Reformation History

Question 1

What was Monasticism?

Answer 1

• A movement that became popular after Constantine and thrived in the Middle Ages
• People withdrew from society into communities that stressed prayer, work, study, chair and asceticism (abstinence from sensual pleasures)

Question 2

What work helped popularize Monasticism?

Answer 2

“The Life of St. Anthony” by Athanasius

Question 3

Who founded monasteries?

Answer 3

*Benedict (480-547)

12 of ‘em

Question 4

What were the Monastic orders:

Answer 4

• perpetuity (it’s for life)
• poverty
• chastity

Question 5

What was the (Catholic) Babylonian Captivity?

Answer 5

A period during the 14th century in which 6 consecutive popes–all French–resided in Avignon, France instead of Rome

Question 6

Factors contributing to the supremacy of Rome:

Answer 6

• Population - big city and big church
• Martyrdom of Peter and Paul there
• Imperial Capital - after the Edict of Milan, emperors often sought religious advice from Rome
• Location - of the 5 patriarchal cites, only Rome was in the West, thus more territory ruled over
• Missions - Rome (the West) was more successful evangelizing the barbarians than the East was with Muslims
• Muslim conquest - loss of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem
• Leadership - Leo I

Question 7

What were the Crusades and when did they take place?

Answer 7

• A series of military offenses from Europe into Muslim lands
• 1095-1204

Question 8

What were the goals of the Crusades?

Answer 8

*Retake the Holy Land
*Save Constantinople and the Byzantine empire from the Muslims
*Reunite the Eastern and Western churches
*To earn salvation - popes promised forgiveness of sins
(the first three goals were achieved temporarily)

Question 9

What did the rise of Islam do?

Answer 9

• Unified Arab groups
• Created a powerful new force that swept through the Eastern Roman Empire
• Spread from Arabian Peninsula to Africa

Question 10

How did Islam spread?

Answer 10

*Through trade and warfare (Cairo fell in 639, Alexandria fell in 640 - this started The Crusades)

Question 11

John Wycliffe

Answer 11

• 14th century British theologian who taught at Oxford
• First xlated the Bible into English
• Opposed sacramental soteriology and papal authority
• Taught the Bible as ultimate authority over church tradition
• Taught salvation by grace and divine election
• Called “the morning star of the Reformation”

Question 12

John Hus

Answer 12

• 14th and 15th century theologian (Czech) who attacked clerical abuses and papal authority
• Emphasized the priesthood of all believers and the preaching of the Bible
• Burned at the stake in 1415

Question 13

Peter Waldo

Answer 13

• 12th and 13th century leader of the Waldensians
• Sold all he had and lived a life of poverty
• Denounced papal excess, purgatory, transubstantiation

Question 14

Savanaroli (1452-1498)

Answer 14

• Italian reformer
• left medicine to become a Dominican friar
• Denounced Pope Alexander VI and corrupt papal court
• tried and killed as a heretic

Question 15

What was the Reformation?

Answer 15

• 16th and 17th century response to theological and moral decay in the church
• Led to a formal break between Catholics and Protestants

Question 16

What did the Reformation stress?

Answer 16

• Salvation by grace through faith alone
• The ultimate authority of the Scriptures
• The priesthood of all believers

Question 17

When and where did the Reformation begin?

Answer 17

• October 31, 1517

* Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany

Question 18

What is the Marburg Colloquy?

Answer 18

An unsuccessful meeting between Luther and Zwingli to resolve their differences over the Lord’s Supper

Question 19

What is the Thirty Years War?

Answer 19

A 17th century war fought primarily in Germany due to a division between Catholics and Protestants; it was a stalemate, but you could legally pick to be either

Question 20

The Thirty Years War set the stage for what?

Answer 20

• The Enlightenment

* Growing indifference to religion

Question 21

What is the Heidelberg Catechism?

Answer 21

• 16th century reformed catechism
• Commissioned by Prince Frederick III
• Primary authors were Olevianus and Ursinus

Question 22

What is the Belgic Confession?

Answer 22

• 16th century reformed confession
• Written in the Netherlands
• Proof that the reformed faith was biblical, not rebellious

Question 23

What is the Helvetic Confession?

Answer 23

• 16th century confession of the Swiss reformed
• Written by Bullinger
• Presents Calvinism as historical evangelical Christianity

Question 24

What are the Canons of Dort?

Answer 24

• 17th century document composed by the Synod of Dort in the Netherlands
• Presents the 5 points of Calvinism
• In response to the Remonstrance (Arminian rejection)

Question 25

What is the Westminster Assembly?

Answer 25

• An assembly of mostly Puritans in 1643-1647
• To advise the Long Parliament on reforming the Church of England
• Produced the Westminster Standards, the greatest and most influential reformed confession and catechisms
• Most of their work was undone with the restoration of the monarchy