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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Abelard say he is correcting with the life of silence?
(a) Excess of words.
(b) Guilt.
(c) Dependency on the world.
(d) Excess of sin.

2. What did the woman do, whom Abelard cited in Letter 7?
(a) Discovered Christ's empty tomb.
(b) Took Christ down from the cross.
(c) Anointed Christ with oil.
(d) Prepared for the Last Supper.

3. What does Heloise ask Abelard in Letter 6?
(a) To tell her how the order of nuns began.
(b) To forgive her.
(c) To describe the reasons for her to go on being a nun.
(d) To tell her how nuns should conduct themselves.

4. Where is weakness taken into account, according to Heloise?
(a) The Kabala.
(b) Canon law.
(c) Convent conventions.
(d) The Old Testament.

5. What does Peter the Venerable say about Abelard?
(a) He praises his intellect.
(b) He praises his work.
(c) He praises his writing.
(d) He praises his temperament.

6. What was the sender of Letter 9 trying to offer Abelard?
(a) Amnesty.
(b) Sanctuary.
(c) Forgiveness.
(d) Power.

7. Who does Abelard cite as an example of someone devout in the church?
(a) Mary Magdalene.
(b) Judith.
(c) Mary, mother of Christ.
(d) Ruth.

8. How does Abelard describe wisdom in his Rule?
(a) Knowing your place.
(b) Knowing yourself.
(c) Keeping oneself pure.
(d) Holding your tongue.

9. Where does Heloise find justification for what she asks Abelard in Letter 6?
(a) Convent practice.
(b) Scripture.
(c) The Rule of the Saints.
(d) Papal dispensations.

10. How does Abelard define poverty?
(a) Refusal to own property.
(b) Wisdom.
(c) Lack of property.
(d) Wealth in divine possessions.

11. Who received Letter 9?
(a) Heloise.
(b) The Abbott of Cluny.
(c) Abelard.
(d) The pope.

12. How does Heloise say that the thing that pleases God is manifested?
(a) In each according to his weakness.
(b) In each according to his talents.
(c) Differently in different people.
(d) The same in everyone.

13. What does Abelard say about the daughters of Aaron?
(a) They excelled their brothers in devotion.
(b) They took the priestly offices from their brothers.
(c) They held priestly office equally with their brothers.
(d) They betrayed their brothers' priestly duties.

14. Where did Abelard go after the exchange he had with the sender of Letter 9?
(a) To see Heloise.
(b) Retreat to Cluny.
(c) Continue his travels.
(d) Return to his monastery.

15. Where did Peter the Venerable send Abelard?
(a) Nantes.
(b) Citeaux.
(c) Chalon.
(d) Laon.

Short Answer Questions

1. What reason does the sender give for writing Letter 9?

2. What does Abelard say was honored by St. Paul and St. Jerome?

3. What does Abelard say nuns should study?

4. What else does Peter the Venerable say he is impressed by?

5. Which is not a part of the Rule Abelard describes to Heloise in Letter 8?

(see the answer keys)

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