Christian Heritage Exam 1

Anna Rogoz -- Exam 1 corrections

Which early Christian thinker rejected the Old Testament, focusing on the Gospel of Luke and letters of Paul instead?

-Marcion

Odium humani generis, a frequent charge against Christians, means

-hatred of the human race

The earliest surviving list of the new testament books that most Christians recognize today comes from a letter written by athanasius of Alexandria in 367 CE

-true

In Pliny’s letter to Trajan, the two deacons he arrested were…

-female slaves

Which of these was NOT a major point of interest/concern for early Christians?

-the fate of Animals

This great church in Constantinople was once considered the greatest of all churches in the world

-Hagia Sophia

The canon is:

-an agreed list of authoritative sacred texts

The conversion of a culture to Greek culture and standards is a process known as…

-hellenization

Which early Christian leader emphasized the importance of the eucharist and authority of bishops in order to contradict gnosticism?

-Irenaeus

Christology is…

-the theology of the person and work of jesus Christ

What work presents an alternative interpretation of the life and sayings of jesus to that found in the 4 gospels

-gospel of thomas

Tertullian said “the blood of the Martyrs is…”

-the seed of the church

Gnostics believed that…

-All the above (martyrdom was foolish, the physical world was evil and not created by the supreme god, jesus was not truly flesh)

Which second-century text attempted to harmonize the four gospels but was later rejected by orthodox Christianity?

-Diatesseron

This Greek term means wilderness and was also used to describe Christians who chose a solitary life

-eremos

Which of the following describes Arius’s position on the relationship between the father and the son?

-all the above (arius believed the son was not eternal but created, arius wanted to maintain the divinity and oneness of God, arius supported the subordination of the son)

Christians throughout the history of the church have always agreed on how one is saved

-false

These two women famously suffered martyred in North Africa around the beginning of the 3rd century

-perpetua and felicity

Athanasius believed that the father was completely unbegotten while the son was eternally begotten from the Father.

-True

In the bible, this woman is said to be “famous” or “noted” among the apostles in Romans 16.

-Junia

1. The Jewish response to Greek colonization that combined elements from both cultures is known as _______

a. Syncretism

b. Collaboration

c. Non-participation

d. Conformism

i. I narrowed it down to A and D cause I knew it was an “ism” but had to guess D cause I didn’t know for sure. The definition of Syncretism is “the combination or attempted combination of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought.”

2. In his Dialogue with the Jew Trypho, Justin Martyr…

a. defends Christian claims about Jesus using the Old Testament

b. demonstrates how Christians are distinct from Jews

c. debates the usefulness of Greek philosophy

d. argues that Christians should only follow the New Testament

i. In the Dialogue with Trypho, Justin tries to prove the truth of Christianity to a Jew named Trypho. Justin attempts to demonstrate that a new covenant has superseded the old covenant of God with the Jewish people and that Jesus is the messiah announced by the old testament and that the gentiles have been chosen to replace Israel as God’s chosen people.

3. In order to continue excluding women from leadership roles in the church, men…

a. changed Junia to Junius in Romans

b. none of the above

c. created the position of deaconess

d. removed Thecla from her own story

i. The New Testament provides evidence of the women’s role in the church, for example in Paul's letters when he greets women calls them a word in Greek that means "deaconess." This is to maintain separation between men and women roles in the church by gendering the names of positions rather than just calling them all deacons, the women were deaconess.

4. What significant discovery was made at Nag Hammadi in the middle of the twentieth century?

a. the earliest copy of the Bible

b. the ruins of the earliest monastic settlement

c. a large corpus of documents written by gnostics

d. the location of Jesus’s crucifixion

i. ok wow this one was super easy, not sure why guessed C… anyway, Nag Hammadi Library is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945.

5. In order to continue excluding women from leadership roles in the church, men in the nineteenth century…

a. removed Thecla from her own story

b. created the position of deaconess

c. none of the above

d. changed Junia to Junius in Romans

6. Philo of Alexandria is known for…

a. leading the Zealot’s revolt against Rome

b. translating the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, called the Septuagint

c. refusing to attend Greek baths, schools, or theaters

d. interpreting the Torah allegorically to align with Greek philosophy

i. he was a Greek-speaking Hellenistic-Jewish philosopher and writer. I thought he translated scripture into Greek because he spoke Greek, but he was in fact a philosopher and he demonstrated a new perspective, or interpretation of the torah through the lense of Greek philosophy.

7. Which movement claimed a new revelation from the Holy Spirit and included prominent female prophetesses?

a. Sabellianism 

b. Montanism

c. Docetism  

d. Marcionism

i. I guessed on this one too I got all the -ism’s mixed up. Founded by Montanus, Montanism was a Christian movement during the late 2nd century that was considered heresy even though its basic beliefs and theology aligned with Christianity other than the belief in spontaneous phrophetic revelations.

