Download Alister McGrath Historical Theology Chapter 2: The Middle Ages and

Alister McGrath
Historical Theology
Chapter 2: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, c.500-1500
Quiz questions
1. “Medieval theology” refers to western theology in the Middle Ages, whereas
“________________ theology” refers to the theology of the eastern church.
2. The humanist slogan “ad fontes” means “back to the ________________.”
3. The fourfold sense of Scripture is also known as the ________________.”
4. The Latin translation of the Bible is usually referred to as the ________________.”
5. The era of Byzantine theology came to an end with the fall of the great city of
________________ in 1453.
Multiple-choice questions
1) The Carolingian renaissance was
a. an artistic movement originating in the University of Paris
b. Charlemagne’s attempt to renew the intellectual life of the church
c. promoted by Emperor Leo III
d. a philosophical movement in Italy in the fourteenth century
2) Peter Abelard’s The Four Books of the Sentences required students to engage the
theology of
a. Origen
b. Augustine
c. Duns Scotus
d. Thomas Aquinas
3) Scholasticism is characterized most centrally by
a. a return to classical Greek philosophy
b. rational and systematic presentation of Christian beliefs
c. a belief in the innate goodness of humanity
d. equal participation of both men and women
4) During the Renaissance, humanism was a movement that
a. believed in the potential and inherent goodness of human beings
b. denied the existence of God
c. sought to renew Christianity through appropriation of classical thought
d. sought to develop a philosophy of what it means to be human
5) Why did Emperor Leo III order the destruction of icons?
a. he argued that the use of icons is forbidden by the Bible
b. he was worried that people were praying directly to icons rather than to God
c. he believed they were barriers to the conversion of Jews and Muslims
d. he saw them as a later development that conflicted with the practice of the early
church
6) The following scholar produced the first printed text of the Greek New Testament:
a. Thomas Aquinas
b. Peter Lombard
c. Erasmus of Rotterdam
d. Anselm
7) Aquinas’s theology draws significantly on the work of which important ancient figure:
a. Plato
b. Rumi
c. Lorenzo Valla
d. Aristotle
8) One of the key Christian practices or doctrines affected by the comparison of the
Latin Vulgate to the Greek New Testament was
a. baptism
b. penance
c. Christology
d. the Eucharist
9) “God is that than which no greater thing can be thought” is the description of God in
a. Anselm’s ontological argument
b. Ockham’s razor
c. the hesychastic controversy
d. Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae
10) Anselm of Canterbury’s view of the atonement emphasizes
a. the love of God
b. the righteousness of God
c. Christ’s victory over the devil
d. the obedience of humanity
11) The definition of a sacrament as “a sign of the grace of God and a form of invisible
grace” was developed by
a. Hugh of St Victor
b. Anselm of Canterbury
c. Peter Lombard
d. Ambrose of Milan
12) The theology of the via moderna movement focused on
a. the grace of God in the work of salvation
b. the importance of reading the Bible in its original languages
c. the obligations of the covenant between God and humanity
d. promoting the ideas of Augustine
13) John Calvin adopted the voluntarist approach to Christ’s death, which means that
a. through his death, Jesus tricked the devil and defeated him
b. because Christ was divine, his death was uniquely important and was sufficient
to redeem humanity from their sins
c. Christ died to appease God’s wrath over the sinfulness of humanity
d. God decided, out of God’s good pleasure, to accept Christ’s offering as sufficient
for the redemption of humankind
14) Mechthild of Magdeburg was
a. the founder of a monastic movement for women
b. an important writer of spiritual works
c. Peter Lombard’s sister
d. an abbess who wrote devotional poetry
15) Christian theology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance can best be characterized by
a. the reinvigoration and systematic establishment of Christian thought
b. a bold move away from the past and into the future
c. improved relations and cooperation between the eastern and western churches
d. great flux and diversity in the development of new doctrines