Down yonder, a reader writes:
Jimmy, you should take this quiz and share your results…
I’m generally pretty skeptical of these "Which X Are You?" quizzes, but for once why not. Here’s how I scored:
You scored as Anselm.
Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man’s primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read ‘Cur Deus Homo?’
Which theologian are you? |
For what it’s worth, I thought this quiz was better than most I’ve seen, though there were a number of ambiguities in the wording of the questions and you had to guess at what the quiz author meant. Also, his assessment of what levels of agreement or disagreement with what proposition and how well that corresponds to which theologians, while pretty good (I am more like Anselm and Augustine theologically than the others), is open to challenge.
The big limitation that the quiz is done in terms of what propositions particular theologians are known for, and it doesn’t doesn’t give an accurate representation of how much you’re like a particular guy based on what you think about a couple of his propositions. Thus I’m actually a lot less like Barth and Schleiermacher than the quiz would indicate. I’d have systematic disagreements with them (meaning: overall disagreements with their systems)–as should be evident by the fact I’m an orthodox Catholic and they were not Catholics–even if there are a couple of their propositions I could find a significant measure of truth in.
Which is a long way of saying: This is why I’m skeptical of such quizzes.
But if it’s recognized as completely unscientific and just in fun . . .
I scored as a tie between karl barth and augustine. Overall I think the quiz is meaningless.
BTW, who is karl barth? I know he is some sort of theologian.
I was actually Barth with Augustine a strong second, which is cool because he is my patron saint.
I agree that a lot of the questions were ambiguous and you never know what spin the test is putting on your answers.
I came out Anselm as well, which surprised me, since intellectually I’m more of a Bernadette, but I guess my theology is OK, right?
I scored as Augustine in the quiz, like i said in the earlier topic. Odd, since he’s one of my favorites, you know…
At least this quiz isn’t some Test to determine your beliefs.
Tim J.,
I was actually Barth with Augustine a strong second, which is cool because he is my patron saint.
Barth is your patron saint? :-p
I scored as JIMMY AKIN!!!
Okay, it actually said ANSELM. But by the transitive property that means that I am Jimmy Akin. And Monica, too apparently.
I scored a John Calvin…but I guess I was pre-destined to do that
before I got comments…that was just a bad joke!
Since it seems many of us Catholics scored as Karl Barth, “neo-orthodox” a Swiss Reformed theologian, I suspect the quiz gave more emphasis on “liberal vs. conservative” than Catholic vs. Protestant. There were a few key questions in there that would put you firmly on the Catholic side that I would think should drop your Karl Barth factor way down, but I suspect each question was weighed equally.
Also there may have been a prejudice towards a Protestant understanding of certain statements. For example, does “the Revelation of Christ” refer just to that Revelation in Scripture or also to Sacred Tradition. I answered the tie-breaker question (between Anselm and Barth) with the Catholic understanding in mind, but I think a Protestant understanding by the quiz-maker is what caused me to be labled as Barth.
Then again I had a great-great-grandfather with the last name Barth, so maybe it is genetic fate. Just another bad joke.
How is it that Jimmy and I both got 93% Anselm, but I got 93% Barth and Jimmy just 73% Barth? I’ll have to work that one out.
Brother Cadfael,
Har-har. No, Augustine is my patron.
Now I see what confusion can be engendered by the careless use of an ambiguous pronoun.
Mea culpa.
Anselm 93%
Augustine 87%
This test is completely inadequate at placing me, anyway. No scholastics! “Anselm is the most important theologian of the medieval period”? Aquinas, anyone? Bonaventure, perhaps? No Scotus in the house? Why do I have to be measured against a large number of different 20th century Protestants and not by the people I spend all my time actually reading? Grr.
I do’t like this quiz at all. One: there are not enough Catholic theologians on it. I suspect I might have been Yves Congar if I could have been. But, it was fun! 🙂
I scored as Benny Hinn with Jimmy Swaggart a close second.
Hello, folks.
I scored as Augustine, though I’d hoped for Thomas Aquinas. I was shocked and dismayed to see John Calvin quite high on my list! I’m an RCC convert, and I guess that somewhere along the way I’ve failed to shake off some wrong ideas. 😉
“I’m an RCC convert, and I guess that somewhere along the way I’ve failed to shake off some wrong ideas”
I wouldn’t put too much stock in that thar quiz, Darrell.
Wow. I scored 100% Augustine. And I am so not a theologian. What’s up with THAT? My next one is Karl Barth, with 80%. I don’t know who that is, but apparently he’s very S-M-R-T!
I particularly liked the “The papacy is a tool of the devil” question.
Mary
I scored 100% as Anslem, and 73% as Calvin. I suppose that’s right. I agree with four of the five points of Calvinism but place a stronger emphasis on free will in the salvation decision.
Of course I scored so high as Anslem because I’m always reading Jimmy’s work. 😉
Brian: that Calvin joke was seriously funny. I almost fell out of my chair. 😀
I scored John Calvin.
I would say that this is an amazing quiz as it read my theology exactily as it was… 10 years ago!!!
bad quiz – not enough Catholic theologians and vaguely written more than not. It seems to me to be written by a Calvinist / Protestant.
