The Center for Medieval Studies

Graduate

MVGA 6210/ENGA 6210 Gender and Medieval Mysticism

4/3 Credits

(Chase/Erler)

(Call # 12322/12330)

Mondays 5:30-7:20

The course will begin with study of Christian of Markyate (+1150s) and will end with reading from Margery Kempe (+1440s). In between it will focus on the mystical texts collected in a single early fifteenth-century manuscript, British Library MS Additional 37790. This ms has been much noticed because it presents the only text of Julian of Norwich's Revelations (short version), but in addition it contains two other important works: Richard Rolle's Fire of Love and Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls, plus a number of short excerpts from Jan Ruysbroeck, Heinrich Suso, and others. Focusing on this ms will allow us to do some limited work in codicology (study of manuscripts as physical objects) and palaeography (study of handwriting). More centrally, it will enable us to look at mystical texts in their social context—their ownership (for what sort of reader would this collection have been made?), audience (who read it and with whom?), and circulation (what were the channels or networks of textual transmission?) Some texts will be read in Middle English and others in translation.

MVGA 6232/ENGA 6232 The French of England: Documentary and Literary Culture

4/3 Credits

(Fenster/Wogan-Browne)

(Call # 12942/13082)

Wednesdays 5:30-7:30

Although the interrelations of documentary and literary cultures and texts have been visible as an important and challenging area for study since the publication of Michael Clanchy's From Memory to Written Record 1066-1307 (1989, 3rd edition forthcoming), a great deal remains to be done, especially in view of the recent turn to multilingualism in literary and historical studies. This course offers an introduction to the large corpus of French literary and pragmatic texts in insular medieval culture and some ways of thinking about the interrelations of French and English and the re-mappings this entails for medieval England’s literary and cultural history. Branching out from works covered in the first two courses, which are not included here, we will study some law, mercantile, medical and other forms of documentary and civic texts in the French of England, as well as literary texts, both the well-known and the under-researched, and some texts with Middle English versions. For newcomers to the subject, a linguistic practicum, which should be regarded as obligatory, is offered in the hour preceding the class meeting; some knowledge of modern French is a must. Some linguistic work together with seminar student presentations and discussion takes place in each class.

HSGA 6152 Medieval Women and Family

4 Credits

(Kowaleski)

(Call # 12314)

Tuesdays 2:30-5:00

This course surveys recent historiography on the roles and status of women in medieval society, as well as the structure and dynamics of medieval families. Among the debates to be explored are the effect on medieval society of the Christian Church’s teachings on virginity, sex, and marriage, and the influence of geography (northern vs Mediterranean Europe), environment (village, town, and convent), and status (noble, bourgeois, or peasant) on the work, family role, and authority of women. Chronologically the course will range from the early Christian period to the Renaissance. Recent scholarly work on nuns, mystics, and beguines will be examined, as will recent work on medieval mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, children and adolescents, and widows and the aged. The readings will also cover different approaches to the study of women and family, including the methodologies of literary scholars, anthropologists, demographers, feminists, and legal historians. The course will also take advantage of the March 2005 Medieval Studies conference, Medieval Domesticity: Home, Housing, and Household, to stress the material culture aspects of family life.

HSGA 6172 Late Medieval and Early Modern Ireland, 1350-1603

4 Credits

(Maginn)

(Call # 12940)

Wednesdays 5:30-8:00

This course will examine the history of Ireland from the height of the so-called Gaelic revival in the mid-fourteenth century to the collapse of Gaelic rule and the completion of the Tudor conquest in the early seventeenth century. Beginning in the late medieval period with an exploration of Ireland as an English borderland, a frontier society divided between English and Gaelic worlds, the class will then chart the protracted incorporation of Ireland into a highly centralized early modern English state under the Tudors. With emphasis placed on the latest scholarly studies, including the most recent developments in Irish and English historiography, the course offers a holistic approach to a crucial but often overlooked period in late medieval and early modern Irish and English history.

