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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Valentinus described the Mother as the Grace, the Silence, the _________ and the Mother of All.
(a) Air.
(b) Womb.
(c) Dress.
(d) Chalice.

2. What did the brothers devour as a part of their avenging of the death of their father by a murderer?
(a) The royal pig.
(b) Their own blood.
(c) The killer's heart.
(d) A cow.

3. The Gnostic teachers tell the story of the ___________ differently from their orthodox brethren, according to Pagels.
(a) Temple.
(b) Crucifixion.
(c) Garden of Eden.
(d) Resurrection.

4. Two separate versions of Paul's experience in Damascus have spectators hearing the voice, but only one account includes the _________.
(a) Burning bush.
(b) Cross.
(c) Light.
(d) Storm.

5. The Gnostics called the orthodox view the faith of ___________, according to the text presented in the chapter.
(a) Sheep.
(b) Fools.
(c) The Lost.
(d) No one.

Short Answer Questions

1. John, emotionally distraught over the crucifixion, announces the Trinity as the Father, Mother and __________.

2. Pagels talks about three different interpretations of the Divine - as the _______, as the Holy Spirit, and as Wisdom.

3. The ___________ of the original Greek gospels by various scholars enhanced the controversy around them.

4. What does Jesus eat before the eyes of his disciples after he has risen from the death, according to some accounts?

5. A __________ tourist in 1769 bought a Coptic codex near Thebes, which helped to explain more about the time period of the gospels.

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Marcus the Magician relate to the idea of a feminine God or God-figure?

2. What is the tradition that developed, though not completely logical and contradicted by two other gospels?

3. What kind of criteria would the Gnostics give as being the true definition of a Christian?

4. What did Mohammed and his brothers do to the man who was responsible for killing their father?

5. What do most people agree about in terms of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?

6. After the death of Judas, the only true candidate for succession was which apostle?

7. What is the idea that Marcion concluded about God since he found a brutal God in the Old Testament and a compassionate God in the New Testament?

8. Who were the Gnostics attacked by, as revealed in the Second Treatise of the Great Seth?

9. When Paul is writing in his letters, he refers to something that is 'whether it is in the body or out of the body I do not know.' What is he referring to?

10. What was the debate the gnostic teachers had about the idea of the Dyad in the relationship of God?

(see the answer keys)

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