Exam Questions 4th Edition The Historical Jesus Chapter.9

Chapter 9

Test Bank

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 01

1. How many first-century pagan authors mention Jesus?

a. none

b. one

c. two

d. three

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 02

2. The only Jewish author to mention Jesus within 100 years of his life is _____.

a. Josephus

b. Pliny

c. Plutarch

d. Apollonius

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 03

3. The first New Testament Gospel was written approximately _____ years after Jesus’ death.

a. five

b. fifteen

c. twenty-five

d. forty

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 04

4. All of the following are problems with using the Gospels to establish the historical Jesus except _____.

a. they were written decades after Jesus’ death

b. the authors were not eyewitnesses

c. none of the sayings go back to Jesus

d. the books were written anonymously

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 05

5. Scholars use all of the following criteria to determine the historical reliability of a tradition except _____.

a. earlier accounts are likely to be more reliable

b. highly developed theology is likely to reflect later traditions

c. author’s biases must be considered

d. the more popular books are likely reliable

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 06

6. Which of the following is not a criterion used by scholars to authenticate traditions about Jesus?

a. independent attestation

b. the criterion of dissimilarity

c. the criterion of similarity

d. contextual credibility

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 07

7. All of the following can be used to show independent attestation of a tradition except _____.

a. Mark

b. Luke

c. Q

d. Signs Source

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 08

8. The criterion of dissimilarity says that a tradition is more likely historically reliable if _____.

a. it agrees with Jesus’ teachings

b. it agrees with proto-orthodox theology

c. it disagrees with the author’s theology

d. it is not found in another source

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 09

9. Jesus’ baptism by John does not pass _____.

a. independent attestation

b. the criterion of dissimilarity

c. contextual credibility

d. none (it passes all of the above)

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 10

10. Which of the following traditions does not pass the criterion of contextual credibility?

a. Jesus’ baptism

b. Jesus’ death

c. Jesus’ teaching to Nicodemus: “you must be born again”

d. Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 11

11. Which of the following best summarizes Jesus’ impact on wider society in his own day?

a. practically none

b. brief fame before death

c. regional impact but not much outside Judea

d. similar to the Beatles

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 12

12. Which of the following people/groups was not apocalyptically minded?

a. John the Baptist

b. Sadducees

c. Jesus

d. Paul

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 13

13. All of the following are true of Jesus’ understanding of the kingdom of God except _____.

a. it was coming soon

b. it would be on earth

c. it would be brought by the Son of Man

d. Peter would rule over it

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 14

14. Which is not a problem historians face when studying Jesus?

a. Earliest sources are from many years after his life.

b. highly biased sources

c. no pagan witnesses

d. only one eyewitness source

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 15

15. Jesus provides the continuity of apocalyptic belief between which of the following?

a. John the Baptist and the early church

b. Tacitus and the church

c. Paul and the church

d. There is no continuity of apocalyptic belief.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 16

16. Jesus began his ministry _____.

a. by preaching in the temple

b. by being baptized by John

c. by arguing with the Pharisees

d. by joining the Essene community

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 17

17. Jesus identified most closely with _____.

a. the Sadducees

b. the Essenes

c. John the Baptist

d. the Fourth Philosophy

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 18

18. All of the following are indications of Jesus’ apocalyptic actions except _____.

a. his crucifixion

b. the cleansing of the Temple

c. calling twelve disciples

d. his preexistence

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 19

19. Which of the following is not true about Cynics?

a. They were philosophers.

b. They rarely bathed.

c. They generally enjoyed the finer things of life.

d. The word literally means “dog”.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 20

20. All of the following were groups that associated with Jesus except _____.

a. Zealots

b. women

c. tax collectors

d. sinners

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 21

21. All of the following are associated with Jesus’ apocalyptic thought except _____.

a. the coming kingdom of God

b. the coming judgment brought by the Son of Man

c. the reversal of fortunes

d. righteous people would be taken up alive into heaven

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 22

22. Which of the following is not a major tenet of apocalypticism?

a. pessimism

b. militarism

c. vindication

d. imminence

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 23

23. According to the Gospels, people believed that Jesus’ ability to work miracles reflected all of the following except _____.

a. he was empowered by Beelzebul

b. he was empowered by God

c. he was like other prophets

d. he would die

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 24

24. Jesus was tried before all of the following except _____.

a. the Sanhedrin

b. Pontius Pilate

c. Caiaphas

d. Tiberius

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 25

25. Historically speaking, it is probable that Jesus came to Jerusalem at the end of his life to _____.

a. die for the sins of the world

b. bring his message to the center of Judaism

c. celebrate Yom Kippur

d. be raised from the dead

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 26

26. Which of the disciples betrayed Jesus?

a. Peter

b. James

c. Judas

d. John

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 27

27. The Romans convicted Jesus because _____.

a. he blasphemed by claiming to be God

b. he claimed to be king

c. he was not Roman

d. he broke the Jewish law

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 28

28. Before condemning someone to death, Roman governors _____.

a. had to hold a public trial

b. had to ask the emperor for permission

c. had to receive approval from the Sanhedrin

d. were not required to do anything

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 29

29. Historically speaking, who was responsible for Jesus’ death?

a. Sadducees

b. Pharisees

c. Herod

d. Pontius Pilate

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 30

30. Death by crucifixion was saved for _____.

a. the prestigious members of society

b. the lowest members of society

c. rulers

d. Christians

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 01

1. What are the problems with using the New Testament Gospels to reconstruct the historical Jesus? Can we overcome these problems? How?

