biblical lit midterm exam

Scholars estimate literacy in antiquity to have been:

10-15 percent

The Maccabean revolt began around the year:

167 b.c.e.

Scholars think Jesus died around:

30 c.e.

In what year did Athanasius name the current twenty-seven books of the New Testament as authoritative?

367 C.E.

The Gospel of Mark was probably written around:

65-70 c.e.

What is the earliest surviving manuscript of the New Testament to date?

A fragment of the Gospel of John

Why, in the Gospel of John, does Pontius Pilate have to conduct the trial of Jesus through lengthy conversations between the prosecution and the defendant?

Because the Jewish leaders refuse to go into Pilate's residence, so they send Jesus in alone, leaving Pilate to go back and forth between them

Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls so valuable?

Because they are nearly a thousand years older than the oldest copies of the Hebrew Scriptures that we previously had

Which of the following represents an intentional scribal error?

Changing the text to fit doctrine.

Earlier scribes who copied the New Testament were more precise than later ones (t/f)

False

The manuscripts of the Nag Hammadi library are written in Greek (t/f)

False

The New Testament was written in what language?

Greek

Which of the following groups thought it was blasphemy to call Jesus God?

Jewish-Christian adoptionists

What does the term "gnosis" mean?

Knowledge

The word "epistle" means:

Letter

Which early Christian group believed in two Gods: the just God of the Old Testament and the merciful God of Jesus?

Marcionites

How many original copies of books of the New Testament do we have?

None

In the story of Jesus in the last minutes before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:43-44), the account of his "sweating blood" while contemplating his imminent suffering is most likely:

Not an original part of any Gospel.

By what means have early Christian truth claims been handed down from one generation to the next?

Orally, Written Texts, Lifestyles

The Gospel of Matthew was probably written:

Outside Palestine around 80-85 C.E..

Who created the verse divisions that we have today?

Robert Stephanus

The term "canon" means

Ruler

What is the style of writing called that leaves out punctuation, capitalization, paragraph divisions, sentence divisions, and spaces between words?

Scriptio continua

New Testament manuscripts do not:

Show a lack of passion for their topics

What is the name of the academic discipline devoted to the study of ancient manuscripts to determine the most likely earliest readings?

Textual criticism

The Marcionites believed Jesus came to save people from

The Jewish God

At the end of what century did Christians begin to call Jesus' words Scripture?

The first century C.E.

What does the term "heresy" mean?

To choose

According to some Gnostics, the Old Testament God was evil (t/f)

True

Revelation is an example of a Christian apocalypse (t/f)

True

There are more differences between the manuscripts of the New Testament than there are words in the New Testament (t/f)

True

We do not have the original copy of any New Testament book (t/f)

True

In first-century apocalyptic Judaism, the term "Son of Man" referred to:

a cosmic figure

Jews expected the Son of Man to be:

a cosmic judge

When Jesus is baptized, the Spirit of God descends on him in the shape of:

a dove

What is the term for a category of literature in which texts share a range of conventions?

a genre

Third John is best understood as:

a letter to an individual in the church

Second John is best understood as:

a letter to the entire church

Although we cannot know for certain, many scholars believe Q probably did not contain:

a passion narrative

The most important event that had occurred within the Johannine community at the time the epistles were written was:

a schism in the community

An "apocryphon" is:

a secret book

In Luke, Jesus' public ministry begins with:

a sermon in a synagogue

Redaction criticism is:

a study of how an author changes his source

The emphasis placed on Jesus' death classifies the Gospels as:

a subgenre of the genre of ancient greco-roman biography

Scholars have suggested that Christianity is the religion:

about jesus

Matthew traces Jesus' lineage to:

abraham

Acts is organized:

acts of the apostles

The earliest account of the early church appears in:

acts of the apostles

Name one of the people Plutarch wrote about.

alexander the great

As opposed to most Jews' expectations, Christians came to believe that the messiah was:

an innocent suffering man

Our most advanced science informs us that miracles:

are not knowable via the scientific method

In Mark, the Temple curtain rips:

at jesus' death

According to the criterion of Aramaisms, if a piece of text makes more logical sense in the original language than in the translation, then it is likely to be

authentic

What ritual was necessary for new converts to Christianity to undergo?

baptism

John, the forerunner of Jesus, proclaims forgiveness of sins and performs:

baptisms

At Jesus' trial in Mark, the Sanhedrin charges him with:

blasphemy

Jesus began his ministry:

by being baptized by john

According to Luke, Jesus' death itself:

causes people to repent

Which of the following would an ancient reader of a biography not expect to find in the text?

