Final Exam for Essentials of Evangelical Theology

According to Dr. Burch, everyone is a theologian, even atheists

True

Among the necessary theological tools, imagination asks, is this true?

False

Because of their attention to detail, theological doctrines are more like photos than paintings

False

According to Olson, the practice of unwarranted speculation can damage the credibility of genuine theological debate and research

True

According to Olson, one of the dangers of holding an “either/or” theology is that it makes it more difficult to understand a doctrine like the Trinity

False

Olson believes polemical approaches to theology are best

False

According to Olson, “Folk Religion,” can be characterized as being open, expansive, subject to critique and having significant public impact

False

According to Lewis, it is not enough to be made in God’s image, we must also be spiritually begotten

True

According to Lewis, when one turns from personal experience to Christian doctrine, they are turning from something less real to something more real

False

According to Lewis, doctrines are not God, they are like a map that assist one in better understanding God and growing closer to God

True

According to Vincent of Lerins, a person who wished to avoid heresy and maintain a sound faith would adhere to the authority of the divine law and the tradition of the Catholic Church

True

According to Vincent of Lerins, the Church’s true catholic tradition is that which has been believed always, everywhere and by everyone

True

According to Irenaeus, tradition is a “living voice”, not just writings handed down

True

Essential teachings that are part of the Core of Christian Identity

Dogma

According to Irenaeus, the apostles taught some secret mysteries that were not handed down to their successors

False

According to Irenaeus, bishops were entrusted to pass along the church’s apostolic tradition

True

Centered Set categories refer to either/or views that determine who is theologically in and who is out

False

The Great Tradition refers to a minimal set of core Christian teachings established for the Church by the Apostles and the Early Church’s bishops

True

Nuanced teachings that reflect a traditions particular theological understanding of the Christian Core teachings

Doctrine

The Church’s theology that explained the New Testament scriptures was developing at the same time the Church was deciding which documents would comprise the New Testament canon of scripture

True

In Christian history, canonization was the process the church used to separate out the authoritative, apostolic story of Jesus from all the “fan fiction” versions of Jesus

True

For the Early Church, Scripture was authoritative when interpreted through Jesus Christ as presented in the Gospels and the Rule of Faith

True

According to David Wallace, our default setting leads us to believe that we are the center of the universe

True

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral includes imagination as a source of authority

False

All Christians agree about the equal authority of tradition and Scripture

False

According to David Wallace, the only thing that is capital-T true, is that we get to decide who or what to worship and how we see/interpret the reality going on around us

True

Christian consensus on what is authoritative for faith would include the Ecumenical Councils as source of authority

True

Pietist’s Heart Religion and Pentecostal/Charismatic movements would be examples of relying on reason as the primary source of authority

False

According to Olson, heresy is the mother of orthodoxy

True

According to David Wallace, real freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline and effort and being able to truly care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad, petty little unsexy ways

True

Johann Mohler believed that Tradition must assist the Church with interpretation because the Bible has errors

False

One reason for the church creating a canonization process was the disagreement among the Apostles concerning the Rule of Faith

False

Jonathan Edwards believed that the book of nature interpreted the book of Scripture

False

The Natural Theology debate is about which question?

Is God’s revelation of Himself in nature enough for a person to be saved?

Marcion’s canon was one reason that the Early Church decided to develop an authoritative New Testament canon

True

According to Johann Mohler, Tradition is the norm- the standard of Scriptural interpretation, the rule of faith

True

Those who hold to a plenary verbal inspiration view believe that the authors of the Bible were inspired and the term infallible is often used

False

Those that hold to a dynamic inspiration model tend to also affirm strict inerrancy

False

Apostolic authority was one criterion used for determining the New Testament canon

True

Olsen would support the idea of continuing revelation so long as primacy and normativity is a given to the original revelation in Jesus Christ and Scripture

True

According to Anselm, God is an idea that cannot be thought of as not existing, one for which none greater can be conceived

True

According to Aquinas, we do not know God in the same way that we know the world

True

“The simplest explanation for an observed fact is the preferred one,” is a quote from which theologian

William of Ockham

According to Olsen, the Christian consensus regarding God is that He is transcendently great and immanently good

True

Deism believes in a God that is both transcendent and immanent

False

Process Theology believes in a God that evolves with the world in an interdependent and mutual way

True

Dynamic Monotheism is best connected with which term?

perichoresis

Theologians use the phrase “economic Trinity” when referring to God as a mystery that has not been totally revealed

False

According to Leonardo Boff, it is the Trinity’s saving mystery that makes it good news for the world’s poor and oppressed people

