A Miraculous Disincarnation

There is another tremendous scene towards the end of Swann's Way. The young boy of the story begins to anticipate a journey to Italy. His anticipation and wonder of this foreign land begins a process of increasing excitement within him.

During this month - in which I went laboriously over, as over a tune, though never to my satisfaction, these visions of Florence, Venice, Pisa, from which the desire that they excited in me drew and kept something as profoundly personal as if it had been love, love for another person - I never ceased to believe that they corresponded to a reality independent of myself, and they made me conscious of as glorious a hope as could be cherished by a Christian in the primitive age of faith, on the eve of his entry into Paradise.

And in a nod to my own childhood fascination with Atlases.

And for all that the motive force of my exaltation was a longing for aesthetic enjoyments, the guide-books ministered even more to it than books on aesthetics, and, more again then guide-books, the railway time-tables.

I was genuinely becoming excited as his anticipation grew until its climax. This climax was triggered by his father's words for him to be prepared for the weather there. (And in good Proustian style most of the following is all one sentence)

At these words I was raised to a sort of ecstasy; a thing I had until then deemed impossible. I felt myself penetrating indeed between those 'rocks of amethyst, like a reef in the Indian Ocean'; by a supreme muscular effort, a long way in excess of my real strength, stripping myself, as of a shell that served no purpose, of the air in my own room which surrounded me, I replaced it by an equal quantity of Venetian air, that marine atmosphere, indescribable and peculiar as the atmosphere of the dreams which my imagination had secreted in the name of Venice; I could feel at work within me a miraculous disincarnation; it was at once accompanied by that vague desire to vomit which one feels when one has a very sore throat; and they had to put me in bed with a fever so persistent that the Doctor not only assured my parents that a visit, that spring, to Florence and Venice was absolutely out of the question, but warned them that, even when I should have completely recovered, I must, for at least a year, give up all idea of travelling, and be kept from anything that was liable to excite me.

Oh snap! The young boy dissolves so fully into the imagination (his disincarnation) that his body begins to suffer from withdrawal. No further energy to comment at this point.

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Feedburned

I am back on trying feedburner. If you are receiving this blog on your feed reader and have problems let me know. Thanks.

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Proust On Belief

Tis a season for rejoicing. I finally finished Swann's Way. It was not that it is a particularly difficult read but most of my more literary friends have begun and not finished it. In fact the local bookseller had a standing $25 gift certificate for anyone who could prove they read it. The book certainly lends itself to being dropped. It is not a page turner and it does not have what I would call 'flow'. The movement rather is like a type of emerging or organic still frame. The image developing in your mind becomes more nuanced, more unpredictable. And in the end the book is simply beautiful.
The book is an exercise of and a commentary on memory. In returning to a place that held rich and meaningful memories the young boy, nearing the end of the story, becomes disorientated by the present reality.

And seeing all these new elements of the spectacle, I had no longer the faith which, applied to them, would have given them consistency, unity, life; they passed in a scattered sequence before me, at random, without reality, containing in themselves no beauty that my eyes might have endeavoured, as in the old days, to extract from them and to compose in a picture. They were just women, in whose elegance I had no belief, and whose clothes seemed to me unimportant. But when a belief vanishes, there survives it - more and more ardently, so as to cloak the absence of power, now lost to us, of imparting reality to new phenomenon - an idolatrous attachment to the old things which our belief in them did once animate, as if it was in that belief and not in ourselves that the divine spark resided, and as if our present incredulity had a contingent cause - the death of the gods.

This appears at least on the surface to indicate a loss of youthful imagination in the possibilities of reality. What it offers more profoundly is a commentary in the work it takes to experience reality. Reality is not a given in its basic thereness. Rather the present reality must be joined with belief and belief is the medium for the imagination required. And if we loose that belief we will suffer the increasing idolatrous attachment to the past which we will attribute divine presence (rather than our present bodies). The book concludes with the young boy's reflection on memory.

How paradoxical it is to seek in reality the pictures that are stored in one's memory, which must inevitably lose the charm that comes to them from memory itself and from their not being apprehended by the senses. The reality that I had known no longer existed. . . . The places that we have known belong now only to the little world of space on which we map them for our own convenience. None of them was ever more than a thin slice, held between the contiguous impressions that composed our life at that time; remembrance of a particular form is but regret for a particular moment; and houses, roads, avenues are fugitive, alas, as the years.

