question

The Seleucid ruler Antiochus Epiphanes attempted to force Hellenization upon his Jewish subjects by forbidding the circumcision of Jewish male babies, outlawing Sabbath observance, and rededicating the Jerusalem Temple to the Greek god Zeus.

answer

A) True

question

One of Herod's most important building projects was the seaport of Masada, which became the administrative capital of the Roman province of Judea.

answer

B) False

question

Because of Herod's grandiose achievements as ruler over the Jews, he won their widespread acceptance, even though he was a native of Idumea, a traditional enemy of Israel.

answer

B) False

question

The Romans referred to the land where Jesus was born, lived, and died as Canaan, after the Canaanite tribes that lived there during the time of the biblical patriarchs.

answer

B) False

question

Herod Agrippa II interrogated the apostle Paul while Paul was imprisoned at Caesarea, and reportedly commented that Paul almost persuaded him to become a Christian.

answer

A) True

question

Emperor Hadrian crushed the bar Kochba rebellion against Rome.

answer

A) True

question

The letters to John were written around 100 ? 110 CE.

answer

A) True

question

Vespasian was a first-century historian who was an eyewitness of many of the events he describes.

answer

B) False

question

Land ownership and wealth in Roman society was quite egalitarian, as it was based upon Greek ideals.

answer

B) False

question

The Jews were a people without a country until 1948.

answer

A) True

question

_______________ is the central character of the New Testament.

answer

A) Jesus of Nazareth

question

Jesus and his disciples lived in a region known in ancient times as

answer

D) Palestine.

question

The term "Bible" is derived from the word biblia, which means

answer

B) little books.

question

Early Christian believers referred to Jesus of Nazareth as _______________, a term that means "anointed one" and that ancient Jews applied to all of Israel's kings.

answer

C) Messiah

question

The books of the New Testament were all written between the years

answer

A) 50 and 150 CE.

question

This was the most common language spoken in the Mediterranean world in the time of Jesus.

answer

B) koin? Greek

question

The word "gospel" translates the Greek term euangelion, which means

answer

C) good news.

question

The literary genre of gospel is defined as

answer

D) a narrative about Jesus' deeds and teachings.

question

The central concern for all four New Testament Gospel writers in writing about the life of Jesus is

answer

A) Jesus' suffering and death.

question

The New Testament contains _______________ documents.

answer

A) 27

question

This gospel is not a part of the New Testament, and it consists almost exclusively of sayings of Jesus.

answer

C) the Gospel of Thomas

question

The task of biblical criticism involves

answer

B) the rational analysis of the Bible in order to understand it better.

question

The title of the Book of Revelation in Greek is apokalypsis, a word that means

answer

B) unveiling.

question

The term "eschatology" means the study of beliefs about

answer

D) the end of time.

question

The five books of Moses in the Hebrew Bible make up the

answer

A) Torah

question

Paul's letters to the Gentiles (50 ? 62 CE) advocate a Christian's total freedom from

answer

C) the "bondage" of Mosaic Law.

question

Christianity is unique among the religions of the world in that it has a body of writings called "scriptures" that Christians believe are sacred and authoritative.

answer

B) False

question

The term "testament" is another word for "covenant."

answer

A) True

question

The Septuagint is the oldest Hebrew-language version of the Jewish Scriptures.

answer

B) False

question

The Book of Revelation is a good example of the New Testament literary category of early church history.

answer

B) False

question

"Eschatology" is a term that means "a study of God."

answer

B) False

question

Paul's genuine letters were written to mostly Gentile (non-Jewish) Christian congregations in the first century CE.

answer

A) True

question

The four Gospels precede the book of Acts and the book of Hebrews in the New Testament.

answer

A) True

question

The Nevi'im (Prophets) and the Kethuvim (Writings) precede the Torah in the Old Testament.

answer

B) False

question

In the university environment, scholarly approaches to Bible analysis utilize the same methodologies and tools of logic employed in any other discipline.

answer

A) True

question

The term "eschatology" derives from Greek two Greek phrases, one of which refers to the world's end.

answer

A) True

question

The first list of books that corresponded exactly to the twenty-seven books of the modern New Testament appeared in the

answer

D) fourth century CE.

