Biblical Illiteracy

Our first blog entry deals with Biblical Illiteracy. The Christian-Jewish Council held a program on this subject on March 7, 2013 Many of us are not knowledgeable or unsure of the Biblical texts for our faith. This should not be an embarrassment or an admitted gap in our learning. On the contrary, it represents an opportunity to learn about these treasured texts and what is important to each of us.

Our speaker at that program was Dr. Jim Pitts, a retired Baptist minister, university chaplain and Professor Emeritus from Forman University. Jim was kind enough to leave us with a useful Religious Literacy Quiz from Stephen Prothero of Boston University. Please see it below, print out, answer and save. We will publish answers in one week on the same Facebook page.

RELIGIOUS LITERACY QUIZ

STEPHEN PROTHERO, BOSTON UNIVERSITY

1. Name the Four Gospels. List as many as you can.
2. Name a sacred text of Hinduism.
3. Name the holy book of Islam.
4. Where, according to the Bible, was Jesus born?
5. George Bush spoke in his first inaugural of the Jericho road. What Bible story was he invoking?
6. What are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament?
7. What is the Golden Rule?
8. "God helps those who help themselves." Is this in the Bible? If so, where?
9. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God." Does this appear in the Bible? If so, where?
10. Name the Ten Commandments. List as many as you can.
11. Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.
12. What are the seven sacraments of Catholicism? List as many as you can.
13. The First Amendment says two things about religion, each in its own "clause." What are the two religion clauses of the First Amendment?
14. What is Ramadan? In what religion is it celebrated?