Loading...It’s been a very long day of teaching (six hours of talking!), so something substantive for the blog will need to wait for another day. Instead, I’ll say something about what happened today.
As some of you have seen by examining my syllabus, I begin my class on Jesus by giving a pop quiz. I did that this morning. The class has 24 students in it, all first-year students, most of them 18 and 19. (One swallows hard to think of it, but that means the incoming class was born in 1995. Ai yai yai….)
I begin most of my undergraduate classes with a pop quiz, both to see how much knowledge the students already have about very basic issues related to the NT and to have an opportunity to teach them some very basic issues (such as dates of important events in antiquity, the use of the abbreviations CE and BCE, the diversity of early Christianity, some basic Gospel facts,), to stress some others (Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian), and to have a bit of fun with them. I obviously don’t grade the quiz. I give it, they moan, we go over correct answers, and we all have a good laugh.
Last year for my class of 300 students I told them that if any of them would get 8 of 11 questions right, I’d buy them dinner at the Armadillo Grill. I bought maybe a couple of dinners.
I didn’t make that offer for this quiz, of 12 questions, but it would have been in vain in any event. Only two students got more than 6 of the 12 correct. (!) I don’t know … they don’t seem that hard to me, for students – most of them, I think – who have gone to church and Sunday school a good bit of their lives. But real education in churches (Christian education!) doesn’t seem to happen much.
Anyway, here are the questions for your amusement. There’s at least one surprise (for most people).
- How many books are in the NT?
- In what language were they written?
- In what century were they written?
- Name the Gospels of the NT
- Name three Gospels from outside the New Testament
- What does the word “Gospel” mean?
- According to the Gospels, who baptized Jesus? Who carried his cross? Who buried him?
- In about what year did Jesus die? What year was he born?
- The author of the Gospel of Luke wrote two books. Name two of them.
- What is normally thought to have been the occupations of (a) Matthew and (b) Luke?
- Which of the following were Jews? John the Baptist, Alexander the Great, Jesus, Pontius Pilate, Simon Peter, Tacitus, the Apostle Paul.
- What is the shortest verse in the New Testament?
13) Where are the answers??!?
In the NT!
hey i actually know them all. Well I have read most of your books and heard your lectures etc…. How bout some more quizzes in the future.
You *think* you do!
I ‘think’ I got them all – the only question I am struggling with is ‘what is the shortest verse in the bible’, since I understand the ancient Greek language was grammatically structured very differently from our English. If I remember correctly (no cheating here!) there were no periods, paragraphs, capital or lower case letters etc., so it was the translator’s decision to construct the two-word sentence ‘Jesus wept’, which would be the obvious answer if you’re going by an English version. Will you ever publish the correct answers?
Yeah, it’s not Jesus wept. It’s 1 Thess. 5:16: Pray without ceasing. In Greek that is two words and fourteen letters; Jesus wept, in Greek, is three words and sixteen letters. (!)
It is indeed 1 Thess. 5:16, but what it actually says is “Always rejoice” (Greek: “ΠΑΝΤΟΤΕΧΑΙΡΕΤΕ”/”Πάντοτε χαίρετε”). In Greek, that’s 2 words, 14 letters. “ceaselessly pray” (Greek: “ΑΔΙΑΛΕΙΠΤΩΣΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΕΣΘΕ”/”ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε” is actually found in 1 Thess. 5:17. In Greek, that’s 2 words, 22 letters.
As an aside, I don’t know why many translators don’t translate the text precisely, word-for-word, when there’s no language disparities to be found, which would necessitate further modifications. “ΑΔΙΑΛΕΙΠΤΩΣΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΕΣΘΕ” means “ceaselessly pray”. Not “pray ceaselessly”, not “pray without ceasing” (the capitalization is a whole other issue). “ΑΔΙΑΛΕΙΠΤΩΣ” is the first word, and it means “ceaselessly”. “ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΕΣΘΕ” is the second word, and it means “pray”. There’s no need to change the word order or to turn the adverb into a prepositional phrase. “ΠΑΝΤΟΤΕΧΑΙΡΕΤΕ” means “Always rejoice”. “ΠΑΝΤΟΤΕ” is the first word, and it means “Always”. “ΧΑΙΡΕΤΕ” is the second word, and it means “rejoice”. Yet translators today (old-timers are a different category) still fudge up the order/form, for whatever reason (it sounds more archaic/formal?). At the end of the day, are they translating or are they paraphrasing?
Sorry my bad.
It’s not a paraphrase to place an adverb after the verb instead of before it. It does not change the sense.
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FYI – people will gladly subscribe to your blog even if you’re not able to post everyday with all the other things you do! 2-3 postings a week while you’re teaching isn’t going to impact membership now that you have several hundreds of posts already. We can read those if we want to read more! But again, thanks for all the hard work and time you put in to raise money for poverty, hunger, and homelessness.
Oh how I wish it were true. 🙂
Awesome quiz! I’m not sure about #8 because the timeline seems to be debated.
Ah, finally – I was always curious what your quiz usually contained. You’d be buying me a steak dinner if I took your class today…but that’s only because I’ve read your books.
MY NT quiz has some different questions from this one….
#7 is the surprise, right? I didn’t look this up, but I’m guessing the gospels give different answers for these questions, so the point is to show they don’t all say the same thing? I might be way off…
Okay, let’s see if I walk into your surprise:
1) 27
2) Greek
3) mostly 1st CE, some possibly 2nd
4) Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
5) Thomas, Peter, Truth
6) “good news” (usually that someone has won a battle or become king)
7a) John the Baptist; (b) Simon of Cyrene (according to the Synoptics), Jesus himself (according to John); (c) Joseph of Arimathea (plus NIcodemus in John)
8) about 30CE; about 5BCE
9) Luke, Acts
10a) tax collector; (b) physician
11) John, Jesus, Peter, Paul
12) You clearly expect the answer John 11.35 (“Jesus wept”). But maybe you’re going to insist that Luke 20.30 is shorter in Greek or something like that.
Clever about Lk 20,30 being shorter in Greek! But I’d also consider several verses that are not present in the original text, eg, Lk 22,43-44.
Having lived in Louisiana for close to sixty years, I am afraid to ask what is served in the Armadillo. I’m told they taste like pork.
Plenty of them in the state. They sleep on the road a lot, kinda like possums.
Actually, they don’t serve armadillo there, thankfully.
From memory, no cheating:
1. How many books are in the NT?
27
2. In what language were they written?
Greek
3. In what century were they written?
First, mostly, pastoral in maybe second
4. Name the Gospels of the NT
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
5. Name three Gospels from outside the New Testament
Peter, Thomas, Judas
6. What does the word “Gospel” mean?
Good News
7. According to the Gospels, who baptized Jesus? Who carried his cross? Who buried him?
John the Baptist, Nicodemus, Mary
8. In about what year did Jesus die? What year was he born?
About 30AD, About 1 AD, hard to tell
9. The author of the Gospel of Luke wrote two books. Name two of them.
Luke and Acts
10. What is normally thought to have been the occupations of (a) Matthew and (b) Luke?
Fisherman, doctor
11. Which of the following were Jews? John the Baptist, Alexander the Great, Jesus, Pontius Pilate, Simon Peter, Tacitus, the Apostle Paul.
John the B, Jesus, Simon Peter, Paul
12. What is the shortest verse in the New Testament?
Jesus wept
No dinner for *you*!
I’m sort of surprised at question #3. My understanding is that some of the NT writings (e.g., 2 Peter) probably date from the second century. I think you were the person I originally learned that from!
I’m also surprised your class went from having 300 undergraduates to just 24. What happened? Is this semester’s version just so specialized that there’s less interest in it?
Ah, 300 is my Introduction to the NT. This is a first-year seminar, restricted to 24.
At the risk of sounding like a blithering idiot, do we get the answers? LOL?
I hope you do!
