Test Bank Ch13 Paul and Apostolic Mission

Chapter 13

Test Bank

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 01

1. Most scholars believe that Paul’s first letter was _____.

a. Philippians

b. 1 Thessalonians

c. 2 Thessalonians

d. Romans

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 02

2. Paul’s primary reason for writing 1 Thessalonians was _____.

a. to chastise the Thessalonians for ethical misconduct

b. to clarify the meaning of the Eucharist

c. to renew his friendship with the church

d. to praise their missionary efforts

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 03

3. Paul’s missions were typically located in _____.

a. large urban areas

b. rural villages

c. synagogues

d. outside the Roman Empire

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 04

4. When Paul entered a new town, he _____.

a. immediately celebrated Eucharist with the Christian community

b. stood in the streets preaching

c. met with the local church officials

d. opened a business

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 05

5. The book of Acts says that Paul _____.

a. did not work but relied on donations

b. did not work but lived off of his own wealth

c. worked with leather goods

d. was a shepherd

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 06

6. Paul’s first task in converting pagans was probably _____.

a. to convince them of his apostolic authority

b. to convince them of the importance of Jesus’ death and resurrection

c. to teach them Jesus’ parables

d. to convince them that there is only one God

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 07

7. It is probable that Paul’s converts were _____.

a. all wealthy

b. all poor

c. a mix of social classes

d. mostly Jews

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 08

8. Paul’s converts probably began _____.

a. living together

b. meeting together weekly

c. itinerant missions

d. building churches

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 09

9. Paul’s converts most likely met in _____.

a. houses

b. the Temple

c. the synagogue

d. church buildings

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 10

10. Christian house churches are similar to _____.

a. medieval cathedrals

b. Greco-Roman voluntary associations

c. the Temple

d. Stoicism

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 11

11. Greco-Roman voluntary associations did all of the following except _____.

a. socialize

b. eat together

c. provide suitable burial for members

d. guarantee salvation in the afterlife

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 12

12. Timothy reported to Paul that the Thessalonians _____.

a. had kept their faith solid

b. had lost faith altogether

c. had been influenced by subsequent missionaries

d. had forgotten the work Paul did among them

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 13

13. The longest part of 1 Thessalonians is _____.

a. the prescript

b. the thanksgiving

c. the body

d. the final blessing

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 14

14. During the New Testament period, _____.

a. Christianity was illegal

b. Christians were persecuted only by the emperor

c. Christians were occasionally persecuted by provincial authorities

d. Christianity was declared the state religion

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 15

15. In the New Testament period, the primary reason Christians experienced persecution was _____.

a. because Christianity was illegal

b. because their religion was new

c. because Christianity was a subgroup of Judaism

d. because Christians refused to worship the gods

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 16

16. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul urged the Christians to do all of the following except _____.

a. behave in pure ways

b. love one another

c. be good citizens

d. destroy pagan temples

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 17

17. The most important issue Paul addresses in 1 Thessalonians is _____.

a. what happens to Christians who have died

b. the illegality of Christianity

c. a schism in the community

d. the presence of false prophets

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 18

18. Why did Christian refusal to worship the state gods sometimes result in persecution?

a. Ancient people were especially intolerant.

b. Most believed the gods would punish people and cities that refused to honor them.

c. It resulted in a loss of income for state-sponsored temples.

d. It directly challenged the honor of the emperor.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 19

19. Paul assured the Thessalonians that _____.

a. they would no longer be persecuted

b. all of Jesus’ followers, dead and alive, would ultimately be together with Christ at his coming

c. Jesus’ followers would become governors in God’s earthly kingdom

d. they were right to reject false prophets

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 20

20. Paul wrote that _____.

a. the dead will enter into the presence of the Lord first

b. the living will enter into the presence of the Lord first

c. the dead and living will enter into the presence of the Lord simultaneously

d. only the living will enter into the presence of the Lord

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 21

21. Paul seems to have thought that _____.

a. he and the Thessalonians would die before the end comes

b. he and some of the Thessalonians would be alive when the end came

c. the end had already come

d. the end would not come

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 22

22. Paul claimed to be _____.

a. the only true Christian

b. an apostle of the Lord

c. one of the twelve disciples

d. a missionary to the Jews

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 23

23. Which of the following terms refers to an ancient group of buildings, including both business and living space, in a tight urban space?

