Fall 2003 Graduate Courses - Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame

715 Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556-5629, Telephone: (574) 631-6603, Facsimile: (574) 631-8644, Email: medinst@nd.edu

Fall 2003: Graduate Courses

MI 501 Introduction to Medieval Studies I
T. Noble, M. Lapidge, J. Mann
M 5:00-5:50

The introduction to Medieval Studies is a one-credit course designed to introduce students to the basic bibliographies, handbooks, and research tools in medieval studies.

MI 511 Proseminar: Early Middle Ages
T. Noble
W 3:00-5:30

This course is designed to introduce students to major historiographical issues and interpreters for the years between 450 and 1000. Students will learn to read critically, and must be prepared to write short summaries and discuss intelligently each week. The course will begin with the question of Late Antiquity as a distinct historical era, examine the Merovingian and Carolingian kingdoms, and end with the state of Europe in the year 1000.

MI 514E Sufferings of the Roman Martyrs
M. Lapidge
M W 1:30-2:45

The course will be concerned with a corpus of some thirty Latin passiones of martyrs who were executed at Rome before the Peace of the Church (A.D. 313), and who then were culted at Roman churches throughout the Middle Ages, not least in Anglo-Saxon England, notably saints Agnes, Laurence and Sebastian, but also many others who are less well known. Most of the texts in question have not been edited since the seventeenth century; none has ever been translated, and they have seldom been the subject of close study. Although the passiones were composed several centuries after the martyrdoms they describe (and are therefore worthless as historical documents) they are a unique witness to the topography of sixth-century Rome and to its spirituality, as well as to the origin and development of the cult of saints more generally. The texts are generally brief and only of intermediate difficulty (some elementary knowledge of Latin is a prerequisite for the course), but they provide a good introduction to 'sermo humilis' of the early Middle Ages. Printouts of the texts will be available when the class meets.

MI 521 Introduction to Early Christianity
B. Daley
M W 1:30-2:45

This course will survey some of the major authors and themes of the development of early Christian theology, from the time of the New Testament documents until the seventh century, as living sources for contemporary theology and pastoral practice. We will begin by considering the process by which the community of Jesus' disciples came to define themselves, during the second century, as a distinctive body in relation to the people of Israel and the world of Hellenistic religions, and as representing a distinctive tradition of Orthodox faith over against Gnostic Christianity. We will then look briefly at the reality and the spirituality of martyrdom; at early Christian theology of prayer; at the developing principles of Christian scriptural interpretation and their practical use; at the development of a theological understanding of the person of Christ, as both divine and human; and at early Christian understandings of human fulfillment and perfection. Our reading will be mainly entire primary texts from the period, in English translation - texts ranging from the Apostolic Fathers of the second century to Maximus the Confessor.

MI 521 E Golden Age Theatre
E. Juarez
H 3:30-6:00

In this course we will read representative plays by Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Ruíz de Alarcón and Calderón de la Barca in their historical and cultural context. The works will be studied in the light of the theatrical theory of the period as well as the contemporary criticism. Students will write a research paper (10 to 15 pages) on a topic or play of their choice and take a midterm exam. In addition, they are expected to participate extensively in class and to lead group discussions.

MI 522 Medieval Theology: An Introduction
T. Prügl
M W 3:00-4:15

The Middle Ages brought about a broad spectrum of theological thought and literature. Both traditional and innovative medieval theologians eventually made theology a "science". Though exposing the faith to rational inquiry, medieval theology remained a thoroughly biblical endeavor. The Middle Ages also produced a great number of classics of Christian spirituality.The course will focus on single theologians as well as on important controversies and theological ideas. Particular emphasis will be given to the leading figures of the 12th and the 13th century, such as Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard, Bernhard of Clairvaux, Hugh of Saint Victor, Albert the Great, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus.

MI 527I Petrarch: The Soul's Fragments
T. Cachey
H 12:30-3:00

Before taking up the Canzoniere we'll consider the life of Petrarch, his intellectual activity and his other works, including selections from his epistolary collections (Letters on Familiar Matters and Letters of Old Age) and other Latin works, especially the Secretum (Petrarch's Secret). Our reading of the Canzoniere will utilize Santagata's recent edition and commentary and will engage critically a variety of hermeneutical and philological approaches to the book. The seminar will be conducted in English but reading knowledge of Italian is essential. Seminar presentations, mid-term exam and final paper.

