biblical studies quizzes
What is believed to be the earliest surviving letter of Paul that we have?
1 Thessalonians
Which of the following books tell the stories of 1 and 2 Kings from a more priestly perspective?
1 and 2 Chronicles
How many sons who represent the tribes of Israel does Jacob have in Genesis?
12
According to Sumney and the Oxford Annotated Bible, how many creation accounts are there in Genesis 1 and 2?
2
According to Sumney, the book that has Ezra challenge God to show him how what is happening in the world can be just is...
2 Esdras
According to Sumney, what is likely the latest book to be included in the New Testament?
2 Peter
Which of the following is NOT included in what has been called the "Pastoral Letters" or "Pastoral Epistles"?
2 Thessalonians
Which of the following letters opposes over-realized eschatology?
2 Thessalonians
According to most scholars, how many Isaiah's or persons probably contributed materials to the book of Isaiah?
3
Of the following letters, which one is NOT included in the Pastoral Letters?
3 Timothy
When did the kingdom of Judah (the southern kingdom, with its capital in Jerusalem) fall?
587/586 BCE
When was the period of classical prophecy?
8th century BCE
According to Sumney, for the author of Revelation, God's retribution on the wicked means that God
??
How does the book of Hebrews identify Jesus?
??
In John's Gospel, when was the beloved disciple with Jesus?
??
To what does the expression "the Day of the Lord" refer?
??
According to the book of Judges, the army of Joshua
???
According to Sumney, what is the century most biblical scholars have concluded when the book of Daniel was finally put together?
????
Who was one of the few kings that the books of 1 and 2 kings says did what pleased God?
????
What does the story of Ruth make the great grandmother of David?
A Moabite
According to Sumney, in Daniel, the symbol the author uses to speak of Alexander the Great is..
A goat
What type of psalm expresses grief?
A lament psalm
According to Sumney, which of the following descriptions is the most accurate description of the Song of Solomon?
A love song between two people
What is "Satan" when he appears in the book of Job?
A member of God's court
What is the Magnificat?
A poem spoken by Mary when Elizabeth says there is something special about her
Which of the following statements best describes the Chester Beatty Papyri?
A set of volumes, coming from approximately 200 CE, and containing most of the New Testament.
What is papyrus?
A type of paper made of reeds
What is Codex Vaticanus?
A very reliable fourth century copy of the New Testament
When biblical scholars refer to "Q" when speaking about the Synoptic problem, to what do they refer?
A written collection of Jesus' sayings that may have been used by the authors of Matthew and Luke
What is the literal meaning of the word "satan"?
Accuser
According to Sumney, the seven cities that have letters written to them within Revelation are...
All in western Turkey (Asia Minor)
According to Sumney, a symbol some apocalyptic writers use to refer to the Roman Empire was...
An eagle
What type of psalm wants bad things to happen to others?
An imprecatory psalm
Who was the Seleucid (Syrian) king who outlawed Judaism in Judea?
Antiochus IV
What is the literary device in which contrasting ideas appear in consecutive lines?
Antithetical parallelism
According to Sumney, the genre that best describes the book of Revelation is
Apocalyptic
The people that early believers in Christ or the church looked to as central authorities are called:
Apostles
How does 1 Peter encourage believers in Christ to understand themselves?
As aliens and exiles in the world
In Mark's Gospel, how are disciples presented and described?
As complete failures who do not understand Jesus
To what empire does the northern kingdom of Israel fall?
Assyrian empire
Where were the Dead Sea Scrolls found?
At Qumran
Who was the first person to give the list of books to read in church that are the same as the 27 books now in the New Testament?
Athanasius
To where was Judah (the second of the two Israelite nations) exiled in 587 BCE?
Babylon
To what empire does the southern kingdom of Judah fall?
Babylonian empire
Who was the missionary partner Paul worked with when he served in the Antioch church?
Barnabas
Why does 1 John say that believers can reject docetism?
Because the apostles are witnesses to the physical existence of Jesus
In the book of Esther, how does Haman die?
By being hung on the gallows he made to kill Mordecai
How does Matthew connect parts of Jesus' life with passages of the Hebrew Bible?