question

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were given these four titles by the early church because these books could be associated somehow with _______________, whom Jesus of Nazareth had called to be his close followers.

answer

A) apostles

question

Christians place the Book of Malachi at the end of their Old Testament Scriptures because

answer

A) Christians believe that Malachi prophesied the appearance of John the Baptist in the New Testament.

question

Ancient Jewish rabbis believed that the period of inspired prophecy ceased shortly after the time of the Jewish scribe _______________ around 400 BCE.

answer

D) Ezra

question

Books like 1 Clement and 2 Peter show that for second-century Christians, _______________ was an important theological topic that provoked a crisis of belief.

answer

B) the delay of the Parousia of Christ

question

Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible was known as the

answer

A) Vulgate.

question

The oldest copy of any New Testament book is a small fragment from a copy of the Gospel of John. It is usually dated around _____________, or only twenty to thirty years after the Gospel of John was written.

answer

A) 125 CE

question

The oldest complete copies of the New Testament, including _______________, survived in part because they were written on animal skin rather than papyrus.

answer

C) Codex Sinaiticus

question

Early Christians pioneered the use of the _____________, a type of book construction that featured binding on one edge in the manner of the modern bound book.

answer

B) codex

question

Some of the most important codex editions of the New Testament, such as the Codex Sinaiticus, are known as ______________ or majuscules because they were written in all in capital letters.

answer

B) uncials

question

The first person to translate the entire Bible from the Latin into English was

answer

D) John Wycliffe.

question

The first English Bible translator to work directly from Hebrew and Greek manuscripts was

answer

C) William Tyndale.

question

The _________________ is a very popular Bible translation that was produced in the 1970s and reflects a generally conservative Protestant viewpoint.

answer

D) New International Version (NIV)

question

Contemporary readers not steeped in the rhythms of poetry, Renaissance vocabulary, or Shakespeare will have a difficult time understanding which version of the Bible?

answer

A) King James Version

question

The earliest copies of the complete New Testament were not produced until

answer

A) c. 325 CE.

question

In writing about the composition of the New Testament canon, this early church historian divided Christian books into three different categories: acknowledged, disputed, and rejected.

answer

D) Eusebius

question

This prominent member of the Roman Church advocated Christians abandon the Hebrew canon of Scriptures and replace it with a carefully edited version of the Gospel of Luke and Paul's letters.

answer

B) Marcion

question

The word "canon" is derived from the Greek term kanon, which means "godly."

answer

B) False

question

The Muratorian Canon is one example of a composite gospel, containing stories gleaned from all four of the canonical Gospels.

answer

B) False

question

From the earliest days of the Christian Church, there was almost universal agreement about the contents of the Christian canon.

answer

B) False

question

One of the two main purposes for the evolution of the early Christian canon was to help clarify what beliefs early church leaders considered true and acceptable.

answer

A) True

question

Most of the 5000 ancient manuscript copies of the New Testament are exactly alike.

answer

B) False

question

The King James Bible is by far the most popular English Bible of all time.

answer

A) True

question

The invention of the printing press was an important event that helped assure the widespread availability of the Bible in English.

answer

A) True

question

No original copies of any canonical work have survived to this day.

answer

A) True

question

There are hundreds of variations of Scripture in extant manuscripts.

answer

A) True

question

Most early Christian writings were accepted into the canon.

answer

B) False

question

The adoption of Greek language, literature, social customs, and ethical values is called

answer

B) Hellenism.

question

"Philosophy" means

answer

C) love of wisdom.

question

The most famous of the Greek philosophers was

answer

A) Socrates.

question

This Greek philosopher, a disciple of Socrates, created a comprehensive philosophical world view that emphasized dualism or the coexistence of two realms of reality: physical reality and spiritual reality.

answer

B) Plato

question

This school of Greek philosophy, founded by Zeno, emphasized listening to the divine element within oneself and attaining a state of disciplined harmony with nature and with the universe.

answer

B) Stoicism

question

This Greek god of the healing arts was the mortal son of Apollo and a mortal princess. A cult of healing dedicated to this god flourished in Europe and Asia in the time of Jesus Christ.