The book ends, in my mind, in a type of liminal space where belief is the hardest and most necessary of tasks. Belief of the past can be recalled in memory but cannot engage the present. And without belief reality moves about pixalated without any form emerging and in this account the emergence of form signals the emergence of meaning.

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Feed

I have been toying around with using Feedburner for my feeds and other services. My own feed does not seem to show up on iGoogle. Let me know if my posts are not showing up on any of your readers.

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Christmas Image

In searching for nativity images for our Christmas Eve service I came across the beautiful (and apparently little known) work of Macha Chmakoff.

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Getting Up on My Soap-Box

Hineini asks the question in Attack on Sanctuary,

Do you feel you are entitled as a pastor to ask your congregants to give up their safety? I'm not sure this is a fair question really but I'm curious on your take. I like the idea of sanctuary and abhore the idea of violence but, for me, part of the idea of sanctuary is that God will provide protection and I'm not seeing much of that anytime lately so I'm wondering if its time to rethink things....

This is definitely a two-part question. First is the role preaching or perhaps even education or transformation more generally. This Advent season represents the close of my first full year of preaching. Most of my sermons up until about a month ago were centered around particular images that I thought would be evoking and generative for people's lives. Very little came off as prescriptive. I did not offer a very specific 'application' for my sermons. In my mind I probably still favour this approach. However, my temperament is to be a little avoident and so I suspect this type of preaching flows from here.
Something happened in reflecting on the texts for my first sermon in Advent. Paul says to the church in Rome that it is time for them to 'wake from their slumber.' This passage roused my own thinking and challenged me in what a church responding to the Gospel should look like. I saw this call as re-focusing on the simple but encompassing love for our neighbour. The OT text was Isaiah 2 and I preached on the surrounding passages that spoke of leveling of all those lifted themselves up on high hills, which I interpreted as isolating yourself from your neighbour. I spoke these words,

Being awake means being aware of your neighbour. St. Antony the monk once wrote, “Our life and our death is with our neighbour. If we win our neighbour, we win God. If cause our neighbour to stumble, we have sinned against Christ.” This is similar to Isaiah’s criticism.
Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure,
lounging in your security
and saying to yourself,
'I am, and there is none besides me.'

We need to know our neighbour so that we can know Christ. If we do not listen to our neighbour we will doze off to sleep again.

And in conclusion,

Christ came to establish the mountain of God above all other hills and so our calling is to come down from our individual high hills and journey to the mountain of God where justice and wisdom flow. This Christmas season we will not see Christ if we remain on our high hills. We must come down and gather together first in the valley as it will lead to the mountain of God. And then gathered together there we can make way for the saviour who has come, who is present among us and who will come again. We make way for Christ in our minds and in our actions. We make way for Christ as he comes in our neighbours. This Christmas season we are called to make a place Christ in our homes and in our lives. Keep watch and stay alert in this age because Paul tells us that our salvation is nearer now then when we first believed. The night is nearly over. The day is almost here. Stay awake. Keep watch in faith and journey with your neighbour in the valley and in the storm as we travel with Christ to the mountain of God.
Amen.

This is strong language for my style of preaching and it continued into my sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Advent (Isaiah 35; Luke 1:47-55; Matthew 11:2-11), which moves into the second part of the question, Do you feel you are entitled as a pastor to ask your congregants to give up their safety?
I was moved by the presence and use of lethal force by armed guards at New Life Church in Colorado and decided that would be my base image for my last sermon. In that sermon I focused on the context, more so that the specific content, of the texts for that Sunday. For both Isaiah's ministry and first-century Palestine the question of deliverance and freedom were open. I admitted in the sermon that other passages could be used to respond to the question of violence but that "our passages here are clear and unequivocal in their rejection of the world’s use of force." Isaiah condemns those who look to Egypt for help and points to Hezekiah's faithful act of trust that delivers Jerusalem (for the time being). Jesus overturns the popular notion of Messiah as people anticipated and rallied around heroic characters who rose and fell at that time.
And I concluded the sermon with the following statements,