MI 530 Intro to Old English
K. O'Brien O'Keefe
T H 9:30-10:45

Canst þu þis gewrit understandan? Want to? "Introduction to Old English" will give you the tools to read a wide variety of writings from Anglo-Saxon England. Approximately half the course is dedicated to getting students up and running with the language, and the rest will provide practical experience in reading and discussing Old English works on monsters, saints, and heroes. In-class discussion will cover questions of cultural difference, translation, subjectivity, and otherness. Students in the course will get hands on experience with facsimile texts in the library and will work as well with on-line and CD-rom resources. No prior experience with Old or Middle English is necessary for this course. Required work: Mid-term assessment, final examination, daily class participation, short paper, one or two in-class reports.

MI 530B Old English Biblical Verse
M. Lapidge
M W 11:45-1:00

The Anglo-Saxons were the earliest people in western Europe to translate the Bible into their vernacular, and a substantial proportion of surviving Old English Verse consists in biblical translation and paraphrase. The principal focus of the course will be the biblical poems preserved in the so-called 'Junius Manuscript' (Genesis A, Genesis B, Exodus, Daniel), but these and other relevant poems will be studied in the wider context of early medieval biblical exegesis, in particular the contribution made to biblical interpretation by Anglo-Saxon exegetes such as Archbishop Theodore, Bede, Alcuin and Ælfric. Candidates for the course must already have completed English 530 (Introduction to Old English).

MI 531 Late Antique and Early Christian Art
C. Barber
T H 2:00-3:15

Art in late antiquity has traditionally been characterized as an art in decline, but this judgment is relative, relying on standards formulated for art of other periods. Challenging this assumption, we will examine the distinct and powerful transformations within the visual culture of the period between the third and the eighth centuries AD. This period witnesses the mutation of the institutions of the Roman Empire into those of the Christian Byzantine Empire. The fundamental change in religious identity that was the basis for this development had a direct impact upon the visual material that survives from this period, such that the eighth century witnesses extensive and elaborate debates about the status and value of religious art in Jewish, Moslem, Byzantine, and Carolingian society. This course will examine the underlying conditions that made images so central to cultural identity at this period.

MI 530D Chaucer and Medieval Narrative
J. Mann
T H 11:00-12:15

Whether writing at the epic length of Troilus and Criseyde, or compacting his story to the brief compass of the Manciple's Tale or Physician's Tale, Chaucer is a master of narrative. This course will study the features of his narrative style, and analyse the ways in which they create meaning. We shall compare and contrast his works with other examples of medieval narrative, and assess it in the light of modern narratology. We shall consider such things as beginnings and endings, time, the narrating voice, rhetoric, verse-forms, dialogue, the locus of action, structure, mood, and the implied audience. The Canterbury Tales will occupy a central position in the course, but we shall take in other works as it seems profitable to do so.

MI 532A Survey of Medieval Architecture
MWF 12:50-1:40
P. San Vito

This course will introduce students to the architecture of the Middle Ages (ca. 300 - 1400). This introductory course will begin with Early Christian architecture and culminates in the great Gothic Cathedrals of northern Europe. Students will not only be invited to consider the development of the architectural forms of the church building, but will also be able to consider the degree to which the changing nature of the church building reflects broader issues in the history of Christianity in the Middle Ages.

MI 554A Language, Symbolism, Vision
S. Gersh
T H 2:00-3:15

Our aim will be to study three issues which are absolutely central to medieval thought and culture from the end of the patristic period to the Renaissance (and indeed also beyond these limits). The danger of excessive generality in such an approach will be avoided 1.by isolating a group of seminal texts from the late ancient or early medieval period for careful scrutiny (wherever possible, in English translation); 2. by treating these texts as conceptual nuclei for broader linguistic, hermeneutic, and psychological theories which were widely held and discussed. The texts will be drawn from Origen, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Macrobius, Boethius, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Isidore of Seville. Although a major aim of the course is to introduce important writers to the students and to pursue historical and literary matters, we will also find time to reflect on philosophical questions raised by such a tradition. What is the relation between divine and human language? Why is it necessary to connect language and symbol through psychic activity? What is the relation between secular myth and sacred symbol? Requirement: one final paper of ca. 20 pp.

MI 558 Northern Renaissance Art
C. Rosenberg
T H 12:30-1:45
This course traces the development of painting in northern Europe (France, Germany, Flanders, and Holland) from approximately 1300 to 1560. Special attention is given to the art of Jan van Eyck, Heironymus Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, and Pieter Brueghel. In tracing the evolution of manuscript and oil painting and the graphic media, students become conscious of the special wedding of nature, art, and spirit that defines the achievement of the northern Renaissance.

