Renaissance and Reformation

Chapter 6 Study Guide

World Studies: Third Edition

Vocabulary – be able to define the following terms.

  1. Middle Ages – The time period lasting for about 1000 years between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the start of the Renaissance.
  2. Renaissance – A French term literally meaning “rebirth”.A revival of learning that affected many areas of life including art, architecture, and literature. This was an intellectual revival and not a spiritual revival.The emphasis of the Renaissance was on man rather than God.
  3. Vulgate – A rather sloppy translation of the Bible into Latin by Jerome and others in the 4th century A.D.
  4. Hebrew & Greek – The languages in which the Bible were originally written. (OT: Hebrew and NT: Greek)
  5. Johannes Gutenberg – He invented the printing press with movable type. It was used for printing the Gutenberg Bible. (movable type = small, reusable metal pieces for each letter and number)
  6. Leonardo da Vinci–A famous Renaissance artist; He used shading and an understanding of perspective (depth) to make his paintings look real.
  7. Michelangelo – A famous Renaissance painter who worked for four years painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome
  8. Petrarch – A famous Renaissance poet who became known as the “father of humanism”.
  9. humanism – To prefer human reason over doctrine and faith; to focus on man and his accomplishments
  10. Erasmus – The humanist scholar from Rotterdam who edited the first official copy of the Greek New Testament. Although he saw the need for the reform of the church, he did not realize the need for spiritual regeneration and personal conversion.
  11. humanist – A person who studies and advances a man-centered perspective on life
  12. Thomas More – He wrote the Utopia (which means “nowhere”) – a story about an imaginary country.
  13. transubstantiation– The Roman Catholic belief that the wine and bread in the Lord's Supper become the very blood and body of Jesus Christ
  14. Inquisition – A Roman Catholic Church court that was set up to find and punish heretics. These courts used extreme methods of torture and burned many at the stake while trying to stop the Reformation.
  15. indulgence - A paper that supposedly grants pardon from the punishment of sins; It was often sold to raise money for building churches. A general indulgence could be purchased to have all of one’s debt removed. This often resulted with people living in deep sin without fear of judgment.
  16. Johann Tetzel – A monk who sold indulgences near Wittenberg, Germany; Martin Luther strongly opposed this man. He is known for the saying, “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."
  17. reformer – A person devoted to bringing about a change for the better
  18. The Protestant Reformation –A widespread religious movementin the early 1500’s that sought to reform the Roman Catholic Church by opposing false doctrines and practices. The Protestant churches were established through this movement after many realized that the RC church could not be successfully reformed.
  19. Protestants – People who chose to follow Scripture and left the Roman Church
  20. John Wycliffe – He was a pastor and teacher in England who rejected the authority of the papacy. He provided the Bible to the common people by translating it into English. Sadly he used the Latin Vulgate to produce a somewhat faulty translation of a translation. (William Tyndale would later go back to the Hebrew and Greek when he did his translation of the Bible into English.)
  21. John Huss – The pastor of Bohemia who was burned at the stake for speaking out against corruptions in the church
  22. Martin Luther – The reformer in Germany who opposed the sale of indulgences; He translated the Bible into German.
  23. Ninety-five Theses – Martin Luther’s points of disagreement with the sale of indulgences; These were posted to the church doors of Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.
  24. excommunication – To be placed outside of the church as a form of discipline; to be deprived the rights of church membership
  25. Zwingli–An important protestant reformer in Zurich, Switzerland; He was killed in a battle between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants.
  26. Anabaptist – A group of people who rejected infant baptism; The name means “re-baptist” or those who baptize again since they would often rebaptize people who were baptized as infants. (The Mennonites are an example of Anabaptists who are living in the United States today.)
  27. John Calvin –The reformer in Geneva, Switzerland who taught many important doctrines including predestination.
  28. predestination – The doctrine which states that God decides one’s eternal destination before they are born
  29. Jesuits – The name for a group of monks who are also known as the Society of Jesus; They were very loyal to the Roman Catholic church and used all possible means to both oppose the Reformation and to gain followers to the Roman Church.
  30. Index of Prohibited Books – A list of books that included Bibles and protestant books that were forbidden to be read
  31. Council of Trent – A Roman Catholic gathering that wrote a statement of Roman Catholic beliefs and practices
  32. Huguenots – These were the French Protestants who endured fierce persecution. In 1572, thousands in Paris and throughout France were killed on what is known as St. Bartholomew’sDay. (Some writers estimate that the number killed was more than one hundred thousand.)
  33. Thirty Years’ War – A major conflict between Roman Catholics and Protestant forces

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