Seeing and receiving Christ means being outside of the world’s power and following Christ mean walking daily in the rejection and overturning of those powers. This is why the image of armed guards at church remains so unnerving. It is perhaps possible to agree that the use of force can restrain certain events from happening. We can be thankful that the incident in Colorado did get any worse that it did. But we need to remember that this incident is not unlike another incident in the U.S. On September 11 2001 a group of extremists attacked what citizens saw as the sanctuary of their homeland. It was believed that quick and decisive action would bring about peace and justice to the situation. The world’s force only offers the possibility of restraint. Contrary to Churchill’s statement there is no promise of peace when rough men stand ready to do violence. The U.S. is not a place of peace because they have largest and most powerful military. And here in Canada we must beware of the extant to which we profit from the military strength at home and in the U.S. In these realms there is no vision of desert flowers bursting into bloom. We must individually and communally navigate and respond to conflict and brokenness around us asking ourselves if we will attempt to restrain force with force or if we will, in faith, open up a way in the desert.
In our aid the Gospel gives at least one response to a violent attack on the church. That is a response to an attack on the body of Christ, which is the church. In the Garden of Gethsemane towards the end of his ministry Jesus and his followers are approached by a mob wielding clubs and swords coming to arrest Jesus. In defence one of those with Jesus strikes out with his sword and cuts the ear of the servant of the high priest but before the violence escalates Jesus intervenes and speaks to the reality of God’s world saying, “Put your sword back in its place. For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” God and God’s Kingdom is not threatened with the world’s force. The mountain of God rises up on a different foundation. That foundation comes to us weak and vulnerable as a child. This is our story in the Christmas season. This is must be our story the year as it carries us towards Easter. This must become the story of our life because this is the only place where God promises peace. And from that place a way opens up where justice comes from unlikely places like flowers in the desert bursting into bloom.
Amen.

What I emphasized was that there is no promise of peace or justice through the means of the world's power and force. I hoped that here I would walk a line between overt prescription and vague moralism. Did I ask my congregation to give up their safety? Not really, I suppose. What I said was that there is no promise of safety (peace) through the medium of force. A community of non-violence must be voluntary community. This falls off the radar quickly in churches without an historic peace stance. It did for me in my time away from the Mennonite church. It is becoming more and more pressing as I allow it to intentionally emerge from the Gospel.
I see this question also opening into the larger arena of education and transformation. What challenges me is preaching such a sermon and then living with and among my congregation and wondering if and how change is possible through such mediums. I am sure this is the perennial challenge of professors and teachers as well.
Any thoughts, comments, reflections on the roles of preaching, transformation or peace and violence?

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A Blogging Clarification

Found at Rough Theory quoting The Kuglemass Episodes.

Intellectual blogging is a medium that thrives because it captures the quietude of those moments when we seal ourselves off from our surroundings in order to consider the printed words of another person. The tremulousness of the word, the expectation of an answer, the abjection and shamelessness of writing for self-publication: in order to be honest, a blogger has to be vulnerable, more so even than the author of a book. What she is writing apparently had to be blogged to be written at all. Given the voluntarism of the blogosphere, polish is merely comic; risk is the only thing worth admiring. The risk of saying too much, the risk of being unread, the risk of being misread—intellectual blogging must change from an indifferent exercise of dignified exposition into the willing practice of risk.

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Blessings.

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All I Needed to Know I Learned from Footloose

I was pleased to see that a new generation of movie goers are able to learn the valuable life lessons found within the warehouse dance sequence in Footloose. When it seems like everyone has turned on you and there is no way out there are three steps to recovery.
1. Find a wide open space.
2. Start drinking, smoking and listening to rock music.
3. Let the music move you.



Clearly no match for the original but good to see anyway.

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Is That Your Final Answer?

Karl Steel, over at In the Middle recently posted his final exam for a Biblical Literature course that he taught for the first time. He asked if anyone else would post their own first attempt. I looked over the mid-term and final exam that I gave for the Intro to Christianity course that I taught a small Christian liberal arts college a few years back. Unlike Karl I was not proud of my mid-term. Scanning through the first few questions I realized how biased many of the questions were (even the I prefaced them with 'as discussed in class'). This really reminded me that educational formation really is an open question as to the value of receiving and offering it in different contexts.
I don't think the final was as bad so here it is in all its full length glory. I should note that basically the entire class failed it. I just scanned over it again. I am so sorry if any former students have come across this blog. Really. I always hated these types of multiple choice tests.
If you don't feel like reading the exam I would love to hear experiences or thoughts about the differences or values of confessional and "secular" education.

