Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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These sample questions cover some topics since the midterm. We'll add more questions soon. You can find the answers to the questions here. (Unattributed phases from Benson, Sandler, Bouma-Prediger, and readings in Benson may be present.)

The Christian Worldview

1. Bouma-Prediger makes the following claim after reading the creation account in Genesis 1 & 2: "Creation is COSMOS." What does he mean by this particular statement?
   1. That creation is good. God claimed after each day of creation that it was good (tob), and thus humanity is not set against nature but within a good creation.
   2. That creation has order and structure. There is a deliberate ordering of creation that occurs in Genesis — evident in the very narrative itself and the ordering of the species and types of animals.
   3. That God is the Creator of all things. God is not merely the creator of that which is in God's image — humanity — but the whole of creation from the stars, planets, and heavens to the earth, its creatures and the atoms and quarks that make it up.
   4. That God created the universe for the sake of Sabbath. The universe comes into its own being on the 7th day, when God takes leisure and we too must take leisure to enjoy and flourish in a harmonious universe.
2. Which if the following is NOT a characteristic of the covenant God established after the flood waters receded and Noah and his family left the ark (i.e. "the Noahic Covenant.")
   1. The covenant is dependent upon humanity's continued obedience.
   2. The covenant is made with Noah and his descendents.
   3. The covenant is made with every living creature.
   4. The covenant rests solely on God's commitment.
3. According to Bouma-Prediger, the doctrine of the Trinity significant for a Christian worldview of creation for what reason?
   1. Salvation for humanity is made possible by the Son's atoning work on the cross, which changed the Father's anger toward a sinful humanity. This in turn allowed for a fallen creation to be redeemed alongside a restored humanity.
   2. God's very nature is relational, pointing us toward the fundamental relationality of the entities within the created order. Humanity is not autonomous.
   3. Creation is the unique activity of the Father; Redemption is the unique activity of the Son; Sanctification is the unique activity of the Holy Spirit.
   4. All of the above.

The Enlightenment and Romantic Worldviews

1. Issac Newton had a particular view of the natural world. Which of the following claims fit his worldview.
   1. The natural world can be understood through the language of mathematics. These laws apply to both the world here on earth and in the heavens. We can know much about God through nature, for nature can be understood teleologically.
   2. The natural world can be understood through the language of mathematics. Because of this, the world functions metaphorically like a machine. It has no telos, but it is merely a series of causations that can be (at least in theory) fully known.
   3. The world is best understood as matter in motion. Human beings interpret nature to have a teleology, but in actually it has none. Rather the world works deterministically — past states of affairs determine present and future states of affairs.
   4. None of the above.
2. Which of the following is NOT true of Panentheism?
   1. It was a worldview adopted by some Romantics including Shelling and Hegel.
   2. It holds that nature is full of gods — individual lakes, trees, mountains have their own gods.
   3. It became popular as a reaction against the mechanistic and deterministic view of nature.
   4. It holds that all is in God — just as the soul fills and enlivens the body, so does God fill and enliven the universe.
   5. It coheres with a view that human language is inadequate to describe nature, since nature itself is sublime.

Virtue Environmental Ethics

1. Sandler describes one category of environmental virtues as those of "(weak) sustainability." Which of the following best describes the consideration(s) that justify these virtues?
   1. The cyclical feature of recycling.
   2. The basic goods for human agents.
   3. The intrinsic value of natural phenomena.
   4. The holism found in the expanded Self.
2. Which of the following represents a virtue-oriented way (though not the only virtue-oriented way) of translating virtues into actions?
   1. Virtues are rules you must follow in order to do what is right.
   2. Virtues tell us which choice maximizes the most pleasure over pain for the most people.
   3. Virtues describe the natural law governing people.
   4. Virtues allow us to conceptualize what a virtuous person would do.

Valuing and Being Part of Nature

1. The notion of people as being part of an Expanded Self that includes (parts) of nature may lead to more environmentally-friendly behavior as it
   1. motivates people to identify the good of nature with their own good.
   2. encourages people to think in terms of their own needs and wants.
   3. shows how different people are from animals.
   4. reinforces a human/nature dualistic understanding.
2. Benson argues that the notion of using the natural as a guide to ethical behavior
   1. is self-evident.
   2. cannot be true because anything that happens is natural.
   3. requires an ethical premise like "one ought to always do what is natural."
   4. is deduced from biological facts.