answer

D) Asclepius

question

There are intriguing parallels between the life of this mythological Greek god and the life of the historical Jesus as reported by the New Testament and early Christians. These parallels include their being born of divine parentage, their violent death, and their living on in an afterlife, enthroned in heaven.

answer

A) Dionysus

question

This mystery cult emphasized that the soul is divine and is imprisoned within the body. Once freed from its fleshly prison, the soul could return to its ultimate home in the celestial realms.

answer

A) Orphism

question

This all-male mystery religion was Christianity's leading competitor in the Roman culture of the first three centuries CE. It honored a Persian deity born on December 25, declared its worshipers to be soldiers of God, and practiced baptism.

answer

D) Mithraism

question

This mystery religion, which involved worship of the goddess of "a thousand names," emphasized mystical rituals that promised worshipers union with the divine after death.

answer

B) Cult of Isis

question

The language of Alexander the Great's soldiers became so prevalent in the eastern Mediterranean that it was used for a translation of the Hebrew Bible, and early Christian churches produced the New Testament in it.

answer

A) True

question

Alexander the Great's tutor was the philosopher-scientist Socrates.

answer

A) True

question

After the death of Alexander the Great, his successors did all they could to reverse his policy of spreading Greek forms of culture throughout southwestern Asia.

answer

B) False

question

The mystery religions were so called because their adherents took oaths never to reveal the secrets they learned when they were initiated into membership in the religion.

answer

A) True

question

Because of the patriarchal (male-dominant) influences of Greco-Roman society, the gods of the mystery religions were exclusively male.

answer

B) False

question

The Cynics taught that virtue is the greatest goal in life.

answer

A) True

question

The Greek myth of Asclepius' life and death has parallels to Jesus' life and death.

answer

A) True

question

Dionysus was born immortal but lost his immortality by angering his father Zeus.

answer

B) False

question

Plato was a monist, teaching that the only substance in the universe is material (not spiritual).

answer

B) False

question

According to the text, the writers of the New Testament are in particular remarkable for having adhered solely to Jewish biblical heritage, despite the predominance of Hellenistic philosophy and religion of the time.

answer

B) False

question

Ancient Israel's greatest commandment, and the one cited by Jesus as the "greatest" commandment, was known as the

answer

B) Shema.

question

According to Exodus 3:13?16, Israel's Deity is called

answer

B) Yahweh.

question

The Torah or Mosaic Law of ancient Israel is preserved in which books of the Hebrew Bible?

answer

B) the first five books

question

In Jesus' time, many Jews lived in the ________________, a term that refers to the scattering of Jews to foreign regions outside Palestine.

answer

D) Diaspora

question

Many devout Jews in Jesus' day made annual pilgrimages to the Jewish temple located in

answer

A) Jerusalem.

question

Jewish High Priests were usually members of what religious sect within Judaism?

answer

D) Sadducees

question

On this high holy day, the Jewish High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple to offer a sacrifice on behalf of all the Jewish people.

answer

C) the Day of Atonement

question

Which of the following was typical of the beliefs of the Sadducees?

answer

B) practiced a literal reading of the Jewish Torah

question

Although the tradition of the elders originally circulated in oral form only, it was eventually written down in a set of documents collectively known as the

answer

A) Mishnah.

question

After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, the center of rabbinic Judaism moved to the coastal town of ______________, where an academy of rabbis continued to develop Jewish beliefs about the contents of the Bible and Judaism's relationship with Christianity.

answer

A) Jamnia

question

The _________________ were a distinctive group of Jewish people who lived in the region between Judea and Galilee. Most other Jews viewed them as an alien group that practiced a false version of Judaism.

answer

D) Samaritans

question

A monastic sect of Jews known as the ________________ settled in a community in Qumran near the Dead Sea.

answer

D) Essenes

question

The inhabitants of the monastery at Qumran may have been responsible for producing the _________________, copies of which were discovered in caves near the settlement.

answer

A) Dead Sea Scrolls

question

Which New Testament character best echoes some of the characteristic views of the Essenes, such as the achievement of spiritual purity by withdrawing from society, the need for repentance to escape God's coming judgment, and baptism as a sign of spiritual cleansing?

