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What do you know of the key teachings of Christianity?
Christianity - Key Teachings
This GCSE RE Christianity quiz takes a look at key teachings. Any faith worthy of that title will have various ‘codes’ of conduct, founded on the example/s &/or writings of earlier believers: some faiths have parallel traditions of scriptural and priestly teaching (such as the rabbinical sayings and precepts of Judaism). It would perhaps be surprising if, when meeting together for worship and spiritual succour, groups of believers did not evolve and cherish standard prayers and sayings to express the focus of their faith, reasonably concisely listing the essential stories and doctrines. These are usually known as Creeds (from the long-used Latin first word 'credo' = ‘I believe’; as distinct from anything that’s in-credible).
Across the panoply of Christianity, perhaps unsurprisingly there have been variants on the basic Creed, but we shall work our way through one of the standard respected versions and explore the nuts-and-bolts of Christian belief.
1 .
There are (perhaps unsurprisingly) some variations on the Christian Creed ~ principally the Apostles' Creed and Nicene Creed ~ but they each start with an affirmation that 'I / we believe in God the Father Almighty ...
... and then what?
... and then what?
... who rules on high / in Heaven forever
... the guardian of our forefathers
... maker / creator of Heaven and earth
... who was, and is, and is to come
God is acknowledged first and foremost as Creator. The differing versions offer more or less detail on the scope of this.
2 .
The Creeds then turn to the other Persons of the Trinity, consisting of:
Jesus Christ as God's only Son, and the Holy Spirit as His agent now on earth
Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, resurrected and ascended into Heaven
Jesus Christ the healer and redeemer
Jesus and the Church worldwide
Answers 2 & 3 only contain one other 'Person' (i.e. Jesus); the Church is mentioned in the Nicene Creed, but is not a part of the Trinity as such. The Trinity consists of God the Father/Creator; Jesus (His Son); and the Holy Spirit ~ 'three in one, and one in three' as a great hymn for Trinity Sunday puts it.
3 .
As mentioned in chronological order in each of the Creeds, one of the following is out of its proper sequence: which one?
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and 'went about among us' (this latter, not in fact a Credal phrase as such, though understood)
He died on the Cross at Calvary and was buried
He ascended into Heaven where He will be our eternal Judge
He was resurrected on the third day after His death
The Ascension took place AFTER the Resurrection. If you gave Answer 4 as misplaced, fair enough; but No.3 would have been the first you came to that was out of order.
4 .
The Nicene Creed enlarges much more on the nature of the Holy Spirit than does the Apostolic Creed. Which of the following is NOT claimed about the Holy Spirit in the Nicene Creed?
It 'proceeds from the Father and the Son' and is 'worshipped and glorified' conjointly with them
It has spoken through the Prophets (i.e. in the Old Testament)
It is 'the Lord and giver of life'
It came upon the Apostles (at Pentecost) when, to all symbolic intents, it 'ignited' the Christian Church for the first time
Unsurprisingly perhaps, this clearly Apostolic aspect of the Spirit is not catalogued as such within the 'other' version of the Creed ~ but the Apostolic version itself finds no need to refer back to it either!
5 .
After the recital of the key doctrines about the Trinity, each of the Creeds lists a short but important number of other key Christian tenets. ONE of the following is NOT mentioned in BOTH of the creeds: which item?
The holy Catholic (i.e. worldwide) church
The communion of Saints
The forgiveness of sins ('through baptism', in the Nicene version)
Resurrection and eternal life
Though the Nicene Creed is used by the Catholic Church (which itself has plenty of saints, and continues to formally declare new ones), it does not mention the saints ~ as the Apostolic Creed positively does.
6 .
The Nicene Creed makes at least one more specific and explicit link between Persons of the Trinity, which the Apostolic version tends to take for granted rather than confirming in detail. Again, which of these does NOT feature in BOTH Creeds?
That the Virgin Birth came about through the action of the Holy Spirit
That Jesus was God Incarnate, i.e. He 'came down to earth from heaven*' in human form and for the sake of humankind
(* Not a credal phrase either, but borrowed here from the widely-known Christmas carol 'Once in Royal David's City', which aims to explain and amplify the great mysteries of Christian doctrine for a younger audience such as a Sunday-school!)
(* Not a credal phrase either, but borrowed here from the widely-known Christmas carol 'Once in Royal David's City', which aims to explain and amplify the great mysteries of Christian doctrine for a younger audience such as a Sunday-school!)
