 | History of
Western
Christianity
70 - 1400 A.D.
Rel. 700a
Fall
1996 |
| Syllabus | Schedule
| Midterm | Final |
This survey introduces students to the major intellectual, institutional,
and popular developments within Christian culture in Europe and the Mediterranean
from the first to the fourteenth century. Primary texts will include martyrdom
accounts, saints lives, the literature of monasticism, records of miracles
and pilgrimage, documents of major ecclesiastical councils and controversies,
liturgical poetry and drama, Crusade accounts, Jewish-Christian theological
debate, heresy trials, and the theological writings of monastic and scholastic
figures.
A central course goal is the close observation of the ways in which different
historical societies and individuals have received, expressed and defined
a complex and not always (or obviously) consistent nexus of beliefs, ideas
and practices. Relatedly, the course focuses on the reciprocal ways social values and a religious
values have shaped each other. Other organizing concepts and emphases of the course
are: the dynamism of historical Christianity, the almost perpetual presence
of movements, reforms and revivals in its long history, and the diversity
of perspectives that characterize Christianity at any given time. Hopefully
this encounter with ancient and medieval Christianity will keep participants
poised between an increasingly informed sense of identity and disjunction.
If participants who regard themselves as part of one of the Christian traditions
gain a palpable sense of the otherness of historical Christianity which
may, in turn, serve them amid the diversity of religious positions which
face them nationally and globally today, then an additional objective will
have been achieved.
Reading and writing assignments emphasize primary sources and aim to promote
close reading, textual analysis and evidence based cultivation of a historical
the imagination. The course also attempts to make the past more vivid through
the use of images and music as sources.
Lectures are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:00 p.m.
Sections meet once a week for 50 minutes. Section assignments will be given
in class or posted on the 700A website.
Course Instructor: Katherine Gill
Office: Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, Chapel 130
Office Telephone: 203-432-5023
Office Hours: Thursdays, 3:00-5:00
A source book in two volumes and 3 books include all the required readings.
The textbooks for the course will be available through the YDS Student Book
Supply. The course packets will be available through MIS, 155 Whitney Ave.
The primary readings for this course are also available through course website.
- Sourcebook I: Weeks I-VI*
- Sourcebook II: Weeks VII-XIII*
- J. Lynch. The Medieval Church. New York: Longman, 1992.
- H. Grundmann. Religious Movements in the Middle Ages. Trans.
By S. Rowans. Notre Dame: University of Notre dame press, 1995.
- J. Vitry. Life of Marie D'Oignes. Trans. By Margot King. Toronto:
Peregrina Publishing Co., 1993.
* Note: The abbreviation OR stands for On-line Resources. The version of
the syllabus available on-line through the Ad Hoc website contains a section
for each class listing On-line Resources that are thematically or chronologically
related to lectures and readings. The designation OMS indicates that the
source is The On-line Medieval Sourcebook.
Lecture, attendance, section preparation and participation. Two questions
suggested by reading assignment due in section each week. Two short papers
(3-5 page) papers. Midterm. Final.
Midterm and final will exams will consist of short answers, identification
questions, multiple choice questions, and short essay questions. The final
will also have a take-home segment which will be distributed on the last
day of class and due at the time of the final. Students will receive study
questions for both the midterm and the final.
Lecture and section attendance and participation: 10%
Section written exercises: 10%
Midterm: 20%
Two short papers: 30%
Final: 30%
In addition, lectures and readings have been coordinated with some of the
quickly expanding resources for teaching and learning on the World Wide
Web. The Ad Hoc Website consists of resources for the Teaching and Research
of the History of Christianity. This Website, the 700a History of Christianity
Web Site, includes the syllabus, course outline,
handouts as well as extra weekly reading materials, images, bibliography
and links to others resources.
It will be important for students to acquire a Yale email account in order
to access the course website and other materials linked to it. An account
is free for full time Yale Divinity School students. You may access the
website from any computer in the Yale Divinity School Library or the YDS
Computer Cluster. If you have a computer and modem, you will be able to
access the site from your home.
The web address for Ad Hoc is: http:\\ www.yale.edu\adhoc
The web address for this site is: http:\\www.yale.edu\adhoc\700index.html.
