Written assignment

Read Adomnan's Life of Columba (the assigned pages) as a historian would. Write an essay that (1) sets out what the Life shows about Columba's work, his monastery and his preaching to the Picts; (2) separates what a careful reader can accept as history from what belongs to the genre of a saint's life; and (3) weighs the claim of M'Lauchlan and Hetherington that the Columban church was simpler and nearer to the apostolic pattern than the Roman church that replaced it. Say where their case is strong and where it goes beyond the evidence. Length: 4-5 pages. Assessed on: Uses the assigned pages of the Life with page references; Distinguishes historical testimony from hagiography with reasons; States M'Lauchlan's and Hetherington's case fairly before judging it; Reaches a measured conclusion that does not read later Presbyterian polity back into the sixth century without evidence; Clear structure and correct citations.