character development

Although the crucifixion was a stumbling block for the Jews, it was a foundation stone for:

christians

What framework were ancient biographies often crafted within?

chronological

Paul's mission is primarily to:

chronologically

According to Acts, Paul:

continued to follow jewish customs

In John, the signs are intended to:

convince people of jesus' true identity

In John's community, the belief in Jesus' divinity probably:

developed over time

"Diaspora" means:

dispersion

If genre criticism uncovers the same points uncovered by redaction criticism, then why use the redactional approach?

editorial activity provides more empirical evidence for the aim of the text

In Rome, the priestly art of reading the entrails of sacrificed animals was called:

extispicy

Ancient biographies tended to portray the protagonist's character as constant rather than in a state of development (t/f)

false

Ancient biographies were constructed in a manner very similar to modern biographies (t/f)

false

Ancient people didn't understand that nature works according to fixed patterns (t/f)

false

Apocalypticists were optimistic about the present

false

Marcion used an edited version of the Gospel of John as his starting point (t/f)

false

Markan priority depends on the Four-Source Hypothesis (t/f)

false

Matthew's Jesus argues that keeping the Law is not necessary for those who believe in him (t/f)

false

More theologically orthodox sources are more likely to be historically accurate (t/f)

false

Most scholars think the Gospel of John is more historically accurate than the Synoptic Gospels (t/f)

false

Redaction criticism is a form of reader-response criticism (t/f)

false

Sethian Gnostics were sexually promiscuous

false

The Gospel of John emphasizes Jesus' power over demons (t/f)

false

The Gospel of Luke emphasizes the atoning power of Jesus' death. (t/f)

false

The Gospel of Mark begins with Jesus' birth (t/f)

false

The Gospel of Mark was written within a decade of Jesus' life (t/f)

false

The Gospel of Matthew was the first book of the Bible to be written (t/f)

false

The New Testament Gospels all have Jesus getting crucified at the same time of day (t/f)

false

The Pharisees are responsible for Jesus' death in the Gospel of Mark (t/f)

false

The Sadducees looked forward to the resurrection of the dead (t/f)

false

The criterion of dissimilarity involves finding stories that wouldn't be expected to have occurred in the historical context of Jesus' life (t/f)

false

Which was probably the first book of the New Testament to be written?

first thessalonians

Scholars refer to Matthew's use of Hebrew Scripture to show Jesus is the messiah as:

fulfillment citations

According to Luke:

god does not recognize a difference between jews and gentiles

What genre do the Gospels most closely fit?

greco-roman biography

The Gospel of John was probably written in:

greek

"Torah" means:

guidance

Most copies of New Testament manuscripts come from what time period?

he Middle Ages

The Romans convicted Jesus because:

he claimed to be king

After Jesus' resurrection, Christians believed that:

he had been exalted to heaven

John calls Jesus the "Lamb of God" because:

he is killed on passover

What was one way Jesus was like the Cynic philosophers?

he taught people not to concern themselves with wealth and other trappings of society

The author says that:

he used written sources

According to the Gospels, people believed that Jesus' ability to work miracles reflected all of the following except:

he would die

The earliest Christians used which of the following to explain Jesus' messiahship?

hebrew scripture

The spread of Greek culture and language is known as:

hellenization

Which of the following events strongly suggests that Jesus was an apocalypticist?

his baptism by john

Biographies written by Christians put a significant amount of emphasis on what event in Jesus' life, which was very unusual for ancient biographies?

his death

In John, Jesus' teachings focus primarily on:

his identity

How probable is it that any single ordinary, natural event occurs?

improbable

The Gospel of Peter was found:

in a monk's tomb

In Matthew, John the Baptist:

is hesitant to baptize jesus

On the way to Rome, Paul:

is involved in shipwreck

According to the Gospel of Thomas, the Kingdom of God:

is not a future event

When it is time for Jesus to die in Luke, he:

is ready

Luke is different from the other Gospels because:

it has a sequel

Which of the following is not true about the Passover festival?

it lasts two weeks

The Gospel of Peter is unique among all the surviving Gospels because:

it narrates the actual resurrection

According to Acts, Paul is converted by:

jesus

Jesus' earliest followers believed:

jesus had been raised from the dead never to die again

Which of the following stories is only found in Luke?

jesus teaching in the temple when he is twelve years old

The Gospel of Mark begins with:

jesus' baptism by john

Most scholars believe that Q contains mostly:

jesus' sayings

The phrase "Jesus' Passion" refers to:

jesus' suffering

Which of the following traditions does not pass the criterion of contextual credibility?

