Q 01/05

In which town did Mary live when the angel announced she would bear Jesus?

A) Nazareth

B) Bethlehem

C) Jerusalem

D) Capernaum

Answer · why

A) Nazareth

Nazareth appears nowhere in the Old Testament, and in John's Gospel Nathanael's first reply on hearing of Jesus is: 'Can any good thing come out of Na...

Q 02/05

Which angel told Mary she would conceive through the Holy Spirit?

A) Michael

B) Gabriel

C) Raphael

D) Uriel

Answer · why

B) Gabriel

Gabriel had a busy few months: Luke has the same angel appear first to the old priest Zechariah, promising him and his elderly wife a long-awaited son...

Q 03/05

Mary's Hebrew name is usually rendered in English as what?

A) Hannah

B) Martha

C) Miriam

D) Sarah

Answer · why

C) Miriam

Miriam: the Old Testament's famous Miriam is the sister of Moses, and by the Gospels so many women share the name that the writers have to tell their ...

Q 04/05

Which couple does the apocryphal Gospel of James name as Mary's parents?

A) Zechariah and Elizabeth

B) Jacob and Rachel

C) Eli and Hannah

D) Joachim and Anne

Answer · why

D) Joachim and Anne

Joachim and Anne appear nowhere in the Bible; they come from this second-century text, where a rich, childless couple are promised a child by an angel...

Q 05/05

Elizabeth, Mary's relative, descended from Aaron and so belonged to which tribe?

A) Levi

B) Judah

C) Benjamin

D) Dan

Answer · why

A) Levi

Levi: Aaron, Israel's first high priest, was Levi's great-grandson, and Luke introduces Elizabeth as one 'of the daughters of Aaron', married to a pri...