Know the Creeds and Councils Midterm

Which of the following is a doctrine the Apostles’ Creed does contain?

The Story of the Gospels

The phrases “he descended into hell” and “the holy catholic church” were later additions made by the Roman Catholic Church after the Protestant Reformation.

False

What is the legend behind why the Apostles’ Creed is called the "Apostles’" Creed?

Each of the twelve apostles was supposed to have contributed an article to the creed

The Apostles’ Creed is helpful to modern Christians for:

Rooting the supernatural faith in historical realities

What creed did the Apostles’ Creed develop from?

The Old Roman Old

The Apostles’ Creed directs believers toward

Life Everlasting

In the Apostles’ Creed, what is “the holy catholic church” a reference to?

The church's existence wherever in the world the gospel is preached

The oldest creed of the church is the Apostles’ Creed.

True

“He descended into hell” most likely meant what to early Christians?

Using Old Testament imagery, it meant that Christ actually died

Which of the following is a doctrine the Apostles’ Creed does NOT contain?

The relationship of Christ to God

The Apostles’ Creed can show only what a few offshoots of Christianity believed in the early church.

False

Church historian Philip Schaff notes that the Apostles’ Creed is

The Creed of Creeds

Church theologians have generally neglected the Apostles’ Creed.

False

Which Protestant church still recites the Apostles’ Creed during morning and evening prayer?

The Church of England

The current Apostles’ Creed was probably not compiled until the:

Fifth Century

The Council of Nicaea took place in what year?

AD 325

The Council of Constantinople took place in what year?

AD 381

Which emperor called the Council of Nicaea?

Constantine

Constantine is the one who determined that Jesus is God, and he also decided the New Testament canon.

False

Who was the presbyter that sparked the controversy of Nicaea with his controversial views on the nature of the Son?

Arius

Which church father taught that the Father was due glory and reverence as God himself that was not due to the Son?

Origen

What was Alexander’s argument for the Son being God?

The Father cannot change, so he must eternally be a Father to the Son

The heart of the issue at Nicaea was:

How can Christians worship the Father and worship Jesus and still claim to worship one true God?

The Nicene Creed follows the basic model of what other creed?

The Apostles Creed

The Nicene Creed presents two views of the atonement.

False

The Nicene Creed calls Jesus ________ or _________.

Monogenous or only-begotten

The orthodox theologians at Nicaea added which phrase to finally counter their opponents?

of one substance

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Nicene Creed was expanded by which council?

The First Council of Constantinople

According to Holcomb, the Nicene Creed rather than the Apostles’ Creed describes the minimum of Christian belief.

True

Athanasius wrote which book defending the one 'homoousios' of the Father and Son?

On the Incarnation

What year was the ecumenical Council of Ephesus held?

AD 431

Which council of Ephesus is considered ecumenical?

The First Council

Even if they may be abstract and difficult to grasp, questions about how Jesus was God and man are important.

True

The Patriarch of Constantinople during the events of the Council of Ephesus was:

Nestorius

The Patriarch of Alexandria during the events of the Council of Ephesus was:

Cyril

The doctrine of divine impassibility is:

God is not controlled by emotions

Nestorius’s Christology was an attempt to counter ______ and ______.

Arianism, Manichaeanism

According to Holcomb, Nestorius emphasized Jesus’s:

Humanity

According to Holcomb, Cyril emphasized Jesus’s:

Divinity

The phrase that was the catalyst to creating conflict between Cyril and Nestorius was:

Theotokos, or Mother of God

Cyril’s provocative letter to Nestorius contained:

Twelve anathemas

Which emperor of Rome convened the Council of Ephesus?

Theodosius

The Council of Ephesus ultimately sided with Nestorius.

False

Cyril feared that Nestorius’s views would ultimately:

Separate the two natures of Christ

Nestorian missionaries established churches in:

Iran, India, China (All of the Above)

_______ is the view that Christ’s two natures merged into a new “third nature,” neither divine nor human.

Monophysitism

What theological works were consulted by the Council of Chalcedon?

All of the Above

Chalcedon affirmed that Christ is ________ with the Father according to his divinity and ________ with us according to his humanity.

Of one substance, of one substance

Jesus Christ is _______ in nature(s) and _______ in person(s).

two, one

The Council of Chalcedon did not want to create another creed.

