Church History Guided Reading Chapter 3
NAME________________________________
1) Look at the top of page 64. When you were a freshman, who was a leader in your eyes? Was there anyone in the
senior class that you had a lot of respect for, someone who maybe went out of their way to be kind to you?
2) After reading that opening section on page 64, just give a brief description of how the church changed from its
starting point to about 300 years afterwards.
3) We’ve read a bit about Constantine already, we’ve watched a video over him, but he’s really, really important to the
Christian faith. Don’t forget that. Where did he move the capital of the Roman Empire to after becoming emperor?
What’s the capital called today?
4) How was Rome doing during that time? Good or Bad? (Circle One) Why?
5) So, how was Constantine as a structural engineer? How has the term Pontifex Maximus played a role in the Catholic
Church today?
6) The book says the Byzantine Church considers Constantine to be a saint. Do we as Roman Catholics? For +1 point,
find me an interesting fact that explains some of the differences between the Byzantine Church and the Roman
Catholic Church… or are we the same?
7) How did life change for Christians around 313... (AD or CE, I guess I’ll let you choose which you prefer to call it)
8) If you read through those 4 bullet points on page 66, you get a sense of the new challenges that came with being in
charge. Have you ever been in charge of something? What was it? Did you enjoy it? Was there anything you didn’t
enjoy or something that added stress to the job? (You can write this on the top of the next page, sorry…)
Here’s room ------→
9) Look at bullet point 3… do you think those new members had less faith than the earlier ones? What do you think they
would say about us today?
10) When you look at page 67, what quote in that paragraph (yeah, I know it’s long) stands out to you personally as
showing that Christianity is the major focus… as the book states.
11) What is Arianism? The quote for Arius’ argument “There was once when he was not”… can you find an argument
against his reasoning?
12) Was Arianism popular? What made it popular? (I can think of at least 2 reasons)
13) So Constantine initiates a meeting at __________________. It’s the first worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops
called the ___________________ council. And it’s important to note at this time that he was ________ Christian.
This meet was called the ______________ of _______________. Main point: figure this thing out before we have
1000 different beliefs across the entire empire, otherwise it’s going to be bad. He also said that division in the church
is worse than division in the empire because it involves _____________.
14) What was the Nicene Creed? So the Creed is written and everything’s ok afterwards, right? No issues…
15) So… Monophysitism. Yeah. You don’t have to know it. I’m not sure I can wrap my brain around it. Sounds like an
argument for people a lot smarter than I am.
THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE FALLS
16) 3 Groups be sure you can differentiate from these three groups. Also explain how the Goths and Vandals were
similar.
a) Visigoths
b) Vandals
c) Huns
17) Where did the Romans finally hold out against the Huns?
18) What kind of condition was Rome in after all of the invasions?
19) During the invasion, how did the role of the Pope change?
20) What does the word “secular” mean?
21) Why was the word “See” used as an abbreviation? (I mean, seriously, the word “seat” is only one letter longer…”
22) Know what changes Damasus I (Pope from 366-384AD) made during his tenure. Good or bad?
23) How many Popes are referred to as “The Great”? How did Leo change the role of the Papacy?
THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH
24) So Christianity was talked about in almost every facet of life back in the day. Is it still this way? Where is some place
other than school or church where you’ve heard religion discussed? Ever seen anyone get into an argument
concerning religion? Was that person you?
25) Can you explain what a Father of the Church is? (What about Mothers of the Church?)
26) Explain how Ambrose became bishop.... anything in the story strike you as a little odd?
27) How did Ambrose’s career skills as a politician help him? Who wins in the argument between him and Valentinian?
How does he win this dispute?
28) What was arguably Ambrose’s greatest contribution?
29) What was the overall message of the book, The City of God?
30) Give me a little background of Saint Augustine. Knowing what “Manichean” means would be useful as well….
31) In the book Confessions, Augustine writes that he hears a voice. What does it say to him?
32) Augustine is recognized by many as the greatest _____________________ of the Western Church.
33) Draw me a picture of Jerome’s conversion story… or just write it down so you know what happened.
34) What task was Saint Jerome given? How does Vulgate relate to him? Can you explain how he and women were
intertwined?
(a) • St. Paula is the patron saint of __________________. She joins Jerome and helps him with his
work on the ______________ after learning Hebrew and the scriptures.
35) What contribution did Helena make to Christianity? Who was she related to?
36) Look at the bottom of page 82… Why is that there? If anyone can explain why, I’ll give the class +2 points, because I
can’t figure out a reason. It just seems really random to me….
MONASTICISM
37) Why did Christians leave society?
38) What seems counter about the way monks lived versus the meaning of the word?
39) Who was the first known monk? What contributions did he make to the life? He died at what age?
40) Monasteries during this time… large or small? Why do you think they had such large numbers?
41) How was monastic life in Ireland different from other parts of the world?
42) Read about the consecrated life… Question is this: do you think you could enjoy the type of life Brothers and Sisters
live? I’m not asking if you want to be one (although that would be a great thing as well), so don’t give me a knee jerk
reaction of “HECK NO!” Seriously think of the way they live and give me a couple of positive features and
something that would maybe bother you about the life style.
43) Read the Faith Activity section. Have you ever been on another retreat other than the class one you take at Memorial?
If you went, what did you enjoy about it? Should it be a requirement before something like Confirmation?