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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. What did the temple at Jerusalem serve as, in terms of a symbol?

2. What does Mack claim about Paul's letters to Colossians and Ephesians?

3. Why are the Epistles of Peter and Jude called the Catholic epistles?

4. What does Mack claim both Marcion and Valentinus offered?

5. What two sources does Mack claim Matthew used for his gospel?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Mack's observations about James as an author in the first three centuries.

2. What were the two key arguments that the centrists tried to use against the non-centrist positions of Valentinus and Marcion?

3. Explain the conversion of Constantine, and why it was pivotal in the creation of the Bible.

4. What are the standard writing conventions used in the Acts of the Apostles?

5. What are the significant differences between the Pauline and Johannine traditions, as discussed by Mack in chapter 8?

6. What was Marcion of Sinope's logic, in terms of his views of two Gods, and what to do about the Jewish contamination in the gospels?

7. Explain the observations Mack claims are important about Mark's use of the pronouncement stories.

8. What two values are integrated in the Letters of Ignatius, and what is the result?

9. What two strong desires drove Christianity?

10. What are the major points of the sermons contained in the Acts, according to Mack?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the letter by Paul to the Galatians. Why is it important? What happened to entice the letter from Paul? What question was Paul trying to answer? What was his argument, in terms of how the Christians could receive the same blessings as the Jews? Explain that argument in detail. What issues does Mack see, in terms of the validity of the argument? Was this argument continued by Paul in later letters? Why or why not? What does this say about Paul's own opinion of his argument?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Mack's interpretation of Paul's argument to the Thessalonians in terms of the question of those who had already perished. What was the original intent of the question, according to Mack? How did Paul respond? What were his arguments? How did he alter the message of the Christ myth to fit his argument? Why was the question of a concern for the dead a common issue in the Easter Mediterranean? Why does Mack argue that Paul's response to the question indicates the question was really about belonging? How did Paul's answers lead to an idea of eternal life?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss, in depth, the three concerns written about in the treatise that is the Epistle to the Hebrews. What three concerns does the author either discuss openly, or imply? Why were these particular concerns? What had happened in society that caused these concerns? How did the letter address these concerns? How are these concerns interrelated, according to Mack? What does Mack claim this shows the author was trying to do? Do you agree? Why or why not?

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