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LC Religious Education practice questions

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Question 1The Search for Meaning and Values

In the study of the search for meaning, which term describes the human capacity to reflect on one's own existence and ask why we are here?

  1. Social conditioning
  2. Reflexive consciousness Correct answer.
  3. Self-transcendence
  4. Instinctual drive

Explanation

Reflexive consciousness is the ability to turn attention back on oneself, enabling questions about purpose, identity and mortality. This self-awareness is treated as a defining feature of the human search for meaning rather than a biological instinct.

Question 2The Search for Meaning and Values

A student argues that meaning is not discovered ready-made but created through choices and commitments. Which philosophical position does this most closely reflect?

  1. Existentialism Correct answer.
  2. Empiricism
  3. Rationalism
  4. Determinism

Explanation

Existentialism holds that existence precedes essence, so the individual must construct meaning through free choices and commitments. Determinism instead says choices are caused by prior conditions, and rationalism and empiricism concern the sources of knowledge.

Question 3The Search for Meaning and Values

Which statement best captures Viktor Frankl's claim that meaning is found through self-transcendence?

  1. Meaning emerges when a person directs attention beyond the self toward a cause, person or task. Correct answer.
  2. Meaning is an illusion produced by social pressure.
  3. Meaning is achieved by maximising personal pleasure and comfort.
  4. Meaning is inherited from family tradition and cannot be chosen.

Explanation

Frankl argued that meaning arises when people orient themselves toward something or someone beyond themselves, such as work, love or suffering borne with dignity. This is the core of his notion of self-transcendence rather than self-gratification.

Question 4The Search for Meaning and Values

In the search for meaning, what does the term 'worldview' refer to?

  1. A legal code governing public behaviour
  2. A scientific method for testing hypotheses
  3. A comprehensive framework of beliefs and values through which a person interprets reality Correct answer.
  4. A single religious ritual performed at home

Explanation

A worldview is an overall interpretive framework of beliefs, values and assumptions that shapes how a person understands reality and their place in it. It is broader than any single ritual, method or law.

Question 5The Search for Meaning and Values

Which question is most characteristic of the philosophical branch called metaphysics?

  1. What makes an argument logically valid?
  2. What is ultimately real and what does it mean to exist? Correct answer.
  3. How should we measure moral outcomes?
  4. Which rituals are performed at a funeral?

Explanation

Metaphysics investigates the nature of reality, existence and being, asking what is ultimately real. Logic, ethics and ritual studies address different questions, so they do not define metaphysics.

Question 6The Search for Meaning and Values

A person claims that the only reliable knowledge comes from sensory observation and experiment. Which outlook is being described?

  1. Stoicism
  2. Fideism
  3. Idealism
  4. Empiricism Correct answer.

Explanation

Empiricism holds that experience, especially sensory observation, is the foundation of knowledge. Idealism prioritises mind or ideas, fideism prioritises faith, and stoicism is an ethical outlook about enduring what we cannot control.

Question 7The Search for Meaning and Values

What does atheism mean as a position within the search for meaning?

  1. The worship of many divine beings
  2. The belief that God's existence is unknown and cannot be decided
  3. The rejection or denial of belief in a God or gods Correct answer.
  4. The claim that all religions are equally true

Explanation

Atheism is the position of not holding belief in a God or gods, often expressed as denial of divine existence. It is distinct from agnosticism, polytheism and pluralism, which make different claims.

Question 8The Search for Meaning and Values

In the search for meaning, what is meant by 'agnosticism'?

  1. The firm assertion that God does not exist
  2. The practice of interpreting scripture allegorically
  3. The view that the existence of God is unknown or cannot be known Correct answer.
  4. The belief that God is identical with nature

Explanation

Agnosticism holds that the existence of God is unknown or beyond human knowledge, so judgement is suspended. It differs from atheism, pantheism and hermeneutics, which each make different claims.

Question 9The Search for Meaning and Values

A student says that because human beings are free, they are responsible for the values they choose to live by. Which debate does this statement most directly address?

  1. Free will and responsibility Correct answer.
  2. Reason and emotion
  3. Sacred and secular
  4. Faith and reason

Explanation

The statement links freedom of choice to moral responsibility, which is precisely the free will and responsibility debate. The other pairs concern different tensions in the search for meaning.