How many books are in the NT? – 27
In what language were they written? – Greek
In what century were they written? – 1st century
Name the Gospels of the NT – Matthew, Mark, Luke & John
Name three Gospels from outside the New Testament – Gospel of Thomas, Judas & Mary
What does the word “Gospel” mean? – Good news
According to the Gospels, who baptized Jesus? Who carried his cross? Who buried him? – John the Baptist, Jesus/Simon of Cyrene (depends which gospel you read), and Joseph of Arimathea
In about what year did Jesus die? What year was he born? – About 30 AD, born about 4 BC
The author of the Gospel of Luke wrote two books. Name two of them. – Luke and Acts
What is normally thought to have been the occupations of (a) Matthew and (b) Luke? – tax collector and doctor
Which of the following were Jews? John the Baptist, Alexander the Great, Jesus, Pontius Pilate, Simon Peter, Tacitus, the Apostle Paul. – John the Baptist, Jesus, Simon Peter, and Paul
What is the shortest verse in the New Testament? – John 11:35, “Jesus wept”
Were I a student (assuming you trust I didn’t use Google), would I be enjoying dinner at the Armadillo Grill? 🙂
Yes, you’d get a dinner, but you missed on!
Oh, see I actually really knew all that. I was just testing you.
I graded my own quiz ( generously ) and therefore passed with flying colors . I think that somehow gives me the right to ask a totally unrelated question . How do you rate the modern translations of the New Testament ? I am thinking especially of J.B. Phillips’ The New Testament In Modern English which was the only translation that appeared to make Paul’s Letters lucid to me . While I suspect my previous difficulties might be stem more from my limited brainpower than Paul’s lack of fluency , I would be interested in your comments and also those of other members if so inclined .
Phillips reads extremely well, but is far too paraphrastic to make it a study Bible. I usually recommend the New Revised Standard Version , which I especially like in a study edition, such as the HarperCollins Study Bible
No 10…..Since we don’t know who the original authors were we couldn’t possibly know they’re occupations; am I correct?
The question is “normally thought” (!)
I missed 1, and was uncertain about 1. Resolved. This was fun 🙂
Jesus wept, Bart! I would assume any regular evangelical sunday-school goer would get 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 (depending on how precise you require it), and 9. Add the vaguest familiarity with classical history and you get 11.
Kids these days! Now if you asked them questions about Kim Kardashian…(even here I am probably betraying how out of touch I am with a now-passe’ reference).
Although number 2 does remind me of the old joke about the young man who writes home from college to say he is studying a foreign language, only to get the reply from his father, “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for you!”
Which in turns reminds me of the absurdity that the book of Mormon was written in (of course, I mean actually translated from golden tablets into) King James English (c. 1611) during the much later 1830s.
Tee hee – I hope you’re going to give us the answers! I’m not sure of #1 – making a ballpark guess at 26 or 27. And I’m guessing #12 is a famous single sentence such as “In the beginning was the Word.”
Is the year of Jesus’s birth thought to have been definitely established as 4 BCE, or is that an “educated guess”?
It’s a guess, but close enough….
If we get eight right, when do we show up for the free meal? 😉
Feel free to show up for one. you won’t get it, but that can’t stop your showing up!
Another thought: If every Epistle counts as a “book,” do all denominations agree on the ones to be included?
Yes, in Europe and the US and most other places….
So, what are the answers?
They’re in the Bible. 🙂
It seemed easy to me now, but if I were to have my 18 yr old self (even as religious as he was) take that exam, I probably wouldn’t have gotten more than four or five Qs correct.
Can you just send us the money if we get it correct?
Yeah, count on it.
I won’t repeat the answers others have already given, but your trick question is probably the shortest verse question which in Greek the answer would be 1st Thessalonians 5:16.
Also when you ask for the names of the gospels, technically the gospels weren’t given names by the authors. They were given names by later readers.
Also define “books” – are letters of Paul’s technically books? I don’t think so. It would be like calling a email to you a book.
I agree that not much “real education” occurs in churches and hardly any respectful, critical examination of crucial questions occurs in churches. One would think that churches would be very interested in doing this. How disillusioning!
12. “What is the shortest verse in the New Testament?”
Trick question. There were no verses in the original.
Joseph
“is” not “was” (Remember, it all depends on what the meaning of is is)
Mostly I got the same answers as everyone else here (though my extra-canonical Testament answer included the Gospel of Mary– Girl Power!). Apparently I’m a super idiot, though (I don’t know why I feel surprised after 30 years of evidence). I was thinking that they weren’t all written in Greek. I mean, the stories were at least first told in Aramaic and there are words left over that haven’t been translated, so while I know that most (all?) of the manuscripts we have are in Greek, I thought that we could tell that some had been translated into Greek. And of course, since I’m an idiot as we’ve established, I’d probably have thrown “some Hebrew?” into my answer for good measure. That’s how I recklessly roll. I clearly need to re-read my texts.
Oh, I wish you’d tell us what one Elisabeth Strout got wrong! I didn’t get “Jesus wept,” guessed “26 or 27” for Question 1, didn’t realize there’s one Gospel in which Jesus is the only one carrying the cross. Otherwise, I had the same answers as Ms. Strout’s (other than mentioning different apocryphal Gospels), and I can’t figure out which is wrong. Maybe we were supposed to know that some part of the NT was written in the second century?
As someone else said, I would have gotten very few right when I was a teenager. I think I was middle-aged before I learned Paul, the “Apostle to the Gentiles,” was himself a Jew.
Just had another thought. I looked back at where I’d scribbled my own answers down, and saw that I’d written for #4, “No doubt, of course, but I think his point is calling them *according to* Matthew, etc.”
*Is* that what everyone’s supposedly gotten wrong–omitting that “according to,” which shows that the student knows Matthew et al. aren’t really the authors?
Point #11 much depends on what you mean by “Jew”.
Point #12 much depends on what translations of NT you refer to. Even if you refer to the “original” Greek text, much depends on what reconstruction of such “original” text we should consider…
Any help?? (In any case you won’t spend a penny for my dinner, I live too far from any armadillo…)
Thanks,
I think I can nail all 12 of these, but then again I should do well since I’ve listen to your Great Courses lectures on the NT many times and read Jesus Interrupted twice 🙂
1. 27
2. Greek
3. The first century CE though some were probably in the 2nd century.
4. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, 1Thessalonians, Phillipians, Philemon, 2Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, Revelation, 1-3 John, 1&2 Peter, James, Jude
5. Gospels of Peter, Thomas, Judas
6. Good news
7. John the Baptist, Simon of Cyrene, Joseph of Arimithea
8. Usually thought to have died circa 30 CE. Born around 4-6 BC (Matthew) or around 6 CE (Luke)
9. Luke, Acts
10. Matthew was a tax collector and Luke was a physician
11. John the Baptist, Jesus, Simon Peter, Paul
12. Jesus wept
Actually I misread question 4 and named all of the NT books, not just the 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). Oops.
After thinking about the surprise I’m not sure if you were looking for more completeness e.g. the contradiction in the Gospel accounts as to whether Jesus carried his own cross all the way or not.
Shoot!
Just saw this quiz now!
Okay, I’m not looking at any other answers as I try this.
I hope you still mark me!:
1) 27 (as you always say…3 x 3 x 3)
2) Greek
3) Umm…do we call the years before 100CE the “first” century? If so, then the first century. Gospels between 60-90 CE…and all the other books before, during, and after those decades, but I’m guessing most written before 100CE/AD.
4) Mark, Matthew, Luke, John
5) Um….that were not included in the canon? If so, then….Thomas, Judas, and Mary.
(but there are more than three, right?)
6) Gospel means “good news”?
7) John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Re the cross: Jesus carried his own cross, i think. He was buried in the tomb of…oh, what’s his name…a wealthy dude who supposedly convinced the higher-ups to let him put him in the family tomb or something. Aargh. Can’t remember his name.
8) He was born about 3-5 BC? And died around 30 CE.
9) Oy. I dunno this one.
10) Shoot. One is a fisherman and one is a tax collector?
11) Jews: John the baptist, Jesus, Simon Peter…(not sure about Tacitus or Paul…)
12) Is “Jesus wept” a verse? If so, that’s my guess. This, I remember from an old Waltons episode, hate to admit.
Did I earn a dinner at the Armadillo Grill?? I don’t think so…. 🙁
I’m hankering for a taco!
Too bad you didn’t ask who Jesus’ parents’ names are. I would have written: “Mr. and Mrs. Christ”…
–Natasha
Okay, checking against others….I think I might have 8 right. (With another half mark here and there for half-right answers, if you are inclined).
See you at dinner!!! 🙂
Yup, it’s a verse. And it’s not the shortest one. 🙂 No taco for *you* tonight….
My favorite question to ask is “Where is the original New Testament stored?”
Smithsonian?
The Vatican?
I actually have it in my basement. And if you pay me $50,000, I’ll show it to you!
The only one I’m certain of is 4: John, Paul, George, Ringo