jesus' teaching to Nicodemus: "you must be born again"

All of the following figures recognize Jesus in Mark except:

john the baptist

Jesus identified most closely with:

john the baptist

Jesus provides the continuity of apocalyptic belief between which of the following?

john the baptist and the early church

Which historian categorically states that Jesus was the messiah in book 18 of The Antiquities of the Jews?

josephus

Which of the following was not a sect of Judaism?

josephus

In Luke's temptation narrative, Jesus' final temptation is:

jumping from the top of the temple

In the New Testament Gospels, Jesus performs all of the following miracles except:

killing his opponents

Gnostics believed that ____________ was essential for salvation

knowledge

Christians used Psalms of ____________ to show that Jesus was the messiah

lament

Accounts with very highly developed theology are more likely to be:

less historically accurate

When Mark and Matthew tell the same story, Mark's story is:

longer

Those who believe that the precise point at which Jesus became the Son of God was at his baptism justify their belief with the passage in ___________, which states that a voice from heaven announced, "You are my son, today I have begotten you."

luke

Which of the following Gospels states that there were other Gospels written?

luke

Of the following, the most important reason Matthew makes Jesus' identity public is to:

make the jewish leaders culpable for jesus' suffering

Both Matthew and Luke used _____________ as a literary source

mark

The "Four-Source Hypothesis" relies on the idea that:

mark was written first

Who assembled all the miracle stories dispersed throughout Mark into one large collection?

matthew

In Matthew, Jesus' birth story is most reminiscent of whose birth?

moses'

Pagan religions that required initiation were:

mystery cults

Revelation discourses:

narrate the secret teachings of the risen jesus

Did the authors of the Gospels claim to be eyewitnesses to the events that they narrated?

no

How many first-century pagan authors mention Jesus by name?

none

The Gospel of Thomas is:

not ordered in a recognizable form

What is the dilemma historians face when they write about past miracles?

on the one hand, they can only establish what probably happened; on the other hand, miracles by definition defy all probability

Chapters 13 through 19, the second part of the Gospel of John, take place over:

one day

From a historian's perspective, those who are willing to believe that Jesus did miracles must concede that:

other people did them as well

Marcion appealed to ___________ as the authority for his teachings

paul

The Gospel of Luke came to be attributed to a man who was thought to have been:

paul's companion

The Christian mission was conducted primarily:

person to person

First John is most likely a:

persuasive essay

Historically speaking, who was responsible for Jesus' death?

pilate

Which of the following occurs only in Matthew?

pilate's washing his hands of jesus' blood

State priesthoods in the Roman Empire were:

political appointments

Subversive teachers from Jesus' day were labeled:

prophets

Stoicism, Platonism, and Epicureanism all involved the exercise of:

reason

From the beginning, Luke's Jesus expects to be:

rejected

One of the most popular pagan authors of the second century, Plutarch, wrote fifty biographies of prominent Greek and Roman men. His main aim in these accounts was to:

reveal their characters

The sect of Judaism that wielded the most political power at the time of Jesus was the:

sadducees

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus' birth narrative parallels that of:

samuel

Missionary movements in the Greco-Roman world were advanced mostly by:

schools of philosophy

"Synoptic" means:

seen together

Even if you assume that miracles are possible, there is still no way to:

show that they have ever happened

The Roman Empire began as a(n):

small farming village

Why did God instruct Moses to have every Israelite family sacrifice a lamb and paint their doorframes with its blood?

so the angel of death would pass over those houses

If historians firmly believe in miracles, they have a professional responsibility to:

speak and write about it in their capacity as believers, but not in their capacity as impartial historians

At Pentecost, the disciples:

speak in the native languages of those gathered

People in Greco-Roman times were more likely to view the deeds of Jesus as ________ than as miraculous

spectacular

The first martyr in Christian history was:

stephen

Consistent testimony of many independent witnesses _____________ a case

strengthens

According to Mark, the messiah must:

suffer and die

An alternative place of worship (to the Temple in Jerusalem) where Jews came together in the community to discuss the sacred traditions of the Torah was called a(n):

synagogue

When writing about an alleged miracle that Jesus did, what can a historian not claim?

that he actually did it

Identify one discrepancy in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' crucifixion

the account in mark has it occuring at 9am, while john's takes place after noon

All of the following are associated with Jesus' apocalyptic thought except:

the belief that good people would be taken up alive into heaven

For Matthew, the core of the Law is:

the commandment to love

Jesus' baptism by John does not pass:

the criterion of independent attestation

Which of the following is not a criterion used by scholars to authenticate traditions about Jesus?