answer

C) John the Baptist

question

The English term "Messiah" derives from the Hebrew term mashiah, which means

answer

D) Anointed One.

question

Which of the following was a messianic pretender who claimed to be "son of the star" and who led the Jews into a disastrous rebellion against Rome?

answer

B) Simon bar Kochba

question

The Dead Sea Scrolls were probably penned by the

answer

B) Essenes.

question

Early Christians countered Jewish objections that Jesus of Nazareth failed to reestablish David's kingdom by claiming that

answer

C) Jesus the Messiah will return to earth in the near future to reestablish David's kingdom.

question

2 Kings 17 depicts Samaritans as descendants of Mesopotamians and not "authentic" Jews by heritage. Recent historical research

answer

B) disagrees.

question

Which of the following describes an innocent righteous man (the "suffering servant") whose pain and humiliation are borne for the sake of others, just as Jesus reportedly has done?

answer

A) Isaiah 53

question

Male circumcision is the physical mark identifying Jews as members of God's covenant community.

answer

A) True

question

Various New Testament authors express differing attitudes over the issue of whether Christians were bound to observe the Jewish Law.

answer

A) True

question

The Sadducees were the only one of the important Jewish sects in Jesus' day to survive the first century CE.

answer

B) False

question

Many modern scholars believe that the hostility shown toward the Pharisees in the New Testament Gospels reflects deep tension that existed between Christians and Jewish religious leaders in the decades when the Gospels were written.

answer

A) True

question

The Pharisees observed not only the written Torah but also a set of oral laws called the "tradition of the elders."

answer

A) True

question

Despite their frequent disagreements over the application of the Jewish Torah, Jesus and the Pharisees agreed on numerous matters of belief.

answer

A) True

question

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain the oldest known copies of the Hebrew Bible.

answer

A) True

question

During the Jewish Revolt in 70 CE, the Romans who besieged Jerusalem would have destroyed the Temple when they captured the city, but the Zealots occupying the grounds surrendered so that the Temple could be saved.

answer

B) False

question

Many Jews rejected early Christian claims that Jesus was God's Messiah because Jesus failed to deliver the Jews from their Gentile oppressors.

answer

A) True

question

The term "messiah" derived from the Hebrew practice of anointing persons with oil as a sign that God had set them apart for some special task.

answer

A) True

question

There are three biblical passages in the Old Testament that prophesy that the Messiah would die as a criminal.

answer

B) False

question

The earliest extant copies of canonical and noncanonical biblical texts and commentaries produced by and for the Essene community were discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

answer

A) True

question

This character dominates the second half of the Book of Acts.

answer

B) Paul

question

The author of Acts concentrates so much on the missionary work of the apostle Paul because ______________________.

answer

A) Paul's work in Gentile areas represents the transition of Christianity from a Jewish to a Hellenistic environment

question

The apparent reason the eleven remaining apostles elect Matthias as a replacement for Judas Iscariot after his suicide is that __________________.

answer

D) the number twelve represents the twelve tribes of Israel, so the apostles represented a kind of "true Israel"

question

When the Holy Spirit fell upon the believers on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the Spirit's presence was indicated when the believers began to ____________________.

answer

D) speak in tongues

question

Luke's name for the early Christian movement is _____________.

answer

A) the Way

question

Beginning in Acts 6, Luke distinguishes two different groups in the early Jerusalem church: Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians and Greek-speaking Jewish Christians whom Luke calls _________________.

answer

B) Hellenists

question

While he is on his way to arrest Christians in Damascus, _______________ encounters the risen Christ in the form of a blinding light and heavenly voice.

answer

B) Paul

question

Followers of "the Way" first received the name of Christians in the city of ______________.

answer

A) Antioch in Syria

question

When the apostle Paul and his associate Barnabas confronted Jewish Christians in a conference in Jerusalem, the issue of debate was __________________.

answer

D) whether Gentiles could become Christians without being circumcised

question

While in this city, Paul and Silas established the first Christian church in Europe. While there, they were wrongfully flogged and imprisoned without a trial.

answer

D) Philippi

question

Paul travels to Rome near the end of the Book of Acts because ____________________.