True

Salvation is imperiled by not maintaining the one person of Christ possessing two natures.

True

What year did the Council of Chalcedon convene?

AD 451

Chalcedon defined how the union of Christ’s two natures took place.

False

The Second Person of the Trinity assumed a human person.

False

The communication of properties allows one to attribute properties of both natures to the one person while allowing each nature to retain its own attributes.

True

Which pope sent his “Tome” to the Council of Chalcedon to express his views on Christology?

Leo

_______ emphasized the union of the two natures of Christ into one nature.

Eutyches

What is the "anhypostasia"/"enhypostasia" distinction?

Christ's human person did not exist as a person without the divine person of the "Logos" to assume it

The Council of Nicaea answered the relationship of how Christ could be both human and divine.

False

What statement in the Chalcedonian Definition excludes both Eutychianism and Nestorianism?

without any confusion, change, division, or separation

Which work does the Athanasian Creed quote verbatim at points?

Augustines “On the Trinity”

What is the view that the Father is to be regarded as more God than the Son and Holy Spirit even though they are all God?

Neo-Arianism

Which is NOT a quality of divinity?

Mutability

What is the view that God chooses to appear as different persons of the Trinity at different times?

Modalism

Which church rejected the Athanasian Creed?

The Greek Church

Holcomb notes the Athanasian Creed is essentially:

A guide to worship

Who wrote the Athanasian Creed?

We do not know who wrote the creed

Athanasius led in the defense of the faith of Nicaea by claiming:

The Father and Son are the very same substance

The Athanasian Creed shows reliance upon the thought of:

Augustine

What medieval theologian counted the Athanasian Creed, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Nicene Creed as the "Tria Symbola", or Three Creeds of the Christian faith?

Anselm

What does “aseity” mean?

God as he is to himself

According to Holcomb, believing in the God whom the creeds testify to is a matter of:

Salvation

The Athanasian Creed inadvertently implies that there are three gods.

False

Holcomb believes the orthodox view of the Trinity is more difficult to understand than simple monotheism or separation of the three persons, but it is most faithful to Scripture.

True

According to Holcomb, all early creeds and confessions contained “anathemas,” lists of beliefs rendered unacceptable to Christian conviction by the truths expressed in the very same creeds.

True

How many ecumenical councils met at Constantinople?

Three

Constantinople was founded by the Christian emperor:

Constantine

Christ needed to possess a human will in addition to his divine will in order that:

He might be fully human

Constantinople II took place in:

AD 553

For a few decades after Nicaea, Roman emperors tended to favor a form of:

Arianism

Constantinople I affirmed that the Holy Spirit is a person of the Trinity

True

Monothelitism is the belief that:

Christ has only one active will

The theologian who defended the Dyothelite position was:

Maximus

Constantinople II was convened to respond to whom?

The Monophysites

The First Council of Constantinople took place in:

AD 381

Constantinople II ultimately failed to reconcile Monophysites with Chalcedonian theology.

True

Which emperor convened the First Council of Constantinople?

Theodorius

The Semi-Arians affirmed that the Holy Spirit was a person of the Trinity.

False

Which theologian was vital in defending the personhood of the Holy Spirit at the First Council of Constantinople?

Gregory of Nazianzus

Constantinople III took place in:

AD 681

The Council of Orange affirmed all of Augustine’s teachings about humanity

False

For Pelagius, humans could:

Overcome their sin and fully eradicate evil from themselves

What is “theological anthropology”?

A description of humanity derived from a God-centered worldview

Some of Pelagius’s doctrines were derived from his own rigorous living and his horror at the sinful lives many Italian Christians were living.

True

According to Holcomb, the _________ believed the church should consist only of those who live perfectly holy lives.

Donatists

Augustine believed fallen humans were:

Non posse none peccare, not able to not sin

Who believed that humans had full freedom and full responsibility for their actions in choosing good or bad, however they pleased?

Pelagius

Adam’s fall and humankind’s sin directly confronts humans with the question of:

How responsible we are for our actions

The Council of ________ affirmed that Augustine’s view was correct over against Pelagius.

Carthage

The Council of Carthage ruled that infants require baptism for washing away of sin, sinless perfection is possible in this life, and that God’s grace changes men’s hearts.

False