Church History Quiz, Pt. 1

This should be fun. Church history is fascinating, but the majority of Christians actually know very little of the subject. So, in celebration of our history, I am offering a Church history quiz in three parts for your enjoyment and your brain. I will post the answers in the first comment of the comment meta, so don’t look or comment until you are done, unless you choose difficulty level 3!

I have been thinking about this, and I think I am going to offer a prize to the big winner. Drew, Tyler, you are disqualified, but you can still take the quiz! Anyway, in order to participate, simply fill out your answers on a piece of paper or a notepad document before looking at the answers in comment one. Then grade it according to the grading scale provided keeping the level of difficulty in mind. I won’t make you get a proctor, so the grading will be strictly on an honor’s system. So, don’t jerk around the honors system! :)

Finally, use this fun quiz to tell your friends about Elect Exiles. I do not intend that to be a selfish back door ploy to gain popularity in the blogosphere, rather I just believe the things we are talking about here are edifying and potentially life-changing for some of our readers, especially given the fact that our central focus at EE is to proclaim the gospel loud and clear to the wider blogosphere.

What is the prize? To the winner, I will ship a brand new copy of Jerry Bridges’ book, The Gospel for Real Life. If you win and you already have that book, let me know, and I will send you a similar prize (similar cost) at your request. Be sure to tell folks about the quiz and prize. If we don’t get much of a response, I’ll just buy a book for myself! :)

Now, to the nitty-gritty.

There are three levels of difficulty to choose from:

1. Cold Turkey – Take the quiz without any help at all, (help = books, Google, or any other internet aid).
2. Easy, but annoying – Take the quiz with help (e.g. internet, Google, Wikipedia, books, etc.). If you choose this option, you will need to subtract 25 points from your final score. Don’t make it too easy! Try to finish the quiz in 15 minutes.
3. Lazy cheater mode – Skip the quiz and look at the answers.

There will be three quizzes total. I will post the other two in the next two or three days. Count off 5 points from 100 for every question you answer wrong, and take an average at the end of the three quizzes. Quiz #1 will be open through Sunday 1:00 PM CST.

Now, take the quiz!

1. During the Age of Imperial Christianity, orthodox doctrines were being defined and heresies were being condemned. Four heresies involved misunderstandings of the nature of Christ. _______ was the greatest threat to the orthodox doctrine of Jesus Christ and was condemned at the Council of Nicea, 325.
2. _______ was the greatest theologian of the early church (i.e. before the Reformation).
3. _______ (c. 338-397) was the bishop of Milan; he combated heresies that threatened the orthodox doctrine of Jesus Christ.
4. Augustine was one of the important thinkers to the Reformers, especially Calvin. _______ was one of the important thinkers to the Arminians. The church with the help of Augustine condemned his teachings as heresy along with the Donatist heresy.
5. Augustine developed the idea that salvation is _______, because man was totally corrupt and unable to move toward God apart from God’s sovereign and gracious choice. This is the view that the Holy Spirit is the only agent who effects regeneration of Christians.
6. The first great Christian history published was ______ by Augustine.
7. Augustine believed that man was totally corrupt, and all men are totally corrupt because of _______. This is the idea that Adam was our representative. When he sinned, he sinned on our behalf and creation fell.
8. Augustine was the first theologian to articulate the doctrine of _______, because he believed that Imperial Christianity looked much like the Kingdom. He believed there would be no need for Christ’s return in order for the kingdom to come. The church was the kingdom. This doctrine teaches there is no literal millennium before or after Christ returns to earth.
9. Christianity spread into northern Europe during the Imperial Age. In Germany, Norse mythology was still practiced. _______ chopped down Thor’s ’sacred’ oak tree, and began sharing the gospel with the Frankish Germans.
10. _______ was the first bishop of Rome to articulate the doctrine of Petrine or Papal Primacy (the assertion of the universal jurisdiction of the Roman bishop). He is perhaps best known for trying to persuade Attila the Hun not to sack the city of Rome in 452.
11. _______ is considered to be one of the four great Latin Church fathers. He was probably the first to actually be recognized as pope by most of the churches. He called for missionaries to be sent throughout Europe, especially to the British islands.
12. During the early Renaissance years, the Roman Empire had little left but the church. _______ was given the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, and so for a short time, the Roman Empire and the church were operating in much the same manner.
13. Islam largely rejected Plato, but they held on to _______­’s teachings (this is important to the Renaissance).
14. _______ is the most influential theologian in church history for the Catholic church. He wrote Summa Theologiae and defended the sacramental system.
15. As the early stages of the Reformation were beginning to affect the church, a famous writer wrote _______. In it, he placed the pope at the lowest place in hell.
16. _______ was one of the main Reformers who did not think the church should teach that penance was required along with faith in order to secure salvation.
17. _______ was nicknamed the ‘morning star of the Reformation.’ He was condemned by the Catholic church because he translated the Latin Bible into the common tongue.
18. _______ was Aquinas’ understanding of the Lord’s Supper. He taught that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Reformers said that it was a false understanding of Scripture.
19. The ­­­­­_______ began in 1309 when the papacy was moved to from Rome to Avignon; and later two other ‘popes’ were chosen and they all excommunicated each other. It later culminated in an east/west split that divided the Catholic church into the Roman (Western) Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
20. Another early ‘Reformer’ was _______. He followed the teachings of his English contemporary, but was also ruled to be a heretic. He lived in Bohemia and was eventually burned at the stake.

• Remember, if you took the quiz at difficulty level two (easy, but annoying), you should subtract 25 points from your final grade.
• If you took the quiz in lazy cheater mode, you just fail. Sorry. :)

You’re finished, almost! Be sure to post your full real name and your score to the comment meta. Also, make sure you link your name to something that allows me to contact you if you win. If you prefer, include your email address in your comment. If you do that, write your email address like this: example at gmail dot com (that way, we won’t lose your comment in the spam filter and you won’t get any new spam in your inbox).

More? Listen to Pastor Tommy Nelson’s Church History lectures. Or, buy Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley @ Amazon.