19.

 What questions did this section of the textbook raise in your mind and then leave unanswered?

            Some Protestants consider the chief proponent of Iconoclasm, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Copronymus, to the spiritual ancestor of Luther and Calvin. Because of that connection and the Protestant world's traditional disdain of icons, questions arose about how ancient heresies in general — and Iconoclasm in particular — manifested themselves in Protestant theology. Needless to say, this question is outside the purview of the textbook and can be researched elsewhere.

            [Professor's addendum: Actually, early Western theology (from the incorrect opinions of Augustine onward) was based on Platonism. Later Western theology was based on Aristotle, but on a peculiar . It was based on the Moslem sage Avicenna's commentaries on Aristotle. Protestantism is something of a combination of Moslem/Aristotelian ideas and Gnosticism. Luther and Calvin must count as their forerunners Augustine (thus Plato), Avicenna (and his interpretations of Aristotle), and the European Gnostics. However, as you say, this is something for later. It is covered in our fourth course].