Scriptural Strands
Scrambled Sources
Dates & Doers
Prominent Prophets
Technical Terms
100
The Tanakh, the New Testament, and the Quran all call this man a "friend of God."
Who is Abraham?
100
If you want a glimpse of Arabic language and Arabian cultures before Muhammad, you might try turning to this genre of orally preserved texts:
tropey
(Unscramble the word.)
What is poetry?
100
Traditionally, this man was born on this month and day around the year 1 CE (now thought to be closer to 4 BCE).
Who is Jesus, and what is December 25?
100
In this place, you can't buy tablets from either Apple or Samsung, but Moses did receive some from God here, according to the Tanakh.
What is Mount Sinai?
100
This synonym of "covenant" also describes the "Old" and "New" parts of the Christian Bible.
What is "Testament"?
200
The Quran has 114 of these, arranged more or less from longest to shortest.
What are surahs (or sur)?
200
In contrast to literary sources, this category of sources includes daily life texts such as contracts:
trancemudyo
What are documentary sources?
200
This proclaimer of Islam reportedly died in year 11 of the new Hijri calendar, which is equivalent to year 32 of this century CE.
Who is Muhammad, and what is the seventh century CE?
200
According to Islamic tradition, this man did not himself record his prophecies in writing; instead, he recited them to his companions, who wrote them down and collected them.
Who is Muhammad?
200
This Hebrew word for "anointed" signifies a deliverer for Israel, and is also known in the Greek form "Christ."
What is "Messiah"?
300
The word "Tanakh" is an abbreviation for these three groupings of books –– together they make the Hebrew Bible.
What are "Torah," "Nevi'im," and "Ketuvim"?
300
This Jewish history writer provides precious but problematic information about Palestine in the first century CE:
shujespo
Who is Josephus?
300
The Edict of Milan by this Roman emperor made Christianity legal in the Roman empire (but not yet its official religion) in this year.
Who is Constantine, and what is 313 CE?
300
The story of this man shows how a prophet could also be a kingmaker; the Tanakh tells how he anointed Israel's first two kings.
Who is Samuel?
300
Someone willing to be killed for what they believe in is literally a "witness," or this word from Greek.
What is a "martyr"?
400
One of the ironies of history is that several Jewish sources from the second-temple period were lost from Jewish tradition but preserved in the Christian Bible, and not in Hebrew but in this language.
What is Greek?
400
These were written on parchment long before paper was used in the Near East; they are the oldest manuscripts that substantially preserve the text of the Tanakh:
saderelslocads (three words)
What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
400
Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the temple by the Maccabees after this Greek Seleucid emperor defiled it in this century BCE.
Image: By YB13D - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64719143
Who is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and what is the second century BCE?
400
Among the prophets mentioned in the Quran, several of them (including Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad) are given this additional title relating to their role of bringing a divine message to people.
What is "messenger" (or rasūl or "apostle")?
400
Worshiping one God –– without necessarily disputing the existence of other gods –– is called this by scholars.
What is "practical monotheism" (or "monolatry" or "henotheism").
500
Among the earliest translations of the New Testament are translations into this language used in Syria, Mesopotamia, and even Persia.
What is Syriac?
500
Perhaps the oldest preserved portion of a Quran is a carbon-dated fragment now kept in this English city; its text is, however, less controversial than that of the fragments from Sanaa in Yemen:
grammbihin
What is Birmingham?
500
Justin Martyr wrote his defenses of Christian belief in this century CE, the same century that this rabbi is supposed to have edited the Mishna.
What is the second century CE, and who is Judah ha-Nasi?
500
This prophet or diviner appears in an inscription at Deir Allah in Jordan, as well as in the Bible, where he was hired to curse the Israelites but refused to do so.
Image: By Disdero - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
Who is Balaam (son of Beor)?
500
This is the term for the process of becoming "Greek," for example in language and culture, as seen in the above mosaic from a synagogue.
What is "hellenization"?