Exam I Prof. Westblade

Rel 105 / Exam 1Page 1

Religion 105 October 5, 2005

Name ______

Exam I

(6%)1. Five minutes after the end of this exam, two thousand hunger-crazed Babylonians who believe in the Enuma Elish will be admitted into the room and told that you are their king. Prepare the speech now with which you think you will have the most plausible success in calming them. (You may use English; a Babylonian translator will be provided upon their arrival.)

(6%)2. From the perspective of the author of the book of Genesis, give a definition of “faith” that a third-grader could understand and offer one clear illustration from Genesis that shows how your definition arises from the author's perspective.

(6%)3. Summarize the main reason(s) why Westblade considers it so inadequate to define "sin" as the mere breaking of God's rules.

(12%)4. Severe protracted draught has raised serious questions of theodicy for people in the region. Summarize the main points a priest is likely to make in each of the following locations to restore the faith of the people in their god(s).

a. next to a pyramid --

b. from atop a ziggurat --

c. in Plato's academy --

d. near the altar of the Jerusalem temple --

(6%)5. Cite a few similarities between the law codes of Israel and of Babylon, and in view of the evidence of interdependence in the similarities defend the Hebrew claim that God is nonetheless speaking by divine revelation in the biblical laws.

(3%)6. Draw a line from each name to its location on the map:

_____ 1. Jerusalem
_____ 2. Ur
_____ 3. Plato’s
Academy
_____ 4. Osiris
_____ 5. Mecca
_____ 6. Tiamat /

(3%)7. Write the letter of the closest match next to each of the 5 names in #6.

A. AristophanesB. BaalC. CyrusD. David

E. AbrahamF. Fertile CrescentG. Sea PeoplesH. Muhammad

I. IsaacJ. JosephK. MardukL. Plutarch

(2%)8. Name the first three sons of Adam.

1. ______2. ______3. ______

(2%)9. How does Samuel Johnson distinguish between the "first" and "second" kinds of knowledge?

(5%)10. Name the five people whose covenants with God we have focussed upon, and state one major feature of each one that distinguishes it from the other.

Name Distinctive Feature

(3%)11. What major features do all five of these covenants share in common?

(6%)12. After David sinned with Bathsheba, he says in his prayer to God, "thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased" (Ps 51:16). Why in the world then does the Hebrew Bible devote so much text to Moses' instructions about offering sacrifices of all sorts?

(6%)13. Rehearse Westblade's evidence and argument that account for how God's promises in these covenants could be both certain and yet dependent at the same time upon the obedience of people so prone to sin.

14. The Gnostic text "On the Origin of the World" reads in part: "After the heavens and their powers and all of their government set themselves aright, the First Father exalted himself, and was glorified by the whole army of angels. And all the gods and their angels gave him praise and glory. And he rejoiced in his heart, and he boasted continually, saying to them, 'I do not need anything.' He said, 'I am god and no other one exists except me.' But when he said these things he sinned against all of the immortal ones." [103:3-14]

(6%)a. How could a Gnostic sensibly claim that God (the First Father) is sinning in claiming that he is sufficient and that there are no other gods before him?

(6%)b. How could an orthodox Jew or Christian sensibly claim in response that such boastfulness on God's part wouldn't be sinning?

(6%)15. How would you expect Moses to respond if he heard someone speak about obeying the Law the way Calvin speaks about obeying Santa's rules?

(4%)15. In the technical sense in which we have employed the terms in the course...

(a) offer a possible "explanation" why you are attending Hillsdale College.

(b) help someone "understand" why you are attending Hillsdale College.

(3%)16. Would you rather have a referee at a football game who was neutral or who was objective? Explain your response.

(4%)17. Can faith be objective (in the sense of question 10)? Or is faith always a blind leap? Defend your answer.

(2%)18. Match dates with the letter of the corresponding event:

1. _____ 1700 BCA. Fall of the southern kingdom

2. _____ 922 BCB. Fall of the northern kingdom

3. _____ 722 BCC. Rise of the Hyksos kingdom

4. _____ 586 BCD. Kingdoms of north & south divide

(3%)19. Make clear some important feature that each of the following sets of terms has in common:

a. E Temen An Ki / Babel

b. Joseph / Hyksos

c. Vendidad / Decalogue