OLD TESTAMENT
What is the Pentateuch (or Torah)?
The first five books of the Old Testament authored by Moses.
Genesis
What two things having their beginning in Genesis?
The creation of the world and the setting apart of God’s chosen people, the Jews.
Who were the first man and women placed in the Garden of Eden?
Adam and Eve.
What man did God call to found the nation of Israel?
Abraham.
Which grandson son of Abraham was sent into Egypt to prepare a sanctuary for Israel in time of famine?
Joseph.
Exodus
Whom did God use to deliver Israel and to reveal the Law of the Old Covenant?
Moses.
What even commemorates the sparing of Israel’s first born through the sacrifice of a lamb?
Pasch or Passover.
Leviticus
What did God promise the Israelites in this book if they would obey Him?
Blessings and protection.
Numbers
How was Moses punished in this book for his ‘unbelief’ in ability of the Israelites to fulfill God’s plan?
He was not allowed to lead Israel into the promised land.
Deuteronomy
In this book, what did the dying Moses tell the Israelites to do with their whole heart, soul and strength?
Love God.
Josue (Joshua)
This book records that the walls of what city miraculously collapsed at the sound of trumpets?
Jericho.
What does God command Joshua to do after the conquest of the land?
Divide it among the twelve tribes of Israel.
Judges
This book tells how God repeated raised up judges to deliver Israel after it repented of what?
Idolatry.
Major theme: In those days there was no king in Israel, but every one did that...
which seemed right to himself (17:6).
Who are two well-known deliverers of Israel in this book?
Gideon and Samson.
Ruth
The gentile Ruth returned with her mother-in-law to Bethlehem and was an ancestor of who?
Jesus.
1 Kings (1 Samuel)
Who was the last prophet to rule Israel and who anointed the first king?
Samuel.
Who was the young Israelite who killed the Philistine giant with a sling and stone?
David.
2 Kings (2 Samuel)
Who was the child of King David and the wife of Uriah whom David seduced?
Solomon.
3 Kings (1 Kings)
What blessing did King Solomon chose from God?
Wisdom.
What happened to Israel when Rehoboam promised a harsher rule than his father?
Israel separated into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Judah.
Who was the greatest prophet of this era who destroyed the priests of Baal?
Elijah (Elias).
4 Kings (2 Kings)
What happened to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign king Hoshea?
Israel is destroyed and carried into captivity by Assyria.
What nation eventually carried Judah into 70 years of captivity?
Babylon.
1 & 2 Paralipomenon (1 & 2 Chronicles)
What do these books contain?
Additional historical material about David, Solomon and the southern Kingdom of Judah.
1 Esdras (Ezra)
What scribe returned to Jerusalem to teach and purify the Israelites from pagan intermarriage?
Ezra.
2 Esdras(Nehemiah)
What did Nehemiah return to Jerusalem to do?
To rebuild the walls around the city for protection.
Tobit (Tobias)
Who became the guide for the young Tobias who journeyed to collect a debt for his father?
The angel Raphael.
Judith
How did Judith defeat the Assyrians besieging Jerusalem?
Judith got the Assyrian general drunk and cut off his head.
Esther
Why did God allow Esther to become Queen of Persia?
So that she could plead with him to spare her people, the Jews, from extermination.
Job
Why does God allow Satan to afflict the righteous Job?
To test Job’s faith in God.
Psalms
What is the purpose of the psalms?
To offer hymns of praise and prayer to God.
Who is the author of the majority of the Psalms?
King David of Israel.
Proverbs
What is the purpose of Proverbs?
To provide concise guides for men to obtain wisdom and virtue.
Who is traditionally considered the author of most of Proverbs?
King Solomon of Israel.
Ecclesiastes
What worldly ‘vanities’ does Solomon show to be ultimately unsatisfying?
Worldly wisdom, pleasures, riches and ambition.
What does Solomon conclude is the whole duty and purpose of man (12:13)?
To fear God and keep his commandments.
Canticle of Canticles (Song of Solomon)
What is the deeper meaning of this courtship and love of this book?
The love Christ has for His spouse, the Church.
Wisdom
How is wisdom obtained?
Wisdom comes only from God and is obtained by prayer and personal sanctification.
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)
What is the purpose of this book?
