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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who was the person from whom Christianity originated?
(a) Jesus, a Jewish tax collector
(b) Jesus, a high priest of the Jews
(c) Jesus, a Jewish carpenter
(d) Jesus, a Jewish fisherman

2. Simply put, what is the Protestant Principle?
(a) A creed to memorize
(b) A special construction of church buildings
(c) A warning against idolatry
(d) An emphasis on mission work

3. What was the major contribution to religion of the Israelite people?
(a) Neotheism
(b) Agnosticism
(c) Monotheism
(d) Polytheism

4. What does Huston Smith say about the existence of religions prior to the historical ones of the last 4,000 years?
(a) Modern religions were prefigured by the primal, tribal religions.
(b) The world had no religious experience prior to 4,000 B. C.
(c) Modern religions were the first instances of religion on earth.
(d) Prior to Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam, people had no concept of religion.

5. Why do primal religions defy any form of literature?
(a) Writing stories changes the meaning behind the words.
(b) Human memory is at the very heart of the religion itself.
(c) Traditionally the story tellers must be illiterate.
(d) It is impossible to transcribe the sounds accompanying primal tales.

6. In Islam, what is the responsibility of the husband of more than one wife?
(a) That he favor the one who bears sons
(b) That he treat each equally
(c) That he keep them in separate houses
(d) That the first wife picks out the second

7. As a chosen people, what were the Jews to do?
(a) Write and read
(b) Sing and pray
(c) Teach and compel
(d) Serve and suffer

8. What is the basis for Protestant belief?
(a) The denial of individual relationship with God
(b) The Bible as the living word of God
(c) The great preachers who challenged Rome
(d) The right of the church to change scripture

9. What is the greatest threat to the primal religions?
(a) Disbanding of tribes
(b) Passing time and literacy
(c) Modern interpretation
(d) No missionary efforts

10. How is it said that Jews are more united?
(a) In how they do business than where they do business
(b) In who they know rather than what they know
(c) In what they do rather than what they think
(d) In where they live rather than how they live

11. What is wrong with science questioning religion's ability to answer questions of ultimate reality?
(a) Science is not concerned with it.
(b) Science cannot find a cure for the common cold.
(c) Science has facts to work with.
(d) Science has also been unable to answer those questions.

12. Why do primal religions draw no strict lines between the temporal and the spiritual?
(a) They are not sure which one they are in most of the time.
(b) They are concerned with the preservation of natural and cosmic harmony.
(c) They do not see a difference between the two at all.
(d) They do not have a concept of the spiritual.

13. What is the main thing gleaned from reading the Tao Te Ching?
(a) The idea that the Tao is within us
(b) The idea that Tao is earth, wind, and fire
(c) The idea that Tao is of the universe only
(d) The idea that it cannot be understood

14. What was the argument for the existence of the church?
(a) It was needed to replace temples of idolatry.
(b) It was needed for its political clout.
(c) It was needed to interpret scripture.
(d) It was needed to show its spiritual beginnings.

15. What is the term used by the Australian aborigines for the mystical realm of spirit?
(a) The Dreaming
(b) The Afterlife
(c) The big Sky
(d) The Great Spirit

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Huston Smith suggest as a better way to assess religions?

2. What is the sect of Islam that is introspective and mystic?

3. Why does Huston Smith not discuss a comparison of religions as to superiority?

4. According to the Koran, what marks the beginnings of Islam?

5. What passion within the Jewish people did their conquest inspire?

(see the answer keys)

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