By quoting passages and stating that Jesus' life fulfills them
The following description from the article describes which of the five major zones of ancient Israel? "The limestone hills, perforated with thousands of small caves, made the area ideal for brigands and people living outside society. Thus, until the Iron Age, it was a zone that people approached only with security measures. However, the naturally terraced hillsides formed by the erosion of the limestone formations could produce flourishing orchards and vineyards, once cleared of the climax forest. During the Iron Age, this was the central territory of the ancient Israelites, and during the Hellenistic and Roman periods Jews lived in Galilee and Judea, while Samaritans seem to have been dominant in the hills north of Jerusalem."
Central Highlands
Whom did Nero blame for the fire in Rome in the year 62 CE?
Christians
The following description from the article is of which of the five major zones of ancient Israel? "Narrower in the north than in the south, it is interrupted by the Carmel Mountains at modern Haifa. The plain contained two types of human settlement: sites on the sea with harbors or anchorages and inland sites that emphasized agriculture and/or overland trade, especially in a north-south direction on the so-called Via Maris, the main road leading from Egypt in the south to Lebanon and/or Damascus in the north"
Coastal Plains
Which letter contains a long poetic section that likely was written and existed before it was quoted in this letter?
Colossians
Which letter was written to oppose teachers who say that all Christians must have visions to be saved?
Colossians
Which of these letters, early in its materials, presents Christ uniquely as one who was preexistent, who lived with God before the creation of anything, and through whom God created and now sustains the world?
Colossians
According to Sumney, who of the following was the first Gentile member of the Christian church?
Cornelius
Who was the ideal king of the Israelites?
David
According to Sumney, where was Peter when 1 Peter was written?
Dead
The books of the Apocrypha are also called:
Deuterocanonical
Who was the prophet who confronted the priests of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel?
Elijah
Who is the prophet who takes over as head of the school of prophets when Elijah is gone?
Elisha
According to Sumney, the book of Revelation is intended to accomplish what purpose?
Encourage people who are suffering
According to Sumney, what are ethical exhortations that are found in the Bible?
Encouragements to live properly
Which letter envisions the church as the cosmic body of Christ?
Ephesians
Which letter seems to copy a number of phrases from the letter to the Colossians?
Ephesians
The Qumran scrolls have copies of all books of the Hebrew Bible except:
Esther
What is the only biblical book that does not mention God?
Esther
Who is the Israelite woman who becomes queen of Persia (in the story)?
Esther
What is a term used to refer to the authors of the New Testament Gospels?
Evangelists
According to Psalm 150, from where should the praise for God come?
Everything that breathes
According to Sumney, a prophecy that predicts something that had already happened is called what?
Ex eventu prophecy
After Genesis what is the order of the books of the Pentateuch?
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
What is it called when someone rids another person of demon possession?
Exorcism
Which prophet was taken to Babylon in the first wave of the exile of Judah?
Ezekiel
According to Sumney, the beginnings of Israel's use of apocalyptic imagery occur in which Old Testament books? Please select the two correct answers.
Ezekiel & Daniel
Who was the leader who read the Law to the people in Jerusalem after they returned from Babylon?
Ezra
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, Apocalyptic writers do not see any connection between conflicts among spiritual forces and the status of earthly kingdoms and empires."
False
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, scribes and copyists never made changes to the text to support their own theological positions."
False
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, the superscriptions (the notes before the psalms begin) only give information about who wrote the psalm."
False
When considering the Catholic letters or epistles, what do we mean by the word "catholic"?
General or universal
According to Sumney, Mark's Gospel was composed mostly for what kind of audience?
Gentile
What were the teachers saying whom Paul opposes in his letter to the Galatians?
Gentile believers must be circumcised and convert fully to Judaism.
What did the New Testament Gospels intend to do?
Give a theological interpretation to Jesus' life
Why were the New Testament Gospels written?
Give the stories about Jesus specific meanings
According to Sumney, in the view of Revelation, one of the reasons God is putting off enacting judgment and punishment of evil is...
God is giving time for people to change
Why did Paul say believers were being persecuted?
God is not in control of the world at this moment?
What do the astonishing visions of Ezekiel show?
God is with the exiles in Babylon
What does the change in the names of Hosea's children mean?
God will reclaim Israel after punishment
What is the specific or literal meaning of the Greek word 'euangelion', which is often translated "gospel"?
Good news
Match the following location with its appropriate area.
Hawran- Eastern Desert Shephelah- Central Highlands Dead Sea- Great Rift Valley Irbid Plateau- Transjordanian Plateau Sharon Plain- Coastal Plain
How is Paul described at the end of Acts?
He is under arrest in Rome
In the Sermon on the Mount within Matthew's Gospel, what does Jesus do when he interprets the Jewish law?
