Unit On Modern Challenges Test

Question 1

August Comte’s theory about history

Answer 1

There are three stages of human development:

1. Theological/Fictitious Stage: Primitive man made up stories about God/gods to explain what he doesn’t understand
2. Metaphysical/Philosophical Stage: Aristotle and others used reason about ultimate causes to understand what we don’t know
3. Positive/Scientific Stage: We now have positive, sure conclusions because we reason upon precise observation.

What does this imply? Having science, we no longer need religion or philosophy

Question 2

Freud’s theory

Answer 2

There are three parts of the human mind:

1. Ego: the reasoning part
2. Super-ego: learned ideas by which we reason
3. Id: primitive desiring part.

When the id cannot get what it wants, it fantasizes a substitute. Faced with anxiety, the id fantasizes a loving, fatherly God–a security blanket.

Question 3

Theism

Answer 3

Belief in (a) god

Question 4

Atheism

Answer 4

Belief in no-god

Question 5

Agnosticism

Answer 5

Not-knowing (about God)

Question 6

Who was the most famous evangelist after WWII?

Answer 6

Rev. Billy Graham

Question 7

What book, and by whom was it written, challenged all of Christian thought?

Answer 7

Age of Reason by Thomas Paine

Question 8

What Babylonian law codes were unearthed?

Answer 8

Hammurabi’s Code

Question 9

How did German scholars study Bible texts?

Answer 9

Using strictly rationalist methods, the same way they would study Homer, and Greek, Roman, and Babylonian myths.

Question 10

What did scholars conclude about the Pentateuch?

Answer 10

There were inconsistencies in vocabulary that made scholars conclude that there were 4 different groups of writers at different times. Moses didn’t write the Pentateuch alone.

Question 11

How did geological evidence raise questions about the accuracy of Genesis 1?

Answer 11

Genesis says the Earth is about 5,000 years old, but geological evidence suggests it is much older.

Question 12

What book of the Bible is oldest? What does this mean?

Answer 12

Mark. The evangelists were probably not eyewitnesses.

Question 13

What did David Friedrich Strauss write? What did it claim?

Answer 13

“Life of Jesus.” Rejected all supernatural elements of the Gospels and claimed Jesus was just a wise Jewish teacher who was killed by Romans

Question 14

Title of the series of pamphlets made by Presbyterians in response to challenges to Christian ideas?

Answer 14

“The Fundamentals”

Question 15

Fundamentalism

Answer 15

Belief that the truths of Christianity can only be conserved if Christians believed that the scriptures are literally and historically accurate in every way.

Question 16

What is the difference between the fundamentalist idea of “inerrant” scripture at the Catholic idea of this same word in Dei Verbum?

Answer 16

Fundamentalists saw Scripture as inerrant as in, without factual errors. Catholics saw scripture as inerrant in its truths which are essential for salvation.

Question 17

4 guidelines for scripture studies in Dei Verbum

Answer 17

1. Have regard for literary forms (genre)
2. Know the historical situation and the culture at the time of writing
3. Pay attention to common ways of perceiving, speaking, and marketing at he time
4. Know the customs of the time-how people related to one another

Question 18

Faith come not from _____, but from ________

Answer 18

Faith comes not from reasoning about the uncaused cause, but from experiences like seeing baby Jesus in the manger or experiencing a sacrament

Question 19

What was emphasized by the new Passionist Order of priests?

Answer 19

They emphasized reflecting on the suffering of Jesus

Question 20

What was emphasized by the new Redemptorist Order of priests?

Answer 20

They emphasized devotion to the Holy Family

Question 21

What were Catholic laypeople excited about?

Answer 21

The Sacred Heart of Jesus and Marian Apparitions.

Question 22

Liminality

Answer 22

Means boundaries

Question 23

Bernadette Soubirous’s experience

Answer 23

She was a sickly young girl. She saw a woman who identified herself as the “Immaculate Conception”. Bernadette had half a conversation and then dug at the base of a cliff. A spring gushed up where there had not been water before. Now pilgrims visit her village and spring to be healed

Question 24

Why were Ivy League colleges created?

Answer 24

To be seminaries to train Protestant pastors

Question 25

How many Protestant theological journals/magazines were published in the US during the 1800s?

Answer 25

Over 100

Question 26

Tent revivals

Answer 26

Christians of Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Methodist denominations had revivals hosted in large tents in the western US. They focused on personal sinfulness and God’s redemption through Jesus rather than discussing hotly debated issues.

Question 27

Charles Finney

Answer 27

Adapted the revival method to cities. Held his revivals in large city venues. Told his associates not to talk about doctrinal distinctions, but to focus on the simple message of Christianity

Question 28

How have evangelical Christians attempted to create an alternate world?

Answer 28

Christian music, radio, movies, TV, theme parks, books

Question 29

Relativism

Answer 29

“Everyone looks through his own telescope. If there are so many competing beliefs, how can we judge that any one of these is true?” -Diderot