Study Guide Part One

Sorry for the delay in posting - There will be a second part tomorrow, so get started on this...



1. Complete this sentence: “Human Beings are different from other existents in that they are able to…”
2. What is required for the human to live an integrated and authentic existence?
3. List the six periods of Church History and provide their dates.
4. What event is considered the birth of the church?
5. In the Early Church Period, Peter and Paul met in Jerusalem to decide on an important issue that would shape the future of the Christian Church. Paul argued very strongly and persuasively for position. What was the issue, and how was the matter resolved?
6. Where did Peter and Paul end their lives? How did they end their lives of service to the Church?
7. St. Paul worked hard to spread the good news of Christ. He traveled on _____ missionary trips and _____ of his letter are recorded in the New Testament.
8. How many books are contained in the Canon of the New Testament? Explain the term “canon.”
9. List the three struggles or challenges of the Persecuted Church Period.
10. Provide one example of a misunderstanding that led to the persecution of Christians.
11. In a short essay, explain the events surrounding Constantine’s decision to make Christianity legal in the Roman Empire.
12. Constantine shifts the capital of the Empire to ________________ in the year ________. What impact did this have on Rome?
13. What groups, desiring the more ordered and happy life of the empire, were creeping across the Rhine and beginning to disrupt the empire? Provide two examples of these groups.
14. When did the Roman Empire collapse in the West?
15. What important monastic rule was written in the Roman period?
16. Gregory the Great became the Bishop of Rome in _________. Explain the condition of Rome when Gregory begins his service.
17. Gregory wrote a very important document about Christian leadership. What is the document, and what does it stress about Christian leadership.
18. In the medieval period, what three institutions emerge from the rubble of the Roman Empire.
19. Charles Martel was named the “King of the Franks” by the Pope in the year _________. What forged document emerged from this arrangement?
20. Charlemagne becomes the King of the Franks in ________. He is crowned the Holy Roman Emperor in ________. His empire is centered in the city _____________.
21. Charlemagne wants to improve learning and the arts in the empire. This rebirth of education has been called the ____________________ _______________________.
22. Throughout the Medieval period there is a struggle between two institutions. Who is struggling? Give an historical example of this struggle.
23. What is the basic problem that is the source of the conflict through the Medieval period?
24. What is a mendicant order and provide two examples of these orders that began in the medieval period?
25. Thomas Aquinas has been called the author of a concept titled the “Great Synthesis.” What is this synthesis? How does it impact us today in our own study of religion?

Section II
1. Provide a definition of Sacrament.
2. List the Seven Sacraments celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church. Which of the seven are the Sacraments of Initiation?
3. Sacraments are rituals. Define ritual. Isn’t “ritual” a pre-modern, pre-enlightenment activity? As we are very rational people, shouldn’t we get rid of ritual in the Church?