Questions? Email Anne Martino at webassist.yale.edu.
The course newsgroup is a medium for announcements about the course, questions regarding course
material, etc. In addition, the MIDTERM, study questions for the readings, and information on
sections will be posted here.
Go to Newsgroup.
SCHEDULE
Thurs. 9/5. Introduction.
What is our subject? Historical approaches and methods. The goals and purposes
of this course. Overview of the syllabus and requirements. A visual tour
of places and monuments in the Hellenistic world important to the history
of early Christianity.
Philosophical Schools. Mystery Cults. Judaism: Religious and Political Movements
in Late Antiquity. The Hellenized Jew. Imperial Cult. The Christians as
the Roman's Saw Them. Conversion. Religion and Identity. Religion and Society.
Size, geographical distribution and character of early Christian communities.
Gnosticism and Rival Versions of Christianity. Jewish Christianity. What
was normative Christianity in the first three centuries? Forms and elements
of early liturgy: creeds, prayers, readings, song. Baptism and Eucharist.
Discipline and charity. Development toward a canon. What are our sources
for early Christianity? Literate spokespersons: the Apologists. Who were
the 'Fathers'? What is Patrology or Patristics?
Martyrdom and Persecution. The Blood of the Martyrs. Beginnings of Cult
of the Saints. Some late antique martyrs and their communities: Justin,
Cyprian, Perpetua and Felicity. Relics and commemoration of the dead. Patterns
of leadership and worship. Early institutional structures. The social presence
of early communities. Poverty, wealth and the importance of charity. The
end of state sponsored persecutions. Constantine and his conversion. Edict
of Toleration. Assessing the impact and import of Constantine.
The Patronage of Constantine and his family. Old St. Peters in Rome. The
Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The New Rome of Constantinople. Christianization
of the aristocracy. Christianity and intellectual culture. Philosophers.
Orators. Bishops. Essence, substance, nature and likeness: the Council of
Nicaea (325) and the Arian Controversy. The Cappadocian Fathers. Ascetical
movements of the third and fourth centuries. Athanasius and Anthony. Gregory
of Nyssa and Macrina. Martyrdom and asceticism. Social dimensions of asceticism.
Theological debates and the late antique body. Theology and hagiography.
Desert virtuosi. Renunciation and self-denial: some social consequences
of living the 'angelic life.' Varieties of early monasticism in the East.
Monasticism travels West: Cassian. Benedict. House monasteries. Jerome,
Paula and Eustochium. Melania. Monasticism and Pilgrimage. Holy women in
the Holy Land. Egeria. Byzantine travelers. Monastic life and the scriptures.
The art of holy reading. Scripture and learning. The quest for perfection
and the challenge of Pelagius. Free will and Grace. The Benedictine Rule
in the light of early ascetical movements and communities. Benedict as Exemplar.
How Rome 'Fell.' Who were the 'barbarians.' Emperors and officers; popes
and bishops. Shift from urban to rural recruitment. Augustine's life, work,
audiences and impact. The City of God. Gregory the Great: bishop, pope and
exegete. The world and world views of Augustine & Gregory compared.
Post-Roman Christianity.
Fifth through Eight Centuries. Byzantium. Rise of Islam. Rome and the Papacy.
Ravenna. Overview of Christianity in Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul,
and northeastern Europe. Missionaries and Roman Models. The Life of St.
Martin. Christianity in Britain and Ireland. The role of monasticism in
the spread and reception of Christianity. Bede and his Ecclesiastical History
of the English People. Exporting Roman commodities: relics, monks, liturgy
and manuscripts. Opus dei: the Divine Office. Liturgy and Gregorian Chant
in early medieval Europe.
Conversion, coercion, persuasion. Preaching, poetry and holy lives/sanctity.
What is Hagiography? Holy places, images and objects. Orthopraxis and orthodoxy.
Penitentials. Synod of Whitby. Holy reading: the Bible in the early Middle
Ages. Liturgy, time and cosmos. Rituals and power in early medieval Europe.
The Ruthwell Cross and early medieval spirituality.
Kingdoms and Communities in Carolingian Europe. Europe, Byzantium and Islam.
