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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many nuns are needed to run a convent, according to Abelard?
(a) Three.
(b) One.
(c) Seven.
(d) Five.

2. For what is Heloise arguing in Letter 6?
(a) Rules that respect gender differences.
(b) A case-by-case standard for burdens.
(c) An absolute rule for burdens.
(d) Contextual application of burdens.

3. What step did the sender recommend Abelard to take to change his position?
(a) Remove offensive language from his writing.
(b) Stop writing.
(c) Recant his writing.
(d) Surrender himself.

4. For what did Heloise ask Peter the Venerable in her response?
(a) A letter to the pope on Abelard's behalf.
(b) A record of Abelard's last days.
(c) A sealed document containing Abelard's absolution.
(d) A certificate of Abelard's death.

5. What else did Abelard do right before he died?
(a) Write out his last will.
(b) Compose hymns.
(c) Confess his sins.
(d) Receive absolution.

6. Which is not a part of the Rule Abelard describes to Heloise in Letter 8?
(a) The life of continence.
(b) The life of prayer.
(c) The life of silence.
(d) The life of poverty.

7. What does Peter the Venerable say to Heloise in Letter 10?
(a) He will try to help her.
(b) He cannot help her.
(c) He is happy to hear from her.
(d) He is sorry to hear about her situation.

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

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

10. Whom does Abelard say Jesus honored?
(a) Virgins.
(b) Widows.
(c) Prostitutes.
(d) Serving women.

11. Who were monks and nuns imitating, according to Abelard?
(a) Christ.
(b) The pope.
(c) The oldest gods.
(d) The sun and moon.

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

13. Who was Innocent II?
(a) Heloise.
(b) Abelard.
(c) The Abbott of Cluny.
(d) The pope.

14. When was Abelard with Peter the Venerable?
(a) In the last years of Abelard's life.
(b) In Peter the Venerable's travels.
(c) In his pilgrimage through Abelard's monastery.
(d) In Abelard's travels.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does God look for virtue, according to Heloise?

2. How does Abelard say women acted in the early church?

3. What does Letter 7 describe to Heloise?

4. What news about Abelard does the sender of Letter 9 relate?

5. Why aren't outward manifestations reliable in indicating devotion, according to Heloise?

(see the answer keys)

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