Hi everyone,

Here is the study guide part 1.  I recommend that you go through it this weekend, and bring any questions you have to discussion.

PLEASE REMEMBER: As you go through this guide, write down several facts (for example dates, important people, names of texts, time periods, locations) about each entry/question and the SIGNIFICANCE ñ why it is important.

Also remember to study the glossaries and timeline in Oxtoby and Kessler.

Christianity

Early Christianity ñ 1st Century

When was Jesus born?  When was he crucified?

What are the 4 canonical gospels?  When do we think they were written?

What is the Synoptic problem?  Which are the Synoptic gospels?  What is the 4 source hypothesis?

Q (not the Star Trek character)

Paul.  What did he write?  What did he think was most important?

When was the Apostalic Council?  What did they discuss?

Early Christianity ñ 2nd and 3rd Centuries

Marcion/ Marcionism.

When was the canon finalized?  By whom?

Gnosticism.  What is an example of a gnostic writing we looked at in discussion?

Bishops.  Where did they get their authority?

Asceticism.

What are the 2 most important sacraments?

What were the two time periods when Christians were persecuted in an organized way under Greco-Roman rule?  Why (both the official and unofficial reasons)?

Imperial Christianity

Constantine.  Who was he? Why is he important to the development of Christianity?  Battle of Milvian Bridge.

Orthodoxy and heresy

The Trinity.  Who are the 3 persons being discussed? How does the Trinity (try to) preserve monotheism? 

Arianism.  What did Arius teach about the Trinity?

What is the Western Christian understanding of Jesus?

When was the Council of Nicea?  Who called it?  What were they talking about?  What did they decide?  Use an example from the NICENE CREED (in Kessler).  Know the specific terminology used for essence and person.

Nestorianism

Monophysites

Medieval Christianity

When did the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches split? Why? Name some similarities and differences. 

Cyril

Augustine.  When did he live? Where? What did he write? What did he believe about human nature?

Monasticism.  When did it start in Western Europe? What was the first order? What were monks doing after the fall of the Roman Empire?  Name some of the main orders and what they focused on.

Crusades

Thomas Aquinas and Scholasticism

Mysticism

Protestant Reformation (please note: these lectures haven’t happened yet; this is my best guess.)

Martin Luther.  What was he criticizing in the Roman Catholic Church? What were the 95 theses? What did he mean by ìjustification by faithî? How was his view of the Bible different?

Ulrich Zwingli  What did Luther and Zwingli debate?

Anabaptists and the Radical Reformation

John Calvin

Henry VIII and the Act of Supremacy

Council of Trent

Congregationalists

Quakers and George Fox

Methodists and John Wesley