University of Central Florida Ecclesiastical History of English People Discussion

1-How are the needs of the spirit and the body contrasted throughout the life of Pope Gregory the Great depicted in ‘Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ (source 8.5)?

2-Gregory of Tours was an accomplished hagiographer, a person who wrote biographies of saints, martyrs, and other holy people. What elements from ‘Gregory of Tour, History of the Franks’ (source 8.3) on the life of the secular and ofttimes brutal ruler Clovis resemble a hagiography? How does Gregory portray Clovis?

3-How does Procopius describe Justinian and Theodora in ‘Two Views of  the Emperor Justinian’, from The Secret History (source 8.1)

4-What kinds of difficulties and temptations does Dhuoda in ‘Handbook for William’ (source 8.6) warn her son about?

5-How truthful if Procopius’s biographical sketch in ‘Two Views of  the Emperor Justinian’, from The Secret History (source 8.1)? What motives could have influenced the way he describes Justinian and Theodora? 

6-Is there a contradiction between the characterization of Aristotle in ‘Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed’ (source 9.8) as ‘chief of philosophers’ and his close reading of Hebrew scripture?

7-Comparing ‘al-Ghazali, The Deliverer from Error‘ (source 9.3) with ‘ibn Rushd, On the Harmony of Religious Law and Philosophy‘ (source 9.7) how is Sufism a different form of Islam? How are they compatible?

8-How does ‘Usama ibn Munqidh Memoirs‘ (source 9.6) describe Frankish culture and who does he list as his friends?

9-How does the story in ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ (source 9.4) suggest that it is human nature to cover up one’s mistakes and come to erroneous conclusions?

10-What examples does ‘Usama ibn Munqidh Memoirs‘ (source 9.6) offer of the uncivilized nature of the Franks?