111.11

Introduction to Christianity

Final Examination

December 13, 2004

I. Multiple Choice

1. What is a distinguishing characteristic of the early churches established in Ireland?

a. They reflected a monophysite theology

b. They incorporated a monastic church structure

c. They emphasized the union of the church and state

d. They were the first to regularly incorporate women into leadership

e. All of the above

2. What was the issue at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15?

a. The question of the lapsed

b. The nature of Christ

c. The requirements of the Gentiles

d. Whether Mark should accompany Paul on his journey

e. None of the above

3. According to tradition, who was the earliest missionary to India?

a. Peter

b. Thomas

c. Paul

d. Pantaenus

e. None of the above

4. What was the major Church issue, discussed in class, which resulted from the persecution of Decius in 250 AD?

a. The question of the lapsed

b. The sovereignty of God

c. Missions to Romans

d. The role of the Holy Spirit

e. Both a. and d.

5. In what year did Constantine receive his “vision”?

a. 112

b. 211

c. 312

d. 313

e. 613

6. In what year was the Council of Nicea?

a. 326

b. 425

c. 431

d. 1054

e. None of the above

7. What was a direct result of Constantine converting to Christianity?

a. The end of systematic persecution of the churches in the Roman Empire

b. The increase of persecution in the Syrian and Asian churches

c. The instigation of an Islamic holy war

d. All of the above

e. Both a. and b.

8. What was the result of the conflict with Nestorius?

a. Relations between European, African, and Asian churches were hindered

b. Relations between European, North American, and Latin American churches were hindered

c. The entrenchment of clerical celibacy

d. The instigation of an Islamic holy war

e. Both b. and c.

9. Scholasticism was prominent during which period?

a. 313-500

b. 500-750

c. 1400-1700

d. 1800

e. None of the above

10. When is the first recorded presence of missionaries in China?

a. 112

b. 332

c. 592

d. 635

e. 950

11. What role did monasteries play during the fall of the Roman Empire?

a. It provided safe haven to those rebelling against the Empire

b. It’s printing presses served to circulate vast amounts of anti-Roman propaganda

c. It preserved much of the culture and knowledge of Roman civilization

d. It demanded the end of all persecuted Christians

e. Both a. and b.

12. In what year did Muhammed found his religious community?

a. 112

b. 332

c. 592

d. 610

e. 622

13. Who is the leader credited for stopping the conquest of Islam in Spain?

a. Charles Martel

b. Charlemagne

c. Gregory the Great

d. Clovis

e. None of the above

14. What was an issue contributing to the division between the Eastern and Western church from 400-1000 AD?

a. The nature of the Holy Spirit

b. The use of icons

c. Lack of political support

d. Clerical celibacy

e. All of the above

15. Who was the first emperor of the West after the fall of the Roman Empire?

a. Charles Martel

b. Charlemagne

c. Gregory the Great

d. Clovis

e. None of the above

16. Identify a circumstance contributing to the Crusades?

a. The vision of victory given to Charlemagne

b. The rise and threat of Islam

c. Difficult economic circumstances

d. All of the above

e. Both b. and c.

17. Gothic architecture reflected

a. Technological advancements

b. The significance of Communion

c. An example of communicating the Christian story

d. All of the above

e. Both b. and c.

18. How did the fall of Constantinople affect the Renaissance in the West?

a. It introduced an influx of Greek thought and language

b. It introduced the framework for the first universities

c. It challenged Renaissance claims of papal authority

d. It represented a renewal of deist thought

e. None of the above

19. What was an important feature of Renaissance humanism?

a. The perfection of Gothic architecture

b. The appeal to original sources for authority

c. The elevation of the monastic ideal

d. The entrenchment of papal authority

e. All of the above

20. In Reformation history, Erasmus is known for what contribution?

a. A reform based firmly on scholastic philosophy

b. An attempt at moderate reform

c. The first English translation of the Bible

d. The intent of severing church and state relations

e. Both b. and d.