True

The early church chose the word hypostasis to refer to the one substance or being of God

False

According to Olson, the Christian consensus regarding humans is that we are both animal and spiritual

True

According to Olson, the doctrine of original sin means that human existence is estranged, fallen and corrupted

True

Pelagius was a fifth century theologian who strongly supported the doctrine of original sin

False

Reinhold Niebuhr argued that being tempted to sin was due to our nature as spiritual, transcendent beings who anxiously seek control rather than trusting God

True

One biblical picture of sin was breaking covenant and the most common picture of that was marriage

True

Missing the mark is one of the major biblical themes of sin and the image is a person betraying a friend

False

Christian dichotomists believe humans are composed of soul and spirit

False

Pelagius taught that the will was always free to choose good or evil

True

Augustine argued that “you are a sinner because you sin”

False

According to Tertullian, the origin of sin was discontent

True

Christology refers to the person of Christ, and it raises questions regarding his humanity and divinity

True

At the Council of Nicaea, Arius’ views were rejected because he believed that Jesus and God and the Father were homoousias

False

The Council of Ephesus dealt with the problem of Docetism regarding Jesus’ human nature

False

The Chalcedonian Creed utilizes the language of negation to communicate Christ’s two natures in one person

True

At the Council of Ephesus questions involved how the hypostatic union of Christ’s two natures, human and divine were united in one person

True

Incarnation is an important doctrine because it addresses the church’s theology about Jesus’ limited, human nature

True

Ephrem the Syrian’s hymn avoids questions of whether or not Jesus was fully human

False

Athanasius refuted Arius by addressing the soteriological implications of Arius’ view of Jesus’ divinity

True

Gregory of Nazianzen’s argument against Apollinarius could be stated by the phrase,“whatever was not assumed, was not healed”.

True

At the Council of Ephesus, the position taken by Cyril of Alexandria on Jesus was that “the Word assumed a man, not humanity

False

The New Testament tells us that Jesus accomplished salvation by his death but not the details of how his death accomplished salvation

True

In the Ransom Theory, the issue is whether love is enough to break sin’s power

False

Peter Abelard’s Exemplary Theory states that the tension is between God’s love and God’s righteous anger

False

Soteriology refers to salvation as accomplished through Christ’s atoning work on the cross

True

The issue with the Penal Substitution Theory is that it seems to make Jesus’ divine nature less than God the Father

False

The tension within the Satisfaction Theory is between God’s love and God’s justice

True

According to the Ransom Theory, the tension is between God and Satan

True

Peter Abelard argued for a subjective view of Christ’s atoning work

True

The Penal Substitution Theory understands Christ’s work to be both objective and subjective

True

One of the issues with the Satisfaction Theory of atonement was that it quantified sin and righteousness leading to a treasury of merit practice

True

The New Testament tells us that Jesus accomplished salvation by his death but not the details of how his death accomplished salvation

True

In the Ransom Theory, the issue is whether love is enough to break sin’s power

False

Peter Abelard’s Exemplary Theory states that the tension is between God’s love and God’s righteous anger

False

Soteriology refers to salvation as accomplished through Christ’s atoning work on the cross

True

The tension within the Satisfaction Theory is between God’s love and God’s justice

True

According to the Ransom Theory, the tension is between God and Satan

True

Peter Abelard argued for a subjective view of Christ’s atoning work

True

The Penal Substitution Theory understands Christ’s work to be both objective and subjective

True

One of the issues with the Satisfaction Theory of the atonement was that it quantified sin and righteousness leading to a treasury of merit practice

True

Brain break

Yippe!

The Christian Consensus is that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person and a Divine Power

True

Matthew’s gospel gives us the most complete account of Jesus’ teaching on the Holy Spirit

False

Montanism was an early heresy that made claims of prophetic authority that eclipsed Scriptural authority

True

Mormonism would be a modern form of Pneumatomachianism

False

Basil of Caesarea argued that the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit was being made a god

True

The Council of Toledo created the filio que clause controversy when it added “and the Son” to the Nicene Creed

True

According to Olson, one reason the Eastern Church rejects the Filioque theology is because it subordinates the Holy Spirit to the Son

True

Renewalists believe in the full biblical expression of the spiritual gifts in the church today

True

Cessationism would not be an acceptable theological position for the majority of Christians living in the Southern Hemisphere

True

Basil of Caesarea argued that the Holy Spirit is like a sun beam whose warming light shines on the one who enjoys it as though it shone for him alone, yet also lights the land and sea and mingles with the air

True