Medieval Studies Graduate Courses

The wide variety of research interests among the faculty participating in the Center for Medieval Studies results in an array of courses available to graduate students in the program. Find out more about current course offerings below as well as upcoming and past courses from the links on the left.
 
Notice: The Languages and Cultures Department administers Foreign Language Proficiency Assessments for enrolled, degree-seeking graduate students who have a foreign language proficiency requirement as part of their degree program. The assessments are offered as an alternative to coursework (5090 and 5001-5002 reading courses) for those students who have reading proficiency in a language but may not have a documented means of showing it.
 
Assessments are offered in French, German, Italian, and Spanish (they may also be offered in Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian, depending on availability). Assessments are offered twice each semester and once in the summer. Please contact Ms. Maria Totino at [email protected] or 718-817-2651 for further information.

Spring 2025 | Upcoming Courses | Past Courses

 

MVST 5064 R01 (4) The Divine Comedy: Poetry, Theology, and the Medieval Imagination | Barsella, Pini
T 2:30 - 5:00 | CRN 50917
This seminar offers an in-depth study of the poetic and theological imagination of Dante’s Divine Comedy. We will combine close reading of selected cantos with primary and secondary works illuminating key aspects of Dante’s literary and theological invention. Issues will be discussed within the historical and ideological contexts of the relevant theological and poetic debates in Dante's time. We will consider Dante’s theological influences, such as Augustine, Boethius, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Bonaventure, and explore theological topics such as medieval Christian practices of pilgrimage, scholastic debates about atonement and the afterlife, cosmology, and the relationship between erotic love and divine union in Christian mystical theology. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

 

THEO 5230 R01 (3) Advanced Greek: Early Christian Responses to Empire | Fiano
T 9:00 - 11:30 | CRN 44372 
This course includes both a rapid review of Greek grammar and syntax, and also intermediate/advanced readings from Hellenistic and/or early Christian texts.

 

THEO 6365 R01 (3) Cappadocian Fathers | Demacopoulos
T 1:00 - 3:30 | CRN 50855 
This course is designed to provide a thorough introduction to the writings, interaction, and significance of the Cappadocian fathers. Although we will cover a number of theological, literary, and scholarly themes, we will pay special attention to (and have scholarly debates about) their promotion of asceticism, exegetical style, anthropological/gender constructions, and the promotion of the Nicene cause.

 

HIST 8110 R01 (4) Seminar: Church Law & Medieval Society | Mueller
M 5:30 - 8:00 | CRN 50915 
This course will consist of a two-semester proseminar/seminar sequence inviting graduate students to formulate and conduct original research projects in the field of medieval church law. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

 

HIST 5423 R01 (4) Religion, Magic, and Science in the Late Medieval and Renaissance World | Myers
T 5:30 - 8:00 | CRN 50913 
Medieval and Renaissance Europeans had a sophisticated, pre-modern understanding of the world and universe around them, from the canyons to the stars. This seminar explores the cosmos as seen from the perspective of Renaissance peoples, moving from the depths of inner earth to the heavens and exploring the creatures that dwelt there, from angels to demons, as well as the connections that bound them and the universe together. In this universe, religion, magic, and science coexisted uneasily and interacted constantly. A central topic will be the decay of this cosmos and its replacement by a universe more familiar to modern peoples. Readings will focus on primary texts and a combination of classic accounts and recent historiography. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction. 

 

PHIL 5010 R01 (3) Introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas | Klima
F 11:45 - 1:45 | CRN 47796 
This course will be a general introduction to Aquinas's philosophical thinking.We shall pay special attention to his philosophy of God. We shall also turn to what he says about questions such as the scope of human knowledge, the nature of the human being, and the nature and significance of human action. As well as being expository, the course will consider the cogency of Aquinas's position on various topics. It will also try to relate what Aquinas says to what other philosophers, especially modern philosophers, have had to say. The course will not presuppose any previous detailed knowledge of Aquinas on the part of students.

 

PHIL 6110 R01 (3) Philosophy of the Islamic World | Somma
 T 2:30 - 4:30 | CRN 50656 

This course introduces students to philosophy of the Islamic world, covering philosophical developments in both the eastern and western Islamic world. It begins shortly after the Graeco-Arabic translation movement of the eighth to the 10th centuries with the work of al-Kindī and ends with the establishment of post-Avicennan philosophy in the 12th and 13th centuries.

 

ENGL 5211 R01 (3) Introduction to Old English Language and Literature | O'Donnell
M 2:30 - 5:00 | CRN 50752 
This course is an introduction to Old English (Anglo-Saxon) language and literature. Old English was the language of England from the 7th to the 12th centuries, the language in which Beowulf was composed. We will read a representative selection of Anglo-Saxon prose and poetry in the original language, including The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, works by King Alfred and Bede, The Battle of Maldon, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament, and The Dream of the Rood. Students will be introduced to Anglo-Saxon palaeography so that they can read the texts from medieval manuscripts as well as from printed editions.