Ethics

1. Explain why Protestants consider Gregory I to be the first pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

He organized the papal system of government that characterized the entire medieval period. He also promoted missionary activity among the Germanic tribes. He sent dozens of monks to northern Europe especially England. He laid the foundation for the great edifice known as the Roman Catholicism. An early king of the Franks Pepin the Short granted the pope extensive land in central Italy the donation of Pepin making the Catholic Church a temporal and political power in Europe. The donation of Constantine allegedly gave power and authority to the Roman bishop when Constantine relocated his capital to the East.

2. What is monasticism and what were some positive aspects of this movement?

It is the religious practice in which one renounces worldly pursuits in order to fully devote one's life to spiritual work. It emphasized poverty, chasity, and obedience to Christ. Monastries became places of worship, devotion, prayer, and study.

3. How did God use Boniface and Patrick in the early medieval church?

Boniface ministered in the areas of Hesse and Thuringia and led thousands of pagan Germans to the Lord. He planted scores of churches; he also brought remarkable organization to the burgeoning German church. Using missionary volunteers many of whom were women from England he advanced organization and structure in the German church and filled it with zeal for obedience, service, and outreach. Patrick developed a strategy for winning the tribal leaders of Ireland to Christ. Many local lords and kings became Christians, as they converted they guaranteed protection for the successful spread of faith throughout Ireland. The Irish church became a missionary ending church; God used Patrick to transform Ireland from land saturated with the secretive magic and the occultist practices of the Druids to one devoted to Christ and His Kingdom.

4. Summarize the theology of Islam and explain why it spread so quickly.

The theory is that there is one God, Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet. To say this in faith is to become a Muslim, one who submits to God. Muslims observe four other pillars of faith. They pray five times daily, pay alms to the poor, fast during daylight hours of the month of Ramadan, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca. The theology of Islam concentrates on winning the favor of Allah through the practice of the faith. Mohammed preached and fled from Mecca to Medina; he then re-conquered Mecca and established control. The holy war proclaimed in the Qur'an help the swift conquest of Islam.

5. Summarize the reasons why the church separated into East and West in 1054.

There have been many reasons why the church separated into the East and West in 1054. It divided Chalcedonian Christianity into Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) branches. The primary causes of the seperation into East and West were disputes over papal authority Pope Leo IX claimed he held authority over the four Eastern patriarchs and over the insertion of the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed by the Western Church. Eastern Orthodox today claim that the primacy of the Patriarch of Rome was only honorary, and that he has authority only over his own diocese and does not have the authority to change the decisions of Ecumenical Councils. There were other, less significant catalysts for the separation to the East and West, including variance over liturgical practices and conflicting claims of jurisdiction. The Church split along doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political, and geographic lines.

Chapter 6

1. Why is October 31, 1517, so important to the Reformation?

Martin Luther nailed Ninety-Five Theses for debate on the Castle Church door at Wittenberg. In them he argued indulgences could not remove guilt, did not apply to purgatory, and provided a false sense of security.