Problem
I. The Establishment of Roman Christian Doctrine
i. What does Arius mean that Jesus is "not eternal or co-eternal or co-unorginate with the Father"? How is this statement central to his and his followers' faith?
ii. How does the Nicene Creed refute the Arian position while defining essential doctrinal beliefs about Christianity?
iii. By defining "correct belief," how does the church put into place a mechanism for dealing with hersey?
iv. How does the Nicene Creed illustrate the change in the church as it grew from relatively small, illegal communities into a major hierarchal institution?
II. The Struggle of Conversion
i. Why is it so difficult for Augustine to make a decision about embracing the Christian faith? Why is he so at odds with himself?
ii. How does his choice of language convey the depth of his emotion as he struggles with this decision?
iii. What triggers Augustine's conversion? Why do you think he includes this account in his Confessions, which he wrote more than a decade after the events he describes?
III. The Development of Monasticism
i. How would you describe Bendict's tone in the Prologue? What does this suggest about his overall goal in composing his Rule?
ii. As explained here, what general religious principles and goals were supposed to guide the monk's lives and why?
iii. Why does Benedict place such a strong emphasis on humility? Why did he consider it to be so important to doing God's work?
IV. Germanic Law in the Roman Empire
i. What do these laws reveal about the social and political structure of the Burgundian kingdom? For example, do the laws place the same value on all social groups?
ii. What does the code reveal about Burgundian women and family life?
iii. Historians regard the interaction between Germanic and Roman peoples as a key component of the process by which Germanic kingdoms replaced imperial government in western Europe. What evidence of such interaction can you find in this document?