AP World History : Religions

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP World History

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Example Questions

Example Question #51 : Religions 600 Ce To 1450

Which of these is not part of the Dar al-Islam?

Possible Answers:

Saudi Arabia

Indonesia

Iraq

These are all parts of the Dar al-Islam.

Sudan

Correct answer:

These are all parts of the Dar al-Islam.

Explanation:

The Dar al-Islam is everywhere in the world where Islam can be practiced freely. It is sometimes defined as everywhere in the world under the rule of Sharia Law, although this definition is less common in contemporary times. All of these countries are predominantly Muslim.

Example Question #112 : Religions

What was the primary purpose of the Holy Inquisition?

Possible Answers:

to provide funding for the Crusades and the capture of the Holy Land

to promote religious conformity after the Protestant Reformation

to find and destroy unorthodox Christian worship in Catholic Europe

to define Catholic doctrine and preserve Papal authority

to remove the Muslim and Jewish population from Spain

Correct answer:

to find and destroy unorthodox Christian worship in Catholic Europe

Explanation:

The Holy Inquisition was established in the thirteenth century by Pope Gregory IX. It was established at a time when many heterodox sects of Christianity were emerging in different parts of Europe. The primary purpose of the Holy Inquisition was to find and destroy unorthodox Christian worship (any worship outside the realm of the Catholic church) in Catholic Europe.

Example Question #52 : Religions 600 Ce To 1450

Which of these best describes the difference between the arrival of Islam in Ghana and Mali?

Possible Answers:

Ghana was never officially converted to Islam, but allowed its citizens to practice worship as they liked.

Mali was never officially converted to Islam, but allowed its citizens to practice worship as they liked.

Mali was forced to convert to Islam, whereas Ghana converted peacefully.

Ghana was forced to convert to Islam, whereas Mail converted peacefully.

None of these answers; both of these empires were forcibly converted to Islam through violent conquest.

Correct answer:

Ghana was forced to convert to Islam, whereas Mail converted peacefully.

Explanation:

Islam arrived in Ghana in the ninth century and many individuals privately converted to the new faith. The state itself, however, did not adopt Islam as its official religion until forced to do so by the invading Almoravid Berbers. Mali, on the other hand, peacefully converted to Islam and benefitted immensely from their relationship with the Islamic world.

Example Question #111 : Religions

Martin Luther was opposed to all of the following ideas and practices except __________.

Possible Answers:

the selling of indulgences

sacerdotalism 

salvation through good deeds 

the Supremacy of the Vatican

vernacular translations of the Bible

Correct answer:

vernacular translations of the Bible

Explanation:

Luther himself created a vernacular translation of scripture. He was against sacerdotalism and encouraged all to communicate directly with God. The other practices listed are emblematic of the corruption he sought to purge from the Catholic Church. In order to answer this question, you could have either known of Luther's vernacular translation, or known about his points of contention with the church.

Example Question #1 : Religions 1450 To 1750

Which monarch severed ties with the Vatican and the Catholic Church?

Possible Answers:

Isabella I

Charlemagne

Henry VIII

Louis XIV

Mary I

Correct answer:

Henry VIII

Explanation:

Henry VIII of England famously separated from the Catholic Church in order to obtain a Divorce from Catherine of Aragon. He subsequently formed the Church of England with himself as the head. Mary I was staunchly Catholic, and is infamous for executing protestant sympathizers. Similarly, Isabella I of Spain held the title of Servant of God, and began the Spanish Inquisition (for religious purity). Louis XIV of France remained staunchly Catholic until being executed by the French Revolution, and Charlemagne was the first Holy Roman Emperor.

Example Question #2 : Religions 1450 To 1750

Name the Author of the 95 Theses. These were a list of accusations against the Roman Catholic Church, including the sale of indulgences, licenses to sin.

Possible Answers:

John Luther

John Calvin

Miguel de Servitas

Martin Luther

John Hobbes

Correct answer:

Martin Luther

Explanation:

Martin Luther began the reform movement that would become known as Protestantism by penning his 95 Theses. There is no historical evidence that he posted them publicly on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, but instead included them in a letter to Archbishop Albert of Mainz.

Example Question #2 : Religions 1450 To 1750

Select the single most influential factor that led to the Catholic Church’s fall from dominance during the early Renaissance.

