Thursday, December 2, 2010

Doctrinal Quiz Show! (Well, more like Church History Quiz!) And, another fabulous Grand Prize!


Welcome back to Doctrinal Quiz Show!  I thought I would make this question a little bit broader than the others, giving people a chance to offer a wide range of answers. I want to see how well you know your Church history, while touching on doctrinal issues as well. 

Think carefully:

Over the past 2,000+ years, the Church has held many councils (i.e., gatherings of the world's bishops, often called "ecumenical councils"). These councils have been convened to combat heresy and define doctrine, among other things. Can you name the first two Church councils and the last two Church councils? For an extra edge toward the Grand Prize, please state the approximate date of each council and one major issue that was on the table.

If you cheat, you die. Can I be any more clear than that? Whoops, sorry. That's not very Christian of me. But let's just say that I have ways to detect whether or not you are cheating.... Uh-huh. It's true. I have a sixth sense. 

Now, the GRAND PRIZE is very special to me. Jay Groft is a Catholic singer here in Phoenix, and he and his wife Jenni (Catholic blogger!) are family friends of ours. Tomorrow is the release of his brand new Christmas CD, with a release concert at our diocesan cathedral! I am so pleased to offer his brand new Christmas CD as the Grand Prize!! To hear a sample of Jay's prayerful songs, click here, here or here

To order this wonderful CD, click the image.

Speaking of Grand Prizes, it just gives me chills to tell you this story. The last quiz show (Bible in the Bubble) featured a rosary giveaway from Melanie at Trendy Traditions. Melanie recently lost her fifth child, Jude, due to his premature birth. I was stunned to find out yesterday that the verse which I chose for the quiz had special meaning to Melanie: It was the same verse that she and her husband had chosen for Jude's funeral cards! Praise God for His gentle consolations.  


Okay, now.... on your mark, get set, GO!!!!


39 comments:

  1. heeeeeckkk no I cannot answer that I have no idea!
    But I have to hit "post comment" quick so I can FINALLY be the FIRST to put a comment on one of your posts!!! :-D :-D :-D

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  2. WAHOO I actually did post FIRST!!!! Is there a prize for that?!!! Ha!

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  3. I have absolutely no idea.

    But that is amazing about the Bible verse-WOW!

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  4. Council of Nicea and the the Council of Trent (1st)

    Vatican I and Vatican II (2nd)

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  5. Crud....can't answer the dates without googling:(

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  6. dang it Spunky now that you said those of course it's all coming back to me. !!!! Is it possible that jacked up hormones can mimic what people call "pregnant brain"??...if so, can I get a pass? hahahahahaha...

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  7. Jerusalem and...Ephesus? and Vatican I and Vatican II. Jerusalem was in the first century, but I have no idea when Ephesus happened. Vatican I was in the 1840's, maybe? All I know is it was near the Franco-Prussian War. lol And Vatican II started in the 60's. :)

    Yay! I love your quiz shows, Leila! :) And I promise I'm not even sucking up! :)

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  8. The only one I know is Vatican II. From that, I deduce that there must have been a Vatican I. So, I can safely assume that I have answered 50% correctly in saying: two of them are Vatican I and Vatican II. But I have no idea about the dates. Fail.

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  9. How bout the council in Acts of the Apostles when Peter stood up and did his first Papal duty? Then Vatican 1 and 2. No dates but I know Vatican 2 was when my mom was in grade school, right? Maybe? hahaha

    Oh That makes me sad about Melanie... praying for her and baby Jude.

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  10. First- Jerusalem (with Peter and Paul)late 30's or early 40's, do you have to become a Jew to be a Christian. Second- no idea. Second most recent- Vatican I, very late 1800's or very early 1900's, not sure of issues. Most recent- Vatican II, 1960's- not really sure of issues since it's kind of become a catch-all for the changes in the Church since the 60's.

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  11. Incomplete answer and not my own, but DH guessed Vatican I & II were the last and Jerusalem was one of the first.

    I'll guess Nicea for another first.

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  12. Oh - and I wish I knew the answers! That sounds like an awesome prize!

    So sad about Jude.

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  13. Oh, Leila, can you answer that without cheating? I know you could ten years ago but I'm not sure about now. :-)

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  14. Lisa, ha ha! Yes, I could. I checked one thing just to be sure, but I was right! Yeee-haw!!! :)

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  15. But if you asked me what I had for lunch, I couldn't tell you.

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  16. Oh, I guess I'm supposed to guess.