To give specific lessons in how to live “according to the Law of the Lord”.
How does the author specifically accomplish his purpose in writing?
He describes each virtue and vice with their accompanying results in life.
Isaias (Isaiah)
What is the summary of Isaiah’s message to his people, the Jews?
A call to repentance with a warning of punishment for their rebellion and idolatry.
Who does Isaiah prophecy about in detail?
Christ, the Church and His Kingdom.
Jeremias (Jeremiah)
What is the major theme of Jeremiah’s prophecies?
The punishment of Jerusalem and the Jews for their sins and a call to repent.
How do the Jewish leaders react to the prophet’s preaching?
Jeremiah is persecuted and eventually killed.
Lamentations
What is the theme of this book?
Jeremiah’s bemoaning the punishment of his rebellious people and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Baruch
What are the themes of this book?
The justice of God in punishing the Jews and the promised regathering of a holy Israel.
Ezechiel (Ezekiel)
What major events in Israel does Ezekiel prophecy?
The destruction of Jerusalem followed by the eventual restoration of the Jewish nation.
What does the vision of the dry bones symbolize?
The restoration of Israel and their eventual unity within Christ’s Kingdom, the Church.
Daniel
Why is Daniel raised to a position of honor in Babylon?
Daniel is faithful to God’s law and God allows him to interpret the king’s dreams.
From what does God deliver Daniel’s three friends who refuse to adore the King’s statue?
A fiery furnace into which they were cast.
Where does God allow Daniel to remain unharmed in the reign of Persian King Darius?
A den of hungry lions.
Twelve Minor Prophets
What are the most common themes in the minor prophet writings?
The punishment of the idolatrous Jews and pagan nations and the future new glorious Zion.
Jonas (Jonah)
What distinguishes Jonah from the other minor prophets?
Jonah was swallowed by a whale to convince him to preach repentance to Nineveh.
Osee (Hoseah) - Joel - Amos - Abdias (Obadiah) - Micheas (Micah) - Jonah** Nahum Habacue (Habakkuh) - Sophonias (Zephaniah) - Aggeus (Haggai) - Zacharias (Zechariah) - Malachias **
Malachias (Malachi)
How many years before Christ did this last Old Testament prophet live?
About 400 years.
What is the most significant prophecy of Malachi?
The ‘clean oblation’ which will be offered by the gentiles in the future (the Mass).
1 Machabees (Maccabees)
What Jewish priest and his family were martyred for refusing to offer false sacrifice?
Mathathias.
What Jewish leader defeats the armies of Antiochus and cleanses the Temple?
Judas Machabeus.
2 Machabees (Maccabees)
What practice of Judas Machabeus reflects the Doctrine of Purgatory?
Offering prayers and sacrifices in reparation for the sins of the dead (Chapter 12).
NEW TESTAMENT
Gospels
What books make up the Gospels (‘good news’)?
Matthew, Mark Luke and John.
What is the primary content of these books?
The life, works and words of Jesus Christ.
How do the Gospels show the divine power of Jesus?
By relating his many supernatural miracles.
A story in the physical world that conveys a deeper, spiritual meaning often used by Jesus.
Parable.
Matthew
Matthew wrote the first Gospel in what language?
Aramaic (the language of the Jews).
How did Matthew attempt to prove Jesus was the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament?
He used many Old Testament references in the Gospel and provided a genealogy.
How does Matthew describe Jesus more frequently than any other Gospel?
Son of Man (30 times).
Mark
Who is the source used by St. Mark for this Gospel?
St. Peter.
What is strongly emphasized in the Gospel of Mark?
The miracles of Jesus (twelve of sixteen chapters contain miracles).
Luke
How is the priestly nature of Christ reflected in Luke?
Many images of sacrifice and emphasis on teachings and miracles that focus on sanctification.
What was the source for Luke’s Gospel?
Interviews with many eye-witnesses of the events in Christ’s life.
What do we learn in Luke that is not mentioned in the other Gospels?
Many details of Christ’s first 30 years of ‘hidden’ life before his three years of public ministry.
John
Why did the Christians of the late first century urge John to write his Gospel?
John wrote to provide important details about Christ that were not covered in the other Gospels.
What is the major theme in John’s Gospel?
Jesus as God (the Word or ‘logos’.
