QUIZ/EXAM QUESTIONS for CHAPTER 1

  1. Experts in Religious Studies may have graduate degrees in

A) anthropology

B) philosophy

C) history

D) all of these

  1. Scholars

A) agree that the word “religion” comes from the Latin words for “re-read”

B) agree that the word “religion” comes from the Latin words for “bind again”

C) agree that the word “religion” comes from the Latin words for “reconnect”

D) do not agree on the origin of the word “religion”

  1. The 19th-century thinker who created the term “Religious Studies” (Religionswissenschaft) and who said, “He who knows one, knows none” was

A) Immanuel Kant

B) Ludwig Feuerbach

C) Max Mueller

D) Friedrich Nietzsche

  1. How many gods are there in Hinduism?

A) 7

B) 88

C) 6,400

D) 330,000,000

  1. The Hindu god who has the head of an elephant is

A) Krishna

B) Ganesha

C) Vishnu

D) Shiva

  1. The Hindu god Vishnu has a number of personas or manifestations, including Rama, Krishna, and the Buddha. These personas are called Vishnu’s

A) avatars

B) devas

C) shaktis

D) avestas

  1. The idea that there is a single correct set of religious truths is called

A) monotheism

B) orthodoxy

C) polytheism

D) orthopraxy

  1. Muslims think of Jesus as

A) a great prophet

B) a heretic

C) the Son of God

D) the founder of Islam

  1. The word “Easter” comes from the name of

A) a French king

B) a river near Jerusalem

C) Jesus’ burial place

D) an Anglo-Saxon goddess

  1. For the first three centuries of Christianity, Christians were well known in the Roman Empire for being

A) vegetarians

B) pacifists

C) tax evaders

D) musicians

  1. Genesis, the first book of the Bible has an explanation for the origin of giants. It says that

A) God made giants to guard the gates of heaven

B) giants were created by Satan after his Fall

C) the sons of the gods mated with women and giants were born

D) giants were pagan gods who visited earth

  1. “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go free [after seven years] as male slaves do.” This quotation is from

A) the Magna Carta

B) the Qur’an

C) the Bible

D) the U.S. Constitution

  1. The religious ritual described by Marvin Harris in which people had their hearts cut out, were decapitated, and then were cut up and eaten, was

A) Aztec

B) Zoroastrian

C) Confucian

D) Aborigine

  1. In 1978, over 900 people in a religious community committed mass suicide in

A) Berlin, Germany

B) Fatima, Portugal

C) Jonestown, Guyana

D) Beijing, China

  1. About how many sects does Christianity include, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia?

A) 300

B) 1,100

C) 4,500

D) 34,000