The Age of Reformation (1500-1750 CE)

Question 1

What are the four elements of Reformation?

Answer 1

1. Lutheranism
2. Calvinism (The Reformed Church)
3. Anabaptism (The Radical Reformation)
4. Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation

Question 2

Who was Lutheranism associated with?

Answer 2

Martin Luther

Question 3

Where did Lutheranism originate from?

Answer 3

Germany

Question 4

Who was Calvinism associated with?

Answer 4

John Calvin

Question 5

Where did Calvinism originate from?

Answer 5

Switzerland

Question 6

Why is “Reformed” preferred to “Calvinism”?

Answer 6

16th century Reformed theology drew on sources other than ideas of Calvin

Question 7

What doctrine was Lutheranism particularly concerned with?

Answer 7

Doctrine of justification

Question 8

What did Anabaptists insist on?

Answer 8

Only those who made a personal, public profession of faith should be baptized

Question 9

Where did Anabaptism originate from?

Answer 9

Zurich, Switzerland

Question 10

What were the common elements for Anabaptism?

Answer 10

• General distrust of external authority
• Rejection of infant baptism in favour of baptism of adult believers
• Common ownership of property
• Emphasis on pacificism and nonresistance

Question 11

What was the English Reformation called?

Answer 11

Anglicanism

Question 12

Who was the leading force in the English Reformation?

Answer 12

King Henry VIII

Question 13

What was the Council that preceded the Catholic Reformation?

Answer 13

The Council of Trent (1545)

Question 14

What reforms did the Counsel of Trent introduce?

Answer 14

The conduct of clergy, ecclesiastical discipline, religious education, and missionary activity

Question 15

What was the name of the Second Reformation?

Answer 15

Confessionalization

Question 16

What characterised the “period of orthodoxy”?

Answer 16

Lutheranism, Calvinism and Catholicism were established in the same geographical area and was pressurized to distinguish themselves from each other

Question 17

What were the two movements that emerged in the post-reformation period?

Answer 17

Puritanism (worship and doctrinal purity) and Pietism (purity of life and behaviour)

Question 18

What are the Copernican and Galilean controversies?

Answer 18

• Copernicus: (16th century) sun at the centre instead of the earth (heliocentric)
• Galileo mounted a major defense of the Copernican theory of the solar system

Question 19

What do the Protestant reformers insist on for the sources of theology?

Answer 19

“by Scripture alone” (sola scriptura)

Question 20

What are the consequences of the protestant reformers on “sola scriptura”?

Answer 20

• Beliefs which could not be demonstrated to be grounded in Scripture were to be rejected (i.e., immaculate conception of Mary)
• New emphasis placed on the public status of Scripture in church (i.e., expository sermon, biblical commentary, works of biblical theology)

Question 21

For the doctrine of grace, what was the Lutheran’s focus on and what was Reformer Church’s focus on?

Answer 21

• Lutheranism: justification by faith alone

- Calvinism: grace in relation to predestination. “unconditional election” as a summary of unmerited grace

Question 22

What is the difference between Catholicism and the Reformers on the doctrine of the sacraments?

Answer 22

Catholicism – seven sacraments; Reformers – two sacraments (baptism and eucharist)

• Trent: Sacraments bestowed grace; Reformers: Sacraments signifying but not bestowing grace

Question 23

What is a sacrament?

Answer 23

outward signs of the invisible grace of God

Question 24

What is the debate about the doctrine of the church for John Calvin and the Council of Trent?

Answer 24

• John Calvin argues that the church was not to be defined institutionally but in terms of preaching the Bible and right administration of the sacraments
• Council of Trent: Church was a divinely ordained and instituted society and salvation was not possible outside its boundaries

Question 25

What are the developments in theological literature?

Answer 25

• catechisms
• confessions of faith
• works of systematic theology

Question 26

What are the 3 levels of authority that the protestant theologians consider?

Answer 26

1. Scripture
2. Creeds
3. Confessions of faith