    Jerusalem and Nicea. Jerusalem is easy because it's in the Bible. Acts 15, I think. I refer to it constantly because it's a proof for the authority of the Church. In the time before planes, trains and automobiles, St. Paul traveled over three hundred miles from Antioch to get a ruling on the question of............CIRCUMCISION. Easy peasy.

    Nicea...Arian heresy...but I forget the difference between it and Gnosticism.

    Dates? I don't know. 62 A.D. and 300 A.D.? No idea.

    Vatican I and Vatican II? Can't remember a major issue for Vatican I. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, which I frequently refer to but my brain is so worn out, I can't remember what that part was about.

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  17. Okay, I'm pretty sure the two most recent are Vatican I and Vatican II. Vatican II was in the 1960s, I think. Was Vatican I in the early 1900s, maybe 1913?

    As for the first two... um... I don't have these memorized and I really should. I'm going to guess the Council of Jerusalem and the Council of Nicea. I'm probably wrong. Don't ask me about dates. Sometime between AD 33 and AD 100.

    I love Christmas music. I think it comprises over half of my iTunes library.

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  18. Speaking of circumcision (and funny sidenote, one time after Mass we walked up to the priest and I said that. "Speaking of circumcision"...it had been mentioned in a reading and I really had a question!!!! But my husband was appalled haha) anyway speaking of it - can someone give me the Church's real ruling on it? I am very confused!!!haha I can save it for another day but I didn't want to forget!!!

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  19. Darnit, I forgot the obligatory "I love Christmas music" hint.

    As you know, Leila, I was baptized on Christmas Eve (Catholic AND Christian now for 18 years come Christmas Eve) and my daughter's middle name is...Noelle.

    Just sayin'...

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  20. Mary, it's in Acts 15. Baptism has replaced circumcision. No need to circumcise now. ;-) The ruling became true for all churches worldwide and for all time on that day.

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  21. Mary, here's a bit from the the Vatican website about circumcision. Hope it clarifies for you the Church's ruling.... :)

    Paul explained to the Twelve, whom he describes as those who were "of repute", his Gospel of freedom from the Law (cf. Gal 2: 6). In the light of the encounter with the Risen Christ, Paul realized that as soon as they adhered to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gentiles no longer needed as a hallmark of justice either circumcision or the rules that governed food and the Sabbath: Christ is our justice and all things that conform to him are "just". No other signs are necessary in order to be just. In the Letter to the Galatians, St Paul tells in a few lines how the assembly went. He says enthusiastically that the Gospel of freedom from the Law was approved by James, Cephas and John, "the pillars", who offered him and Barnabas the right hand of ecclesial communion in Christ (cf. Gal 2: 9). Since, as we have noted, for Luke the Council of Jerusalem expresses the action of the Holy Spirit, for Paul it represents the crucial recognition of freedom shared among all who participate in it: a freedom from the obligations that derive from circumcision and from the Law; that freedom for which "Christ has set us free" so that we might stand fast and not submit again to a yoke of slavery (cf. Gal 5: 1). The two accounts of Paul and Luke of the Assembly of Jerusalem have in common the liberating action of the Spirit, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom", Paul was to say in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (cf. 3: 17).

    Quoted from:
    http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20081001_en.html

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  22. The first council was the Council of Jerusalem as recorded in the Book of Acts, but this was not an ecumenical council. The first ecumenical council was Nicaea I in 325, followed by Constantinople I in 381. It is from these two councils that we get the Creed. The last two councils were Vatican I at the end of the 19th century, and Vatican II in the early 60s.

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  23. Lisa - my husband's birthday is Christmas Eve, and so is his youngest brother's. They're five years and one hour apart!

    We have a little baby in heaven that we named Noel.

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  24. First and Second Council of Nicea (first 500 and 700 years, respectively?)
    - Issues
    - Nicene Creed
    - definition of the Trinity (isn't this when the East split?)

    First and Second Vatican Council (late 1800s/early 1900s and 1960s??)
    - Issues
    - Um...missal translations?
    - Probably something else for the first one

    I have no clue! I had to learn this all for RCIA last year, but clearly I didn't retain it well... ^_^

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  25. You are joking right? I mean who thinks these questions up? You realize we are cradle Catholics not converts! hahahahaha

    Back away from the computer Sew, back away from the computer! LMBO!

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  26. http://www.fisheaters.com/circumcision.html

    More on the Catholic Church and circumcision just for you Mary!