Schism between the Eastern and Western Churches. The Pirenne Thesis. Economies
and Societies. The mechanisms and values of a gift economy. The rise of
Charlemagne. The Carolingian reforms. The contexts of learning. Texts, transmission
and manuscripts. Likeness and presence: mediating the divine through image,
word and ritual. John of Damascus and the Iconoclastic Controversy.
. Economies and Societies. The Gift Economy: its mechanism and values. The
ritual ordering of human and divine relationships. Feudal society. The three
orders. Those who fought: Taming warrior society. Peace of God movements
(Lynch , p. 120). The Christian Warrior. Travel and pilgrimage in the central
middle ages. Liturgy, song and poetry.
The new model monastery: Cluny. Cluny and Benedictine Monasticism in the
10th & 11th Centuries. Liturgical culture of central Middle Ages. The
Old Testament and the Biblically shaped imagination. Other religious movements:
wandering preachers, hermits, experimental women's houses. Investiture Controversy.
Pope Gregory VII. The papacy defines its powers. The new model priesthood.
Simony, concubinage, homosexuality and the life of the average priest. The
price of purity. The birth of a persecuting society?
Western and Eastern Christians. Christians and Non-Christians. The Muslim
world in the 9th-11th centuries. Jews in Muslim and Christian Culture. The
Crusaders' Set Off. Domestic enemies. Crusade against the Jews. Beyond the
Sea: Jews, Muslims and Christians appraised each other. Cultural encounter,
perception and conflict.
Defining belief and practice. Canon law. Heresy and dissent. Intellectual
and popular heresies. The position of the laity in Christian society. Institutional
structures from the Investiture Crisis to the Fourth Lateran Council. Slides:
Romanesque architechture and sculpture. Art of Rome and the papacy.
Apostolic Life and Evangelical Awakening. Religious texts and manuscript
culture. Feudal and courtly culture. The Life and Writings of St. Anselm.
Monastic experiments. Cistercians. Carthusians. Canons Regular. The Victorines.
Women in religious life. New types of religious texts. The "Twelfth
Century Renaissance." Art. Music.
Urban learning. Cathedral Schools. Wandering Scholars. Intellectual Encounters
with Arab and Jewish intellectual culture. New Learning. New audiences.
Professionalization of religious learning and clerical culture. Vocies of
opposition. Lovers and courtiers. Abelard. Heloise.
Wandering preachers. Waldensians. Cathars. Albigensian Crusade. Inquisition.
Apostolic life and voluntary poverty.
The Rise of the Mendicant Orders. Preaching. Heresy. Beguines. Francis and
Dominic.
Role of women in religious movements and institutions. The other Monasticism.
Levels of culture and modes of piety. Varieties of literacy and illiteracy.
Texts and their audiences. Courts, courtly love and religious quest. Urban
religious institutions and genres of literature. Liturgical and paraliturgical
forms of religious expression. Religious theatre. Collaboration, inspiration
and conflict between religious men and women. The problem with men's models
of religious life for men.
11/26 & 11/28 . FALL BREAK/THANKSGIVING
Intellectual trends. Universities. Political Developments. Theology and
Theologians in the Later Middle Ages. Devotional forms. Religious Writers
in the Later Middle Ages. Latin and Vernacular Theology. S. Maria Novella.
Spanish Chapel Frescoes. Assisi, S. Francesco Assisi, frescoes of upper
church and Bonaventura's life of Francis. The Arena Chapel.
Last class. The church and the cycles of life. The Festival Year. Religious
Theater: Theology, devotion, dissent. Points of tension in the administration
of Christianity. Marsilius of Padua. William Ockham. Fiscal woes: Gospel
of the marks of Silver. The cost of Purgatory. Indulgences. Vernacular Christianity:
democratic or destabilizing? conventional or innovative?. Conclusion: Consensus
and dissonance in Christian culture at the end of the Middle Ages.
Ad Hoc | Syllabus
| Top of Page
700a The History of Western Christianity: 70 - 1400 AD
Adhoc--Teaching and Research Resources
for the History of Christianity
Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Contact: Anne Martino, Yale Divinity
School Faculty Web Assistant
All contents copyright (C) 1996
Yale University Divinity School
All rights reserved
Academic year 1996-1997
URL: http://www.yale.edu/adhoc/
