Deck 1: Introduction

Question 1

According to Steven Prothero, how many American adults can name a Gospel?

A) 25%
B) 35%
C) 50%
D) 65%.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Sociologist Christian Smith argued that Americans implicitly embrace a generic faith. What did he call that faith?

A) Christianity lite
B) Moralistic, therapeutic deism
C) American civil religion
D) Homo religiosus

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The author argues that understanding religion, particularly Christianity, is crucial for students. Which of the following is not one of the reasons he gives?

A) Much of the cultural history of the West would be unintelligible without it
B) Humans are religious by nature
C) Not knowing about one's religion keeps one from deeply engaging in one's religious community
D) The dynamics of religion need to be understood to understand what brings social harmony and what brings social conflict

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What comparison did the author use to distinguish religious from nonreligious demands?

A) School
B) Music
C) Sports
D) Watching TV

Question 5

The author argues that most Americans are religiously illiterate. Which reason was not given by the author to explain this?

A) Religion has been virtually eliminated from public schools
B) Religion has been virtually eliminated from public discourse
C) Religions in contemporary America demand little from their adherents
D) Religions in contemporary America are too divided to have a coherent message

Question 6

How did sociologist Mircea Eliade describe human nature?

A) Deus magnus
B) Homo dei
C) Homo religious
D) Perspectus transcendus.

Question 7

According to the author, how many Christians are there worldwide?

A) 1.5 billion
B) 2.2 billion
C) 3.1 billion
D) 3.8 billion

Question 8

In just over the last 100 years, Christianity has grown in Africa by how much?

A) Doubled
B) Tripled
C) Grown over ten times as large
D) Grown almost 65 times as large

Question 9

The author claims that Christianity is fundamentally a religion about:

A) Jesus
B) Religion itself
C) Religion for religion's sake
D) God.

Question 10

The author discusses biblical authority by parsing the Latin word auctoritas. What does auctoritas literally mean?

A) Authority
B) Dominance or control
C) Origination or source
D) Finality or completion

Question 11

Which of the following is not part of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral?

A) Reason
B) Revelation
C) Tradition
D) Scripture

Question 12

According to the author, on what basis did the church discern which texts should be part of the New Testament?

A) Tradition
B) They declared themselves written by apostles
C) They were true
D) They had authority.

Question 13

The author describes a secular scholarship's approach to the Bible as

A) The same way they treat other claimed canonical texts
B) Not spiritually wise
C) Necessarily not inspiring
D) Inherently wrong.

Question 14

What is a biblicist?

A) Someone who believes the Bible is the word of God
B) Someone who believes the Bible is not the word of God
C) Someone who believes the Bible was written by God
D) Someone who thinks the Bible ought to be memorized.

Question 15

Which of the following best reflects the author's comprehension about being a Biblical Christian?

A) It is about exploring, appreciating, and applying biblical themes within the context of one's spiritual life
B) It is about seeing the Bible as the sole word of God and directing one's life by its every teaching
C) It is about allowing one's soul to be dominated by the biblical word, so that every spiritual thought is biblically inspired and directed
D) It is about being a biblical fundamentalist (which the author criticizes).

Question 16

Sociologist Peter Berger argued that the United States is a highly religious country ruled by nonreligious politicians.

Question 17

The last five presidents were practicing Christians.

Question 18

A real scholar of religion, whether a believer or not, has to work solely as an outsider so as not to be biased.

Question 19

The author believes that faith claims are, by their very nature, not aligned to reason.

Question 20

The author believes that most religious scholars are biblicists.

Question 21

The author describes various "criticisms" scholars use to interpret the Bible, for example, form criticism. By this he means that scholars criticize the Bible through various literary tools.

Question 22

There is a high correlation between religious observance and good citizenry.

Question 23

Most Christians give the Bible the pride of place as authority.

Question 24

One of the problems of modern Christian scholarship is that it reduces the Bible's contents.

Question 25

The author claims that the greatest problem in Biblicism is that it is philosophically naïve about the nature of God.

Question 26

The author believes that Americans are understudied regarding religion. In addition to the reasons provided, are there other factors in American culture that may have contributed to such a lack of understanding?

Question 27

The author cites sociologist Christian Smith who believes many Americans embrace a type of generic faith, which Smith calls "moralistic, therapeutic deism." This is a worldview of a kind of distant, benign God who demands little and offers little in this life. Do you think this assessment of American religiosity is correct? What do you think of this picture of American religiosity?

Question 28

The author distinguishes between "insiders" and "outsiders" in scholarship. What are examples in your own life where you are privy to information or experience that is unobtainable from the outside? Are there any experiences in your life where others' experience or commitments may have skewed their objectivity?

Question 29

What is your view of the Biblicist position? Do you agree with the author's critique? Why or why not?

Question 30

The author's apparent approach to the Bible is through various forms of biblical analysis, such as form criticism, historical critical method, and so on. From the perspective of religious believers, do you think this is an appropriate way to engage the Bible? Why or why not?