Church History "Final Exam"

Answers for church history final

What/who is and historical importance

Holy Club
It was a club formed by Charles Wesley, Robert Kirkham and William Morgan in the spring of 1729. In November of the same year, John Wesley became the leader of that group, which soon attracted other students. This club was called later the “Methodist”.

John Carroll
John Carroll was the bishop of Baltimore in England. He helped the growth of Catholicism in United States. He was founder of Georgetown University. By the time of Carroll’s death, the foundations of Catholicism in USA were well established, and the priesthood numbered more than one hundred.

Quest for the historical Jesus
Beginning in the 19th century several works appeared which sought to do a full scale biography of the life of Jesus. One of these works is called “The Quest of the Historical Jesus” (1910), by the theologian, Albert Schweitzer. In this work, Schweitzer shows how that Jesus was a failure.

Charles Taze Russell
He was born in Pennsylvania in the year of 1852. Leader of the movement called Jehovah’s witnesses, in the late 1870s. In 1884 he formed The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.

Asuza Street Revival
A revival that happened in Los Angeles led by the preacher named William Seymour that emphasized “speaking in tongues”. It is not the beginning of Pentecostalism, but this movement launched Pentecostalism worldwide.

John R. Mott
An American Methodist layperson, who presided at the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, and which launched both the modern missions movement and the modern ecumenical movement.

British and Foreign Bible Society
Founded in 1804 in London, the British and Foreign Bible Society became later better known as Bible Society. Its main focus is in the publishing, distribution and translation of the Bible.


Jansenist Controversy
Cornelius Jansen, bishop of Ypres was convinced that the semi-Pelagian Jesuit interpretations of sin and grace must be combated. But his work was condemned by Pope Urban VIII. Jansen found support among the more deeply religious Catholics of France.

John Locke
John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher whose ideas formed the foundation of liberal democracy. His idea is for religious freedom (liberty) because ‘all churches are voluntary associations’ and so no one should be coerced to believe a certain thing.


Part II

Name AND briefly explain the stages in the lifecycle of a voluntary association.
Incipient – association is formed around either an urgent objective or a charismatic leader.
Efficient – establishment of rules and protocols.
Formal – preoccupation with form and structure, discipline, and informal protocols.
Disorganization – Slow death or reorganization. Rarely religious associations die out completely.

Outline 3 elements of Pietism.
Devotion to Christianity
Bible oriented movement
Small group in structure

List 2 areas of impact the Enlightenment had on Biblical Interpretation.
Higher Criticism
Biblical Exegesis

Historically speaking, what are the differences between religious “liberalism” and “conservatism”?
Liberalism – Movement that grows out of the Enlightenment in Europe. Reasonableness is a very important term for this. Liberalism has a great impact on the authority of religion.
Conservatism – It is a revolt against liberal tradition. It is a call back to biblical Christianity. It is an affirmation of the incarnation of Christ, eternal life, inerrancy of Scripture.

What did Horace Bushnell mean by “Christian nurture”?
Conversion would come to a person through appropriate influences (proper nurture), since his/her childhood. You do not need necessarily pass in the course of struggling conversion experience.



List and explain 3 results of Vatican II
Supremacy of Scriptures – The Bible took on a new role and value as ultimate source and standard of truth.
Virgin Mary - Mariology wouldn’t be isolated from other theological and ecclesiological matters.
Sacred Liturgical – a revision of the rite of the mass and its more communal celebration was provided.

List 3 denominations in the US and its institutions.
Baptist – Baylor University
Presbyterian – Princeton University
Anglican – University of Pennsylvania

What is the difference between Neo-Orthodoxy and Fundamentalism?
Both were responses to liberalism. Fundamentalism believed in strict inerrancy of the Bible, and had as their mission defending Christian faith against higher criticism and liberal theology. Neo-orthodoxy lies in its unique concept of divine revelation. They see the Bible as unique channel of God’s Word and becomes God’s Word in the moment God chooses to use it to bring people into encounter with himself.

Explain 3 ways that Charles Finney changed the course of American Protestantism.
He brought revival methods called “new measures”. His tested methods soon came to be widely accepted and copied.
He published materials on how to promote revivals.
He was aware and involved with social problems, specially the problem of slavery.


EXTRA CREDIT

List the 3 most important figures in world Christianity of 20th century and why you selected each.

Karl Barth – His importance in a crucial time of the history of the church, rescuing the concept of God in a liberal church, and his influence as thinker and theologian, are the main reasons that I chose him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – He is considered a martyr for his faith. His position during the world war II, opposing the anti-Semitic ideas of Hitler, and opposing Nazism are the reasons I picked him.

F.F Bruce – His knowledge in the New Testament and his scholar in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul, made me pick him.



Part III
ESSAY


The character of Christian life and faith in USA began to be shaped during the second century of colonization. One great event or movement that happened was a series of revivals known as “The great awakening”.
To understand the importance of this event in the shaping of Christianity in the New World, more specific in United States, this movement is the analogue of Pietism in Germany and the evangelical awakening in Britain. This movement emphasized conversion, regenerative change and transformation. One of the pioneers of this movement was the congregational pastor Jonathan Edwards. Another principle figure in the Awakening was George Whitefield, also known as “the great itinerant”.
The great awake started in the North, but it also spread to the south, contributing to the growth of the Dissenting bodies. Almost all evangelical groups were affected by the awakening. Presbyterians expanded rapidly in Virginia, Baptists formed several Baptists churches. Methodist even getting late in America, many native lay preachers were drawn into the movement.
Around 1792, in New England a powerful reawakening was starting to happen and spreading throughout the land, this was called “the Second Great Awakening”.
The Second Great Awakening exercised a profound impact on American history. The numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative to that of the denominations dominant in the colonial period—the Anglicans, Prebyterians, Congregationalist, and Quakers. Among the latter, efforts to apply Christian teaching to the resolution of social problems presaged the Social Gospel of the late 19th century. America was becoming a more diverse nation in the early to mid-19th century, and the growing differences within American Protestantism reflected and contributed to this diversity.
In the first part of the nineteenth century, several movements stimulated by the emotional climate of the awakening started appearing. The common characteristic of these movements was their distortions of the evangelical Protestant patterns. Movements like the seventh day and Jehovah’s Witness were formed during this time of America history.
In 1949, Billy Graham arises and begins his ministry; he is the symbol of modern evangelicalism. Graham uses TV and radio to expand the reaches of the Gospel.
Today’s evangelicalism is looked very differently to the past form. Post modern society has influenced the churches throughout the country and a great pluralism has invaded the ideas of not only ministers, and preachers but also the people in general.