Describing cultural encounters: Consider the spread of Christianity in Europe from the viewpoint of those seeking to introduce the new religion. What obstacles did they encounter? What strategies did they employ? What successes and failures did they experience?
Describing cultural encounters … from another point of view: Consider the same process from the viewpoint of new adherents to Christianity. What were the motives for or the advantages of conversion for both political elites and ordinary people? To what extent was it possible to combine prevailing practices and beliefs with the teachings of the new religion?
Defining a concept: The notion of “conversion” often suggests a quite rapid and complete transformation of religious commitments based on sincere inner conviction. In what ways do these documents support or challenge this understanding of religious change?
Noticing point of view and assessing credibility: From what point of view is each of the documents written? Which statements in each document might historians find unreliable, and which would they find most useful?