21. When was Martin Luther’s 95 Theses posted on the Wittenburg door?

a. October 31, 1550

b. October 31, 1517

c. December 25, 1517

d. December 25, 1550

e. None of the above

22. During Luther’s life, what was the money from the sale of indulgences being used for?

a. To fund Henry the VIII’s army

b. To fund the Crusades

c. To fund the popes frequent trips to Latin America

d. To fund the building of St. Peter’s Basilica

e. All of the above

23. Why were the Anabaptists considered too extreme amongst most Reformers?

a. Due to their extreme monophysitism

b. Due to their desire for a higher level of cooperation with Rome

c. Due to their often subtle and cryptic theological treatises

d. Due to their ongoing use of icons in worship

e. None of the above

24. What contribution to the Reformation did John Calvin make, as discussed in class?

a. He overthrew the power of the Spanish Inquisition

b. He warned against the abuses of early colonizing in Latin America

c. He aided in mediating the debate known as filioque

d. He was an early systematizer of Reformation thought

e. None of the above

25. How was Great Britain’s decisive break with Rome achieved during the Reformation?

a. The pope excommunicated the head of the Church of England for heresy

b. Queen Elizabeth refused to marry the king of Spain

c. Henry the VIII attempted to become pope

d. English Parliament declared Great Britain independent of Roman Catholic Rule

e. Largely by the influence of Erasmus

26. What is a fundamental principle of Luther’s doctrine?

a. Justification by faith alone

b. The separation of church and state

c. Authority needs to be derived from Scripture alone

d. All of the above

e. Both a. and c.

27. How did Zwingli differ from Luther in his view of Church tradition?

a. Zwingli accepted all tradition that did not contradict scripture

b. Zwingli believed reason to be equally valuable in establishing tradition

c. Zwingli rejected all tradition not directly supported by the Bible

d. Zwingli rejected the entire concept of sacraments as too traditional

e. None of the above

28. What was an immediate political consequence of the Reformation?

a. The first expression of democratic voting

b. Wars over the political boundaries of the competing Church expressions

c. The reunification of the Eastern and Western empire

d. The creation of early communist thought

e. All of the above

29. What was an intellectual consequence of the Reformation?

a. The perceived inability of the Church to determine truth

b. The closure of most universities

c. The rise of Islamic thought in Europe

d. The proven infallibility of the pope

e. All of the above

30. What modern phenomenon did John Locke’s treatise, Letter Concerning Tolerance, contribute to?

a. Marxist thought

b. Liberation theology

c. The privatization of religion

d. The peace between Christianity and Islam

e. Both a. and b.

31. What was a position, stated in class, from the American Declaration of Independence?

a. The necessity of a state Church

b. The rejection of a state Church

c. The need for clergy and politicians to consult one another

d. The superiority of politics over religion

e. Both a. and d.

32. What authority was the driving force behind the French Revolution?

a. Scholasticism

b. Papal authority

c. Reason

d. Erasmus’ treatise on civil liberty

e. None of the above

33. What is a distinguishing feature of Latin American Liberation Theology?

a. Its commitment to capitalist methodology

b. Its commitment to Western philosophical categories

c. Its use of the poor as a theological source

d. Its charismatic reliance on the dynamic guidance of the Holy Spirit

e. Both c. and d.

34. William Carey is known for his missions to which location?

a. Africa

b. Asia

c. India

d. Latin America

e. None of the above

35. David Livingston is known for his missions to which location?

a. Africa

b. Asia

c. India

d. Latin America

e. None of the above

36. What is a current concern for Christians in India?

a. The influence of communism

b. The rise of Hindu nationalism

c. The threat of Mongolian invasion

d. The increase of typically liberal thought

e. None of the above

37. What is a distinguishing characteristic of African Independent churches?

a. Their commitment to Marxism

b. Their striking similarities with Romanticism

c. Their rejection of the New Testament in favour of the Old Testament

d. Their liberal theology

e. None of the above

38. Which Roman Catholic organization is known for its opposition to Church abuse in Latin America?

a. The Jesuits

b. The Franciscans

c. The Benedictines

d. The Ludites

e. None of the above

39. What was a tenet of Pietism as articulated by Philipp Spener?

a. The priesthood of all believers

b. The need to remain moderate in disputes

c. The centrality of the Bible

d. The need for ethical reform

e. All of the above

40. What was the theological contribution of John Wesley, as discussed in class?

a. The doctrine of sanctification

b. The doctrine of predestination

c. The emphasis of Christ’s humanity

d. Clarifying the role of reason

e. Both b. and c.

41. What is a characterization of modern evangelicalism?

a. Its emphasis on “re-birth”

b. Its ability to integrate modern scientific thought

c. Its trans-denominational character

d. All of the above

e. Both a. and c.

42. What was the initial method of Rene Descartes for establishing truth?

a. To explore the evolutionary nature of truth

b. To doubt everything that could not be absolutely proven

c. To find biblical categories for truth

d. To elevate the use of the poetic in truth

e. All of the above

43. What was identified in class as a significant contribution of Deism?

a. Its dependence on the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit

b. Its quest to spread atheism as a legitimate doctrine

c. Its use of worship as an appropriate expression of truth

d. Its view that the absolute cause never disturbs the chain of secondary causes

e. Both c. and d.

