Reformation trivia, the doctrines and dates.

In which city did Martin Luther post his 95 Theses on the church door in 1517?

1. Worms
2. Wittenberg
3. Erfurt
4. Augsburg

"For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."Romans 3:28

October 31, 1517. Luther nailed (or possibly mailed) his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg — a public bulletin board, not a defiant manifesto in 1517. The theses challenged the practice of selling indulgences and accidentally lit the fuse on a movement Luther himself didn't quite anticipate.

Which reformer led the Reformation in Geneva and authored the Institutes of the Christian Religion?

1. Martin Luther
2. Huldrych Zwingli
3. John Calvin
4. John Knox

"Nearly all the wisdom we possess … consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves."Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion I.1.1 (1559 edition)

A French humanist turned reformer, Calvin first published the Institutes in 1536 and expanded it through four further editions. From Geneva, he and his successor Beza trained pastors who carried Reformed theology to France, the Netherlands, Scotland, England, Hungary, and eventually the New World — making Geneva the publishing capital of the international Reformed movement.

Which English monarch's marital quarrel led to the break with Rome and the founding of the Church of England?

1. Edward VI
2. Henry VIII
3. Elizabeth I
4. James I

"The King's Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England."Act of Supremacy, 1534 (Parliament of England)

When Pope Clement VII refused to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534 declaring the king "Supreme Head" of the church in England. The doctrinal Reformation that followed was uneven — substantively Protestant under Edward VI, restored to Rome under Mary, and settled in its Elizabethan via media under Elizabeth I.

Which Latin phrase, meaning "by Scripture alone," is one of the Reformation's "Five Solas"?

1. Solus Christus
2. Soli Deo Gloria
3. Sola Gratia
4. Sola Scriptura

"A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above a pope or a council without it."Luther at the Leipzig Debate, 1519

Sola Scriptura was not a rejection of tradition or the church's teaching role, but the claim that Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith — every other source must be tested against it. The five solas (Scriptura, Fide, Gratia, Christus, Deo Gloria) are a later summary of Reformation theology, but each phrase has roots in 16th-century reformers themselves.

Which 1521 imperial assembly summoned Luther to recant, where he is said to have replied "Here I stand, I can do no other"?

1. The Diet of Worms
2. The Diet of Speyer
3. The Diet of Augsburg
4. The Colloquy of Marburg

"Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason … my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant. Here I stand. God help me. Amen."Luther at the Diet of Worms, 18 April 1521

Summoned before Emperor Charles V at Worms, Luther was given a chance to recant his writings. He refused. The Edict of Worms placed him under imperial ban — an outlaw any subject could kill — but the Elector of Saxony spirited him away to the Wartburg castle, where Luther spent ten months translating the New Testament into German.

Which radical Reformation movement rejected infant baptism in favour of believer's baptism?

1. Lutherans
2. Calvinists
3. Anabaptists
4. Hussites

"We are by the Word of God separated from the world … in nothing partakers of their abominations."Schleitheim Confession, Article 4 (1527)

Beginning in Zurich in 1525 with Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz, the Anabaptists ("re-baptizers") insisted that baptism must follow personal faith. Persecuted by both Catholic and Protestant authorities, they planted communities across central Europe; their descendants include the Mennonites, Hutterites, and Amish, while their convictions on baptism shape modern Baptist and free-church traditions.

Who led the Reformation in Zurich, dying at the Battle of Kappel in 1531?

1. Heinrich Bullinger
2. Huldrych Zwingli
3. Martin Bucer
4. Philip Melanchthon

"For God's sake, do not put yourself at odds with the Word of God. For truly it will persist as surely as the Rhine follows its course."Zwingli, address to the Zurich council (1523)

A parish priest who came to Reformation convictions independently of Luther, Zwingli pushed Zurich toward iconoclasm, vernacular worship, and a symbolic view of the Lord's Supper. His disagreement with Luther over the eucharist at the 1529 Colloquy of Marburg permanently split the German and Swiss reform. Zwingli died on the battlefield serving as chaplain to Zurich's forces.

Which 1530 document, drafted largely by Melanchthon, is the foundational confession of Lutheran churches?

1. The Heidelberg Catechism
2. The Westminster Confession
3. The Augsburg Confession
4. The Belgic Confession

"Our churches teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own powers, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith."Augsburg Confession, Article IV (1530)

Presented to Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg by the Lutheran princes, the Confession was written in conciliatory tones intended to show continuity with the ancient creeds. It remains the doctrinal standard for Lutheran churches worldwide and is included in the Book of Concord (1580) alongside Luther's catechisms and other Lutheran symbols.

Which Reformer led the establishment of Presbyterian church order in Scotland?

1. Patrick Hamilton
2. George Wishart
3. John Knox
4. Andrew Melville

"Give me Scotland, or I die!"Prayer attributed to John Knox, c. 1559

A former Catholic priest and galley slave who spent time in Geneva under Calvin, Knox returned to Scotland in 1559 and led the Reformation Parliament that abolished papal jurisdiction and adopted the Scots Confession in 1560. The First Book of Discipline (1560) and Second Book of Discipline (1578) established the Presbyterian polity that has shaped the Kirk and its global descendants ever since.

Which 1648 treaty effectively ended the Wars of Religion in Europe by recognizing Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed states?

1. The Peace of Augsburg
2. The Peace of Westphalia
3. The Edict of Nantes
4. The Treaty of Tordesillas

"There shall be a Christian, general, and perpetual peace … which shall be observed inviolably, and faithfully maintained between all and each of the parties."Treaty of Münster, Peace of Westphalia (24 October 1648)

The two treaties signed at Münster and Osnabrück ended the Thirty Years' War — a brutal conflict that had depopulated parts of central Europe by a third. Westphalia extended the principle cuius regio, eius religio from Augsburg (1555) to include Reformed (Calvinist) territories alongside Catholic and Lutheran, and is widely seen as the birth of the modern state system.