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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where did Rome place its power in the second and first centuries?
(a) In its laborers.
(b) In its priests.
(c) In its field commanders.
(d) In its politicians.

2. What does Mack say the Christ cult laid the foundation for?
(a) A distinctly Christian mentality.
(b) The Church.
(c) A battle between the Christ cult and the Jesus movements.
(d) A Roman-Christian war.

3. What does Mack note causes some of the differences between the stories of the New Testament?
(a) They were written by different people from different groups.
(b) They were written by the same person over the course of time.
(c) They were written by different people of the same group.
(d) They were written by one person, posing as different people.

4. What do Paul's letters to the Romans represent?
(a) An angry accusation of lewdness and persecution.
(b) A complete statement of his religious ideas.
(c) A defense against other missionaries.
(d) A plea for the Romans to accept Christianity.

5. What does Mack claim about the authors of the sections in the New Testament?
(a) They were descendants of Jesus.
(b) They are the people each section is attributed to.
(c) They were uneducated militants, rebelling against the Church.
(d) They are not the people each section is attributed to.

6. What did Paul's Jewish sensibility place high value on?
(a) Holiness.
(b) Community.
(c) Honor.
(d) Divinity.

7. What did the Christ hymn imply about the domain of Jesus?
(a) It encompassed all people.
(b) It encompassed only the gentiles.
(c) It diminished in size.
(d) It encompassed only the Jews.

8. What does Mack claim the Christ hymn was the result of?
(a) A burning desire for a personal Deity.
(b) A lie by the disciples.
(c) A conflict of authority.
(d) A vision of Paul.

9. Where does evidence for the Christ cult come from?
(a) The Sayings of Q.
(b) The Dead Sea Scrolls.
(c) Letters of Paul written in the 50s.
(d) The Gospel of Thomas.

10. What does Mack claim was the slogan for Paul's gospel?
(a) Freedom from sin.
(b) Freedom from the law.
(c) Freedom from persecution.
(d) Freedom from exile.

11. What does Mack claim about the image of Christ asking his disciples to eat and drink of him?
(a) It is literary.
(b) It is imaginary.
(c) It is impossible.
(d) It is historical.

12. What is the myth of Jesus' death and resurrection rooted in, according to Mack?
(a) The ideas of the kingdom of God.
(b) The ideas surrounding hero worship.
(c) The concept of divinity.
(d) The concept of martyrdom.

13. Why were issues such as homosexuality a source of cultural conflict?
(a) It was not accepted by any culture.
(b) It was unheard of in any culture.
(c) It was accepted by all cultures.
(d) It was accepted by one culture, and rejected by another.

14. What way did ethnic or cultural groups create small social units within the larger culture they found themselves in?
(a) They met in educational institutions.
(b) They met in government.
(c) They worked with one another.
(d) They created fellowships and associations.

15. Why did Paul tone down his views of the freedom of Christians?
(a) He was told by God to tame the behaviors of man.
(b) He did not want a repeat of the out of control behaviors at Corinth.
(c) He was reverting back to his Jewish roots.
(d) He wanted to tie down Christians to make them more holy.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many layers of the Gospel Q exist?

2. Why does Mack believe the stories in the New Testament were chosen to be included?

3. What was contained in the "Jefferson Bible"?

4. What two words came to represent the debate between power and the divine law of nature?

5. What does Mack claim is the reason for the many portrayals of Jesus?

(see the answer keys)

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