The Ninety Five Theses, which began the Reformation, were published in 1517 against which practice of the Church?
- A.The celibacy of priests
- B.The sale of indulgences
- C.The use of Latin in prayer
- D.The worship of images
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was a pardon for sin sold for money, and the campaign to sell indulgences in Germany to pay for building work at Rome was the immediate provocation for Martin Luther, who nailed or posted his Ninety Five Theses at Wittenberg on 31 October 1517 arguing that no payment can buy forgiveness. Option A is wrong as the first cause: Luther did reject compulsory celibacy and himself married, but that came later and was not the subject of the theses. Option C is wrong because the demand for worship and scripture in the language of the people followed from the movement, and Luther German Bible served it, rather than starting it. Option D is wrong because the attack on images belongs mainly to Zwingli and the Calvinists in the next stage of reform.
Read the full article: Renaissance, Reformation and Geographical Discoveries
Practice Questions
View allThe fall of Constantinople, which sent Greek scholars westwards into Italy and helped begin the Renaissance, took place in which year?
- A.1453
- B.1492
- C.1498
- D.1517
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Constantinople, the capital of the eastern Roman or Byzantine empire, was captured by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed the Second in 1453.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following is called the father of humanism?
- A.Dante Alighieri
- B.Petrarch
- C.Boccaccio
- D.Niccolo Machiavelli
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Francesco Petrarch, an Italian poet and scholar of the fourteenth century, collected and studied classical Latin manuscripts and placed human life, reason and the individual at the centre of learning, which is why he is remembered as the father of humanism.
Read the full explanation →The book The Prince, which treats politics as a craft separate from morality, was written by whom?
- A.Thomas More
- B.Erasmus
- C.Niccolo Machiavelli
- D.Martin Luther
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Machiavelli, a Florentine diplomat, wrote the Prince as advice to a ruler on how to win and keep power, judging actions by their results rather than by religious morality, and the word Machiavellian comes from this book.
Read the full explanation →Printing with movable metal type was introduced in Europe by
- A.Johannes Gutenberg
- B.William Caxton
- C.Leonardo da Vinci
- D.Nicolaus Copernicus
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Gutenberg of Mainz in Germany built the first European printing press with movable metal type about the middle of the fifteenth century and printed the Bible that carries his name.
Read the full explanation →Match the reformer with his work and choose the correct pair.
- A.John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion
- B.Martin Luther: Utopia
- C.Ulrich Zwingli: In Praise of Folly
- D.Ignatius Loyola: The Prince
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Calvin set out his theology, including the doctrine of predestination, in the Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536 and built a reformed church order at Geneva that spread to Scotland, the Netherlands and France.
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