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Quiz about The Life of Martin Luther
Quiz about The Life of Martin Luther

The Life of Martin Luther Trivia Quiz


The German reformer is one of the greatest figures of the sixteenth century. This is a relatively easy quiz about his life.

A multiple-choice quiz by Catamount. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Catamount
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
177,992
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
1458
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 109 (5/10), Guest 172 (6/10), Guest 204 (2/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. When was Martin Luther born? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. What was his father's profession or trade? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. What field of study did Luther's father want him to enter? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. In 1505, Luther suddenly decided to become a monk. A number of reasons for this decision are given by different scholars. Which of the following is NOT one of them? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. How many theses did Luther supposedly nail to the door of the Wittenberg Church?

Answer: (Numeral)
Question 6 of 10
6. One of Luther's criticisms of the church was the sale of indulgences.


Question 7 of 10
7. How did the church respond to Luther's teachings? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Luther married Katharina von Bora in 1525. What was unusual about his bride? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Luther's translation of the Bible into German (completed in 1534) was not the first one. Which of these was an earlier translation? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. What were the terms of the Peace of Augsburg? Hint



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quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. When was Martin Luther born?

Answer: 1483

November 10th, 1483, in Eisleben, Saxony.
2. What was his father's profession or trade?

Answer: Miner

He was a miner and smelting master in Mansfeld, a town not far from Eisleben. Copper mining in the area had been going on since the 12th century.
3. What field of study did Luther's father want him to enter?

Answer: Law

Hans Luder (as the name was pronounced locally) came from peasant ancestry with ambitions to get ahead in life. He was a strong-willed and harsh man, but he found his match in his son.
4. In 1505, Luther suddenly decided to become a monk. A number of reasons for this decision are given by different scholars. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

Answer: He saw a vision of the virgin Mary

Luther himself gave various reasons for his choice to become an Augustinian monk, but he never claimed to have seen the virgin Mary, although he often complained about being pestered by devils and demons. In 1507, Luther was ordained into the priesthood. In 1508 he was assigned to the University of Wittenberg where he received his bachelor's degree in theology in 1509.
5. How many theses did Luther supposedly nail to the door of the Wittenberg Church?

Answer: 95

Although this was a common way to announce academic disputations, recent research shows no actual proof that Luther nailed his theses to the church door. For certain is that on October 31, 1517, he wrote letters to his superiors where he criticized certain church practices. He enclosed 95 theses in those letters.
6. One of Luther's criticisms of the church was the sale of indulgences.

Answer: True

"Indulgence, in the Roman Catholic Church, the pardon of temporal punishment due for sin. It is to be distinguished from absolution and the forgiveness of guilt. The church grants indulgences out of the Treasury of Merit won for the church by Christ and the saints. Indulgences may be plenary, i.e., a full remission of all temporal punishment; or they may be partial, i.e., a remission of part of the temporal punishment. [...] The practice of quantifying indulgences stems from ancient usage, when actual public penance was imposed and remitted for specified periods as the church saw fit. Hence, the penitent who is granted an indulgence receives merit as if he had performed actual penance for the length of time specified. The degree of merit varies with the disposition of the penitent. The notion that this practice encourages moral laxity is denied by the church, since the penitent must be in a state of grace and the attachment to even a single venial sin will reduce the effectiveness of the indulgence. Indulgences won for souls in purgatory are applied only as God wills. [...] Since the Council of Trent (1562) the buying and selling of indulgences has been unlawful."
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press

By the late Middle Ages, many people had come to see indulgences as a substitute for confession and penance. Members of Luther's congregation would come to him with indulgences they had purchased and expect him to give absolution for whatever transgression the indulgence had been for. Luther was strongly opposed to this practice, especially since it appeared that the church was encouraging it in order to raise money. Luther himself believed that salvation could be neither earned nor bought, but was a gift from God in exchange only for faith.
7. How did the church respond to Luther's teachings?

Answer: All of these

Luther refused to recant any of his beliefs, although he did write conciliatory letters both to church and secular rulers.
8. Luther married Katharina von Bora in 1525. What was unusual about his bride?

Answer: She was a former nun

Born in 1499, Katharina von Bora was the daughter of an impoverished nobleman. She went to convent school from the age of five and became a nun when she was only sixteen. In 1523 she and eleven other nuns escaped from the convent and took refuge in Wittenberg. The marriage resulted in six children.
9. Luther's translation of the Bible into German (completed in 1534) was not the first one. Which of these was an earlier translation?

Answer: Wenceslas Bible

The Wenceslas Bible is a "deluxe" Old Testament written out between 1390 and 1400 on request by King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia. It contains over 600 miniatures and rich margin illustrations. The other Bible versions are more recent than the Luther Bible. Nearly all the translations available at the time were from the Latin Vulgate - and not particularly reliable.
10. What were the terms of the Peace of Augsburg?

Answer: The ruler of a region determined its religion

This peace agreement signed in 1555 also stated that people whose religious beliefs differed from those of their region were allowed to leave. The treaty only referred to Catholics and followers of Martin Luther and did not extend to Calvinists or Anabaptists or to the members of sects.
Source: Author Catamount

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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