Study Guide: Christianity

5 Written Questions

1. (literally: thanksgiving) denotes the central Christian ritual. Catholics believe in a literal presence of Christ in the taking of bread and wine while other churches have a more abstract understanding. Connects the believer with her community.
2. The oldest surviving Gospel text. This text, preserved only in fragments and not part of the Canon, reflects a Christianity that is similar to that of the NT (traces of John perhaps), reflecting questions discussed there such as women’s leadership. Establishes spiritual maturity as a criterion for leadership.
3. booths" initiates an 8-day festival period culminating in Shemini Atzertet (the Eight Day of Assembly) and Simhat Torah (rejoicing in the Torah). It is a pilgrimage festival celebrating experience of Israelite wandering.
4. (Seventy, often abbreviated with LXX) is a Greek translation of the Bible, used by Jews and later also Christians for centuries. Since some copies of the Septuagint are older than the Hebrew texts, these texts often preserve early readings of the Biblical text.
5. are waves of enthusiastic and intense religious feelings that swept entire regions and countries. It often combines a vivid description of reward and punishment with a call for repentance. There were 4 great Awakenenings in the US, each of which gave rise to new religious movements, practices, and beliefs. Some think that we live in the aftermath of a 60s/70s Awakening.

5 Matching Questions

1. Synoptic Gospels
2. Second Vatican Council
3. Confirmation
4. Gnosticism
5. 613 commandments

1. a Jewish law construes the Torah as prescribing 248 positive (visiting the sick, hospitality etc.) and 365 negative commandments, imagined as corresponding to the limbs of the human body.
2. b (1962-1965) was called out to renew the Catholic Church. It established many new standards in practice and theology, noticeably a return to the medieval liturgy, the use of the vernacular in worship, as well as the relationship between Catholics and non-Christians.
3. c Christianity: As a sacrament this refers to the receiving of the gift of the Spirit. Among the Orthodox it usually occurs at the same time as baptism; in Roman Catholicism it takes place when a child reaches what is considered "the age of reason." Judaism: A rite of passage at about age 16, after Bar/Bat Mitzvah, mostly in Reform Judaism.
4. d refers to the three Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke that share several common features and differ from the Gospel of John.
5. e An artificial term used for texts. Taken to refer to a religious movement claiming secret knowledge. Recent scholarship rejects the term and instead insists on reading these texts as legitimate expressions of the followers of the Jesus movement before the establishment of the canon, theology, rite, or the Church.

5 Multiple Choice Questions

1. was called Extreme Unction. This ritual, sometimes called "anointing of the sick," is the seventh sacrament in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. Originally used for all who were ill it has become a ritual enabling a person to pass from this life into the next.
   1. Anointing of the Sick (last rites)
   2. Francis of Assisi
   3. Gospel of Thomas
   4. Synoptic Gospels
2. was a major 16th c. Reformer who pointed out abuses within the church. He came to reject a number of practices (indulgences, pilgrimage, clerical abuses of power, celibacy) and theological issues. He stressed the idea of justification by faith alone.
   1. Martin Luther
   2. Our Father
   3. Monotheism
   4. Christ
3. This prayer, attributed to Jesus in Matthew, quickly became the central Christian prayer and is shared by all Christian communities.
   1. Sukkot
   2. Our Father
   3. Martin Luther
   4. Purgatory
4. From being a fast of two or three days, this observance, in preparation for Good Friday, became, in the fourth century, a season of fasting in imitation of Jesus' fast in the desert. Today often substituted by giving up TV, sweets, or Facebook.
   1. Advent
   2. Christ
   3. Sukkot
   4. Lent
5. was the 12th/13th c. founder of an order of mendicant friars, the Franciscans, that emphasized radical poverty and serving the poor and disenfranchised. Credited with “Oh Lord, make me an instrument of Your will” and the song to the sun.
   1. Revivalism
   2. Confession
   3. Paul of Tarsus
   4. Francis of Assisi

5 True/False Questions

1. Gospel of Thomas → This 2nd c. (Gnostic) Gospel, not included in the canonical Christian Bible collects sayings attributed to Jesus, some similar, some strikingly different.

   True        False

2. Purgatory → denotes an idea of purgation, or cleansing, in the afterlife, a kind of in-between period after death in which the soul receive punishment.

   True        False

3. Counter-Reformation (see council of trent) → Council of Trent1545-1563) began the Counter-Reformation and structured the reaction of the Catholic Church to the Reformation. It addressed a wide range of issues raised by the Reformers such as clerical discipline and formulated theological positions, affirming the authority of institutional tradition. Introduced liturgical changes.

   True        False

4. Paul of Tarsus → This 2nd c. (Gnostic) Gospel, not included in the canonical Christian Bible collects sayings attributed to Jesus, some similar, some strikingly different.

   True        False

5. Passover → see Pesach Passover" celebrates the exodus from Egypt. Celebrated with an elaborate ritualized meal, the Seder and by reading a haggada, a home manual recounting the interpretation of this history.

   True        False