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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 does Mack argue is the point of Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus?

2. What does canon mean?

3. What was the core objective of the epic of Israel through the end of the second temple?

4. What word is used to imply the significance of the miracle stories in the Gospel of John?

5. Who was the leader of the empire who tried to have his images placed in the temple of Jerusalem?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What were the common values contained in both the temple system of sacrifice and the family system of rituals that allowed the translation of one into the other?

4. What two strong desires drove Christianity?

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

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

7. What does Mack say about the "overwhelming concern" in the Didache about the practice of alms, gift giving, and supporting those who ask for hand outs?

8. What evidence does Mack put forth that the attempts to move into mainstream Christianity worked?

9. What are the three concerns underlying the treatise to the Hebrews?

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

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

Compare and contrast the ideas of Marcion of Sinope to the ideas of Valentinus. Who were these individuals? What were their arguments against the centrist concept of Christianity? How do their arguments differ? How are they similar? Combined, how did their ideas influence the rest of the world? How did their ideas lead to the concept that the Jewish scriptures were "really" about Christians?

Essay Topic 3

Explain, in detail, the mythologies that were used to provide the logic for the concept of Jesus' death and resurrection. Be sure to include information about the Greek myth of noble death, the Jewish concepts of martyrdom, the Jewish myth of the persecuted sage, examples of each, and how these myths tied into the Christ cult's concept of the death and resurrection.

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