Heloise and Abelard - Letter 3 - Love, Virtue, Duty, and God - Sadler's Lectures

29/10/2025 18 min
Heloise and Abelard - Letter 3 - Love, Virtue, Duty, and God - Sadler's Lectures

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Episode Synopsis

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard

It focuses specifically on the third letter, which is by Abelard. It discusses Heloise's proposal that although they have taken monastic vows, they can rightly enjoy some married life together through writing letters to each other, and Abelard's rejection of that suggestion. He tell her that they both must turn to God and make Christian perfection their goal, even if that means leaving their amorous relationship behind, and he tells her that by his own confessions, he intends to change her love into contempt or hatred for him.

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Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm

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