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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Abelard and Heloise's son named?

2. What enables Abelard to return to Paris?

3. How did Abelard seduce Heloise?

4. What does Abelard say Heloise deserves?

5. In Letter 4, for what does Heloise say she is grateful?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the conditions of Abelard's death.

2. What promise does Peter the Venerable make to Heloise in his last letter?

3. List a few examples Abelard uses of women serving Christianity.

4. How does Heloise compare Abelard and God?

5. What does Heloise ask at the end of Letter 6?

6. How did Abelard seduce Heloise?

7. What sources does Abelard use in prescribing his rule to Heloise in Letter 8?

8. Where did Abelard go after he went to St. Denis?

9. What steps does the author of Letter 9 describe Abelard having taken?

10. Describe what Fulbert's family did to Abelard.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How would Abelard and Heloise answer Nietzsche's claim that Christian morality is slave morality that celebrates the weakness of the followers as against the master morality that celebrates the strength of the masters?

Essay Topic 2

Peter the Venerable's letter to the pope is the first interjection from outside of Abelard and Heloise. What is Peter the Venerable's role in this epistolary conversation? What is his authority in this relationship? How does his appearance change the correspondence?

Essay Topic 3

Describe who would find this work interesting and useful, and describe as well what uses this book could be put to? What questions does it answer? Are the letters of Abelard and Heloise artwork, philosophy, church history, or personal correspondence? Which predominates?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 659 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample