(6 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading...Let’s see how you do on my Final Exam! Yesterday I gave the final for my Introduction to the New Testament class. Here it is. My sense is that as for every course, unless you actually take it, even if you know a good bit about the subject matter, it would be very hard to do well on the final, since, well, the final is geared specifically to the course. But some of this is more or less “common knowledge” for those well versed in the field.
The exam had three sections that were equally weighted: the first is a string of identifications, the second and third were essays. I allowed some choice in what to answer to provide some flexibility. Students had three hours to complete the exam. Some students finished in an hour and a half, a few stayed till the very end.
So … how would you do?
******************************************************************************
Reli 104 New Testament
Bart D. Ehrman
Spring 2016
Final Exam
IDENTIFICATIONS
Define ten of the following terms in fifty words or less (Do NOT write on this sheet, but state each term and define it in your bluebook). Be concise, but provide as much information in the space allotted as possible.
- Alexander the Great
- The Beloved Disciple
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- Criterion of Dissimilarity
- Marcion
- Socio-historical Method
- Sadducees
- Q
- Muratorian Fragment
- Sethians
- Ignatius
- Epistle
Extra Credit I.D.’s
- Robert Stephanus
- Demiurge
- Haruspex
ESSAYS
Write an essay on two of the following questions, one from Section A and one from Section B (you may not write an essay on two from the same section). Provide as much information as you can in your answer, giving as many details as possible. Work to make your essays well-conceived and well written.
Section A
- Choose one of the Gospels and discuss in detail the evidence that has led scholars to doubt the historical accuracy of some of its traditions.
- Discuss the information about Jesus that can be gleaned from sources found outside the four Gospels of the New Testament (Christian, Jewish, and pagan).
Section B
- Choose one of Paul’s undisputed letters (with the exception of Romans) and discuss the following issues: how was the church to which the letter is addressed founded, what problems have emerged since Paul left the community, and how does Paul deal with the problems? Brownie points for specific details.
- Discuss the rise of “orthodoxy” in early Christianity, paying special attention to the beliefs that came to be embraced by the orthodox Christian movement and to the strategies that it used to oppose those who appeared to take aberrant views. (Include a discussion of the Eusebian model for understanding orthodoxy and heresy, and the views of Walter Bauer.)
If you are not a member of the blog yet, JOIN!! You get 5-6 posts each and every week and it doesn’t cost much. And all the money goes to charity!!!
Never heard of Sethians, Robert Stephanus, or Haruspex.
Are all of these items In your textbook?
Yup! (Sethians are gnostics, btw)
Whew! I admire your students. I wouldn’t even give it a try – but of course, I’m just a layperson who doesn’t *need* to remember specifics about all those terms and issues. Whenever I do want specifics, I can look them up (usually, in one of your books!).
I’ll have you know I’m not cheating on this. This is totally from memory.
Alexander the Great — 4th century BCE Macedonian conqueror of the Persian Empire. His death in 323BCE inaugurated the Hellenistic Age.
The Beloved Disciple — a disciple mentioned in the Gospel of John, presumed to refer to the author himself, many Churches take him as the disciple John son of Zebedee
Dead Sea Scrolls — scrolls found in the 1940s within caves at the northwestern tip of the Dead Sea, next to an ancient site called Qumran, presumed to be the secret library of the Essenes
Criterion of Dissimilarity — criterion of textual criticism which weighs the reliability of an historical account against the background in which it was supposedly written, e.g. since Jesus preaches an apocalyptic message in the Gospels, and since apocalypticism was so popular during Jesus’ day and age, it’s not unreasonable to accept that the Gospels’ account of Jesus’ apocalyptic message is reliable.
Marcion — 2nd century Christian “heretic” who preached that the god of the Israelites was really an evil demiurge and that the god preached by Jesus was the true godhead. He only accepted Luke-Acts and some Epistles of Paul into his canon.
Socio-historical Method — I knew this once, but don’t remember.
Sadducees — one of the three Schools or Philosophies, as Josephus calls them, of the Jews during the time of Jesus. The Sadducees’ notable distinction was 1) a disbelief in the resurrection of the dead (and, presumably by association, the messianic age), 2) being concentrated mostly in the levitical and aristocratic elites of Jerusalem, 3) the belief that mens’ lives weren’t tied inexorably to fate (or predestination).
Q — the hypothetical source document from which Luke and Matthew received certain sayings of Jesus (that are unique to Luke and Matthew, i.e. absent from Mark). The letter Q comes from the German word for “source”.
Muratorian Fragment — I knew this once, but for the life of me…
Sethians — if I remember correctly, a gnostic sect? I think they were linked to Simon Magus, but I might be wrong.
Ignatius — 2nd century Bishop of Antioch. Wrote some epistles. Considered a Church Father.
Epistle — fancy word for a letter
Extra Credit I.D.’s
Robert Stephanus — name looks really familiar
Demiurge — in essence a creator god or divine being.
Haruspex — I know I’ve seen this word before
Pretty good!
Always interesting to read this annual post. This exam strikes me as more difficult than the one I took in your classes several years ago now; I certainly don’t miss the days of Bluebook exams!
-Ryan
Ha! It probably isn’t much more difficult, if at all; but you haven’t been studying all this material for the past three months! (Then again, that could be said for some of my current students….)
Daniel L. Schachter’s first sin of memory – transience. Or – in the case of some of your students – perhaps number 2 – absent-mindedness.
Ouch!!!
Hmmm, if you were in a charitable mood when grading my exam, I might just skim by with a D- ! I think I would have done pretty well for the definitions, with strong definitions for maybe 8 of the terms and weaker definitions for the other 2. And while I think I could have painted a reasonably accurate picture in a broad sense for the essays, I think you would have cited me for lack of depth in my arguments.
But thanks for sharing! It was an interesting exercise to think of what I could answer and what I couldn’t!
Do you find setting exam questions difficult? It must be quite hard to come up with sufficiently different questions each year while maintaining the difficulty of the exam at roughly the same level.
That’s why I get paid the big bucks…
I really wanted to take the final but I, cough cough, missed the exam because I was sick with the flu or plague or something like that, cough cough. I applied for a deferral just in time because … it was also a religious observance day for me. So now that I know the questions, cough cough ……. see you at an inconvenient date for the make-up test.
Yeah, you and others….
Too funny
50 words or less thats easy !!.. I would finish in a hour maybe less! Anyways man I would love to take this exam !!!
my paragraph structure might be a bit off but I would i would at least pass! lol ” common knowledge for well versed in the field ..) Im self taught with passion ! I can go on and on ! Fun fact of Alexander the great he had two different colored eyes blue and brown.. the beloved disciple I know most all those verses thats easy with out even reading .. And the other disciple out ran peter.. at the cross the beloved disciple is mentioned… john 21-24 Dead sea scrolll.. the Essenes ( not The, but Thee Teacher of Righteousness ) is that Marcion of Sinope …. suggested more than one god OT NT scrutiny and just and ruled out a lot of gospels . I assume that is Q.. Q source..I know that too ! and all the gospels found in Nag Hammadi and everything on sacred-text.com dialogues of plato.. and you better believe i have read most stories of THE OLYMPIANS !! know a lot of Egyptian as well ….. Solon stories of the Elder priest saying that Athens was how many years before Egypt was built on the nile …? that did it for me….anyways huh lets see information of jesus that can be gleaned from the 4 gospels thats easy ! very superstitious back then..? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John one inspiration for the 4 is the major winds..North, West, East, and South..Section A is easy…Section B is easy as well… I go on about your Proto- Orthodox as well … 🙂 Well without googling can answer most all but the Extra credit ID’s lol….. I can go on and on as you know! But this exam would be easy !!!
Well, I didn’t know these:
Muratorian Fragment
Robert Stephanus
Haruspex
but know something at length on everything else listed
I’m surprised colleges are still using hand-written blue books for exams. If there were a cost-effective, secure way to do these electronically, it would make it easier for the student to compose and easier for you to grade. Just saying.
Yeah, the problem is security….
I’ve no idea how much credit you would have given me, but I was able to supply some sort of response to nine of the identifications. I’m not counting Ignatius, because my response was, Weren’t there two? One from Antioch and one from Rome? Which I just realized is probably not the case. I was thinking of the two Clements, of Rome and Alexandria. Oh well. I didn’t try any of the essays. Thanks for posting. I have some learning to do!
No, the one from Antioch was martyred in Rome. Same guy.
I read up on him later this morning. I’ve read the letters, but had forgotten. I’m rereading Mark right now and came to the episode of the Gerasene demoniac. I’ve always liked the ending, when Jesus tells him to “go and tell what the lord has done for you,” and he tells everyone “what Jesus had done for him.” Why do you suppose the major exception to the pattern that no one understands who Jesus is, is a Gentile?
Also, I’ve wondered if the image of Jesus using a Legion of demons to drown a couple thousand pigs may have been about expelling the Roman occupation. Would that be why the locals begged him to leave, rather than complaining that he had killed their pigs?
Yes, it’s a very strange story that is hard to understand, but surely the “legion” being destroyed has to do with the Roman occupation…
Fail miserably.
Is it a closed book exam or can the students bring in notes or other materials?
Closed book! No notes or helps of any kind allowed.
Did they know the essay questions beforehand?
They were given a list of fourteen possible essays, and I told them I would choose two of the fourteen.
How old will the students taking this exam be? The American education system seems very different from the UK.
Also, please can you clarify: when you talk about the criterion of dissimilarity is this different from the criterion of double dissimilarity?
If I understand correctly dissimilarity is that if a saying doesn’t fit with early christian teaching it is not likely to have been made up.
But double dissimilarity compares Jesus’ sayings with Judaism and Christianity.
Most of them are 19-20. Yes, I don’t ever talk to my students about double dissimilarity; I’ve never bought into it, since it seems fairly crazy that Jesus would teach things that were not identifiably Jewish! Plus, the question is exclusively: “Which traditions were Christians making up?” (NOT, e.g., which traditions were Jewish)
Tough exam!
Robert Stephanus: some unwanted man that got in my way to get an A in this exam.
OK, I’ll give you extra credit for that one.
Quite some time ago I took a final exam that included only one essay question, which was to discuss I Tim 3:16. Presumably a student who had taken the course for a semester could think of enough material to write about for the full 2 or 3 hours.
Working through your NT textbook at the moment and I am planning on making this exam after I am finished just to see how much got stuck up there. 😛 Care to grade it? 😛
Ha! Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll pass. Grading is the very worst part of teaching!