Question 10The Search for Meaning and Values

Which thinker is most associated with the claim that 'the unexamined life is not worth living'?

  1. Thomas Aquinas
  2. Aristotle
  3. Friedrich Nietzsche
  4. Socrates Correct answer.

Explanation

Socrates, as portrayed in Plato's dialogues, insisted that reflective self-examination is essential to a worthwhile life. The phrase is a hallmark of Socratic ethics and its emphasis on questioning.

Question 11The Search for Meaning and Values

A person facing serious illness chooses to find purpose by caring for others in the same situation. Using Frankl's framework, this best illustrates:

  1. Finding meaning through avoidance of pain
  2. Finding meaning through inherited wealth
  3. Finding meaning through suffering and attitude Correct answer.
  4. Finding meaning through conformity to fashion

Explanation

Frankl held that even unavoidable suffering can be given meaning through the attitude one adopts and the way one serves others. The example shows a chosen attitude rather than material or superficial sources of meaning.

Question 12The Search for Meaning and Values

Which statement best distinguishes a religious worldview from a purely secular one in the search for meaning?

  1. A religious worldview relies only on emotion, while a secular one relies only on reason.
  2. A religious worldview denies human freedom, while a secular one affirms it.
  3. A religious worldview rejects all ethical values, while a secular one accepts them.
  4. A religious worldview typically grounds ultimate meaning in a transcendent reality, while a secular one grounds it in human or natural sources. Correct answer.

Explanation

The key contrast is the source of ultimate meaning: religious worldviews typically appeal to a transcendent reality, whereas secular worldviews locate meaning in human life, nature or society. The other options misrepresent both categories.

Question 13The Search for Meaning and Values

A student claims that science alone can answer every question about meaning. Which criticism is most relevant?

  1. Science describes empirical facts but does not by itself settle normative questions about how we ought to live. Correct answer.
  2. Science relies entirely on faith and has no method.
  3. Science cannot make reliable predictions.
  4. Science has been disproved by philosophy.

Explanation

A common criticism is that empirical science describes facts and mechanisms but does not by itself yield normative conclusions about meaning, value or how to live. This is the fact-value distinction rather than a rejection of scientific method.

Question 14The Search for Meaning and Values

In the search for meaning, what is the 'fact-value distinction'?

  1. The separation of religious facts from scientific facts
  2. The claim that facts are always more important than values
  3. The distinction between descriptive statements about what is and normative statements about what ought to be Correct answer.
  4. The view that values are simply opinions with no rational basis

Explanation

The fact-value distinction separates descriptive claims about what is the case from normative claims about what ought to be. It does not itself assert that values are irrational or that facts are more important.

Question 15The Search for Meaning and Values

Which option best describes the role of myth in the search for meaning?

  1. A symbolic narrative that conveys values and explains human experience Correct answer.
  2. A factual historical record verified by archaeology
  3. A deliberate falsehood intended to deceive people
  4. A scientific hypothesis awaiting experimental test

Explanation

In religious and philosophical study, myth refers to symbolic narrative that expresses values, identity and explanations of human experience rather than literal reportage. It is not necessarily false or unscientific in intent.

Question 16The Search for Meaning and Values

A person who says 'I cannot prove God exists, but I choose to trust and commit my life to God' is expressing which position?

  1. Fideism Correct answer.
  2. Atheism
  3. Determinism
  4. Rationalist proof

Explanation

Fideism holds that faith involves a commitment that is not dependent on rational proof. The speaker trusts and commits without claiming demonstrative proof, which matches fideism rather than proof-based rationalism.

Question 17The Search for Meaning and Values

Which statement best expresses the principle of human dignity as used in the search for meaning?

  1. Every human person has inherent worth that is not dependent on usefulness or status. Correct answer.
  2. Dignity applies only to members of one's own community.
  3. Dignity is a matter of personal preference.
  4. Dignity is earned through achievement and social status.

Explanation

Human dignity in this context means inherent worth belonging to every person regardless of utility or status. This grounds claims about rights and moral respect that recur across religious and secular worldviews.

Question 18The Search for Meaning and Values

A student compares two classmates: one finds meaning in religious worship, the other in environmental activism. Which conclusion best reflects a pluralist approach?

