c. 800 – c. 861

Paul Alvaro of Córdoba

Worth knowing

A Christian layman and scholar of Córdoba in Muslim Spain, and the lifelong friend of Eulogius.
In his Indiculus Luminosus (854) he complained that young Christians could write Arabic poetry beautifully and could barely write a Latin letter.
He wrote the Life of Eulogius after his friend was executed in 859.

In Scholar’s Dream, Paul Alvaro of Córdoba has one book

Alvaro’s BooksPaul Alvaro of Córdoba, Indiculus Luminosus and Vita EulogiiEthicsHistory

Paul Alvaro of Córdoba’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Paul Alvaro of Córdoba that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“My fellow-Christians,” he says, “delight in the poems and romances of the Arabs; they study the works of Mohammedan theologians and philosophers, not in order to refute them, but to acquire a correct and elegant Arabic style… Christians have forgotten their own tongue, and scarce one in a thousand can be found able to compose in fair Latin a letter to a friend!”
Paul Alvaro of Córdoba, Indiculus Luminosus (854), quoted in Dozy, Spanish Islam (trans. Stokes, 1913), public domain. (trimmed quote)public domain

How it works in the game: the move Delight in the Poems of the Arabs

EthicsArgument · power 84 · 100% accurate

In the gameNot a complaint about doctrine — a diagnosis of what actually happened to a generation. The brightest young Christians in Córdoba could write elegant Arabic verse and could not manage a plain letter in their own tongue. Nobody argued them out of the faith. Nothing had to.

Learned byAlvaro’s Books (Lv 1)

Words Paul Alvaro of Córdoba’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

How it works in the game: the move Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

Learned byAlvaro’s Books (Lv 25)

he cried to the Kady: “restore my … soul to its creator; but think not that I will permit my body to be torn with the lash!”
Eulogius of Córdoba, before the qadi, 11 March 859, quoted in Dozy, Spanish Islam (trans. Stokes, 1913), public domain. (trimmed quote)public domain

How it works in the game: the move Whet Thy Sword

ExperienceArgument · power 82 · 100% accurate

In the gameOffered a beating instead of a death sentence, for the crime of teaching a girl who asked him to. He refused the lighter charge on the spot.

Learned byAlvaro’s Books (Lv 38)

Who else was alive

Paul Alvaro of Córdoba against everyone else in the game.

A.D. 450A.D. 700A.D. 950A.D. 1200A.D. 1450A.D. 1700A.D. 1950

Boethius Boniface John of Damascus Daniel of Winchester Timothy I Alcuin of York Pope Leo III Eulogius of Córdoba Paul Alvaro of Córdoba Rimbert Humbert of Silva Candida Michael Cerularius Peter III of Antioch Anselm of Canterbury Ari Thorgilsson Ebo and Herbord Thomas Aquinas John Wyclif Lorenzo Valla Girolamo Savonarola Pope Paul III Martin Luther Miles Coverdale William Tyndale Emperor Charles V John Calvin Teresa of Ávila John Jewel The Council of Trent The English exiles at Geneva Hugo Grotius René Descartes John Owen Blaise Pascal John Bunyan Louis XIV of France Pierre Bayle Joseph Butler Jonathan Edwards Thomas Reid George Campbell William Paley John Henry Newman J. C. Ryle Friedrich Nietzsche James Orr B. B. Warfield Herman Bavinck W. R. Sorley James Denney J. Gresham Machen

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate51 authors sit outside this window