Week 9: Legenda Aurea: Franciscus. Background | Background Quiz | Starting Assumptions | Resources | Extras Vocabulary | Etymology | Grammar | Perseus Dictionary | Perseus Tool Reading Overview | Reading Quiz: English | Reading Quiz: Latin Discussion Questions | Latin Composition | Weekly Checklist

Starting Assumptions

Please write a good solid paragraph where you comment on any of the following topics, raise any questions that come to mind: what do you know about this week's topic already? what interests you about this topic? what more would you like to learn about it? When you are done, post your comments in the "Starting Assumptions" section of this week's Blackboard Discussion Board. Please make sure that you do this by Tuesday midnight; it is up to you whether you want to do this before or after the Background assignment (either way is fine).

Note: you do not have to answer all these questions; just pick the ones that are the most relevant to what's on your mind.

• have you heard of Saint Francis? do you know any stories about him? have you see the film Brother Sun, Sister Moon?
• are there other saints that you have heard about? what stories do you know about them?
• have you ever been to a monastery? do you know anything about the different orders of monks? (Franciscans, Dominicans, etc.)
• are you interested in mysticism? are you familiar with Christian mystic traditions, such as the Philokalia of the Christian Orthodox Church? medieval mystics and visionaries such as Hildegard of Bingen?Meister Eckhart? Thomas à Kempis?
• are you familiar with other mystical traditions such as Islamic Sufism? Jewish Kabbala?

• at the bottom of the page you will find some images from this week's unit; if any of these images make a big impression on you, you can share your thoughts about the image and what it suggests to you (click on the image to learn more about it!)