answer

C) as a Roman citizen, Paul has the right to stand trial before the Roman emperor

question

While in this city, Paul was politely invited by the city's intellectuals to give an address concerning his philosophy at a public forum called the Areopagus.

answer

C) Athens

question

Acts portrays the development of early Christianity from ___________ movement to a largely Gentile faith.

answer

B) a Jewish apocalyptic

question

The Book of Acts was written about

answer

C) 90 CE.

question

In Ephesus, Paul competes with certain Jews to

answer

B) heal the sick.

question

Luke states the organizing principle for the Book of Acts in Acts 1:8, in which the risen Jesus states that his disciples will be witnesses for him "to the ends of the earth."

answer

A) True

question

Luke is the only New Testament writer to describe the risen Jesus' ascent to the spirit world.

answer

A) True

question

The Christians in the early Jerusalem church demonstrated their commitment to Jesus' words about material possessions by moving into a monastic community in the desert.

answer

B) False

question

The first Christian to die a martyr's death in the Book of Acts is Theophilus.

answer

B) False

question

The first Gentile Christian in the Book of Acts is a Roman soldier named Cornelius.

answer

A) True

question

Paul's lengthy missionary work in the city of Ephesus created religious competition for the worshipers of the goddess Isis, to whom the Ephesians had dedicated a huge temple.

answer

B) False

question

According to Luke, even though Paul was arrested and spent some three years in a Roman prison, two different Roman governors personally absolved the apostle of any illegal activity.

answer

A) True

question

Some scholars claim that Luke ends the Book of Acts abruptly after portraying Paul's arrival in Rome because Paul's arrival there signals the accomplishment of Luke's purpose for writing the Book of Acts.

answer

A) True

question

According to Acts, the new faith began during a Jewish feast.

answer

A) True

question

The first disciple to perform a miraculous cure in Jesus' name was Paul.

answer

B) False

question

This leader succeeded in subduing virtually all the known world, inspiring later military leaders, before 323 BCE.

answer

D) Alexander the Great

question

This general and successor to Alexander the Great began a dynasty that ruled much of southwestern Asia after Alexander's death.

answer

A) Seleucus

question

These "pious ones" resisted attempts by Hellenists to force Jews to compromise the principles of their religious faith, even to the point of enduring torture and execution for their beliefs.

answer

D) Hasidim

question

The cause of the Maccabean Revolt was

answer

B) the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes in the mid-second century BCE.

question

The Maccabean Revolt was so called because

answer

B) the leader of the revolt was nicknamed "Maccabeus," which means [God's] Hammer.

question

The monarch ruling Palestine when Jesus was born was

answer

A) Herod the Great

question

One of the sons of Herod the Great, _________________, is the Herod who beheaded John the Baptist and whom Jesus of Nazareth described as "that fox."

answer

C) Herod Antipas

question

In 6 CE the Romans deposed Herod Archelaus as ruler over Judea and replaced him with a series of Roman governors or _________________, the most famous of which was Pontius Pilate (26?36 CE), the man who sentenced Jesus to death.

answer

D) procurators

question

The real center of power in the Mediterranean world when Jesus was born was the Roman emperor

answer

C) Augustus

question

This member of the family of Herod was a devoted ally of the Pharisee party and vigorously persecuted the early church, imprisoning the apostle Peter and beheading the apostle James.

answer

A) Herod Agrippa I

question

This Roman emperor was the stepson of Augustus and ruled over Rome during the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

answer

D) Tiberius

question

This is the name of the Roman general that captured Jerusalem and burned the Jewish Temple there in 70 CE.

answer

B) Titus

question

One of the most important sources of information about the Jewish revolt against Rome is _________________, a Jewish historian who was eyewitness to many of the events in the Revolt.

answer

A) Flavius Josephus

question

The Greco-Roman ruler cult began with a priest of the god Ammon informing someone that this ruler was the son of Amon-Ra (and he was believed). Who was the ruler?

answer

A) the king of Egypt, Alexander the Great

question

When did the Jewish people finally restore the nation of Israel?

answer

C) 1948 CE

NT part 1 – Flashcard

Unlock all answers in this set

Haven't found what you were looking for?

Search for samples, answers to your questions and flashcards