He makes it harder to keep.
Which of the following is NOT a reason for Paul writing his letter to the Romans?
He thinks they miss him since his last visit.
What are the three languages in which the Bible was originally written?
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
Which of the following is NOT considered a Catholic letter or epistle?
Hebrews
What is the most outstanding characteristic of Job?
His faithfulness
Which prophet marries an unfaithful wife?
Hosea
What does Mark think readers need to see in order to understand Jesus?
How Jesus both has power and also suffers
What belief does the Book of Proverb express as the best way to live?
In conformity to the way God made the world
Who was the promised son of Abraham and Sarah?
Isaac
For what is Hosea's marriage to Gomer a metaphor?
Israel's unfaithfulness to God
What does Amos say about the "Day of the Lord"?
It is a day of disaster for Israel
What is a formal correspondence translation?
It is more of a word-for-word translation.
What is a dynamic equivalence translation
It is more of an idea-for idea translation.
What is the Textus Receptus?
It is the manuscript tradition that served as the basis for the Latin Vulgate.
What does textual criticism do?
It tries to identify the most accurate form of the biblical text.
What are the sources that the Documentary Hypothesis says were brought together to form or compose the Pentateuch?
J, E, D, P
Who was the ancestor of the Israelites who was also portrayed as a conman or trickster?
Jacob
What is the first city that the Israelites attacked in the conquest of Canaan?
Jericho
According to Sumney, what is the episode in Jesus' life that Luke likely moved out of chronological order to the beginning of Jesus' ministry?
Jesus' sermon in his hometown of Nazareth
According to Sumney, who mostly comprises Matthew's readership or audience?
Jewish believers in Christ
Select ALL of the following that a part of the Central Highlands region.
Jezreel Valley, Jerusalem, Upper Galilee
What is the Gospel in which Jesus says things to people they don't understand as a way of starting a long discourse that teaching an important lesson?
John
What is the only Gospel that says that Christ existed before Jesus was born?
John
According to Sumney, the book of Revelation was written by
John, who is an otherwise unknown prophet
Which prophet's message includes the assertion that God gives mercy to Israel's enemies?
Jonah
Who was the Jewish writer who tells about the war with Rome and mentions the books of Scripture?
Josephus
Who were the two spies who said the Israelites could take the land of Canaan?
Joshua and Caleb
What is general revelation?
Knowledge of God that is gained through observation of the world
What is the genre of Paul's writings in the New Testament?
Letter
Through what system does Boaz marry Ruth?
Levirate marriage
Where do we find the Holiness Code?
Leviticus
Which of the following is NOT a region of the Coastal Plains Zone?
Lower Galilee
What is the only Gospel that tells of the birth of John the Baptist?
Luke
According to Sumney, what do the Greek additions to the book of Esther do to the story?
Make God more active
Which Gospel does most biblical scholars believe was written first?
Mark
Which Gospels comprise the Synoptic Gospels?
Matthew, Mark, and Luke
Who led the Israelites out of Egypt at the Exodus?
Moses
What was the primary reason why Later Judaism excluded the Apocrypha from its scriptural canon?
Most books of the Apocrypha were not written in Hebrew
Where did Moses receive the Law?
Mount Sinai
Match the following English translation with its type of translation strategy according to Sumney
New Jerusalem Bible- Dynamic (a step closer to formal) New Revised Standard Version- Formal (a step closer to dynamic) American Standard Version- Formal (most strict sense) The Message- Dynamic (most strict sense
According to Sumney, in apocalyptic literature, using numbers in a symbolic way is called what?
Numerology
What is the prophetic book that consists of four (4) oracles against Judah's enemies (especially Edom)?
Obadiah
In Acts, when does the church begin?
On the day of Pentecost
What is the claim called that a person possesses more gifts from God than another thinks is possible before the end of time?
Over-realized eschatology
What is the word that New Testament writers use to refer to the return of Christ at the end of time?
Parousia
Who was the Christian leader who started as a persecutor of the church?
Paul
Which of the following is NOT a metaphor that Paul uses to talk about what the death of Jesus does for believers?
Penal substitution
Who are the two leading characters in Acts?
Peter and Paul
According ot Sumney, a book written by someone other than the person who it says wrote it is called what?
Pseudepigrapha
What is the practice in the ancient world in which people wrote texts in the name of an authoritative person who had died?
Pseudonymity
What is the Jewish festival that celebrates the victory of the Jewish people because of the acts of Esther?