  1. Both paths can be genuine sources of meaning even though they differ in content. Correct answer.
  2. Only the religious path is genuine because it involves transcendence.
  3. The activist path is superior because it is evidence-based.
  4. Neither path is genuine because meaning is purely subjective.

Explanation

Pluralism holds that different paths can be genuine sources of meaning even when their content differs. This does not require ranking them or reducing meaning to mere preference.

Question 19The Search for Meaning and Values

Which question is most characteristic of ethics as a branch of philosophy relevant to the search for meaning?

  1. What is the ultimate nature of time?
  2. How are religious texts historically dated?
  3. What are the rules of valid inference?
  4. How should human beings act and what makes a life good? Correct answer.

Explanation

Ethics examines how we ought to act and what constitutes a good human life, which directly connects to the search for meaning. The other questions belong to metaphysics, history and logic respectively.

Question 20The Search for Meaning and Values

A person argues that human life has no inherent meaning and that any meaning must be invented by the individual. This position is closest to:

  1. Nihilism combined with existential creation of meaning Correct answer.
  2. Natural law theory
  3. Classical theism
  4. Virtue ethics

Explanation

The claim that life has no inherent meaning reflects nihilism, while the insistence that individuals invent meaning reflects existentialist creation of value. The other options all affirm objective sources of meaning or moral order.

Question 21The Search for Meaning and Values

Which criticism is most commonly raised against treating consumer culture as a primary source of meaning?

  1. It discourages people from earning money.
  2. It ties identity and satisfaction to acquisition, which may leave deeper questions of purpose unaddressed. Correct answer.
  3. It provides too many opportunities for reflection.
  4. It rejects all forms of technology.

Explanation

A standard criticism is that consumer culture links identity and fulfilment to acquisition, which can crowd out deeper reflection on purpose. The objection concerns the quality of the meaning offered, not opposition to earning or technology.

Question 22The Search for Meaning and Values

A student claims that because different cultures hold different moral values, no cross-cultural moral judgement is ever possible. Which response best identifies the weakness in this reasoning?

  1. It denies that cultures change over time.
  2. It confuses descriptive diversity with the conclusion that no normative evaluation is possible. Correct answer.
  3. It assumes that all cultures are identical in their values.
  4. It relies on scientific evidence that is unavailable.

Explanation

The argument moves from the observed diversity of moral values to the strong conclusion that no normative evaluation is possible. That inference is contested because descriptive disagreement does not by itself establish that no cross-cultural judgement can be justified.

Question 23The Search for Meaning and Values

Which pairing correctly matches a thinker with a central idea about the search for meaning?

  1. Nietzsche - the will to power and the revaluation of values Correct answer.
  2. Sartre - the doctrine that faith alone justifies meaning
  3. Frankl - the view that meaning is purely socially constructed
  4. Aquinas - the claim that existence precedes essence

Explanation

Nietzsche is associated with the will to power and the call to revalue values after the 'death of God'. The other pairings attach ideas to thinkers who did not hold them.

Question 24The Search for Meaning and Values

A community insists that its tradition alone possesses the full truth about human purpose. Which concept best names this stance, and what is its main challenge in a plural society?

  1. Agnosticism; it must explain why judgement is suspended.
  2. Pluralism; it must explain why all views are equally true.
  3. Exclusivism; it must explain how to coexist respectfully with those holding other comprehensive views. Correct answer.
  4. Relativism; it must explain why no view can be criticised.

Explanation

Exclusivism holds that one tradition possesses the full truth, and its main challenge is justifying respectful coexistence with other comprehensive views. Pluralism, relativism and agnosticism name different stances with different challenges.

Question 25The Search for Meaning and Values

Which argument best supports the view that the search for meaning is a distinctly human activity rather than a purely biological function?

  1. Humans have larger brains than other species, which guarantees meaning.
  2. Humans follow social rules, which animals never do.
  3. Humans share basic needs with other animals, so meaning is biological.
  4. Humans can question the worth of their own goals and revise them, which goes beyond mere survival behaviour. Correct answer.

Explanation

The capacity to evaluate and revise one's own goals, even questioning whether they are worth pursuing, marks a reflective stance beyond survival behaviour. Brain size or rule-following alone does not establish meaning-seeking.