the criterion of similarity

Which would count as a basic methodological principle that historians can apply to their sources?

the earlier the better

Which of the following groups was apocalyptic?

the essenes

The Pentateuch is:

the first five books of the bible

The most popular scholarly resolution to the Synoptic Problem is:

the four-source hypothesis

The Gospel of the Nazareans is most closely related to:

the gospel of matthew

At the end of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to teach the gospel and baptize the nations. Scholars call this:

the great commission

Who was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies?

the high priest

In John, Jesus tells the disciples that after he leaves:

the holy spirit will come to instruct them

Which traditional symbol is the Gospel author Mark associated with?

the lion

The Jewish response to Antiochus Epiphanes' actions was:

the maccabean revolt

The most significant archaeological find for the study of Gnosticism was:

the nag hammadi library

In Matthew, Jesus explicitly teaches against:

the pharisees' hypocrisy

Scholars refer to the first eighteen verses of the Gospel of John as:

the prologue

Which of the following Gospels explains the extraordinary character of Jesus' mother, Mary?

the proto-gospel of james

According to Gnostics, the world was:

the result of a cosmic disaster

All of the following were apocalyptic groups/individuals except:

the sadducees

Which of the following sources was probably written to convert Jews?

the signs source

Which of the following methods seeks to uncover how a community's history affects the way it writes its history?

the socio-historical method

The book of Acts focuses primarily on:

the spread of the christian religion

Apocalypticists adhered to all of the following tenets except:

the suffering of the righteous would only get worse

How did pagan literature of the first century refer to the events surrounding Jesus?

there werent any references made to him

How can historians certify that an event occurred, but outside the natural order?

they cant

How did the ancient Jews feel about keeping the Law embodied in the Torah?

they considered it a great joy

Which of the following is not true about the Cynics?

they generally enjoyed the finer things of life

Which of the following was not one of the ways Jews reacted to the situation in Palestine under Roman domination in the first century?

they used divination to place curses on the romans

Which of the following texts argues against an apocalyptic message?

thomas

Ancient biographies were usually written for what main purpose?

to give instruction on proper behavior

All of the New Testament letters were written:

to particular communities to address specific issues

A wide variety of religious expression was tolerated across the Greco-Roman world

true

Apocalypticism tried to make sense of the oppression of God's people

true

First John is better categorized as a persuasive essay than as a letter

true

Historians can never demonstrate that a miracle probably happened (t/f)

true

In Matthew, Jesus provides the true understanding of the Jewish Law and shows how it must be kept (t/f)

true

In the ancient world, books were almost always read aloud (t/f)

true

Jesus claims to be divine in the Gospel of John (t/f)

true

Jesus' genealogy in Luke is significantly different from the one found in Matthew. (t/f)

true

John the Baptist preached an apocalyptic message

true

Luke puts more emphasis on Jerusalem than the other New Testament Gospels do. (t/f)

true

Most ancient Jews were not a member of any particular sect (t/f)

true

Most ancient people believed in the possibility of miracles (t/f)

true

Most of the Sermon on the Mount comes from Q material (t/f)

true

Not one first-century pagan author mentions Jesus (t/f)

true

Pieces of writing that share a range of conventions are classified together as a trope (t/f)

true

The Gospel of Mark presents Jesus as keeping his messianic identity hidden (t/f)

true

The Gospel of Thomas is a sayings Gospel without a central narrative (t/f)

true

The Gospel of the Nazareans was very similar to the Gospel of Matthew (t/f)

true

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke most likely used the Gospel of Mark as a source (t/f)

true

The Pharisees did not have significant political clout (t/f)

true

Valentinian Gnostics were often difficult to distinguish from proto-orthodox Christians (t/f)

true

When society at large approves of a cultic practice, it is called "religious," while more marginal practices are called "magical."

true

Oral cultures tend to:

understand stories as changeable

The term "apocalypse" means:

unveiling

According to Gnostics, Christ:

was completely divine

According to Gnostics, the world:

was created by an inferior, ignorant god

What might the first question on people's minds have been as they observed Jesus' miracles?

what is the source of his power

What is one way to spot bias in a text?

when just about every story in the account drives at the same point

According to the textbook, when did Christianity begin?

with the belief in jesus' resurrection

Polytheism is the:

worship of many gods

Which of the following was thought to be the most powerful of the gods?

zeus