Purim
According to Sumney, the feeling one gets when you do not possess things you think you deserve and should have is sometimes called
Relative deprivation
What does the author of 1 Peter mean when referring to Babylon?
Rome
Who was the first king of Israel?
Saul
What is the specific designation given for Judaism(s) that existed and developed from about 500 BCE to 70 CE?
Second Temple Judaism
What is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible called?
Septuagint
In the Hebrew Bible, what is the abode of the dead called?
Sheol
What was one of the most important criteria for a writing to be considered authoritative as the Christian canon emerged?
Some connection to an apostle
What is one of the biggest issues that 1 Corinthians addresses?
Spirituality
Who was the first Christian martyr (or person killed as a member of the Jesus movement)?
Stephen
In 2 Corinthians, what does Paul call the people who oppose his apostleship?
Super apostles
What is the literary device in which the same idea is repeated in two consecutive lines?
Synonymous parallelism
What is the literary device in which the second line expands the idea of the first line?
Synthetic parallelism
What books that are now part of the New Testament were already accepted as authoritative by the mid-second century?
Ten letters of Paul and the four Gospels
In Ecclesiastes, what does "vanity" mean?
That life is meaningless
What do biblical scholars call the tendency in Mark's Gospel for Jesus to tell others to keep quiet about his identity?
The Messianic Secret
What is the collection of 150 psalms in the Bible known as?
The Psalter
What is the discourse or large section of teaching in Matthew's Gospel that includes the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer?
The Sermon on the Mount
What is an alternative name for the Song of Solomon?
The Song of Songs
Why can the Book of Proverbs have maxims that give the opposite advice?
The authors know that maxims offer a thin slice of life and so can be true on one occasion but wrong on others.
According to most biblical scholars, who was the author of the Gospel of John?
The beloved disciple
Who does Jude claim to be?
The brother of the apostle James
What is a codex?
The earliest manuscripts in book form
Through which of the following did Jeremiah live?
The fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians
To what does Haggai think the completion of the temple in Jerusalem will lead?
The independence of Judah
What does the Gospel of John mean when referring to "the Jews"?
The leaders in Judea who are not part of the church
Who wrote the book of Acts?
The person who wrote the Gospel of Luke
More than the other New Testament Gospels, with what does Luke depict Jesus as especially concerned?
The poor and oppressed
What is the attempt called to construct an objective, historical account of the life of Jesus?
The search for the historical Jesus
Which of the following is NOT a rule of textual criticism?
The shorter reading is preferred.
According to Sumney, in Revelation, the powerful symbol of suffering while worshipping and having a relationship with the most powerful God is...
The slaughtered lamb
According to Psalm 1, over what does the LORD watch?
The way of the righteous
According to Psalm 1, who will not stand in the judgment?
The wicked
According to the Oxford Annotated Bible, what does the woman described in Proverbs 31 resemble?
The woman who is to be subservient to her husband
According to Sumney, the question of why evil exists in the world is called what?
Theodicy
To whom is the book of Acts addressed?
Theophilus
When James says, "Faith without works is dead," what do some persons think he seems to be opposing?
Things Paul wrote
In addition to opposing docetism, what else do 1--2 John instruct believers?
To love one another
What does the term Hellenization mean?
To make things like the Greeks
The following description from the article describes which of the five major zones of ancient Israel? "Because of the initial high elevations, enough rain falls along a narrow band of the zone to allow dry farming. However, the band narrows as one proceeds south, and it is entirely due to very high altitudes approaching 5,700 ft. (ca. 1,736 m) that dry agriculture can occur in the Tafila and Petra regions."
Transjordanian Plateau
Based on your reading of the article, is the following statement true or false? "Beer-sheba is the central site of this northern Negev region. In spite of the limited rainfall, a surprising number of sites were inhabited from time to time with the Iron II and the Roman-Byzantine periods being the most intensive.
True
Based on your reading of the article, is the following statement true or false? "Carmel is a symbol in the Bible of luxurious vegetation and the good life, even though the rugged hills and dense foliage make traveling and living in the Carmel Mountains undesirable."
