Christianity

Question 1

Worship/Liturgy

Answer 1

• Usually on a Sunday, 1-2 hours
• At a meeting house, church, parish, chapel, basilica and cathedral
• Cathedral: from “kathedra” (chair); the Bishop’s chair
• Basilica: building with a relic or with historical significance

Question 2

Leadership

Answer 2

• Roman catholic + orthodox churches: male only, at every level
• Anglican/Episcopalean Churches: female priests, some female bishops, but no female Archbishop of Canterbury yet (primate)
• Protestant Churches: Baptists can have female ministers, UCC many women at all levels, Evangelical churches, usually only men

Question 3

Church

Answer 3

• Prayers, hymns, readings from scripture, sermon, gathering and greeting
• Liturgy: liturgy of the word, liturgy of the Eucharist
• Liturgical vs. non- liturgical services
• Priest vs. Minister

Question 4

Eucharist

Answer 4

• For catholics = transubstantiation vs for protestants = consubstantiation
• Meanings of Baptism:
o Cleansing away of sin (previous life/original sin)
o Infant baptism vs. adult baptism
o Access to sacraments right away?
o Identity, membership

Question 5

Sacraments

Answer 5

• Other catholic sacraments and orthodox sacred mysteries: in addition to the Eucharist and Baptism:
o Confession, confirmation, ordination, marriage and last rites
• For protestants: only Eucharist and Baptism are sacraments

Question 6

Confession

Answer 6

• Confess ones sins to a priest
• First confession is at 7-8 years old
• Rite of passage
• Confessional

Question 7

Confirmation

Answer 7

• Confirms the initiation of baptism; typically 12-13 years
• Preparation: instruction in catholic theology: Christianity
• Orthodox Christians: chrismation
o Happens at the same time as baptism + first communion (infant)
o No protestant

Question 8

Ordination

Answer 8

• Catholic / orthodox priest (sacrament) = male only
• Protestant minister (not a sacrament) = male or female, openly gay or straight (depending on tradition)
• Training/degree; by denomination always

Question 9

Marriage

Answer 9

• Christians marry by denomination
• Sacrament only for Catholics and Orthodox
• Catholics do a marriage prep course (family planning)
• Divorce forbidden in the catholic church; allowed among protestants (annulment an expensive option for Catholics)

Question 10

Last Rite

Answer 10

• Prepares a believer for death
• Recommends that person to God, pleading with God to receive the person with mercy and grace
• Catholic last rites: confession, anointing with olive oil, eucharist
• Orthodox last rites: confession, eucharist

Question 11

Advent (Christmas)

Answer 11

o A month spent preparing for the birth of jesus
o Focus on scriptures Christians believe predicted Jesus’ arrival
o 4 preceding Sundays (Dec 2 2018)
o Fast of the Nativity (40 days, orthodox Christians )

Question 12

Christmas Season

Answer 12

o Christmas – Dec 25 (for some eastern orthodoxy still, Jan 7)
o Not his birthday
o Feast of Saturnalia / Sol Invictus

Question 13

End of Christmas Season

Answer 13

o Feast of Epiphany (Jan 6)
o In the west, ends the Christmas season (12 days of Christmas)
o In the east, celebrates the baptism of jesus

Question 14

Lent

Answer 14

• 6 week period preceeding easter
• Ash Wednesday: first day of lent (Mar 6 2019)
• Period of self denial, fasting

Question 15

Pre Lenten Celebration

Answer 15

• Mardi gras, carnival in catholic cultures
• Shrove Tuesday or Monday in Protestant cultures
• Orthodox cultures; great lent starts with clean Monday, 48 days of fasting before easter

Question 16

Holy week

Answer 16

• Orthodox: end of fast, austerity to celebration

* Catholics / protestants: palm Sunday, maundy Thursday, good Friday: day of jesus’s death, easter Sunday

Question 17

Start of Christianity

Answer 17

4th century CE

Question 18

Complications of Christian History

Answer 18

• None of the earliest followers of Jesus were Christian (or if they were…)
• Which Christian’s history would we choose?