Ten of the twenty-one chapters of John are devoted to details on what part of Christ’s life?
Jesus’ Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Acts
What does Luke relate in the Acts of the Apostles?
The major events in the first thirty years of the Church following the Ascension.
What did Peter’s vision of clean and unclean animals lead him to do?
Peter understood that the Gospel was for all and began receiving gentile converts into the Church.
What persecutor of the Church became a zealous missionary to the gentiles?
St. Paul.
How did Paul spread the Gospel to most of the eastern Roman Empire?
Paul went on three Missionary Journeys.
Romans
The salvation history of what group of people is treated in this Epistle?
The Jews.
What is a central theme of Romans?
All men will find salvation only through faith in Christ and His redemptive sacrifice.
1 Corinthians
What was the main problem Paul addressed in this Epistle?
Divisions among the Corinthians over personalities and spiritual gifts.
How does Paul state that he keeps himself in sanctification?
Avoidance of sin and personal mortification (9:27).
2 Corinthians
What does Paul offer as proof of his authority in the Church?
His trials, revelations from God and his works as an apostle.
What does Paul tell the Corinthians to in relation to non-believers (non-Catholics)?
To separate from them and not to be ‘yoked’ with them.
Galatians
What is the major theme of Galatians?
That Christians are the seed of Abraham through faith in Christ, not through the old Law.
Ephesians
How should a man regard his wife in relation to Christ?
A husband should love and cherish his wife as Christ loves the Church.
What is the duty of wives, children and servants?
All are to obey those in authority over them (husbands, parents, employers).
Philippians
What does Paul teach is the result of Christ humbling himself as man?
God has exalted His name so that every knee will bow and tongue confess Christ is Lord.
Colossians
How does Paul advise the Colossians to put on the ‘new man’ of Christ?
By avoiding sin, mortifying the flesh and practicing virtues in charity.
1 Thessalonians
What reason does Paul give the Christians for constantly living a holy life of prayer?
The day of the Lord’s second coming will come unexpectedly so they must always be ready.
2 Thessalonians
What does Paul reveal must take place before Christ’s second coming?
The revolt led by the ‘man of sin’ (anti-Christ).
1 Timothy
What is the primary purpose of this epistle?
To guide Bishop Timothy in the qualifications for bishops, priests and deacons.
2 Timothy
What does Paul say the wicked men of the last days will love more than God?
Pleasure.
What does Paul identity as the two sources of Christ’s truth?
The ‘sound words’ from Paul (Tradition) and the inspired scripture.
Titus
What is the general theme of this Epistle?
The right conduct of clergy and laity in all vocations of life.
Philemon
What does Paul ask Philemon to do?
To pardon his runaway slave Onesimus who has become a convert to Christianity and helper of Paul.
Hebrews
What does Paul trace Christ’s priesthood to?
That of Melchisedech who preceded the Old Covenant Law of Moses.
How does Paul characterize Christ in this Epistle?
As the High Priest who offered Himself as the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of man.
James
What is the major theme of James (2:26)?
Faith without works is dead.
What destructive part of the body does James say man cannot tame?
The tongue.
1 Peter
What are the two major themes of St. Peter’s first epistle?
Exhortations to holiness and obedience.
2 Peter
Against what two groups does St. Peter warn in this epistle?
False teachers and those who reject or abandon the fight against the devil and sin.
What does St. Peter say about the meaning of Holy Scripture (1:20)?
“No prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation”.
1 John
What is the major theme of this epistle?
Charity (love) toward one another.
What sacrament doe St. John specifically mention since all are sinners (1:9)?
Confession of sins.
2 & 3 John
What general themes are found in these two epistles?
Exhortations to charity and holiness and warnings against false teachers and teachings.
Jude
What does St. Jude urge Christians to do against heretical teachings (1:3)?
“To contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.”
What is the primary motivation of the ungodly heretics?
“Walking according to their own desires”.
Revelation (Apocalypse)
What does the first part of St. John’s book consist?
Commendations and warnings to the seven major Churches of Asia Minor.
What does the majority of Revelation reveal?
The punishments and events of the Last Days before the Second Coming of Christ.
What does the final two chapters of the book describe?
A new heaven and a new earth (a new Jerusalem).