Now be honest! Try to answer these questions before looking at the next
article!

Here is a quiz once posted to bit.listserv.christia. The
original author is Russell Turpin, (so don’t blame me!) and I know of
one person who managed to get every answer correct (complete with
annotations) so it is not impossible.

In light of Happy Otter’s remarks about Christian knowledge I look
forward to seeing the results! (I have deleted Russell Turpin’s
remarks for brevity, but he makes the same point as Happy Otter [being
an atheist himself], only rather more eloquently).

The quiz is imagined as a “final exam” for a hypothetical
freshman course on Biblical history. Not all questions have
“right” answers. It is closed book. Grammar and spelling count.
Those who know this subject well (of whom there are not many in
this newsgroup, and I am not one) will likely criticize some of
the questions or find them simplistic, but this will be
informative, too. Have fun.

BEGIN THE QUIZ

GENERAL

Name three books in the Catholic Bible that are not
in the Protestant Bible.

Name three ancient, Christian apocryphal works in neither.

What are the oldest surviving religious writings?

NEW TESTAMENT

Which books of the New Testament did John the Elder
allegedly write? Says who?

For whom was Mark supposedly an amaneunsis? Who gave
us this tradition?

What language did Jesus speak?

According to traditional attributions, who is the major
author of the New Testament? The second author? Were
either of these with Jesus during his travels and
preachings?

If you are a teacher, and two students turn in papers
that include sections that are identical, does that
indicate a common source, i.e., that not both are
original? What if this occurs in three gospels?

According to traditional attributions, how many of the
original twelve apostles contributed to the New Testament?

What did Origen cut off? Why did Tertullian believe?
BONUS: Answer the second question in Latin.

Other than Origen and Tertullian, name three church
fathers of the second and third centuries.

Who wrote the Gospel according to Thomas? Says who?

What are the synoptic gospels? What do they have in
common?

Which of the four canonical gospels, in its oldest
version, gives no account of the resurrected
Jesus?

It was common in the ancient world for a disciple or
student to write what a famous person or teacher
(allegedly) said, and put the teacher’s name on the
work. How does the importance of such indirect
attributions differ for philosophical works (e.g.,
Socrates’ apology) as opposed to historical or
biographical works?

OLD TESTAMENT

What is the Torah?

Which book of the Old Testament was partly written in
Aramaic? What is the importance of this?

What is the Septuagint? Which Ptolemy commissioned it?
What tradition explains its name? Why is it important?

From which older culture do some scholars think parts
of Levitical law derive? To what kind of evidence do
they appeal?

Which was written first, the Pentateuch or the
Homeric epics? (This is a trick question; the goal is
to give an answer that makes some kind of sense.)

Which occurred first, Moses leading the Jews out of
Egypt, or the Achaean’s war against Troy? Other than the
Homeric epics, what evidence do we have for the latter?
Other than the Pentateuch, what evidence do we have
for the former?

Which country held Judah before Nebuchadnezzar’s reign?
BONUS: What does Nebuchadnezzar’s name mean?
BIG BONUS: What does “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin” mean?

What century did David live? Why are we more sure of
David’s existence than King Arthur’s?

What is a redactor?

What was special about the tribe of Levi?

Who was Antiochus Epiphanes? What was his importance
to the Old Testament?

Why are multiple sources postulated for the Pentateuch?

ESSAY

Name at least two cultures that influenced Jewish history
and that had deities whose ceremonies included sexual
activity. Describe the ceromonies and their importance.
Name the gods. Explain how the conflict between these
cultures and the Israelites influenced portions of the
Bible.

Name two heresies that were important prior to
Constantine. Name apocryphal works (if any) associated
with these. In the final analysis, what determines
orthodoxy? Is your answer from the viewpoint of a
particular sect or based on prior religious assumptions?
In what sense is it objective?

Jesus, among some other famous religious leaders, never
wrote a book, nor otherwise left us a direct composition
of his thoughts. Instead, we have only sayings that
others attribute to him (most likely via oral tradition).
Even if we make the assumption that all such quotes are
verbatim, does the process of setting the context and
selecting what was important enough to write down
constitute an interpretation? Is there any sense in
which we “can go back to the source” and study Jesus’s
own thoughts the way we can study, for example,
Wittgenstein’s or Jefferson’s?

Who was the thirteenth apostle? How would Christianity
be different if he had not become Christian?

END OF QUIZ