Cuestionario sobre el Antiguo Testamento 3/1

What is the Old Testament? How should we define it? What is the Old Testament not?

• A random collection of ancient fables with no historical value

• A science textbook that explains the physical universe

• The Hebrew Bible: the story of God's covenant with Israel in real history

• Just moral tales for children

In what language(s) was the Old Testament written? What time periods does it cover?

• Greek and Latin

• Hebrew (mainly) with some Aramaic; covers approximately 1400–400 B.C.

• Syriac and Coptic

• Hebrew and Greek exclusively since 100 A.D.

What literary genres can be found within the Old Testament?

• Only historical narratives

• Law, narrative, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, and apocalyptic

• Only prophetic oracles

• Only hymns and psalms

Who were the Masoretes and why are they important?

• Kings of the ancient Near East

• Jewish scribes who standardized and preserved the Hebrew text with vowels and notes

• Babylonian priests who translated the Torah

• Roman historians

Describe the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Samaritan Pentateuch. What are these works? What is textual criticism and how do these works play a role in it?

• Unrelated wisdom books

• Four Christian gospels

• Manuscript traditions (MT, LXX, DSS, Samaritan Pentateuch) used by textual criticism to reconstruct the original text

• Recently invented modern Bibles

What does TaNaKh mean?

• Talmud, Numbers, Kings

• Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim

• Torah, Numbers, Ketuvim

• Targum, Nevi’im, Ketuvim

How is the arrangement of the Old Testament different among Jews, Samaritans, Protestants, and Catholics?

• All groups use the same order and books

• They organize and number the books differently: Samaritans only keep the Pentateuch, Catholics include the Apocrypha, Protestants number 39 books, Jews use the TaNaKh

• Catholics omit the historical books

• Protestants reject the Pentateuch

What is the Apocrypha?

• Intertestamental writings valued differently by various Christian traditions

• Secret Gnostic texts

• A lost Hebrew tribe

• A modern devotional

How should we define the words 'canon', 'testament', and 'old'?

• Canon = recognized Scripture; Testament = covenant; Old = first covenant, not obsolete

• Canon = test; Testament = testimony; Old = irrelevant

• Canon = authorized books; Testament = covenant; Old = outdated

• Canon = law; Testament = history; Old = discarded

Define the term 'revelation'.

• The self-disclosure of God to humanity

• The process of copying manuscripts

• A Jewish festival

• A new unique prophecy of Isaiah