Review Questions 6

The history of Western Europe is to a great extent the story of how one vision of Rome as a center of power was replaced by another as Christianity ceased to be a persecuted cult and instead became an imperial force in its own right. Just as the story of Judaism has two main parts--one before the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem by the Romans and the other all the centuries afterward--the story of Christianity can be split between the world before the Reformation and the world afterward.

1. The Nicene Creed has been used a definition of what Christians believe since the earliest centuries. What are its main statements?
2. Who were the Gnostics? How did their understanding of Jesus differ from that which became the official Christian teaching?
3. When were the books of the New Testament written? What is the supposed relationship between this set of documents and those which the Christian calls "the Old Testament"?
4. One key difference between Catholics and Protestants is the understanding of an Apostolic tradition or "deposit of faith." How does this parallel the difference between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhists?
5. What was the basis for the split between the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox traditions?
6. Explain the difference between a monk and a friar in the Middle Ages. How did a Jesuit differ from both?
7. Who were the key figures in the Reformation? How much did they differ from Roman Catholic tradition in beliefs and how much in practices?
8. What is a sacrament? How many are there in the Catholic tradition? What would be different in the Protestant traditions?
9. What is the Christian understanding of "salvation"? How does it connect with the idea of original sin? According to standard Christian thought, what happens to a "good" person who is not "saved"?
10. Both Buddhism and Christianity have spread because of missionaries. How are the traditions different in the way they think of the need to go out and make converts?