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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How had Bonhoeffer's relationships outside of Germany affect his view of the church, according to Metaxas?
(a) Bonhoeffer's relationships from around the world gave him the perspective to be able to see the flaws in German theology.
(b) Bonhoeffer's relationships from around the world were with people of different races and nationalities, but they could share their believe in Christian principles.
(c) Bonhoeffer's relationships from around the world helped him see that German theology was superior and worth protecting.
(d) Bonhoeffer's relationships from around the world helped him see that the conflicts facing Germans were mild compared to those faced in other countries.

2. How does Metaxas claim Hitler viewed Christianity and the church?
(a) Hitler viewed the church pragmatically and appealed to it to gain power.
(b) Hitler was a faithful Catholic and encouraged members of his entourage to remain active in their congregations.
(c) Hitler viewed the church as a barrier to his power and attempted to have it destroyed.
(d) Hitler was ambivalent to the church and focused only on his political fortunes.

3. To what conclusion does Metaxas report Bonhoeffer arrived in a journal entry regarding his observations of art and his criticism of art historians?
(a) "We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies."
(b) "I believe that interpretation is not necessary in art."
(c) "Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one."
(d) "The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life."

4. What does Metaxas point out to be the motivation of Luther's condemnations of the Jews that he wrote late in his life?
(a) They were motivated by their economic self sufficiency.
(b) They were motivated by their aloofness to general European society.
(c) They were motivated by their racial differences to europeans.
(d) They were motivated by the Jews indifference to his efforts to convert them to Christianity.

5. What question regarding the reformation became increasingly important to Bonhoeffer as the Nazis became increasingly demanding of the Lutheran church?
(a) Did the reformation go wrong by moving from a sect to a church.
(b) Did Christianity have too close of a relationship with pagan culture when the catholic church became officially recognized.
(c) Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?
(d) Can there really be a separation of church and state?

6. What does Metaxas report to be Bonhoeffer's first ministry?
(a) 14 Wangenheimstrasse.
(b) The Thursday Circle.
(c) Teaching and preaching to a youth Sunday school class in the Grunewald parish.
(d) The associate pastorship in Barcelona.

7. What was Bonhoeffer's view of philosophy, according to Metaxas?
(a) Bonhoeffer considered philosophy to be man's search for truth apart from God.
(b) Bonhoeffer believed that one could not become a solid theologian without studying philosophy.
(c) Bonhoeffer believed that one could not become a solid philosopher without studying theology.
(d) Bonhoeffer considered a theologian and philosopher to be the same thing.

8. What part of Bonhoeffer's trip to New York does Metaxas suggest had the most influence on his changed preaching style?
(a) His worship at the "negro churches".
(b) His involvement in the debate between secularists and fundamentalists.
(c) His road trip to Mexico.
(d) His viewing of "All Quiet on the Western Front" with a Frenchman.

9. Who taught Bonhoeffer's nanny, Kathe van Horn, Christian concepts that challenged Lutheran orthodoxies of the day?
(a) She taught herself.
(b) Martin Luther.
(c) Count Zinzendorf.
(d) John Calvin.

10. What does Metaxas report Bonhoeffer found when he visited Friedrich von Bodelschwing's Bethel community in Bielefeld?
(a) A whole town with schools, churches, farms, factories, shops, and housing for nurses.
(b) Von Bodelschwing preparing to leave the settlement so he could fulfill his duties as Reichsbischof.
(c) A modest hospital where epileptic care was given.
(d) A town that had been taken over by the German Christians and had begun marking many of the residents for elimination.

11. Why does Metaxas claim Bonhoeffer became a soldier?
(a) Because he was conscripted into militia service as the limits placed on the German military by the Treaty of Versailles were insufficient to protect Germany from enemies and insurrections.
(b) Because he felt an obligation to offer his service to the benefit of the German Empire.
(c) Because he became empathetic with a nationalist movement that identified the Treaty of Versailles as the cause of Germany's economic and social problems.
(d) Because military service was expected by his strict father.

12. What does Metaxas report to be Bonhoeffer's negotiating advantage during his time leading two congregations in London?
(a) He could train young Germans in the biblical heritage of the church and send them to Germany to challenge the German Christians.
(b) He could separate the German churches in England from the official German church and harm Germany's international reputation.
(c) He could communicate Nazi demands around the world and expose their true intentions.
(d) He could have free communications with the ecumenical movement around the world and bring them to pressure Nazi intrusions in church affairs.

13. According to Metaxas, how did Karl Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's father, meet Bonhoeffer's mother, the former Paula von Hase?
(a) He met her while ice skating on the canals in the morning.
(b) He met her at an "open evening" at the house of physicist Oscar meyer.
(c) He met her while on a tour to Breslau.
(d) He met her in her role as an assistant to Karl Wernicke, an internationally renowned professor of psychiatry.

14. Why does Metaxas claim that the Nazis used Martin Luther's late writings regarding Jews to promote their agenda against the Jews.
(a) Because Luther's defined what it was to be a German Christian.
(b) Because Hitler adulated Luther.
(c) Because Luther's views met with the scientific foundation of the Nazis' racial policies.
(d) Because the Nazis respected Luther's theological perspective.

15. How does Metaxas claim Bonhoeffer kept informed of the turmoil involving the German church?
(a) His mother, Paula Bonhoeffer, kept him updated through her various contacts including her son-in-law, General von der Goltz.
(b) He had many phone updates from a wide number of contacts.
(c) He knew British news reporters who got timely information from Berlin.
(d) Members of his congregations updated him through their contacts.

Short Answer Questions

1. Metaxas quotes Eberhard Bethge as claiming that Bonhoeffer grew up in a family that believed what about learning?

2. What does Metaxas claim annoyed Hitler regarding Christian teaching?

3. Where was Bonhoeffer's memorial service, according to Metaxas?

4. What theological battle was being waged when Bonhoeffer arrived in America, according to Metaxas?

5. For what reason does Metaxas report that Bonhoeffer and Hermann Sasse wrote the Bethel Confession?

(see the answer keys)

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