The ascended Jesus is 'seated at the right hand of God the Father', in eternal judgement
That the Spirit is worshipped and glorified conjointly with the Father and the Son
The Apostolic Creed does not 'go this far', and there have indeed been major doctrinal disputes down the centuries on this point.
7 .
Christians, like their founder Jesus who lived His earthly life as a Jew (i.e. as one of God's chosen people ~ in what Christians themselves would call Old-Testament terms), abide by the Ten Commandments. How closely can you pin-down the Ten Commandments?
They can be found in the Bible at Exodus chapter 20: the first four deal with our relationship with God, the latter 6 deal with our relationship with our fellow-people
They can be found in the Bible at Exodus chapter 10: the first six deal with our relationship with God, the latter four deal with our relationship with our fellow-people
They can be found in the Bible at Exodus chapter 12 and the distribution of topics is 'even-Stephens', with 5 each about relationships with God and between ourselves
They can be found in the Bible at Exodus chapter 25; the first 7 deal with our fellow-people and the last 3 with our dealings with the Trinity
Except in the case of some of the Prophets, nobody in the Old Testament had much of an idea about Jesus as such (though Jews longed, and modern Jews still do, for a promised Messiah) ... so mention of the Trinity in answer 4 was clearly wrong (quite apart from putting ourselves before God, which itself runs contrary to the word and structure of the actual Commandments)! Under the correct reference from answer 1 you could fruitfully explore this for yourself.
8 .
Most forms of Christian baptism include a form of words whereby the candidate (or their sponsors, if the candidate is too young to take this on in their own right) swear to avoid the 'works of the Devil' (or some such similar phrase). The problems of evil and temptation are clearly all around us in the world, but are these explicitly mentioned in the Creeds as such?
Yes, 'evil' and/or 'temptation' are mentioned in each of the creeds we have been considering
'Evil' is mentioned in the Apostolic Creed
'Temptation' is mentioned in the Nicene Creed
Neither of these concepts is mentioned explicitly in either Creed
'Sin' and 'hell' appear within the Creeds, but neither 'evil' nor 'temptation' is mentioned explicitly (as per the question) in either case.
Maybe you were, yourself, momentarily beguiled by the perhaps-familiar text of the Lord's Prayer?
Maybe you were, yourself, momentarily beguiled by the perhaps-familiar text of the Lord's Prayer?
9 .
Which of these is the LEAST accurate about, or within, the range of Christian views on matters concerning death and killing?
Abortion and euthanasia (which latter used sometimes to be known as 'mercy-killing') are each forms of life-taking, and therefore wrong under God's commandment not to kill. God 'in His wisdom' knows the measure of a person's life, and no human should presume to interfere with that by murder or either of these other means
One of the best and most conspicuous models of practlcal Christian love in action, is when a person saves the life of a stranger with whom they have nothing in common
'Any killing is not just regrettable but wrong and an offence against God; war entails killing; no Christian should go to war; all Christians should actively be pacifists' ... so say many, such as the Quakers (the Society of Friends)
'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth': we should not flinch from the death penalty for convicted murderers
This was the Old Testament view and practice, which Jesus came to condemn and supersede: its brutal tit-for-tat 'logic' has nothing in common with a Gospel of forgiveness and atonement. The allusion in answer 2 is to the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
10 .
Back in the Creeds: how many 'miscellaneous doctrinal beliefs' are common to the concluding sections of BOTH principal versions, after-&-beyond the somewhat more 'biographical' paragraphs about the roles and deeds of the Father and Son?
Three
Four
Five
Seven
We would probably get into trouble for calling them 'fingers' let alone 'pillars' of the Faith, but in concise form they are:
Spirit; Church (apostolic/catholic [worldwide] / whatever); forgiveness of sins; resurrection; eternal life.
The Apostolic Creed mentions saints while the Nicene mentions baptism; neither of these is cross-referenced explicitly in the other, which leaves us with the 5 core common concepts. Research and remember these, and you will be well on your way to appreciating the main buttresses of Christian belief.
Spirit; Church (apostolic/catholic [worldwide] / whatever); forgiveness of sins; resurrection; eternal life.
The Apostolic Creed mentions saints while the Nicene mentions baptism; neither of these is cross-referenced explicitly in the other, which leaves us with the 5 core common concepts. Research and remember these, and you will be well on your way to appreciating the main buttresses of Christian belief.
You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - The revelation of God and the Christian Church
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