44. What is the general characterization of the churches flourishing in the global south?

a. Rationalist

b. Marxist

c. Calvinist

d. Capitalist

e. None of the above

45. What was Immanuel Kant’s position regarding our understanding of perception?

a. Our perception does not have direct access to Reality

b. Our perception does have direct access to Reality

c. Our perception is adequate for proving God’s existence

d. Our perception provides a god-like view of reality

e. None of the above

46. Friedrich Schleiermacher’s understanding of feeling can be described with which of the following statements?

a. Ecstatic experience of the divine

b. A complete understanding of God based on reason

c. Complete dependence on God

d. The rejection of reason as useful for theology

e. Both a. and c.

47. What is a main characteristic of the ethical model referred to in class as Graded Absolutism?

a. That being ethical results from forming our character

b. Understanding our purpose aids us in understanding ethics

c. All possible commands for right and wrong action are clear from scripture

d. That moral conflicts are inevitable and ethical priorities must be established

e. None of the above

48. What is a main characteristic of the ethical model referred to in class as Natural Ethic?

a. That being ethical results from forming our character

b. Understanding our purpose aids us in understanding ethics

c. All possible commands for right and wrong action are clear from scripture

d. That moral conflicts are inevitable and ethical priorities must be established

e. None of the above

49. What is a main characteristic of the ethical model referred to in class as Situation Ethics?

a. That being ethical results from forming our character

b. Understanding our purpose aids us in understanding ethics

c. All possible commands for right and wrong action are clear from scripture

d. That moral conflicts are inevitable and ethical priorities must be established

e. None of the above

50. What is a main characteristic of the ethical model referred to in class as Virtue Ethics?

a. That being ethical results from forming our character

b. Understanding our purpose aids us in understanding ethics

c. All possible commands for right and wrong action are clear from scripture

d. That moral conflicts are inevitable and ethical priorities must be established

e. None of the above

51. Which approach was identified in class as way of understanding Postmodernism?

a. An expression of extreme or perhaps exhausted modernism

b. The introduction of something “other” than modernism

c. The ongoing pursuit of a single framework for understanding truth

d. All of the above

e. Both a. and b.

52. McGrath notes that strictly speaking Advent represents the coming of . . .

a. Jesus as a baby

b. John preparing for Jesus

c. the Church authorized by Jesus

d. Jesus in glory as judge

e. Both a. and d.

53. In the Western church Epiphany represents . . .

a. The coming of the Holy Spirit

b. The institution of the Lord’s Supper

c. The visit from the Wise Men

d. Jesus’ feeding of 5000

e. None of the above

54. Lent . . .

a. Represents the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness

b. Represents a time of repentance and remorse

c. Is the period culminating in Easter

d. Ends with Holy Week, including Good Friday

e. All of the above

55. An important theme of Ascension is . . .

a. The need for our repentance

b. Preparation for Jesus crucifixion

c. The exaltation of Christ

d. The giving of the Holy Spirit

e. Both a. and c.

II. True or False

1. The initial rise of Islam caused great persecution in Middle Eastern and Asian Church.

a. True

b. False

2. The Church in Asia has had a strong presence since its inception.

a. True

b. False

3. The Reformation was an entirely positive event in the history of the Church.

a. True

b. False

4. A major feature of Latin American history is how its indigenous people were able to maintain power after Europe’s colonization.

a. True

b. False

5. Liberalism tends to communicate the significance of Jesus’ death as payment for sin.

a. True

b. False

6. The concept of “denominations” was a deist invention.

a. True

b. False

7. Ignatius of Loyola is characterized by his strong acceptance of Church authority.

a. True

b. False

8. Jamestown was founded in 1507.

a. True

b. False

9. Part of Gregory the Great’s success can be attributed to the invention of the printing press.

a. True

b. False

10. Dalit Christians in African are still being severely persecuted.

a. True

b. False

11. During the Early Church period Christians were often blamed for the misfortunes of the Roman Empire.

a. True

b. False

12. The term “Gothic architecture” was first used as a pejorative term associating a certain artistic expression as barbaric.

a. True

b. False

13. Pietism is often best associated with the “clockwork analogy.”

a. True

b. False

14. Liberalism tended to emphasize the transcendence of God.

a. True

b. False

15. In time, when I look back on my life, I will see clearly how profoundly impacting my Introduction to Christianity class was to my understanding of reality.

a. True

b. False

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