a. insula

b. Stoicism

c. three-tiered universe

d. Artemis

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 24

24. Thessalonica was all of the following except _____.

a. part of the Roman province of Macedonia

b. a capital city

c. a predominantly Jewish city

d. a port city

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 25

25. Stoic and Cynic philosophers encouraged people to _____.

a. visit Paul

b. give up their attachments to worldly things

c. save money

d. believe in Jesus’ resurrection

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 26

26. When Paul ministered to the Gentiles, he appears to have taught them all of the following except _____.

a. the imminence of the end of the world

b. Jesus is the special Son of God

c. to turn away from idols

d. that all male converts should be circumcised

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 27

27. Which aspect of early Christian communities likely encouraged charges of perversion against them?

a. their belief in the resurrection

b. their belief in the imminent end of the age

c. their closed, private meetings

d. their letter-writing activity

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 28

28. Who seems to have made up the majority of Paul’s community at Thessalonica?

a. former pagans

b. former Jews

c. former Cynic philosophers

d. Samaritans

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 29

29. Communal cohesion among early Christian communities was fostered by all of the following except _____.

a. common beliefs and rules

b. shared experience of persecution

c. exclusive insider information

d. church buildings

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 30

30. Which approach searches for clues within a text about the social and historical situations of the author and his readers?

a. redactional

b. thematic

c. socio-historical

d. synoptic

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 01

1. Discuss Paul’s missionary tactics. How did he meet people, and how did he go about converting them?

Feedback: Paul typically chose large urban areas in which to establish churches, presumably because they offered more potential converts. He entered these cities and set up shop, working in some kind of leather trade. Scholars surmise that Paul began converting Gentiles by talking with them as they came into his shop. Paul would start by teaching about the Jewish God and the erroneous belief in the pagan gods. After convincing a person of the existence of the one true God, Paul went on to preach about this God’s son, Jesus, and the salvation that God offered to those who believed in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul also taught an apocalyptic worldview.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 02

2. How were Paul’s conversion tactics similar to those of Greco-Roman philosophers?

Feedback: Paul’s missionary activity was more like that of the philosophical schools than the Greco-Roman religions because he preached an exclusive way of life: Christians had to give up their former beliefs to follow Jesus. Greco-Roman religions were, moreover, not missionizing religions; however, some philosophical schools did actively seek converts. Like Paul, proselytizing philosophers focused on urban settings where there were a number of potential converts. Many were connected to wealthy households, but some, like Paul, believed in working for their living and were not dependent on others.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 03

3. Discuss the theme of apocalypticism in 1 Thessalonians. How can we reconstruct Paul’s beliefs based on this letter? How does apocalypticism relate to the occasion of Paul’s correspondence?

Feedback: The problem Paul addresses in 1 Thessalonians is the delay of the parousia. Paul taught the Thessalonians that Jesus would return very soon, but some in the community had already died. Paul assured this community that those who had died had not lost the promise but would be resurrected at the end of the age. This concern about the end and Paul’s response point to the centrality of apocalypticism in Paul’s missionary message.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 04

4. RESOLVED: Paul preached a message of inclusiveness and that early Christian churches were open to everyone. Pick a side and argue, keeping in mind that the most persuasive arguments anticipate and answer counterarguments.

Feedback: A good answer will consider that Paul’s gospel emphasizes that both Jews and Gentiles have equal access to God and salvation through Christ but also maintains strong ethical and behavioral requirements to which community members must be committed. Paul’s communities operated as distinct social groups with regular, private meetings in house churches and understood themselves as a closed group restricted to those who shared their beliefs and ethical commitments. Nevertheless, they were open to anyone who wanted to join, provided they agreed to share these beliefs and ethical commitments. These strict but still porous boundaries aided group cohesion, reinforcing the commitments of insiders.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 01

1. When was 1 Thessalonians written in relation to the other letters of Paul and other New Testament literature?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 02

2. According to 1 Thessalonians, how did Paul spread his gospel? With whom did he speak? In what kind of context? What did he say? What did he try to get people to believe?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 03

3. How did Paul organize his converts? How did he manage to deal with the communities he established after he left town?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 04

4. What is the occasion of 1 Thessalonians? How did the church begin? What problems arose after Paul left the community? What does Paul say to resolve the problems?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 05

5. Christians did not build churches until about two centuries after Jesus’ death. Instead, they met at people’s houses. How might meeting places of this kind have helped create cohesive social units?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 06

6. Might an ancient Thessalonian assume Paul was a philosopher? Why? Why not?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 07

7. What would an outsider think of the new Christian community in Thessalonica? Would it resemble any kind of group he or she already knew?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 08

8. What does an ancient Greco-Roman friendship letter typically involve? How does an awareness of this genre help us interpret Paul letters?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 09

9. What might Paul’s reference to the Thessalonian community’s suffering suggest?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: Chapter 13 Question 10

10. What does the notion of a three-storied universe involve? How is this view apparent in 1 Thessalonians?