Question 26The Search for Meaning and Values

In the search for meaning, which term describes the view that reason is the primary source of knowledge and that it can uncover universal truths about human purpose?

  1. Empiricism
  2. Pragmatism
  3. Rationalism Correct answer.
  4. Existentialism

Explanation

Rationalism holds that reason, rather than sensory experience alone, is the main source of knowledge and can grasp necessary truths about reality and human purpose. It is classically associated with thinkers such as Plato and Descartes, who trusted rational insight over mere observation.

Question 27The Search for Meaning and Values

A student argues that meaning in life is not discovered ready-made but is created through the choices and commitments a person makes. Which philosophical approach does this best illustrate?

  1. Existentialism Correct answer.
  2. Utilitarianism
  3. Determinism
  4. Stoicism

Explanation

Existentialism, especially in the work of Sartre and de Beauvoir, holds that existence precedes essence: humans first exist and then define themselves through free choices. Meaning is therefore not given in advance but constructed through commitment and action.

Question 28The Search for Meaning and Values

Which statement best describes the philosophical meaning of 'transcendence' in the search for meaning?

  1. The belief that only material reality exists and can be studied scientifically.
  2. The reduction of all values to individual preference.
  3. The practice of suspending judgement about ultimate questions.
  4. The orientation of human life toward a reality that goes beyond the purely material or immediate. Correct answer.

Explanation

Transcendence refers to going beyond the given, material world toward something greater-whether God, ultimate value, or a wider horizon of meaning. It is a key concept in religious and spiritual worldviews and in philosophical accounts of human openness to the infinite.

Question 29The Search for Meaning and Values

Which question is most characteristic of metaphysics as a branch of philosophy relevant to the search for meaning?

  1. What makes a work of art beautiful?
  2. How should we distribute scarce medical resources fairly?
  3. What is ultimately real, and does reality include a divine or spiritual dimension? Correct answer.
  4. What does it mean for a human action to be free?

Explanation

Metaphysics investigates the nature of reality, existence, and ultimate categories, including questions about God, the soul, and the structure of the cosmos. These questions frame the search for meaning by asking what kind of universe we inhabit.

Question 30The Search for Meaning and Values

A student says that because human beings are finite and mortal, they are tempted to distract themselves with everyday busyness rather than face the question of meaning. Which thinker's analysis does this most closely reflect?

  1. A. J. Ayer
  2. B. F. Skinner
  3. Søren Kierkegaard Correct answer.
  4. Karl Marx

Explanation

Kierkegaard analysed how people evade the anxiety of existence through distraction and conformity, which he associated with the aesthetic stage of life. Facing the self and making a committed choice is, for him, the route to authentic existence.

Question 31The Search for Meaning and Values

In the search for meaning, what is meant by 'nihilism'?

  1. The view that moral values are objectively true and universally binding.
  2. The view that religious faith is the only source of meaning.
  3. The view that life has no inherent meaning, purpose, or objective value. Correct answer.
  4. The view that meaning is found through social conformity.

Explanation

Nihilism denies that life, the universe, or values have any inherent meaning or objective foundation. It is often contrasted with religious worldviews and with existentialist attempts to create meaning despite meaninglessness.

Question 32The Search for Meaning and Values

A person claims that all human behaviour, including the search for meaning, is ultimately determined by unconscious drives. Which thinker is most associated with this view?

  1. Sigmund Freud Correct answer.
  2. Jean-Paul Sartre
  3. Thomas Aquinas
  4. Viktor Frankl

Explanation

Freud's psychoanalytic theory holds that unconscious desires and conflicts shape behaviour, often beneath rational awareness. This challenges views that see the search for meaning as a fully conscious, free activity.

Question 33The Search for Meaning and Values

Which option best describes the role of ritual in the search for meaning within religious traditions?

  1. Ritual serves only to mark the passage of time and has no symbolic content.
  2. Ritual enacts and reinforces shared meanings, connecting individuals to a community and to a transcendent order. Correct answer.
  3. Ritual replaces the need for any personal reflection on values.
  4. Ritual is purely a matter of aesthetic performance with no connection to meaning.

Explanation

Ritual is a symbolic action that embodies and transmits the core meanings of a tradition, linking participants to community, memory, and the sacred. It helps individuals internalise values and orient their lives toward what the tradition regards as ultimate.

