History · General Awareness

History of Religion

2,125 Questions

The history of religion tracks the evolution of major faiths, religious movements, and their influence on global conflicts. These historical themes are integral to the general awareness syllabus of civil services and staff selection exams. The questions explore the Protestant Reformation, Counter-Reformation, the Crusades, and papal influences.

Protestant ReformationCounter-ReformationThe CrusadesReligious settlementsRoman Empire and ChristianityHumanism in religion

History of Religion Questions

Multiple choice

Which of the following places can be called the birthplace of Buddhism?

  1. Vaishali

  2. Sarnath

  3. Kusinagar

  4. Lumbini
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Sarnath is called the birthplace of Buddhism because it's where Buddha delivered his first sermon (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta) to the five ascetics, officially launching the Dharma. While Lumbini was his birthplace and Bodh Gaya his enlightenment site, Sarnath marks Buddhism's foundational moment as a teaching tradition.

Multiple choice

Martin Luther protested against the Pope because

  1. the Pope enjoyed a luxurious life

  2. he encouraged the practice 'Indulgence'

  3. he had become dictator

  4. he was foreigner to Germany
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Martin Luther's protest against the Catholic Church was indeed triggered by the practice of indulgences - the selling of certificates that supposedly reduced time in purgatory. Luther argued that salvation came through faith alone, not financial transactions. His 95 Theses (1517) specifically criticized indulgence sales as corrupt and theologically wrong.

Multiple choice

The main cause of the Bloodless Revolution in England was

  1. the encouragement of the rules for Catholic religion in the country

  2. curtailing the power of Parliament and making the monarchism powerful

  3. that James II was proved culprit for religious crimes

  4. all the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The Glorious Revolution (1688) was triggered by multiple concerns about James II: his Catholic faith in a Protestant nation, attempts to suspend laws, pro-Catholic policies, and fears of a Catholic dynasty. Parliament invited William of Orange to invade, and James fled - making it 'bloodless' in terms of battle casualties. All factors contributed to this crisis.

Multiple choice

The religious movement in Europe during the time of Renaissance became popular because

  1. it was related to religion

  2. it was started to remove corruption from religion and impose restriction upon Church

  3. the movement wanted to establish national monarchy

  4. all the above cases
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The religious movement during the Renaissance (the Reformation) gained popularity for multiple interconnected reasons: it sought to remove corruption and abuses from the Church, it challenged papal authority, and it supported the emergence of national monarchies that wanted freedom from Church interference. All these factors combined to make the movement widely appealing across Europe.

Multiple choice

Beatification is done only after a person

  1. has served the humanity for his her lifetime

  2. is considered holy

  3. is credited with a miracle

  4. has served the christians
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

In the Catholic Church, beatification is a step towards canonization and officially requires that the candidate be credited with at least one miracle occurring after their death.

Multiple choice

Directions: Select the most appropriate filler(s) for the blank(s) such that the sentence makes coherent sense.

Created to defend the papacy and to convert unbelievers in many lands to Christianity, the society of Jesus – better known as the ‘Jesuits’ – found themselves ________ in political _______ almost from the beginning of their existence.

  1. entangled ….. foursquare

  2. inculpable ….. trickery

  3. embroiled ….. skullduggery

  4. angelic ….. impeachment

  5. impeccable ….. chicanery
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The clause ‘Jesuits’ were involved in conerting unbelievers. It forms a cause–effect relationship and the effect is negative as we can make out from the latter part of the sentence. For the first blank, ‘embroiled’ and ‘entangled’, both meaning involved, fits our prediction, which leaves us with these 2 options - (1) and (3). ‘Foursquare’ means frank, honest, forthright whereas ‘skullduggery’ means dishonesty, which is cogent with political in the sentence. Hence, (3) is the answer.

Multiple choice

Here, in this room, more than four hundred years ago had assembled from various parts of the Christian world, not less than thirty cardinals, four patriarchs, twenty archbishops, one hundred and fifty bishops, two hundred professors of theology, besides princes, ambassadors, civil and ecclesiastical, abbots, priors, and inferior churchmen.

  1. Here, in this room, more than four hundred years ago had assembled from various parts of the Christian world, not less than thirty cardinals

  2. Here, in this room, more than four hundred years ago, assembled from all parts of the Christian world, no less than thirty cardinals

  3. Here, in this room, more than four hundred years ago were assembled from various parts of the Christian world, not one less than thirty cardinals

  4. Here, in this room, more than four hundred years ago had assembled from all parts of the Christian world, no less than thirty cardinals

  5. Here, in this room, more than four hundred years ago were assembled from all parts of the Christian world, no less than thirty cardinals
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

The three points of contention in the sentence are – assembled, parts of world and less than thirty. The sentence is illustrative and tells us about a room in which the writer is at the moment present, so ‘were’ is to be preferred over ‘had’. In referring to the Christian world the author is trying to focus on the huge number of the gatherers so all is a better qualifier than various. For thirty cardinals since we are talking in terms of numbers, no is preferable to not. Hence (5).

Multiple choice

Renaissance movement began in

  1. England

  2. Greece

  3. Italy

  4. Germany
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The Renaissance movement originated in Italy, specifically in cities like Florence, during the 14th century before spreading across Europe.

Multiple choice

During the Christian Era, the institution of education was controlled by

Directions: Read the given passage and answer the following question.

Ever since the dawn of civilization, persons in power have tried to control education. During the Christian Era, the ecclesiastics controlled the institutions of education and diffused among the people the gospel of the Bible and religious teachings. They taught the poor people to be meek and to earn their bread with the sweat of their brow, while the priests and the landlords lived in luxury. During the Renaissance, education passed from the clutches of the priests into the hands of the prince. Thus, under the control of the monarch, education began to preach the infallibility of the monarch which means that the king could do no wrong. With the advent of Industrial Revolution, education no longer remained the privilege of the baron class, but was thrown open to the new merchant class. The philosophy in vogue during this period was of “Laissez Faire” restricting the function of the state to merely keeping law and order, while in actual practice, the law of the jungle prevailed in the form of free competition and survival of the fittest.

  1. the church and the priests

  2. the monarchs who preached the infallility of the king

  3. the secular leaders of the society

  4. the common people
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

(1) "During the Christian Era, the ecclesiastics controlled the institutions of education" 

Multiple choice

Which is the Nirvana place of Mahavira?

  1. Kundagram

  2. Pava

  3. Patliputra

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, attained Nirvana (death) at Pava, which is located in present-day Bihar.

Multiple choice

Ecclesiastical Reservation was

Directions: Answer the question based on the following passage.

Edict of Restitution from 1629 was Ferdinand-II, Holy Roman Emperor’s attempt to restore the religious and territorial settlement after the Peace of Augsburg (1555). The "Ecclesiastical Reservation" forbade the secularisation of Catholic land after 1555. However, during the decades of weak emperors, princes had secularised Catholic land simply because it was so valuable and they had got away with it as no emperor was powerful enough to enforce the "Ecclesiastical Reservation".

The main proposal of the "Edict of Restitution" was to ensure that the "Ecclesiastical Reservation" was enforced and it affected the secularised archbishoprics of Bremen and Magdeburg, 12 bishoprics and over 100 religious houses. The Edict resulted in a great transfer of power and property away from the Protestants to the Catholics. Thousands of Protestants had to leave where they lived and go to states that were Protestant.

The greatest impact of this was in north-east Germany. It was in this area that Ferdinand’s power was at its weakest, so this move was very understandable and potentially very rewarding for him. Ferdinand appointed Imperial administrators to take over the secularised states/cities. By doing this, he was re-establishing Imperial authority to an area that had enjoyed freedom from Imperial rule for nearly 100 years. The threat was implicit to the German princes. It was a move that alarmed the French - though Ferdinand was well within his rights to do what he did.

The German princes could do nothing. They had seen the Coalition destroyed and Wallenstein had a massive army in the field - 134,000 troops - to enforce Imperial authority if required.

Ironically, Wallenstein disliked the Edict as it trespassed into the region his considered his own but he played his part for the emperor to the full. He stated that "he would teach the Electors manners. They must be dependent on the emperor, not the emperor on them." Ferdinand would have approved of such words. The response of the princes was to group behind Maximillian of Bavaria to pressurise Ferdinand into dismissing Wallenstein.

Their chance came in 1630 when Ferdinand had to call a meeting of the Electors because he wanted his son, also called Ferdinand, elected King of the Romans. Ironically, the man with so much apparent power, had to rely, by law, on the votes of the Electors to maintain his dynasty in power. The meeting was held in Regensburg. Ferdinand also hoped to persuade the Electors to approve greater Imperial involvement in the wars that were being fought in Europe.

  1. a constituent of the Edict of Restitution

  2. a supplement to the Edict of Restitution

  3. a stipulation of the Edict of Restitution

  4. a component of the Edict of Restitution
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

(3) can be derived from: “The main proposal of the Edict of Restitution was to ensure that the Ecclesiastical Reservation was enforced and it affected the secularised archbishoprics of Bremen and Magdeburg”.