HSGA 8055 PROSEM: Medieval France

4 Credits

(Smail)

(Call # 12318)

Thursdays 4:45-7:15

Continuation of the fall proseminar. Students will write research papers and give class presentations. Our collective research will be put on display at an end-of-semester mini-conference, where everyone will give 20 minute papers to an audience.

PHGA 5010 Introduction to St. Thomas

3 Credits

(Cullen)

(Call # 12265)

Fridays 11:00-1:00

This course will be an introductory survey of the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Its aim is to provide students with a truly comprehensive overview of his philosophical thought. In the pursuit of this goal, students will read primary texts from different branches of philosophy, i.e., natural philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and politics. The course will pay attention to the historical context in which Aquinas did his work and to the controversial issues of the day.

PHGA 5012 Introduction to St. Augustine

3 Credits

(Klima)

(Call # 12266)

Mondays 4:30-6:30

This seminar is going to provide a systematic survey of the main themes of St. Augustine's philosophy and theology. Topics will include skepticism, faith and reason, divine illumination, divine ideas, time, eternity, and creation, the theology of the Holy Trinity, the nature of the soul, the freedom of the will and divine predestination, good and evil, original sin and divine grace, and human history as the history of salvation. The unifying theme of the discussions will be a synthetic account of St. Augustine's Neoplatonic Christian anthropology, occasionally contrasted with St. Thomas Aquinas' Aristotelian Christian anthropology.

PHGA 6650 Thomistic Ethics

3 Credits

(Koterski)

(Call # 12271)

Mondays 7:00-9:00

This course will focus on important topics in Thomistic ethics, including: happiness at the end of human life; the nature of moral responsibility; the distinction between the voluntary and the involuntary in human action; the free choice of the will and moral intentionality; the passions and emotions; habits and virtues; natural law; and various theological topics such as divine law, grace, the gifts of the Holy Spirit). The common text for the course will be the Pars secunda of Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae, which is available in various editions in Latin and in translation.

RSGA 6360 Early Christian Spiritual Direction

3 Credits

(Democopoulos)

(Call # 12946)

Tuesdays 1:00-3:00

During the fourth century, new ideas about spiritual direction emerged to accommodate the needs and ideals of the ascetic community. At the same time, pastoral care in the lay community evolved to address the challenges of the post-Constantinian Church. When monks began to enter the episcopate at the close of the fourth century, these two pastoral traditions came face to face with one another. This course examines the variability and evolution of all forms of spiritual direction in early Christianity. Specifically, this course will explore the tension between monastic and clerical models of authority and the disparate ways in which ascetics who become bishops transformed the “art” of pastoral care. We will examine the diverse criteria used to select new authorities, as well as the distinctive techniques of spiritual direction that operated in the ascetic and lay communities. Students will submit two review essays of recent scholarly assessments of this phenomenon. They will also write an article-length research paper.

RSGA 5300 History of Christianity I

3 Credits

(Lienhard)

(Call # 12341)

Thursdays 2:30-4:30

This course treats the history of Christian doctrine and theology from the end of the New Testament era to 1500. Lectures concentrate on three doctrines: the Trinity (4th century), the Person of Christ (5th century), and the presence of Christ in the Eucharist (9th to 13th centuries). Students also read 8 to 10 short books and report on them in writing; typical subjects are the history of biblical interpretation, the Cappadocian Fathers, Augustine, Anselm, Scholasticism, a survey of medieval theology, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas. The course ends with a final examination.

Advance Notice of Summer 2005 Courses:

LAGA 5093 Ecclesiastical Latin: An Introduction

(Clark)

(Summer Session II)

TR evenings

Students may expect to study the basic shape, grammatical structure, form, and vocabulary of Church Latin: the Latin of the Bible, the liturgy, the Church Fathers, and medieval thinkers. Textbook will be A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin by John Collins. Prerequisite: LAGA 5090: Latin for Reading, or its equivalent.

Last modified: April 2, 2004
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