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Tues. 9/24. Early Forms of Monasticism. Desert virtuosi. Renunciation and self-denial: some social consequences of living the "angelic life." Varieties of early monasticism in the East. Monasticism travels West: Paladius's biographies of early monks. Rural and urban monasticism. House monasteries. Jerome, Paula and Eustochium. Melania. Monasticism and Pilgrimage. Holy women in the Holy Land. Monastic life and the scriptures. Scripture and learning. Augustine's De doctrina christiana. The art of holy reading. Cassian and his Conferences. 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.
Handout: Selections from writings of Augustine on Grace and Free Will.
Required Readings: Lynch, chapter 2, "The Beginnings of the Medieval Church," pp. 19-34 Sourcebook 1: Palladius (c.363-c.424). The Lausiac History. (selections from W. K. Lowther Clarke translation) Sourcebook 1: Selections from correspondence of Paula, Eustochium, and Jerome (d. 420); and from Jerome's letters to Marcella. Sourcebook 1: Cassian, Conferences, Book 2, Conference 14, "The First Conference of Abbot Nesteros: On Spiritual Knowledge." (especially chapters 8, 9 & 10). Sourcebook 1: Rule of St. Benedict (selection; a different selection at Ad hoc site)
Highly reccomended for this week and the next: Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints, chapters 1 and 2, with notes.
Recommended: Augustine's De doctrina christiana (selection in sourcebook; whole text in Ad hoc).
6) Thurs. 9/26. Christianity from Augustine to Gregory I. 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 worldviews of Augustine & Gregory compared. Post-Roman Christianity.
Required Readings: Sourcebook 1 (closed reserve): Robert Markus, "The Sacred and the Secular: From Augustine to Gregory the Great." Sourcebook 1. Augustine (a) selections from the City of God as found in *OMS and the Confessions (=Augustine's account of his own conversion as found in Book Three, Chapter I, IV; Book Five, Chapter 13 and Book Eight, Book 6-12.) Sourcebook 1. Gregory the Great (b), selections from Pastoral Care and Moralia on the Book of Job.
Recommended: Selections from Ambrose's sermons on the meaning of baptism preached during Easter week (c. 391) to catechumens about to be baptised (from De Sacramentis, or Sermons on the Sacraments). Augustine's De doctrina christiana (selection in sourcebook; whole text in Ad hoc). Sourcebook 1. Gregory the Great (a) selections from Dialogues: the beginning of Book I and Book II, on the Life of St. Benedict.
Section 3: Discuss the conceptions and representations of individual and community in the writings of Augustine of Hippo and Gregory the Great (as listed under Readings for Thursday and Section 3). How would you characterize each writer's views of human nature. Discuss the ideals for a religious society and a religious life implicit in these texts. How do Markus's ideas relate to the class readings? Compare and contrast the way each author uses Scripture in his writings. How is Gregory's approach to Scripture reflect his views of God and of persons? If you had to liken the Confessions to one Book or part of the Bible, what would it be? How is life like a text for each author? What kind of an audience or for whom do you surmise each author is writing? Sourcebook 1. Augustine (b): More selections from the Confessions (on his mother Monica, from Book Nine and on memory, from Book 10). Sourcebook 1. Gregory the Great (b), selections from Pastoral Care and Moralia on the Book of Job.
On-line Resources:
E-texts:
Jerome Jerome's letter to Eustochium.
Rule of St. Benedict. OMS.
Gregory I (Dialogos): Second Dialogue (Life of St. Benedict). OMS.
Augustine. De Doctrina. (full text at Wheaton College)
Augustine: "City of God" extracts. OMS.
Augustine: Confessions, extracts. OMS.
Gelasius: On the Two Powers. OMS.
Gregory I: Letters showing Papal Activity. OMS.
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