Deck 5: Christianity Becomes a Religion

Question 1

What is Rabbinic Judaism?

A) A religious party in Judaism that made rabbis the new chief priests
B) The revision of Judaism after the fall of the temple
C) A sect of Judaism that believed in Jesus while still holding leadership in the Jewish community
D) A group of Jews who were destroyed by Rome

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following factors was not cited as a reason why Christianity became a separate religion from Judaism?

A) The apostle Peter declared it a new religion, though it would take decades for this to be embraced
B) Christians taught that the Jewish Law had nothing to do with salvation
C) There was a progressive shifting of loyalties and communities
D) It had sociologically become a separate religion

Answer 2

A

Question 3

When did emperors begin to distinguish believers in Jesus and Jews as distinctly different religious groups or religions?

A) Mid-first century
B) Late first century
C) Mid-second century
D) They never did

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What does the term orthodox literally mean?

A) True faith
B) True confession
C) Righteousness
D) Right teaching

Question 5

Scholars frequently call the collection of Christian texts found in Nag Hammadi:

A) Proto-Orthodox texts
B) Gnostic texts
C) Extra-Christian texts
D) Egyptian-Christian texts

Question 6

What does the term gnosis literally mean?

A) Heresy
B) Knowledge
C) Truth
D) Falsehood

Question 7

The Gnostic leader Valentinus taught that:

A) The twelve apostles were not the true apostles
B) Christ was not the true Christ
C) The Jewish God was not the true God
D) The time of reckoning was on us

Question 8

What does cosmology mean?

A) References the structure of the universe
B) References the creation of the universe
C) References the stars, including astrology
D) Physics

Question 9

According to Valentinus, why did the Jewish God Yahweh create the world?

A) To make it possible for gods to speak to humans
B) To teach the aeons (eternities) a lesson
C) To trap the escaped spiritual substance called pneuma
D) To save the pleroma

Question 10

According to Valentinus, what were the categories of humanity?

A) Demons, humans not saved, and the true gnostics;
B) Only physical human beings, ordinary believers, and the true gnostics
C) Docetists, pagans, and Christians
D) The spiritually evil, the spiritually good, and the spiritually perfect

Question 11

Does the author claim that what became orthodox Christianity showed a great deal of continuity with the mission of the historical Jesus?

A) Yes
B) No
C) Yes, but only insofar as Jesus's death and resurrection
D) No, but it could have been much aligned

Question 12

What did docetism teach?

A) Jesus only appeared to be human
B) God only seemed to be God for us
C) The true faith was only available in the heavens
D) Religious believers in Jesus did not understand the true faith

Question 13

Gnostic theology:

A) Demanded that true believers divorce themselves from the larger group of Christians
B) Wanted everyone to believe in Jesus, and by doing so would return to the pleroma
C) Believed most people were actually ghosts
D) It was acceptable to be part of the larger community, but they transcended the average Christian's level of spirit

Question 14

What does the term apostle literally mean?

A) Guardian
B) One sent out
C) Truth bearer
D) Leader

Question 15

The author quotes Jesus giving the twelve apostles the power to bind and loosen. What does the author think this refers to?

A) The ability to make authoritative decisions
B) The ability to declare who would be saved and who would be damned
C) The ability to forgive sins on behalf of Jesus
D) The ability to "judge both heaven and earth"

Question 16

What is a presbyter?

A) An apostle of the churches
B) A bishop
C) An elder
D) A servant

Question 17

Which designations seem to have been equivalent in the New Testament?

A) Elders and deacons
B) Overseers and elders
C) Deacons and overseers
D) The author says that the New Testament distinguishes all of these

Question 18

In Clement of Rome's letter to the Corinthians, he argues that they should not remove and replace their elders. What was his reason?

A) They were holy men
B) The Bible forbids it
C) These are considered permanent church offices
D) The bishop did not explicitly demand it

Question 19

In the letters by Ignatius of Antioch, what theme dominates?

A) Church harmony
B) Faith in Christ
C) A clear separation from Judaism
D) Moral living

Question 20

What does the term catholic mean?

A) The church founded in Rome
B) Fully true
C) Of the whole
D) Assembly

Question 21

How were bishops related to the Catholic Church?

