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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what year was "Now and Then" written?

2. What is Dudley Knott's wife's name?

3. When the author asked another of his atheist students what he have faith in, the student replied he had faith in ____.

4. The scripture passage in the beginning of Part Two of the book says that we were created in the likeness and image of who?

5. The author likens the way we scurry through life to ____, in how we keep busy, busy, ignoring the big things while small things loom large.

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the author describe about the Tower of London?

2. How do our other selves develop as explained in Part Two of "Telling Secrets?"

3. What can you tell about the author and his time at Union Theological Seminary?

4. What events from the author's life most fit the title for Part Two of "Telling Secrets?"

5. What differences did the author write about among Union students as well as what they all shared?

6. How does the author connect his feelings to what he describes about the Tower in London?

7. Besides complaints about him praying in his first class at Harvard, what other surprises did the author's students give him?

8. Who is Naya?

9. Why does the author go to Bermuda as a child?

10. How did the author translate his hotel dream into his real life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author talks about the pluralism of Harvard Divinity School. What makes Harvard pluralistic (as described by the author)? What happens in the author's Harvard classroom that helps him conclude that pluralism can become factionalism? What is factionalism (as presented in the book)?

Essay Topic 2

The author taught on the east coast and in the mid-west. Explain his thoughts about each experience, using details from the book. Also, identify the major differences that existed between the two in regards to religious discussions, and the students he taught; and how these differences contributed to the author's experiences.

Essay Topic 3

The author's mother is quoted in Part One of the book as saying, "If I didn't have something to look for, I would be lost." Answer either A or B.

A. Why does she make this statement? Discuss the significance of the mother losing her beauty and trying to find it daily with her make-up and other enhancements, in relation to her state of mind, her health, and her relationship with her sons and her caregivers/friends.

B. Why does the author describe the statement as one of his mother's "most shimmering utterances?" How does this theme of "lost and found" play out throughout the details of the author's life described in the book - his family (mom and brother, wife and kids), friends, students?

(see the answer keys)

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