Luther Quiz 11: Part 2, Chapter 1

Question 1

to complain loudly or angrily

Answer 1

fulminate

Question 2

disrepute or infamy attached to something; opprobrium

Answer 2

odium

Question 3

fat

Answer 3

corpulent

Question 4

very obedient and trying too hard to please someone

Answer 4

servile

Question 5

complete in every respect; absolute, unqualified

Answer 5

plenary

Question 6

not lasting long

Answer 6

transient

Question 7

made known to many people

Answer 7

promulgated

Question 8

childish, juvenile, or silly

Answer 8

puerile

Question 9

coolly and patronizingly haughty

Answer 9

supercilious

Question 10

cooly and patronizingly haughty

Answer 10

supercilious

Question 11

loftiness of spirit enabling one to bear trouble calmly, to disdain meanness and pettiness, and to display a noble generosity

Answer 11

magnanimity

Question 12

Describe the role that indulgences had come to play in the church by Luther’s time.

Answer 12

In effect, indulgences had become a tax for sins.

Question 13

What three successful acts were required for absolution of sin? What were Luther’s primary concerns with the process of absolution?

Answer 13

Contrition, confession, and satisfaction.
Luther had three major questions: How was one to know that his penitence was sufficient? How would he be sure that no individual sin was omitted in the confession? Why should absolution be pronounced before the conditions were all fulfilled, before satisfaction was known to be made?

Question 14

What evidence exists to suggest that Luther wasn’t really trying to instigate a public rebellion with his 95 theses? Why did he publish a simpler version of his arguments?

Answer 14

The 95 theses were not written for an audience of laymen. They were “ill adapted for the common people.” But once they had been taken and published by his friends, he found it necessary to write a more colloquial version for the general public.

Question 15

Rather than buy indulgences, how did Luther suggest that Christians should spend their money? Why? How did Luther deal with members of his own congregation who presented him with their indulgences?

Answer 15

He would rather people give their money to the poor, because there was a clear biblical basis for it, while the biblical basis for indulgences was questionable in his eyes. Moreover, he saw grace as a free gift of God, making indulgences unnecessary. He refused to administer the supper, unless they first made confession. This was because he felt that repentance was being overlooked in this whole process, and without repentance, none of the other religious trappings really mattered.

Question 16

At this point in Luther’s life (mid-1518), how would you describe Luther’s relation with the Catholic Church? Was he still loyal, or had he already made up his mind to break away?

Answer 16

Evidence shows that even into late 1518, although he was subversive to the Church leaders, he was still willing to submit to their questions … if they would ever offer them.