A) Agreement with each other universally bonded their communities
B) They were appointed by the bishop of Rome who represented universal communion
C) They were appointed by the magistrate, who ensured that they universally agreed on doctrine
D) They used the universal Christian prayer book

Question 22

What best characterizes the Roman Empire's toleration of various religions?

A) They were tolerated as long as adherents also made offerings to the emperor (Jews were exempt)
B) They were not tolerated at all, with the exception of Judaism
C) They were not tolerated, with the exception of Jewish and Egyptian worship
D) They were tolerated as long as adherents also worshiped the Roman gods.

Question 23

Which emperor accused Christians of starting a fire in Rome?

A) Augustus
B) Nero
C) Trajan
D) Decius

Question 24

According to the historian Tacitus, what was the attitude toward Christians in the late first century?

A) The government disliked them, but the populace favored them
B) They were ignored by everyone
C) Some government officials actually made them trusted advisors, but in secret
D) They were widely disliked and distrusted

Question 25

What is a confessor?

A) Someone who has the role of preaching the faith to the pagans
B) Someone who is severely persecuted for the faith, but not killed
C) A special priest who absolves sins of other Christians
D) Someone who confesses personal sins to the community

Question 26

What does the term martyr literally mean?

A) Witness
B) Hero
C) Villain
D) Pious one

Question 27

When was Christianity a legal religion?

A) 148
B) 257
C) 313
D) 421

Question 28

What is an apologist?

A) One who placates or assures another in the faith
B) One who defends or explains the faith
C) One who apologizes for the sins of the church
D) One who apologizes for the persecutions of the faith

Question 29

Who was one of the greatest early apologists?

A) Licinius
B) Rationis
C) Justin
D) Lucy

Question 30

What was the edict that made Christianity specifically legal?

A) Edict of Nantes
B) Edict of Rome
C) Edict of Universal Restoration
D) Edict of Milan

Question 31

Jesus started a new religion, but it took decades for it to become so.

Question 32

The author claims that Paul never left Judaism.

Question 33

Gnosticism scholar Elaine Pagels argued that the traditional accounts of the origin of Christianity were dominated by the perspective of "the winners who write history."

Question 34

Gnosticism scholar Elaine Pagels believed that if the many forms of Gnosticism had not been persecuted, they would have survived as a rival Christian expressions.

Question 35

The author claims that the Gospel of John resembles a gnostic text.

Question 36

The author claims that central gnostic claims were similar to those of Plato.

Question 37

The author claims that early Christianity was "up for grabs" in terms of how it became defined.

Question 38

The author claims that the Gospel of Philip was ironically closer to the synoptic gospels than the Gospel of John.

Question 39

The author claims that the term apostle was a floating term that had various meanings.

Question 40

Another word for presbyter is overseer.

Question 41

The author says that the early church was typically led by a collective of leaders.

Question 42

The author claims that the persecutions of Christians was unrelenting and universal throughout the Roman Empire.

Question 43

According to the author, it was disappointing that most Christian apologists were not among the more intelligent Christians.

Question 44

The author says that bishops eventually represented a number of communities.

Question 45

According to the author, Roman authorities suppressed any religion that did not worship their gods (except Judaism).

Question 46

The author cites several reasons for Christian believers breaking with Judaism and forming their own religion. None of these reasons seem to be particularly divinely inspired on the surface and none of them reflect Jesus's own preaching. Given this, do you think Christianity becoming a separate religion is divinely warranted from a Christian theological perspective?

Question 47

The author says that there were a wide variety of interpretations of Jesus. Further still, the author reminds us that "it is the winners who write history-their way." Still, the author believes that the Christianity that survived was more authentic and more in continuity with the historical Jesus than competing versions. What were his reasons for this? Evaluate them. Do you think he was right?

Question 48

We have seen that the gnostic Christian Valentinus thought that the God of the Old Testament was different than the true God of the Christians. What do you think of this view? Is it completely far-fetched, or is there some plausibility to it?

Question 49

Given that early church apologists confronted complaints against Christianity with reasoned argument, what are some issues that the church faces today that are most in need of apologetic answers?

Question 50

Do you think Christianity is now a religion under persecution? If so, in what ways?