Question 34The Search for Meaning and Values

A student argues that because science describes the world in terms of causes and laws, it cannot tell us what we ought to value. Which philosophical distinction does this argument rely on?

  1. The distinction between the noumenal and the phenomenal.
  2. The distinction between analytic and synthetic propositions.
  3. The distinction between descriptive facts and prescriptive values. Correct answer.
  4. The distinction between the sacred and the profane.

Explanation

The fact-value distinction holds that descriptive statements about what is the case do not by themselves yield prescriptive conclusions about what ought to be done. This is often associated with Hume's guillotine and is central to debates about whether science can ground meaning or ethics.

Question 35The Search for Meaning and Values

Which statement best captures the concept of 'alienation' as it bears on the search for meaning?

  1. The process of becoming more integrated with one's community.
  2. The view that all religious traditions are equally true.
  3. The belief that meaning is found only in solitary meditation.
  4. A sense of estrangement from one's work, community, or self, which can undermine meaning. Correct answer.

Explanation

Alienation denotes a felt separation from aspects of life that normally give meaning, such as productive work, social bonds, or one's own identity. Marx, Hegel, and existentialists each analyse different forms of alienation and their effects on human flourishing.

Question 36The Search for Meaning and Values

A person who says that moral values are human creations with no foundation in a transcendent order is best described as holding which position?

  1. Moral realism
  2. Natural law theory
  3. Divine command theory
  4. Moral constructivism Correct answer.

Explanation

Moral constructivism holds that moral values are not discovered as objective features of the world but are constructed by human beings, individually or collectively. It contrasts with realist views that ground values in a transcendent or natural order.

Question 37The Search for Meaning and Values

Which criticism is most commonly raised against the claim that the search for meaning is purely a matter of subjective feeling?

  1. It overemphasises the role of reason in human life.
  2. It denies that feelings exist.
  3. It makes meaning too objective and universal.
  4. It ignores the way meaning is shaped by shared language, community, and tradition. Correct answer.

Explanation

A purely subjectivist account struggles to explain how meaning is communicated, contested, and sustained across generations. Critics argue that meaning is embedded in shared practices, narratives, and institutions, not merely in private feelings.

Question 38The Search for Meaning and Values

A student argues that the human search for meaning is distinctive because humans can ask questions about their own existence and evaluate their own lives. Which feature of human consciousness does this argument emphasise?

  1. Reflexivity Correct answer.
  2. Impulsivity
  3. Materiality
  4. Conformity

Explanation

Reflexivity is the capacity of consciousness to turn back on itself, enabling self-awareness, self-evaluation, and the posing of ultimate questions. This reflexive capacity is often cited as what distinguishes the human search for meaning from purely instinctual behaviour.

Question 39The Search for Meaning and Values

Which argument best supports the view that the search for meaning is a distinctly human activity rather than a purely biological one?

  1. Humans share basic survival needs with other animals.
  2. Humans are capable of symbolic thought and of asking why they exist. Correct answer.
  3. Humans are determined by genetic inheritance.
  4. Humans respond to stimuli in their environment.

Explanation

Symbolic thought allows humans to represent absent possibilities, ask ultimate questions, and evaluate their own existence. This capacity for self-transcendence in thought is what many philosophers identify as the basis of the distinctively human search for meaning.

Question 40The Search for Meaning and Values

A person claims that because all human knowledge is shaped by culture and language, no universal meaning can ever be affirmed. Which criticism of this claim is most philosophically relevant?

  1. It denies that language exists.
  2. It assumes that culture has no influence on knowledge.
  3. It overestimates the role of biology in human life.
  4. It ignores the possibility that some meanings may be universal even if expressed in culturally specific ways. Correct answer.

Explanation

The claim moves from the fact that meaning is culturally mediated to the conclusion that no universal meaning is possible, which is a non sequitur. Critics argue that cultural mediation does not rule out cross-cultural truths or shared human experiences, even if their expression varies.

Question 41Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

Which event in the life of Jesus is commemorated by the Christian feast of Easter?

  1. His baptism in the Jordan
  2. His transfiguration on a mountain
  3. His resurrection from the dead Correct answer.
  4. His birth in Bethlehem

Explanation

Easter is the central Christian festival, celebrating the belief that Jesus rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion. It is regarded as the foundation of Christian faith because it grounds the claim that Jesus is Lord. Christmas, by contrast, marks his birth.

Question 42Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

In Christian teaching, which term refers to the belief that God became human in the person of Jesus?

  1. Ascension
  2. Atonement
  3. Incarnation Correct answer.
  4. Pentecost

Explanation

Incarnation comes from Latin for 'becoming flesh' and expresses the doctrine that the eternal Word of God took human nature in Jesus. It is defined at the Council of Chalcedon as one person with two natures, divine and human. The other terms name different events or doctrines.

Question 43Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

Which book of the New Testament records the earliest written account of the Jerusalem council debate over Gentile converts?

  1. The Letter to the Romans
  2. The Acts of the Apostles Correct answer.
  3. The Book of Revelation
  4. The Gospel of Mark

Explanation

Acts 15 narrates the gathering in Jerusalem where Paul and Barnabas argued that Gentile converts need not be circumcised. Peter and James are portrayed as supporting a compromise. Acts is the New Testament text that narrates this decision.

Question 44Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

Which sacrament in most Christian traditions is understood as initiation into the church through water and the Holy Spirit?

  1. Ordination
  2. Confirmation
  3. Eucharist
  4. Baptism Correct answer.

Explanation

Baptism uses water and the Trinitarian formula to mark entry into the Christian community, and it is generally regarded as the first sacrament of initiation. The New Testament links it to the baptism of Jesus and to Paul's teaching on dying and rising with Christ.

Question 45Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

What is the name of the prayer that Jesus is said to have taught his disciples, beginning 'Our Father'?

  1. The Hail Mary
  2. The Apostles' Creed
  3. The Gloria
  4. The Lord's Prayer Correct answer.

Explanation

The Lord's Prayer is recorded in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. It addresses God as Father and includes petitions for daily bread and forgiveness. It is used in virtually every Christian tradition.

Question 46Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

Which Christian reformer is associated with the posting of the Ninety-five Theses in 1517?

  1. Thomas Cranmer
  2. John Calvin
  3. Martin Luther Correct answer.
  4. Ulrich Zwingli

Explanation

Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar and professor at Wittenberg, is traditionally credited with posting the Ninety-five Theses in 1517. The document challenged the sale of indulgences and is widely taken as the starting point of the Protestant Reformation.

Question 47Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

Which two parts make up the Christian Bible as recognised by most traditions?

  1. The Psalms and the Prophets
  2. The Gospels and the Epistles
  3. The Torah and the Talmud
  4. The Old Testament and the New Testament Correct answer.

Explanation

The Christian Bible is conventionally divided into the Old Testament, largely shared with Jewish scripture, and the New Testament, which contains the Gospels, Acts, letters and Revelation. The other pairings name subsets or non-Christian texts.

Question 48Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

In Christian belief, what is the Trinity?

  1. One God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit Correct answer.
  2. A three-day period of mourning before Easter
  3. The threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons
  4. Three separate gods who share one purpose

Explanation

The doctrine of the Trinity holds that the one God exists eternally as three distinct persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who share one divine essence. It was defined in the creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople. It is not a claim of three gods.

Question 49Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

Which Gospel begins with the words 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God'?

  1. Mark
  2. Matthew
  3. John Correct answer.
  4. Luke

Explanation

The prologue of John's Gospel identifies the Word (Logos) as pre-existent with God and then states that the Word became flesh. This opening distinguishes John from the synoptic Gospels, which begin with genealogy, baptism or infancy narratives.

Question 50Christianity: Origins and Contemporary Expressions

A student argues that all four Gospels present an identical account of Jesus's birth. Which response is most accurate?

  1. Only Matthew and Luke include infancy narratives, and they differ in detail Correct answer.
  2. All four Gospels include a birth narrative with slightly different wording
  3. No Gospel includes a birth narrative; the stories come from later tradition
  4. Only John and Mark include birth narratives because they stress Jesus's divinity

Explanation

Matthew and Luke each contain infancy material, but they differ: Matthew features the Magi and the flight to Egypt, while Luke features the shepherds and the presentation in the temple. Mark and John contain no birth narrative at all. Recognising this is essential to source analysis in the study of the Gospels.