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Religions - Christianity Quiz - Holy Inspirations 2 (Questions)

A further selection of Questions to help you remember (or discover!) the breadth of Christianity's influence over the worlds of culture and the Arts.

1. In the film 'The Sound of Music', which (one) of the Ten Commandments do Maria's former 'sisters' in the Abbey break?
[ ] They envy Maria her marriage to Captain von Trapp
[ ] They steal part of the motor from the car in which the Nazi officials are pursuing Maria
[ ] They cause a young stormtrooper to be killed when he trips and falls from the Abbey walls
[ ] They celebrate Maria's escape by sharing alcoholic drink amongst themselves
2. Brunelleschi's Dome adorns the cathedral of which famous city?
[ ] Pisa
[ ] Venice
[ ] Florence
[ ] Bristol
3. Which 20th-century Pope had earlier worked as an actor?
[ ] Pius XII
[ ] John XXIII
[ ] Paul VI
[ ] John Paul II
4. A panel of stained glass in which cathedral depicts a pilgrim on his way to the tomb of St Thomas a Becket, there to seek healing from a copious nose-bleed?
[ ] Compostela
[ ] Clervaulx
[ ] Beauvais
[ ] Canterbury
5. Which playwright wrote 'Murder in the Cathedral'?
[ ] T S Eliot
[ ] Dorothy L Sayers
[ ] George Bernard Shaw
[ ] Agatha Christie
6. In which play does Canon Chasuble appear?
[ ] Charley's Aunt
[ ] The Importance of Being Earnest
[ ] Blithe Spirit
[ ] When We Are Married
7. Who played the role of the young monk Adso of Melk, in the 1980s film of Umberto Eco's mediaeval monastic mystery novel 'The Name of the Rose'?
[ ] Christian Slater
[ ] Leonardo di Caprio
[ ] Nicholas Farrell
[ ] Anthony Calf
8. There are numerous heraldic, and other, variants on the graphically simple symbol of the Cross; which of the following definitions is INCORRECT?
[ ] The Cross of Lorraine has a second, smaller transverse bar
[ ] The Tau Cross lacks any vertical projection above the crossbeam
[ ] The Sicilian Cross has a 'double tongue' at the end of each of its four symmetrical limbs
[ ] The diagonal cross (as in the flag of St Andrew) is technically known as a Saltire
9. This city on the Rhine houses the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, begun in the 13th century and only completed in the 19th, and which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its western facade is the biggest on any church in the world. Which city has this cathedral?
[ ] Koblenz
[ ] Cologne (Koln)
[ ] Schwarzach
[ ] Mannheim
10. Which English composer, known for his empathy with children and amateur performers of all ages, wrote a cantata on the life of St Nicolas?
[ ] Benjamin Britten
[ ] Edward Elgar
[ ] Ralph Vaughan Williams
[ ] William Walton

 

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Religions - Christianity Quiz - Holy Inspirations 2 (Answers)
1. In the film 'The Sound of Music', which (one) of the Ten Commandments do Maria's former 'sisters' in the Abbey break?
[ ] They envy Maria her marriage to Captain von Trapp
[x] They steal part of the motor from the car in which the Nazi officials are pursuing Maria
[ ] They cause a young stormtrooper to be killed when he trips and falls from the Abbey walls
[ ] They celebrate Maria's escape by sharing alcoholic drink amongst themselves
One of the Sisters removes the rotor arm from a parked patrol car while the troops are searching the Abbey. Answer 1 may be individually valid but the story does not dwell on any one sister expressing such feelings; Answer 3 has no foundation; Answer 4 may well have been true (off-screen, at least), yet there is nothing in the Ten Commandments to forbid the taking of alcohol. (Alcohol only becomes 'sinful' when it becomes an addiction ~ 'in place of God', as it were, as the major focus of someone's life ~ at which stage it may lead to other immoderate and inconsiderate behaviour, such as more certainly would break the Commandments, e.g. lying, sexual and personal violence etc.)
2. Brunelleschi's Dome adorns the cathedral of which famous city?
[ ] Pisa
[ ] Venice
[x] Florence
[ ] Bristol
The Italian name probably suggested that Answer 4 might not have been right ... but it's very unlikely Brunelleschi would have travelled to Britain in the mid-15th century. Perhaps you were thinking of Brunel, the railway engineer, a fair few hundred years later?
3. Which 20th-century Pope had earlier worked as an actor?
[ ] Pius XII
[ ] John XXIII
[ ] Paul VI
[x] John Paul II
Karol Wojtyla (as he formerly was) was a student actor and playwright; also a very accomplished linguist.
4. A panel of stained glass in which cathedral depicts a pilgrim on his way to the tomb of St Thomas a Becket, there to seek healing from a copious nose-bleed?
[ ] Compostela
[ ] Clervaulx
[ ] Beauvais
[x] Canterbury
The patient was supposedly one Hugh of Jervaulx.
5. Which playwright wrote 'Murder in the Cathedral'?
[x] T S Eliot
[ ] Dorothy L Sayers
[ ] George Bernard Shaw
[ ] Agatha Christie
The murder in question was that of Thomas a Becket in 1170, to whose tomb our own previous Question refers.
6. In which play does Canon Chasuble appear?
[ ] Charley's Aunt
[x] The Importance of Being Earnest
[ ] Blithe Spirit
[ ] When We Are Married
This is Oscar Wilde's famous comedy. A 'chasuble' is the outermost vestment worn by the celebrant at a Eucharist; the clergyman in the J B Priestley play at Answer 4 (the author's name meanwhile being entirely fortuitous) is Mercer.
7. Who played the role of the young monk Adso of Melk, in the 1980s film of Umberto Eco's mediaeval monastic mystery novel 'The Name of the Rose'?
[x] Christian Slater
[ ] Leonardo di Caprio
[ ] Nicholas Farrell
[ ] Anthony Calf
This was a very young and callow Slater, under the on- and offscreen tutelage of Sean Connery.
8. There are numerous heraldic, and other, variants on the graphically simple symbol of the Cross; which of the following definitions is INCORRECT?
[ ] The Cross of Lorraine has a second, smaller transverse bar
[ ] The Tau Cross lacks any vertical projection above the crossbeam
[x] The Sicilian Cross has a 'double tongue' at the end of each of its four symmetrical limbs
[ ] The diagonal cross (as in the flag of St Andrew) is technically known as a Saltire
This version of the cross is Maltese rather than Sicilian; it was introduced by the Knights of Malta in the mid-16th century (so, roughly between the main development of the Reformation, and the lifetime of Shakespeare).
9. This city on the Rhine houses the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, begun in the 13th century and only completed in the 19th, and which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its western facade is the biggest on any church in the world. Which city has this cathedral?
[ ] Koblenz
[x] Cologne (Koln)
[ ] Schwarzach
[ ] Mannheim
This is a breathtakingly stupendous structure, whose features prominently include a pair of stone towers built in the late 19th century (and which, of such far heavier material, still stand to half the height of the Eiffel Tower which was built of iron, in Paris, in the late 1880s). Like St Paul's in London, Cologne Cathedral was a conspicuous navigation landmark for incoming enemy bombers, but itself survived largely intact.
10. Which English composer, known for his empathy with children and amateur performers of all ages, wrote a cantata on the life of St Nicolas?
[x] Benjamin Britten
[ ] Edward Elgar
[ ] Ralph Vaughan Williams
[ ] William Walton
This is a vividly dramatic work, often revived for productions in early December around the time of Nicolas' feast-day (for this is 'Santa Claus' in his more original form!).