Karl Barth?? Something is wrong here. Then again, given the list, why not. I was not impressed by the quiz. What do you do with a line like “Infant baptism is necessary to deal with original sin.”
What no Cappadocian Fathers, or Saints from the Alexandrain School? What about JPII and the Theology of the Body or St. Gregory Palamas? This thing is flawed!
And not a SINGLE canonist!!! I’d like to be Raymond of Penyafort, or Gratian! oh, well, I guess the quiz is “what kind of theologian are you.” Maybe I’ll make a canonist quiz. Though, that’d be a bit nerdy, even for me.
I’ve given up on these sort of quizes ever since this one pegged me as a Unitarian Universalist.
“A God who cannot suffer is poorer than any human being”
What does answering in agreement or disagreement to this statement reveal about ones theology? I don’t understand what it means in the first place.
Eileen,
Ha-ha! You’re a UU!!!
One of my very favorite Simpsons schticks is when Bart is playing a video game with Rod and Todd Flanders. It’s Billy Graham’s Bible Busters, and you have to “blast” the heathens to convert them to Christianity. Bart says, “I got ’em!” and Rod (or Todd, I never know which is which) says, “Nope. You only winged him. Now he’s a Unitarian.”
Teehee!
Not to brag, but I scored Augustine. Is that good or bad?
“Not to brag, but I scored Augustine. Is that good or bad?”
I guess it depends on which side of his conversion you’re on! 😉
I, too, scored Augustine . . . with an Anselm chaser.
But is that good bad terrible perfect the highest the lowest what?
I was Barth tied with Schleiermacher and then followed by Anselm. So does that mean I have to go back to school? I think that too much counted where one simply did not wish to be absolute on some of the quasi wording. Fun. Anyway, since von Balthasar wasn’t listed at least I came out as one who greatly influenced him!
Interesting. I scored 100% Augustine, 80% Anselm, with the rest being 60% or below. I am pretty much clueless when it comes to theology and don’t know what distinguishes St Augustine from St Anselm, but now I feel like I should learn more about Augustine.
Scoring Augustine is good. Very good. Most important Western Church Father.
Anselm might be better though since he is more recent: Medieval rather than late Roman Empire. More developement of doctrine by that time and all.
Upon further reflection I should have answered my tie-breaker question differently, so I should be Anselm
I envy FJ though. St. Augustine is one of my favorate saints.
Well, well, well! Jimmy Akin is most like St. Anselm of MY religious order.
I scored also as an “Anselm” by 100% and an “Augustine” by 80%.
One of my dogma professors (also O.S.B.) in Rome referred to St. Anselm as “The Last Intelligent Benedictine.”
Present company excepted, of course.
Can you score both 100% in one and also another in the same test?
Anselm, Karl Barth, Augustine — but the surprise was that number 4 was John Calvin :0
Right there with you, Trish:
Anselm 100%
Karl Barth 93%
Augustine 87%
John Calvin 67%
I am surprised, though that Aquinas is nowhere to be found.
Gene,
“with an Anselm chaser” —that was hilarious!
I scored Karl Barth, although there were a ton of ambiguities in the questions.
I was waiting for the statement: “The Easter bunny is the tool of the devil.” I think an evil bunny is way scarier than an evil pope. Plus, I could probably outrun a pope in a pinch.
Nicely done, I’d take Anselm any day! Despite his excessive emphasis on subjective affective response to God, Schleiermacher has much to teach Catholics. I find him much more palatable than Barth.
Evangelical Catholicism
There were no Catholics from before the Protestant Reformation on that test were there. More evident Protestant bias I guess. No wonder Catholics are scoring as Karl Barth, they have no modern Catholics like JPII to be compared to.
I am an Augustinian, according to the poll. This is fine with me but I am a little more partial to St. Nicholas, who punched out Arius at the council of Nicea.
Here are a couple of questions:
What is the difference between the upper middle button and the lower middle button?
If I had scored as John Calvin would this have made the difference between superlapsarian and sublapsarian?
I scored Karl Barth but I was actually aiming for Ratzinger.
I was disappointed with the quiz’ final judgment. I scored Augustine 93% and Barth 93% (Calvin and Luther around 31%) and it classified me as “Barth”! Why did it pick the protestant when Augustine was at the top of the list? I also noticed the ambiguity of some questions. It was fun, though.
Anselm in the lead at 100% with Augustine and Calvin neck and neck at 67%. Schleiemacher in the #4 spot, all the rest tied at 33%. I apparently had nothing in common with Paul Tillich, however, so the quiz folks substituted “Pepe LePew” and maced me. Who the heck is Moltman??
HA, ha….. you scored more of Martin Luther than me!!!
I failed to score with any of those listed. Could I be a Fulton Sheen?
I scored:
Anselm 100%
John Calvin 73%
J�Moltmann 67%
Augustine 67%
Karl Barth 67%
What an interesting mix. I’ve never heard of Moltmann. I anticipated a high Augustine score. But how does one receive 100% Anselm and next a 73% Calvin?! At least Martin Luther was #8 on my list wiht a 33%. – PH