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  27. You know I'm not snappy in that comment....Just thinking out loud maybe....hahahahaha

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  28. Wow! That is quite a question! I'm thinking Trent and Nicea... but I know Hippo was in there too... And as for the last two, I'm going to go with Vatican I and Vatican II. :) Was there a Vatican I?? Sigh.

    I am not sure about the years on the first two, but Vatican II was in the 60's right?

    Ugh. I obviously need to brush up on my facts here. I'm excited to learn more!

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  29. Grigaitis is right! =)

    Nicea and Constantinople are the first ones. Jerusalem is not ecumenical.

    Vatican I in the 1870´s and the main theme is Papal infalability (whoever you write it in English!!) Vatican II in the 1960´s- Vatican II looked at things such as liturgy. .

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  30. 1st - Council of Jerusalem recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, shortly after Christ's death. Determined that Christians did not have to become Jews.

    2nd - Council of Nicea (325) refuted Arianism. (btw, St. Nicholas is reputed to have slapped Arius across the face during this council. How is that for a jolly old elf? :))

    Second to last - 1st Vatican Council (1870 *I think*), convened to address atheism, modernism, materialism.

    Last (so far) - Vatican II, 1960's, pastoral and liturgical reform.


    It helps that I went to school for this. :)

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  31. Okay, keep 'em coming! (Looks like I am going to have to put together a points system to determine a winner!)

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  32. Leila didn't specify "ecumenical" in her question, so I say the council of Jerusalem counts as the first!

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  33. Ok, here's my attempt, but it's incomplete!

    1st, Council of Jerusalem - did the Gentiles have to convert first to Judaism (be circumcised) to become Christian. I know this was an early issue, but I'm not confident that there was actually a council for it.

    2nd, Nicea - dealt with the humanity/divinity of Jesus against the Arian heresy. (just don't know that this was second...)

    Two most recent:
    Vatican I - Mary as Immaculate Conception
    Vatican II - Church in modern world, with big emphasis on liturgical reforms

    How did I do, Leila?!?!? I'm nervous! I seem to remember many of the controversies (there's also Ephesus - I think - dealing with Mary as Theotokos, perhaps). If I just name a bunch of councils and a bunch of issues, but don't match them up or order them, can I still get a prize?! :)
    ~Ruby

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  34. Oh, I forgot dates!
    Jerusalem - 50 AD, apostles still alive
    Nicea - 150 AD
    Vatican I - 1860
    Vatican II - 1960-1965
    ~Ruby

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  35. AMAZING about that verse!!!! God is SOOOOO good!!! I love those God-moment!!!

    OK...SHEESH this is hard! I've been wanting to read a book on Church history but haven't found one I like yet. Any suggestions? I'm not looking for something incredibly deep, but something to set the record straight on the Inquisition and Crusades and such. Something that hits the highlights...

    Any suggestions???

    I've heard great things about the Epic program. Has anyone done this? I'd like to suggest it to my women's group- or at least the Pastor- if I'm sure it's good.

    Shoot. I want that grand prize. But it's just not going to happen!!!

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  36. Well other than the dates- I guess I did know!!! What a great question!

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  37. Circumcision was the first eh? When? Uh Paul was still alive. But that's all I got.

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  38. Hmmm... I used to know all this.

    But I'll just put what I do remember, which is that the Council of Nicea was 325 AD and that's where we get the Nicene Creed from - and the reason the Nicene Creed reiterates OVER and OVER again that Jesus and God the Father are one in the same (eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father...) is because this was a Council to determine whether or not Christians could be monotheistic while still proclaiming Jesus to be God.
    I believe the Council of Nicea was the 3rd Ecumenical Council, hence this doesn't even answer your question ;)

    I believe the 2nd Council was in regards to the divinity/manhood of Christ. Don't remember what year. But that is where they determined that Christ was BOTH God and Man, not fully man and clothed with divinity, or fully God in the appearance of man. If I'm remembering correctly, it all started when some bishops wanted to change the name of Mary "theotokos" (Greek for carrier of God, as in, she was pregnant with God) to "christotokos" (or, carrier of Christ), because they thought the latter would be more appropriate. In the end, theotokos remained, because, Jesus is, and always was, God.

    I'm assuming the last two councils were Vatican I and Vatican II, but I could be wrong. Don't know the exact years, either, so I'm sure I'm not even in the running on this one.

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  39. Instead of brushing up on my Church history, which I clearly know very little, I am going to go listen to this Christmas music... props for getting in the Christmas spirit??

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