Readings:

Online sources: (1) The Conversion of Clovis; (2) Willibald, The Life of St. Boniface

Basic Questions:

1. What passage(s) in the readings did you find particularly interesting? Why? What passage(s) did you not understand?

2. What do the readings reveal about what it meant to be a Christian?

3. What do the readings reveal about the nature of Christianity at the time in which they were produced?

Specific Questions:

4. What prompted Clovis (Chlodovocar) to convert to Christianity?

5. What lessons about Christianity, the strategies of its spread in the west, and its relationship to existing Germanic religions does the account of Clovis' conversion reveal?

6. The Life of St. Boniface is another story of a Christian hero. Remember the stories of the martyrs Stephen, Perpetua, Felicitas, and Polycarp. How is the Life of St. Boniface similar to and / or different from these two stories? Is Boniface a martyr like Stephen, Perpetua, Felicitas, or Polycarp?

7. What are the distinguishing characteristics of Boniface? What about him makes his worthy of admiration to Willibald? Look for recurring themes in the Life.

8. What does the Life teach us about the requirements and strategies for spreading Christianity in Europe in the eighth century?