defending the gospel accounts

Question 1

Which Gospel is believed by Christian and non-Christian scholars to be the earliest
written of the Gospels?

Answer 1

Mark

Question 2

Mark is believed to be a source for Matthew and Luke. True or False?

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Do Formal Equivalency Translations of the Bible emphasize the original form or meaning?

Answer 3

Form

Question 4

Do Dynamic Equivalency Translations Emphasize the original form or meaning?

Answer 4

Meaning

Question 5

The important questions regarding the transmission of ancient documents are:

A. Who wrote them? How many are there?
B. How old are the copies and How similar are they to the original work?
C. How many copies and how old are the copies?
D. Who wrote the copies and how similar are they to each other?

Answer 5

C

Question 6

How many years are there between the original and the earliest copies of Mark?

Answer 6

140

Question 7

How many copies do we have?
A. 8 to 20 copies
B. 140 copies
C. Hundreds
D. Thousands

Answer 7

D

Question 8

What is the name of the science that allows us to test documents of antiquity including historical and literary writings, following an established set of rules that allows critics to determine the extent of possible corruption of any work?

Answer 8

Textual criticism

Question 9

What is the secular work that textual critics accept that has the most impressive manuscript evidence including 647 existing copies?

Answer 9

Homer’s Iliad

Question 10

Liberal scholars presuppose that a high christology developed quickly, and that independent witnesses to Mark would all have the same view of Jesus.
True or False

Answer 10

False

Question 11

the presence of what kinds of portrayals of Jesus help support the reliability of Mark’s testimony?
A. divine
B. messianic
C. embarrassing

Answer 11

C

Question 12

Higher critics also assume that three kinds of passages were invented by the early church and later interjected into the text. What are these?
A. Controversy, Teaching, and Miracle
B. Preaching, Parable, and Resurrection
C. Parables, Crucifixion, and Miracles

Answer 12

A

Question 13

The accuracy of Our English translations of the Gospel of Mark is verifiable by
A. Christian Greek scholars
B. Non-Christian Greek scholars
C. Both Christian and Non-Christian Greek scholars

Answer 13

C

Question 14

While Tacitus’s Annals took about 1,000 years to make 20 copies, the Gospel of Mark has copies dated as early as ______ AD

Answer 14

200

Question 15

Critics presuppose that C.S. Lewis’s Trilemma overlooks a fourth option, which is that the Jesus of the Gospel is a ________

Answer 15

legend

Question 16

The science of textual criticism is sophisticated enough to guarantee a _____% reconstruction of Mark’s original words.

Answer 16

99

Question 17

There are major doctrines that are affected by the many variants in the Greek New Testament manuscripts.
True or False

Answer 17

False

Question 18

One reply to the issue of Mark being an unreliable witness is that his Gospel is written only 50-60 years after the last events of Jesus’ earthly life
True or False

Answer 18

False

Question 19

When was the gospel of Mark written?

Answer 19

60 AD

Question 20

The NIV has been translated from a manuscript tradition that guarantees the reliable transmission of the Greek original of Mark.
True or False

Answer 20

True

Question 21

One objection to the reliability of the gospel of Mark is that he wasn’t even on the scene of Jesus’ public ministry
True or False

Answer 21

True

Question 22

In C.S. Lewis’s Great Trilemma, Jesus was either liar, lunatic, or __________

Answer 22

Lord

Question 23

The basic presupposition of the objection of unreliable testimony is that much of the material in our gospels was ____________, by the ________________ and never actually occurred.
Response Format: __________, __________

Answer 23

invented, early church

Question 24

Objection by higher criticism: ____________ stories were invented to solve thorny debates, which were later interjected back into the story of Jesus

Answer 24

Controversy

Question 25

Objection by higher criticism: _____________ passages were invented to provide instruction for new converts.

Answer 25

Teaching

Question 26

Objection by higher criticism: _____________ narrative were invented as apologetic material.

Answer 26

Miracle

Question 27

The brief interval of _______, from the historian’s perspective, between Jesus and the writing of Mark is a good response to the objection of tainted transmission

Answer 27

time

Question 28

Livy’s report of the Law of Twelve Tables, Plutarch’s record of the life of Alexander the Great were written 400-450+ years after the events. However, they are still given the benefit of the doubt. They are valued as ______ __________.

Answer 28

key sources

Question 29

How many years are there between the end of Jesus’ earthly life and Marks’ writing?
A. 50-60 years
B. 25-30 years
C. 140 years
D. 110 years

Answer 29

B

Question 30

There is an _________ of controversy narratives addressing important church debates

Answer 30

absence

Question 31

What are the four independent sources in the 4 source theory?

A. John, Q, M, and L
B. Paul, Q, M, and L
C. John, Paul, L and Q
D. L, M, N, O

Answer 31

A

Question 32

Each of the independent sources of the new testament points to a high christology, which liberals claim had very different views of ________.

Answer 32

Jesus

Question 33

Although liberals claim that a high christology took many years to develop, Paul’s witness in 1 Corinthians 15, which includes a high christology was arguably written quite early in _________

Answer 33

51 AD

Question 34

The Gospel of Mark is a _________ __________ to events surrounding the life, death, and bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Answer 34

reliable testimony

Question 35

The repeated and ____________ testimony of the early church describes Mark’s Gospel as an accurate record of Peter’s teaching, captured faithfully by Mark acting as Peter’s ______.
Response Format: _______, _________

Answer 35

unanimous, scribe

Question 36

Papias, Ireaneus, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, and Tertullian all attribute the Gospel of Mark to Mark
True of False

Answer 36

True

Question 37

Mark is traditionally considered to be the _____ ______ mentioned as a companion of Paul in the Book of Acts

Answer 37

John Mark