REL 371
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.
The Gospel of Mark was probably written around:
65-70 C.E.
In first-century apocalyptic Judaism, the term "Son of Man" referred to:
A cosmic figure
When Jesus is baptized, the Spirit of God descends on him in the shape of:
A dove
What is the earliest surviving manuscript of the New Testament to date?
A fragment of the Gospel of John
Matthew traces Jesus' lineage to:
Abraham
Where was the Gospel of Matthew probably written, according to Ehrman?
Antioch
In Mark, the Temple curtain rips:
At Jesus' death
What ritual was necessary for new converts to Christianity to undergo?
Baptism
John, the forerunner of Jesus, proclaims forgiveness of sins and performs:
Baptisms
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
At Jesus' trial in Mark, the Sanhedrin charges him with:
Blasphemy
Which of the following represents an intentional scribal error?
Changing the text to fit doctrine
New Testament manuscripts do not
Contain exact word-for-word copies of the texts that were originally produced by ancient Christian authors
"Diaspora" means:
Dispersion
In Rome, the priestly art of reading the entrails of sacrificed animals was called:
Extispicy
Earlier scribes who copied the New Testament were more precise than later ones.
False
Matthew's Jesus argues that keeping the Law is not necessary for those who believe in him.
False
The Gospel of Mark begins with Jesus' birth.
False
The Gospel of Mark was written within a decade of Jesus' life.
False
The Gospel of Matthew was the first book of the Bible to be written.
False
The New Testament Gospels all have Jesus getting crucified at the same time of day.
False
The Pharisees are responsible for Jesus' death in the Gospel of Mark.
False
The Sadducees looked forward to the resurrection of the dead.
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
The Nag Hammadi Library was written in what language?
Greek
What language was the Gospel of Matthew originally written in?
Greek
"Torah" means:
Guidance
The earliest surviving Christian literature is written in Hebrew.
Hebrew
The spread of Greek culture and language is known as:
Hellenization
In Matthew, John the Baptist:
Is hesitant to baptize Jesus
The Gospel of Mark begins with:
Jesus' baptism by John
The phrase "Jesus' Passion" refers to:
Jesus' suffering
All of the following figures recognize Jesus in Mark except:
John the Baptist
The word "epistle" means:
Letter
Of the following, the most important reason Matthew makes Jesus' identity public is to:
Make the Jewish leaders culpable for Jesus' suffering
Which of the following figures from the Hebrew Scriptures serves most consistently as a model for the portrayal of Jesus in Matthew?
Moses
In Matthew, Jesus' birth story is most reminiscent of whose birth?
Moses'
Pagan religions that required initiation were:
Mystery cults
Did the authors of the Gospels claim to be eyewitnesses to the events that they narrated?
No
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 incorrect Written texts incorrect Lifestyles incorrect All of the above
The Gospel of Matthew was probably written:
Outside Palestine around 80-85 C.E.
The Christian mission was conducted primarily:
Person to person
Which of the following occurs only in Matthew?
Pilate's washing his hands of Jesus' blood
State priesthood in the Roman Empire were:
Political appointments
Stoicism, Platonism, and Epicureanism all involved the exercise of:
Reason
Who created the verse divisions that we have today?
Robert Stephanus
The term "canon" means _____.
Ruler
The sect of Judaism that wielded the most political power at the time of Jesus was the:
Sadducees
Missionary movements in the Greco-Roman world were advanced mostly by:
Schools of philosophy
What is the style of writing called that leaves out punctuation, capitalization, paragraph divisions, sentence divisions, and spaces between words?
Scriptio continua
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
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
What is the name of the academic discipline devoted to the study of ancient manuscripts to determine the most likely earliest readings?
Textual criticism
Why do most scholars believe that the disciple Matthew did not compose the gospel attributed to him?
The Gospel according to Matthew appears to be heavily dependent on the Gospel according to Mark.
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
The Jewish response to Antiochus Epiphanes' actions was:
The Maccabean revolt
Most copies of New Testament manuscripts come from what time period?
The Middle Ages
In Matthew, Jesus explicitly teaches against:
The Pharisees' hypocrisy
Identify one discrepancy in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' crucifixion.
The account in Mark has it occurring at 9:00 a.m., while John's takes place after noon.
For Matthew, the core of the Law is:
The commandment to love
The Pentateuch is:
The first five books of the Bible
Who was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies?
The high priest
Which story, found only in the Gospel according to Matthew, serves as a summary of the gospel in Ehrman's view?
The visit of the Magi.
How did pagan literature of the first century refer to the events surrounding Jesus?
There weren't any references made to him.
How did the ancient Jews feel about keeping the Law embodied in the Torah?
They considered it a great joy.
A wide variety of religious expression was tolerated across the Greco-Roman world.
True
In Matthew, Jesus provides the true understanding of the Jewish Law and shows how it must be kept.
True
In the ancient world, books were almost always read aloud.
True
Most ancient Jews were not a member of any particular sect.
True
Most of the Sermon on the Mount comes from Q material.
True
Revelation is an example of a Christian apocalypse.
True
The Gospel of Mark presents Jesus as keeping his messianic identity hidden.
True
The Pharisees did not have significant political clout.
True
There are more differences between the manuscripts of the New Testament than there are words in the New Testament.
True
We do not have the original copy of any New Testament book.
True
Oral cultures tend to:
Understand stories as changeable
How does the Gospel according to Matthew begin?
With a genealogy.
Polytheism is the:
Worship of many gods
Which of the following was thought to be the most powerful of the gods?
Zeus
How much of Mark does the Gospel according to Matthew reproduce?
about 93%
Ehrman compares the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan to
the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua.
The Gospel according to Matthew has been traditionally ascribed to
the tax collector called Levi in the Gospel according to Mark.