Question 19

Paul of Tarsus 1st century

Answer 19

• 40-55 CE
• Greece and Asia Minor (modern turkey)
• Pauline Christianity = Greco-Roman religion
• No circumcision, no food restrictions (kashrut)

Question 20

Gnostics

Answer 20

• Believed knowledge could save you

- Jesus only ‘appeared’ to be human, was not actually

Question 21

Marcion

Answer 21

• Demiurges (evil) were behind creation, Judaism, and the Hebrew Bible
• Counselled rejection of all things Jewish
• Rejected Gospel of Matthew from his canon (bible)

Question 22

Imperial Christianity 4th century

Answer 22

• Constantine was Roman emperor 306-337 CE
• Wins in battle believes because he carried the chi-ro into battle
• Makes Christianity legal in Roman empire

Question 23

Arius from Alexandria

Answer 23

Believed Jesus was not eternal but created, Jesus was homoiousion= similar substance to god

Question 24

Athanasius from Alexandria

Answer 24

Co eternity between god the father and jesus the son, jesus was homoousion: one being the same substance as god (same belief as aria)

Question 25

Nicene Creed

Answer 25

Nicea (325 CE), nicene creed establishes the concept of the trinity (co equal Father, son, holy spirit)

Question 26

After Nicea

Answer 26

If jesus is co equal to god, what is mary?

Question 27

Bishop of Alexandria

Answer 27

Mary was the "mother of god", Theotokos= bearer of god

Question 28

Fall of Rome 476 CE

Answer 28

Constantine uses Christianity as a weapon against people after the religion is legalized

Question 29

Back to Empire

Answer 29

637 CE fall of Jerusalem to Muslim caliph Umar, 1010 CE- church of the holy sepulcher burned down by a muslim, this led to the crusades

Question 30

Crusades 11th century

Answer 30

1099 CE crusaders win back Jerusalem, they'll lose it again in 1187 to muslims, power changes will change several times in the 1200's

Question 31

East West split 11th century

Answer 31

Rome assumes central authority, 1054 CE Bishop of Constantinople splits from bishop of rome (the pope), this results in the creation of Eastern orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism

Question 32

Filoque clause

Answer 32

From: and i believe in the holy spirit, the lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the father. To: -- who proceeds from the father and the son

Question 33

Eastern Orthodoxy

Answer 33

- Cyrillic alphabet mix of new language and Greek (possibly Greek and Russian) - Eastern orthodox art 7th century very distinct - Iconoclasts (believe should not pray before a painting, smashed icons, argued that praying before an image looks like idolatry) V.S. iconodules (icons should be used, they win debate icons are used)

Question 34

Many Orthodox Christianities

Answer 34

- Eastern orthodox (Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, Albanian, Romanian, etc) no center of orthodox authority, no prime church or pope - Oriental orthodox (Armenia, Egypt, Syria, Ethiopia, and India) - Assyrian orthodox (Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and also Syria) No such thing as orthodox Christianity, there are several blocks of orthodoxies

Question 35

Martin Luther 1483-1546

Answer 35

Corruption of Rome - Exploitation of northern European churches - Indulgences (buy things get promised heaven) 95 theses of Luther (1517 CE) - Wittenburg - Direct challenge and refutation of many catholic ideas

Question 36

Charges against Luther

Answer 36

Charges (1521 CE) - Excommunication: placing one outside the community of believers - Political subversion basically treason

Question 37

Sola Fide

Answer 37

Humans can do nothing to affect salvation, predetermined (Luther)

Question 38

Sola Scriptura

Answer 38

All practice and belief found in scripture alone (Luther)

Question 39

Effects of Luther protests

Answer 39

- Protestant Christian reformation (come after Luther’s protests) #2 local authority = multiple splintering 16th – 19th century - “a priesthood of believers” - Makes everyone equal you do not need a priest and Church - Calvin/ Calvinism

Question 40

Wars of religion

Answer 40

- Catholics and protestants killing each other for hundreds of years in France - Britain/ Ireland protestant chistians, irish fought back against brits - Netherlands, Belgium, Luxenberg - Thirty years war triggered by event at progue castle, threw catholic administrators out of the windows

Question 41

Modern Catholicism

Answer 41

- Vatican II: 1962-65 most recent Vatican council - Modernization of some Catholic practices, not others - Ecumenical - “traditionalists”

Question 42

Order of the gospels

Answer 42

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John