity is a religion of history
2. Learn about humanity
3. Church is in history
4. End of history is the goal decreed by God
5. Church’s task to preserve and present the faith
6. We gain a better perspective of current events in light of history.
7. We gain tools for understanding Scripture
8. We gain a balanced judgment for making decisions
9. Gain an understanding of the place of tradition
10. Discipleship/mentoring by the saints of history
11. Appreciation of the grace, power, and mercy of God.

Question 6

Identify three Christian convictions regarding history

Answer 6

1. God intervenes in the world - doctrine of providence
2. He guides the world with purpose
3. The Lord will bring history to conclusion - there is an end date

Question 7

Explain various approaches to studying history

Answer 7

1. Uncritical approach
2. Imperial Christendom
3. Medieval Confessional
4. Reformation Critical
5. other answers (Marx, social science)
6. Enlightenment Optimistic
7. 19th cent. Pessimistic - Post WW1
8. Revisionist - Postmodern

Question 8

Who was John Hus and what significant contributions did they make to the church?

Answer 8

1. 1369 - 1415.
2. martyr
3. ordained a priest in 1401
4. taught at Charles University in Prague
5. emphasized personal piety and purity of life
6. Stressed the whole of scrpture as authority
7. Chief writing “On the Church” and defined the church as the body of Christ with Christ as the head.
8. Neither Popes nor cardnals could establish doctrine contrary to scripture
9. Critisised people for images, going on false pilgrimages
10. Condemned the sale of indulgences and withholding Cup and Bread from people.
11. Attended the Council of Constances to defend his positions and was condemed to death

Question 9

Who was Savonarola and what significant contributions did they make to the church?

Answer 9

1. 1452 - 1498
2. Italian preacher of reform
3. executed for his beliefs
4. Studied humanism and mediicine
5. Eventually became Dominican monk
6. Warned of a great judgment coming to Florence after which a golden age would come.
7. Rose to a position of power through his preaching
8. Initiated tax reforms, helped the poor, reformed the courts, and changed the city from a lax, corrupt, pleasure loving place into a virtual monastery.
9. Denounced Pope Alexander VI and was excommunicated
10. Become a hero to reformers even as a catholic

Question 10

Who was John Wycliffe and what significant contributions did they make to the church?

Answer 10

1. 1320 - 1384
2. prominent English reformer
3. “The Morning Star of the Reformation”
4. Indulgances are evil - if the pope had to power to forgive, he should forgive everyone in the world.
5. Came from Norht of England
6. leading philosopher at Oxford
7. offended the church by backing the right of government to seize the property of corrupt clergymen.
8. Pushed his anti-clerical views and began to attack the central doctrines of the medieval church.
9. Opposed transubstantiation
10. Argued the the church consisted of God’s elect who did not need a priest to mediate with God for them.
11. Initiated a new Latin Vulgate Bible into English “Wycliffe Bible”
12. Followers were known as Lollards” meaning mutterers

Question 11

Who was William of Ockham and what significant contributions did they make to the church?

Answer 11

1. 1288 - 1348
2. Born in England and died in Munich
3. Franciscan Munk
4. Denounced as heretic by Pope John XXII
5. Sommoned to Avignon
6. Called for a college of popes instead of 1
7. Rejected popes authority in secular matters.
8. Nominalism become “new way” as opposed to Aquinas “Old Way”
9. Come up with Ockham’s razor : What can be done with fewer assumptions in done in vain with more; the mind should not multiply things without neccessity.

Question 12

What were some of the medieval attempts at reform in the church?

Answer 12

• Dominican and Fransiscan Monistaries - The Monks/Friers lived in poverty (renounced weath and material possessions) - some were beggers - ans sought to help the poor, hungery and sick.
• Inquisitions which saught to root out heretics
• Pope Gregory worked within Rome to initiate reform of the church
• • The Gregorian reform challenged the practice of lay investiture, by which secular rulers appointed bishops and abbots, and asserted the supremacy of the pope over all temporal and spiritual authorities. The Gregorian reform also promoted clerical celibacy, the elimination of simony (the buying and selling of ecclesiastical offices), and the enforcement of canon law.

Question 13

Why is John Wycliffe important for Protestantism?

Answer 13

Wycliffe’s greatest contribution to church history was his elevation of the Bible to its supreme place and his insistence that it be made available to all Christians in their own language.