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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is Simplicianus?
(a) Augustine's mother's older brother.
(b) Augustine's new born son.
(c) An old man and a teacher of Ambrose.
(d) One of the teachers in Carthage whom Augustine despises.

2. From what is a human being, no matter how saintly, never fully free?
(a) The past.
(b) The need for sexual release.
(c) Anger.
(d) Temptation.

3. What is non-existent except when it is the present?
(a) Life.
(b) The past and future.
(c) God.
(d) Happiness.

4. Why can there be more than one interpretation of a piece of scripture?
(a) Because it can have a surface meaning and a deeper meaning.
(b) Because God is infinte.
(c) Because it can mean different things in different cultures.
(d) Because it is applicable to man one way and to woman in a different way.

5. From what does Augustine decide to withdraw?
(a) From his mistress.
(b) From the Catholic church.
(c) From his reading of philosophy.
(d) From his teaching position.

6. If two people both believe in the word of God, what can be fruitful?
(a) Agreement.
(b) Witnessing to a third.
(c) Compromise on interpretation.
(d) Debate about interpretations.

7. Why is Augustine angry with the Manicheans?
(a) They had provided him with an excuse for his behavior for so long.
(b) They changed a very important part of their creed.
(c) He is not angry with them.
(d) They ex-communicated him.

8. What does the Roman empress Justina favor?
(a) The Arian heresy over Christianity.
(b) The Greek gods over those of the Romans.
(c) The Pope over the Greek gods.
(d) Celtic gods.

9. What is one definition of evil?
(a) A decision to not follow one's own heart.
(b) A perversity of the will and a turning against God.
(c) A active pushing away of a child from the light.
(d) The absence of good intentions.

10. What makes it easy for Augustine to quit his job?
(a) The dean is not happy with him.
(b) He feels God paving the way.
(c) He has not been very popular with the students.
(d) He has been suffering from overwork.

11. What happens to Verecundus before his death?
(a) He is ex-communicated.
(b) He has a vision of angels hovering around him.
(c) He converts to Manicheanism.
(d) He is baptized.

12. What story does Augustine learn from a man named Firminus?
(a) Of the fact that twins always have the same fates.
(b) Of a time when astrology really was accurate.
(c) About the son of a rich man and the son of a slave are born at almost the exact same time, and under the same stars.
(d) Of how Jesus used the stars to predict events.

13. Beyond what is memory?
(a) Death.
(b) Life.
(c) Mere memory of sensory impressions and bodily touch.
(d) Oneness with God.

14. What does Augustine want to measure?
(a) Length and breadth.
(b) Time and non-time.
(c) Time and length.
(d) Time and breadth.

15. What is different between scripture and the books of the Platonists?
(a) Nothing except who authors them.
(b) God does not exist in the Platonists' books.
(c) They both challenge the idea of god, but the scritures first prove the existence of god.
(d) The scritures are older, but say the same things and have the same concept of god as the Platonists.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the faithful begin doing under the guidance of Ambrose?

2. Besides concrete detail, what else does the mind remember?

3. What indicates that Augustine is not quite ready to fully embrace the way of being a priest of Christianity?

4. What does the study of the Platonist do for his study of Christian scripture?

5. What does Augustine warn will happen if we move away from God's responsibility for the creation?

(see the answer keys)

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