Possible Answers:

Increased popularity of secular education

Growing preference for lay administrators

The popularization of governmental bureaucracy

The rise of nationalism

None of these

Correct answer:

The rise of nationalism

Explanation:

The opening years of the Renaissance coincided with a period in which the Catholic Church progressively fell from the position of near-absolute dominance which it had long exercised over much of Western Europe. This trend first emerged as a result of several events that occurred in the late Middle Ages – as the memory of the Black Death’s devastation receded, and was replaced with the horrific ravages of Europe’s many wars (especially the destruction wrought by the Hundred Years’ War), many individuals began to see the Church as less of a mainstay. Rather, the growing influence of national armies and international and/or inter-regional conflict promoted the birth of nationalist sentiment among the population. Increasingly, citizens from all societal classes came to view national loyalty and pride as a quite natural and important expression of allegiance, which in turn caused loyalty to the Church to correspondingly decline. After all, the Church taken sides throughout many of these wars as well, which many individuals regarded as unnecessary clerical meddling at best or even unwarranted papal posturing at worst. The deep transformations wrought by the Renaissance furthered this trend, as humanist scholars guided their students away from Church teachings in favor of more secularized and widely varied courses of study. These humanist students and scholars helped engender an entirely new breed of intellectuals, who began to serve as government administrators and officials, increasingly replacing the members of the clergy who once had filled these posts.

Example Question #5 : Religions 1450 To 1750

Which of the following is not one of the changes brought by the Protestant Reformation to social and religious life in Western European cities?

Possible Answers:

Church services began to popularize the use of the vernacular rather than Latin

Most converts to Protestantism permanently shed all Catholic ties

Members of the Protestant clergy were made subject to the same laws and taxes as other segments of society

None of these

The number of Catholic churches, monasteries, and nunneries sharply declined

Correct answer:

Most converts to Protestantism permanently shed all Catholic ties

Explanation:

While it is indeed true that the Protestant Reformation made a great many changes to Western European society, the overall status quo remained the same. Although the top power players switched – the Catholic Church lost dominance to Protestantism – little else of the power structure was altered; the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the rich still indomitably reigned. Still, this is not to say that many important alterations to the underlying social order did not take place. As Protestantism gained more and more converts, the number of Catholic churches, monasteries, and nunneries in operation declined sharply. As more secular individuals gained administrative positions, the new members of the Protestant clergy weren’t permitted the same exceptions to the rules that Catholic clergy members once enjoyed. This meant that Protestant clergy were made subject to the same laws and taxes as everyone else; they were no longer immune from prosecution or from taxation. The rate of conversion, however, didn’t hold – by the end of the sixteenth century, more than half of the overall number of people who had converted to Protestantism left their new faith and returned to Catholicism.

Example Question #3 : Religions 1450 To 1750

Select the country that was known as the most religiously tolerant nation in 17th and 18th century Europe.

Possible Answers:

Scotland

The United Provinces of the Netherlands 

Poland

Sweden

England 

Correct answer:

The United Provinces of the Netherlands 

Explanation:

A few seventeenth and eighteenth century European countries professed to be tolerant of many religions but this claim was usually imperfect – if not entirely false – in practice. Generally speaking, the most religiously tolerant country during this era was the United Provinces of the Netherlands. The nation’s government and seven provinces all made a determined effort to respect the rights of various worshippers, a mindset that was perhaps influenced by the violent religious wars of the preceding century. The official national religion was the Calvinist Reformed Church but it was not established and membership was not forced or made a condition of citizenship. Significant portions of the population were Protestants who fell outside the realm of Calvinism, such as the Lutherans. Roman Catholicism was also widely and freely practiced and many Jews came from all across the continent to seek Dutch citizenship and to escape persecution in their homelands. By and large, all these religious groups lived and worked together peacefully within the Netherlands, a reality which stands in stark contrast to the religious conflicts which still frequently rocked most of Europe.

Example Question #2 : Religions 1450 To 1750

Select the country in which the Protestant Reformation first began.

Possible Answers:

Germany 

Norway 

Denmark 

Switzerland 

France 

Correct answer:

Germany 

Explanation:

Historians have been able to pinpoint regions of the country known today as Germany as the starting location for the Protestant Reformation. Especially conducive to the Reformation’s outbreak were the imperial cities located throughout the Germanic region, such as Saxony. At the time, there existed sixty-five imperial cities in total, each operating as a free and independent body, answerable only to itself. As a result of such freedoms, the residents of these cities were already accustomed to governing their own political, economic, and social affairs, and so religious changes were received by many of the citizens as similarly natural – in other words, just another matter to assess and alter if required. Naturally (given their propensity for freedom), not all of these cities remained Protestant – many reverted back to versions of Catholicism, while others adopted a denominationally diverse lifestyle, with some residents living as Protestants and others as practicing Catholics. Most towns quickly came to adopt a culture of religious toleration, in which public preaching, argumentation, and attempts at conversion were deeply discouraged; this helped to keep the public peace in a great many cases.

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