True
Based on your reading of the article, is the following statement true? "Even a cursory reading of the NT shows how important the northern part of the Sea of Galilee region was to Jesus, who spent much of his time around the fishing villages of Capernaum and Bethsaida."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "Readers of today's Bible can have confidence that the work of experts in textual criticism provides a text of the Bible that is very close, if not identical, to what the original collectors and readers of those materials would have read."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Proverbs 1, waywardness kills the simple."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, In apocalyptic literature, and more broadly in the ancient world, the number seven symbolized completeness or fullness."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, Songs of Songs reveals that sexuality is a gift from God and the poem transcends much of the patriarchal system of arreanged marriages in the ancient near east."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, a significant issue for communities who use apocalyptic literature is the cognitive dissonace they experience between the way things are and the way they believe things should be."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, one of the significant issues for John's community is how to respond to meals at pagan temples. The question is can a Christian participate in business meetings or celebrations held at pagan temples and still be faithful to the true God."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, some scholars argue that Revelation was written during the reign of Domitian (81-96 CE) who organized a persecution against Christians. However, there is little evidence outside the book of Revelation of empire-wide persection. This makes the assumption of Johns writing at this time difficult to validate."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, the Masoretic text, which was produced approximately around 1000 C.E., is evidence of Judaism's diligent work to preserve the exact form of their canon once it was set."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, the collection of Psalms found in the Bible took shape largely between 400 and 200 B.C.E."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "According to Sumney, the message of the book of Revelation can be summarized with just two words: God wins!"
True
Is the following statement true or false? "Sumney argues that another important factor includes those places where early writers quote books that would eventually become part of the New Testament."
True
Is the following statement true or false? "Sumney suggests that until the invention of the printing press the only way to preserve a text was to have a copyist transmit it by hand."
True
According to the book of Judges, how long did the people of Israel keep worshiping other gods and, as a result, endure oppression by other peoples that was allowed by God?
Until they repented and worshiped God alone
According to the article, what is the name of the trade route that ran along the coast from Egypt south to Lebanon to and/or Damascus in the north?
Via Maris
What did the believers in Christ in Thessalonica want to know?
Why people in their church were being persecuted
Which church office possessed a significant amount of power in the late first century?
Widow
Which of the following groupings of Old Testament literature does not refer to Abraham, the exodus, or David?
Wisdom Literature
How do wisdom writers assess the Deuteronomistic pattern of life (that God blesses the obedient and curses the disobedient)?
Wisdom writers think this pattern works sometimes and does not work other times.
What does Paul's letter to the Philippians indicate about women in the church?
Women were leaders of churches.
What is a city of refuge?
a place where people who kill someone can go until trial
What is genre?
a type of literature
Why does Genesis give two accounts of creation?
because it wants to make multiple points about the world
Why does Genesis include the story of the "Fall"?
because the way things are in the world does not seem to come from a good God
When does the genre of the stories in Genesis change from poetic narrative to legend?
beginning with the appearance of Abraham
What is the view called that says good things will happen to the nation if they obey God, but bad things will happen to them if they ignore the covenant?
deuteronomistic pattern
What is the title of the Babylonian text that includes a creation account that has many parallels with the creation account in Genesis 1?
enuma elish
According to Sumney, is the following statement true or false? "The term Lex Talionis means that a person is allowed to respond to a wrong in a manner that is twice what was received."
false
According to Sumney, is the following statement true or false? "the listing of the Ten Commandments in Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish Bibles is exactly the same including the content and numbering."
false
Which of the following does the book of Deuteronomy contain?
five sermons from Moses that give the Law a second time
How does the biblical text describe Balaam, in addition to him being a person who communicates with the God of Israel?
he also communicates with other gods
The elements of a critical introduction include discussion of all the following EXCEPT:
how you feel about the content.
The first time accepting the current books of the Bible became a doctrinal requirement or an article of faith was:
the Council of Trent
A late second century account of the books for use by the church is known as:
the Muratorian Canon
What is the ancient writing that contains a flood story that was written long before the Genesis account?
the epic of gilgamesh
What is the Documentary Hypothesis?
the hypothesis that the Pentateuch was composed from four different sources
What is the Shema?
the text Israelites recited to confess that there is only one God for them
Why do the books of the Pentateuch tell of conversations between God and Moses?
to tell about God's character
According to Sumney, is the following statement true or false? "The special name for God given to Moses in the book of Exodus is YHWH, Yahweh or "Jehovah" in the King James translation or "the Lord" in the New Revised Standard translation. This name means something like "I am the one who exists."
true
What must the Israelites do after being afraid to invade Canaan?
wander in the desert for 40 years
What does the curse in Genesis 3 show?
what happens when people violate God's will
What is explained in the story of Babel?
why there are so many languages in the world