Feedback: The New Testament Gospels present several problems to the scholar wishing to reconstruct the historical Jesus. The Gospels were not written by eyewitnesses but are the products of thirty-five to sixty-five years of oral traditions. During the years between Jesus’ death and the Gospels, stories of Jesus were told for conversion purposes and likely changed to fit particular circumstances; some stories may have been fabricated wholesale. The modification of stories did not end when they were written down: the Gospel writers continued to change stories to further their own theological agendas. To sort through the layers of accumulated tradition, scholars have devised a set of criteria by which to judge the authenticity of stories about Jesus: the criterion of independent attestation, the criterion of dissimilarity, and the criterion of contextual credibility.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 02

2. Discuss the criteria scholars use to test the authenticity of a Gospel tradition. What is the logic behind each? Choose one or two examples from the Gospels and apply the criteria to them.

Feedback: The criterion of independent attestation states that stories that appear in multiple sources that are independent of one another are more likely to be historically reliable. For example, several sources attest to Jesus’ association with John the Baptist, that Jesus had a brother named James, and that Jesus taught in parables. These traditions, therefore, are likely historically reliable. The criterion of dissimilarity states that a story that goes against the Christian agenda is likely to be historically reliable, because it is unlikely that Christians would fabricate a story that worked against their beliefs. For example, all of the following pass the criterion of dissimilarity: Jesus’ baptism, his betrayal by Judas, and his crucifixion. The criterion of contextual credibility states that any story that cannot plausibly be placed within a first-century Palestinian setting is not historically reliable. For example, Jesus’ encounters with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John depend on a verbal misunderstanding in Greek, but Jesus and his followers spoke Aramaic. These stories, therefore, are not contextually credible and are not reliable traditions about the historical Jesus.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 03

3. Many scholars believe that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet. Explain what they mean by this, what evidence they use to argue for it, and how persuasive you find it to be.

Feedback: When scholars refer to Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet, they mean that Jesus preached the imminent coming of the Day of Judgment and the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. When God overthrows the forces of evil, he will establish a new kingdom on earth where there will be no suffering or injustice. There are many elements of Jesus’ life and ministry that may point to his apocalyptic belief: (i) He associated with John the Baptist who preached an apocalyptic message; (ii) he preached the coming kingdom of God and the need to repent and prepare for its arrival; (iii) Jesus provides the link between the apocalyptic John and the apocalyptic Paul; (iv) he may have been crucified because his apocalyptic teachings threatened the future of the political and religious powers; (v) he had twelve disciples, perhaps symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel; (vi) he associated with outcasts and taught that their lot would be reversed in the kingdom of God; (vii) his healings may have illustrated to his followers that God had power over evil; and (viii) Jesus’ resurrection was interpreted as the first fruits of the anticipated general resurrection that would take place when the kingdom of God arrived.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 04

4. Discuss the non-Christian sources for the historical Jesus that date within one hundred years of his death. How helpful are these sources? What information do they give us?

Feedback: There are only three pagan sources that date within one hundred years of Jesus’ death: Pliny, Suetonius, and Tacitus. Pliny and Suetonius give some information about Christians and early Christian practice but offer no information about Jesus himself. Tacitus, on the other hand, does corroborate information found in the New Testament about Jesus’ death (Jesus was executed at the hands of Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius). Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, mentions Jesus twice in his Antiquities of the Jews. In one instance, Josephus says that Jesus had a brother named James who was executed under the rule of Ananus the high priest. Josephus’ other reference to Jesus is problematic. In this passage, Josephus confesses that Jesus was the messiah. Because Josephus never converted, scholars believe Christian scribes embellished this passage. Scholars suggest, however, that the passage does contain some information from Josephus himself: Jesus had a following of Jews and Gentiles, and he was condemned by Pilate because of the accusations of the Jewish leaders and was crucified.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 01

1. Summarize what we would know about Jesus if all we had were non-Christian sources of the first and second centuries CE.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 02

2. Why do the New Testament Gospels pose problems for determining who Jesus was and what he said and did?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 03

3. Be able to explain to your roommate three rules of thumb used for establishing authentic traditions about Jesus and the logic behind each of them.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 04

4. What are the leading tenets of apocalypticism? In what ways can this be called an ideology of resistance?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 05

5. What evidence suggests that Jesus was an apocalypticist? Does this evidence seem persuasive to you?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 06

6. How can understanding Jesus as a Jewish apocalypticist help to explain the various things that he appears to have said and done?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 07

7. What can historians say more or less for certain about the last week of Jesus’ life? Why was Jesus executed? Who was ultimately responsible for his death? Who actually performed the deed?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 08

8. What is the connection between John the Baptist and the early church? Are their views related? If so, how and what does the connection tell us about the historical Jesus?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 09

9. Who is the Son of Man? Where does the title come from? How is it used in the New Testament?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 09 Question 10

10. What are the issues surrounding the Q source and apocalypticism. Is Q apocalyptic?