8. Paul and the leaders of the Jerusalem Church disagreed over…

a. the extent to which Gentile Christians needed to follow the Jewish Law 

b. whether or not to obey the emperor

c. which books should be included in the biblical canon

d. the relationship between Christ and the Spirit

i. the reason I got this one wrong was because I thought this was a dispute between just paul and peter, I didnt realize peter’s leadership in the Jerusalem church was relevant in this disagreement. The conflict in Antioch was between paul and peter over Gentile Christians following Jewish Law.

9. Which Christian apologist addressed his treatise to the emperor and Roman senate and claimed that Plato was influenced by Moses?

a. Origen of Alexandria

b. Clement of Alexandria

c. Justin Martyr

d. Tertullian

i.  Justin Martyr believed that ancient Greek philosophers were influenced by Moses, specifically Plato.

10. Which group emphasized withdrawal from the world and denying worldly pleasures?

a. Bishops

b. Ascetics

c. Apologists

d. Presbyters

i. Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals.

11. Official statements by the church universal are called…

a. Papal bulls

b. Scripture

c. Apologies

d. Dogma

i. I was confused by the grammatical wording of this question, but after looking back at the PowerPoint slides, the correct answer is Dogma.

 

12. One of the unique aspects of Israel’s worship of Yahweh was…

a. continued fidelity to Yahweh after their destruction

b. the ritual sacrifices at the Temple

c. an emphasis on a particular set of writings

d. the role of the prophets

i. Israel worshiped Yahweh through the unique roles of the prophets.

13. The Book of Revelation was likely written during persecution under which Roman emperor?

a. Galerius

b. Diocletian

c. Constantine

d. Domitian

i. Almost all New Testament scholars agree that Revelation was written during the reign of Domitian 95 CE.

14. Which early Christian miraculously survived persecution twice, preached before the governor, and received a commission from Paul to teach the Word of God?

a. Thecla

b. Irenaeus

c. Justin Martyr

d. Junia

i. Thecla was a Martyr who survived persecution twice, preached before the emperor of rome, and was ordered by paul to preach the word of god.

 

15. Martus, from which we get the term martyr, means…

a. to sacrifice

b. to conform

c. to inspire

d. to witness

i. Martus is a Greek word for witness.

 

16. The Greek term ekklesia can refer to a local body of believers within Christianity, the universal Church, and the physical building that houses Christians.

a. True

b. False

i. In Christian theology, Ekklesia means both a particular body of faithful people, and the whole body of the faithful.

17. According to early Christian thinkers like Justin Martyr, the Logos was…

a. a concept only useful to Christians

b. the best argument against Gnosticism

c. the bridge between Christianity and Greek philosophy

d. an important piece of the Synoptic Gospels

i. I selected B because I misinterpreted Justin Martyr’s interpretation of Logos. Logos is a concept meaning “the word of god” I was thinking of Logos as in logic and reasoning used in persuasive writing and rhetoric. I’m not very religious so this subject doesn’t just come naturally to me and since its online im practically having to teach myself all of the background knowledge about Christianity and the bible in general.

18. The Council of Nicaea in 325 sided with whose position on the relationship between the Father and the Son?

a. Athanasius

b. Clement of Alexandria

c. Arius

d. Origen

i. The Arian controversy was an ongoing dispute between Arius and Athanasius. Among their controversies was the relationship between the father and the son. The council of Nicaea sided with Athanasius NOT Arius.

19. One of the unique aspects of Israel’s worship of Yahweh was…

a. continued fidelity to Yahweh after their destruction

b. the ritual sacrifices at the Temple

c. an emphasis on a particular set of writings

d. the role of prophets

i. duplicate question.

20. Which document issued by Constantine ended persecution for Christians in his part of the empire in 311?

a. Edict of Persecution

b. Edict of Rome

c. Edict of Toleration

d. Edict of Gaul

i. The great persecution officially ended in April 311 when Constantine issued the edict of toleration. An edict of toleration is a statement made by a leader that members of any given religion will not be persecuted for engaging in their religious practices and traditions.

21. Please define the word Apology. Discuss one important apologist. Discuss why apologists wrote.

apologists write stories in the bible. they wrote to share their interpretation on the story of christ and to give a deeper meaning to bible stories. 

Christian apologetics is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity against objections. An Apologist is a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial, which at the time was Christianity. Apologists are like apostles in a way. Apologists wrote for two reasons: to End persecution and to Educate pagans about Christianity.

22. Please explain the meaning of homoousious. Explain why this term is important. Explain key persons involved in this debate.

i have literally no idea.

Homoiousios means of similar essence. It is a Christian theological term to describe jesus as “same in essence” with God. Relative to the The Arian controversy between Arius and Athanasius. Arian believes in Subordination of Son while Athanasius believes in Light subordinationism.

23. Please identify this picture and discuss it in a thoughtful paragraph.

its a picture of the martyrs and apologists 

This is a picture of women preaching. It is important because it demonstrates the influence that women have on the church despite not being allowed leadership roles in the church prior. It resembles the women of the church and how they overcame being undermined by society and men, they fought for their respectful place in society as role models and leaders in the church. The picture symbolizes the prevalence of women throughout the Bible and the history of Christianity and their impact on Christian culture.