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Understanding the Bible: Sixth Edition, 6/e

Stephen Harris, California State University--Sacramento

Additional Portraits of Jesus:Noncanonical Gospels and the Quest for the Historical Jesus

Multiple Choice Quiz


1	The Gospel of Thomas is preserved completely only the language of
		A)	Greek
		B)	Hebrew
		C)	Latin
		D)	Coptic


2	One of the most intriguing things about the Gospel of Thomas is that
		A)	it clearly predates any of the canonical gospels
		B)	in its emphasis on Jesus' sayings and the absence of a passion narrative, it takes a form very similar to the hypothetical Q
		C)	Like John, it records no parables
		D)	it gives independent versions of several of Jesus' healing miracles


3	The Secret Gospel of Mark records
		A)	the story of the raising of Lazarus from John
		B)	an infancy narrative that confirms Luke's account
		C)	Q sayings
		D)	what Jesus did between his death and resurrection


4	The Infancy Gospel of James does not include what
		A)	an account of Mary's miraculous birth to Joachim and Anna
		B)	Herod's attempt to eliminate a potential rival as in Matthew
		C)	midwives' discovery that Mary remained a virgin after Jesus' birth
		D)	Jesus' miraculous turning of twelve clay pigeons into live birds when he is a child


5	The surviving portion of the Gospel of Peter includes only
		A)	an infancy narrative
		B)	an account of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection
		C)	a number of sayings
		D)	Jesus' raising of Lazarus
		E)	stories about Jesus' childhood


6	The earliest person to write about Jesus was
		A)	Flavius Josephus
		B)	Mark
		C)	Matthew
		D)	Paul


7	The earliest non-Christian evidence about Jesus comes from
		A)	Tacitus
		B)	Flavius Josephus
		C)	Pliny the Younger
		D)	a letter from Pontius Pilate to the emperor


8	Scholars do not use the following criterion to help them test the authenticity of Jesus' words and deeds:
		A)	dissimilarity
		B)	multiple attestation
		C)	the embarrassment factor
		D)	source criticism


9	Among the New Testament ideas concerning when Jesus became the son of God are
		A)	at his conception
		B)	at his resurrection
		C)	at his baptism
		D)	all of the above


10	Scholars date Jesus birth to
		A)	the year 0
		B)	around 4-6 bce
		C)	1 bce
		D)	1 ce

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