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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Armstrong notice is happening to the churches in Europe?
(a) They are rebuilding.
(b) They are emptying.
(c) They are changing.
(d) They are filling.

2. In Europe, scientists such as _______________, published their own theories as to the meaning and role of God in modern life, while, in England, the physicist Isaac Newton extended his opus magnus "Philosophiae Natruralis Principia" to prove God's existence.
(a) Jacques Pascal and Rene Magritte.
(b) Blaise Pascal and Renee Descartes.
(c) Jacques Pascal and Renee Descartes.
(d) Blaise Pascal and Rene Magritte.

3. Who was a Dutch Jew who had become discontented with the ideas in the Torah and joined a group of Gentile freethinkers, which led to his expulsion from the synagogue of Amsterdam?
(a) Moses Mendolssohn.
(b) Baruch Spinoza.
(c) Immanuel Kant.
(d) Max Bruch.

4. Karen Armstrong suggests that all of these types of movements in these three religions are ____________.
(a) An understanding of God.
(b) An acceptance of God.
(c) A union with God.
(d) A retreat from God.

5. How did the teachings of the Northern European mystics affect the religious establishment?
(a) It shocked them.
(b) It excited them.
(c) It angered them.
(d) It scared them.

6. Armstrong asserts that the type of God who ____________ is obviously not pertinent nor desirable in modern society?
(a) Stands in judgment of the individual.
(b) Is a protector.
(c) Is loving.
(d) Is seen as a Father.

7. What did Nietzsche teach about the Christian God?
(a) He is confused.
(b) He is absurd and "a crime against life."
(c) He needs to change.
(d) He does not understand his people.

8. Western secularism and the rising dominance of industrialized European countries had a profound effect on ____________.
(a) Politics.
(b) The environment.
(c) The Muslim religion.
(d) Americans.

9. The original intention of the Zionists was to do ____________.
(a) Cause chaos among the people of Israel.
(b) Found a Jewish state.
(c) Intimidate the Christians.
(d) Provide a spiritual center for the focus of the people of Israel.

10. In this chapter Karen Armstrong outlines the developments in the nineteenth century which led to ____________.
(a) Questioning of God's purpose for mankind.
(b) A renewed acceptance of God.
(c) Questioning of God's role on earth.
(d) Questioning of the existence and relevance of God.

11. More and more writers and philosophers struggle to develop ideas which might replace ____________.
(a) The old religions.
(b) New religions.
(c) Christianity.
(d) Islam.

12. Advances in Western science led to ____________.
(a) An exiting of thousands from the Christian religion.
(b) An end to religion.
(c) The exile of all non-Christians in Europe.
(d) A reexamination of the Christian religion and even to questioning the existence of God.

13. Karen Armstrong passionately believes that human beings have, in the 4000 years of the quest delineated in her book, always sought ____________.
(a) Power and might.
(b) Peace and love.
(c) An answer to the questions raised by religion and the idea of God.
(d) Harmony and understanding.

14. What approach to religion does Armstrong advocate?
(a) The rationalistic and literal interpretation of the sacred scripts.
(b) A mystical approach.
(c) The desirability of a compassionate approach to religion.
(d) A fundamentalist approach.

15. The scientific work of Charles Darwin and the writings of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud led to the conclusion that ____________.
(a) The traditional religions were blasphemous.
(b) The traditional religions were completely inaccurate.
(c) The traditional religions were now inadequate.
(d) The traditional religions were correct.

Short Answer Questions

1. The classic texts of this form of Judaic mysticism were written ____________.

2. In 1626, a wealthy Sephardic Jew in Symrna, called Shabbetai Zevi, started a movement in which he declared ____________.

3. The development of a Christian mystic tradition blossomed in ____________ century.

4. What are becoming more and more prevalent in Europe today?

5. The Muslims experienced problems with what passages in the Koran?

(see the answer keys)

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