Reformation Sunday
October 30, 2016
Martin Luther Quizbowl
We’ve been handing out questions and information about Martin Luther and the Reformation for weeks now at Our Savior’s. And we’ve been warning people that they should learn all they can….because there’s going to be a TEST! Our Sunday morning sermon is it – the Luther Quizbowl. So here goes.
1: In what year was Martin born?
a)1483; b) 1492; c) 1517
2: Where was Luther born?
a)Sweden; b) France; c) Germany
3: In what language was the Bible written in Luther’s day?
4: Who had a Bible in their home in the 16th Century?
5: What was Luther’s original plan for this life?
a)be a lawyer; b) own a mine; c) become a priest
6: What changed his mind?
a) an accident; b) a dangerous storm; c) his father’s request
As a monk, Luther was terrified of his own failings and went to confession at least every day. Luther’s confessor sent him to school to study scripture, hoping that in the Bible, Martin would find a gospel that would free him from his fear of failure to please God.
7: Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, established a university where Luther became a professor of Biblical Studies in 1512. In what city was that university?
a) Berlin; b) Wartburg; c) Wittenburg
8: As a Biblical professor Luther discovered in the Book of Romans
a)God’s wroth; b) God’s grace; c) God’s invitation
9: What was Pope Leo X’s fundraising strategy for building St Peter’s Cathedral in Rome?
10: What did you get when you bought an indulgence from the Church?
11: Can you explain Luther’s primary disagreement with indulgences?
Luther had witnessed the corruption of the church when he travelled to Rome as a monk. It angered him to see the immorality and wealth of the clergy. When his congregation was being required to buy indulgences to get forgiveness, he couldn’t keep silent any longer. He saw the church terrorizing the very people it was meant to save. That is when he asked for a theological discussion about it.
12: What happened on October 31, 1517?
a) the first Hallowe’en; b) Luther posted his 95 theses; c) the Pope excommunicated him
13: What happened to his list of theological discussion points?
a) they were torn down immediately; b) they were printed for everyone to read; c) they were burned by the Pope
14: What is a heretic?
a)someone who disagrees with you; b) someone who doesn’t believe what the church believes; c) a bad theologian; d) a fake intellectual
15: Who declared that Martin Luther was a heretic?
a) the people; b) Frederick the Wise; c) the Pope; d) the Diet of Worms
16: What was the letter that excommunicated Luther called
a) Papal Bull; b) Pig in a Poke; c) Official Notice
17: Pope Leo X declared that all Luther’s writings should be burned. What went in Luther’s fire?
a) all the books Luther didn’t need; b) some of his writings; c) the Papal Bull and a book of church law; d) old stuff from the college library
18: The Conference with the Holy Roman Emperor in 1521, at which Luther was asked to take back his criticism of the church was called
a) the Church Convention; b) the Diet of Worms; c) the Pope’s Convocation
19: Luther amazed the Emperor and the Church by refusing to recant. He said
a) “here I stand, I can do no other” b) “not on your life, sir” c) “It would be a crime”
20: Pope Leo X excommunicates Luther and sends him a
a) an excommunication greeting card; b) an order to report to jail; c) a death warrant; c) notice that he can no longer teach
21: What does it mean to be excommunicated? What difference does it make?
22: Luther was spirited away to a secret location after his death warrant. Where did he go?
23: What was the name under which Luther lived in his secret castle?
24: What was Luther’s major work while he was in hiding?
25: Why did Luther return from the castle to Wittenburg? This is a bonus question.
26: What was the name of Martin Luther’s wife?
27: How did Katharina escape the monastery with her friends to join the new theology?
28: Luther wasn’t perfect. In fact, he came down against some factions of his time that we would consider with sympathy. A bonus for knowing some of his radical opinions
29: Which other historical events took place during Luther’s lifetime:
a) Bubonic plague; b) Henry VIII begins English Reformation; c) Columbus lands in America; c) all of the above
30: In 1546, Luther returned to Eisleben, where he was born, to resolve a conflict between two princes. While there he
- suffered a heart attack and died; b) was captured by agents of Pope Leo;
- c) wrote a book about his life.
Catechism Questions:
1: Martin Luther said “Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church. It is also a goodly Christian
a) response; b) weapon; c) idea; d) rest
2: The three parts of Christian tradition explained in the catechism
- New Testament & Old Testament; b) Lord’s Prayer, Apostles’ Creed; Ten Commandments; c) Beatitudes, sermon on the Mount, Lord’s Prayer; d) Augsburg Confession, 95 Theses, Ten Commandments.
3: The Lutheran Tradition recognizes two Sacraments, they are
- Confirmation and Baptism; b) Ordination and Marriage; c) Baptism and Holy Communion; d) Holy Communion and Confirmation
4: Luther stressed three ‘sola’s (only this) by which we are saved
- grace, faith, scripture; b) Bible, teaching, preaching; c) Christian music, prayer, church; d) confession, repentance, forgiveness
5: Two of Luther’s reforms for his congregation were
a) no statues of saints, no kneeling; b) worship in their language, wine with communion; c) contemporary music, prayers in English; d) women and men sit together, Bibles in the pews
We hope you enjoyed our Luther/Reformation quiz. Answers will be highlighted later in the week.
As we talk about Reformation we want to take a minute to imagine what is being re-formed in the church today. Reformation implies the possibility of malleability – you can’t re-form a rock like you can a lump of clay. What are the pressures on us in our church in this day and time? Re-forming rarely comes from the center of an object, but rather from the outside, from the margins. The church was at the center of society for a long time, but has begun to be more on the margins in our day. It is the perfect place to remember our tradition of ‘semper reformandum,’ always being reformed. What is it that we still have to say to the world? What in our tradition is missing from the conversation at the center these days?
At the Bishop’s Convocation this past week, we talked a great deal about Resistance, Reformation, and Resurrection. Can our story of re-forming in the past help us to understand the possibilities of resurrection that we still have to share with the world? I am convinced that our message of grace is a message which the world is longing to hear. How can we gather the strength and hope we need to be that message in our own day? May the Holy Spirit guide us.
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