MI 561I European Romanticism
F. Ferrucci
T F 3:30-6:00

This course will present the figure of Giacomo Leopardi, the outstanding romantic Italian Poet, and his striking similarities with some of the protagonists of that season of poetry: Wordsworth, Keats, Horderlin, and, later, Baudelaire. We will also delve into the Operette morali and the private diary called Zibaldone to illustrate the surprising depth of Leopardi's thinking, one of the most original and perceptive explorations of the human condition ever prospected. We will show that this isolated poet and thinker was one of the founders of modern nihilism, and we will compare his most stunning ideas to the ones elaborated by his great contemporary Schopenhauer and by the modern existentialist thought. Students will be asked to write a paper on an issue of their choice.

MI 575A Intro to Christian Latin
D. Sheerin
M-F 8:30-9:20

"Introduction to Christian Latin Texts" has two goals: to improve the student's all-around facility in dealing with Latin texts and to introduce the student to the varieties of Christian Latin texts and basic resources that facilitate their study. Study of syntax and vocabulary will be facilitated by regular exercises in Latin composition. Exposure to texts will be provided through common readings which will advance in the course of the semester from the less to the more demanding: Latin translations of Scripture, exegesis, homiletic, texts dealing with religious life, formal theological texts, and Christian Latin poetry. Medieval Latin II, a survey of medieval Latin texts, will follow this course in the spring term.

MI 575B Medieval Latin Texts
A. Wouters
MWF 9:35-10:25

MI 580 Seminar: Out of the Purple Chamber
C. Barber
T H 11:00-12:15

Byzantine court culture offered a highly codified and visual display of power that was designed to entrance both friend and foe, familiar and stranger Through the manipulation of imagery, costume, movement, and space one's position in court was carefully policed. Even so, these constructs were constantly tested, manipulated, and subverted. This course will examine this court culture from the sixth to the fifteenth century. Using images and texts it will introduce students to the carefully nuanced world of public display and the choreography of power. Particular emphasis will be placed on the play of gender within this realm and the degree to which powerful empresses and ubiquitous eunuchs test the primarily male vision of the court.

MI 612B Augustine and Anselm
S. Gersh
T H 12:30-1:45

An introduction to the thought (philosophical and theological) of Augustine and Anselm of Canterbury. Since Augustine is one of the few intellectual forerunners mentioned by name in Anselm's main works, we shall assume that a reading of the Latin Church Father forms an indispensable foundation for any serious study of the XIC to XIIC archbishop's writings. Although we shall study either at length or in briefer selections the following works in roughly chronological sequence: (Augustine) On Free Choice of the Will, On the True Religion, Confessions, On the Trinity, On the City of God, (Anselm) Monologion, Proslogion, On Truth, On Freedom of the Will, On the Fall of the Devil, certain thematically-connected ideas will be placed in relief in order to reveal the profound coherence and continuity of the Augustinian and Anselmian speculative systems. These ideas will include Being, Truth, Mind, and Will together with associated ontological, epistemological, and ethical questions. Requirements: one final essay of ca. 20pp. together with a short individual or collaborative bibliographical project connected with either Augustine or Anselm.

MI 633 Medieval Exegesis
M. Signer
T 9:30-12:00
Our focus during the semester will be on the relationship between biblical interpretation and the polemical literature written by Jewish and Christian authors from 1050-1200. Students will read the recent accounts of this literature by Gavin Langmuir, Anna Sapir Abulafia, Gilbert Dahan and Jeremy Cohen. Excerpts from medieval Christian authors such as Abelard, Gilbert Crispin, Guibert of Nogent, Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter the Venerable, Petrus Alfonsi and Alan of Lille. Passages from Jewish authors such as Rashi, Rabbi Joseph Kara, Rabbi Samuel ben Meier, and Rabbi Joseph of Orleans will also be studied. Students will be expected to make an oral presentation and write a paper that provides an explication of the arguments in a polemical work.

MI 622 The Development of Moral Theology
J. Noonan
T H 5:00-6:30

An examination of how Catholic moral doctrine has developed in specific areas, viz. marriage and divorce; religious liberty; slavery; and usury. Attention will also be given to more general theory on the development of doctrine in the Catholic Church.
Course requirement: One 12-page paper on any area of moral doctrine, assessing development or lack of it in that area. Suggested Reading: Owen Chadwick, From Bossuet to Newman; John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Doctrine; John T. Noonan, Jr., The Scholastic Analysis of Usury; idem, Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists; idem, Power to Dissolve: Lawyers and Marriages in the Courts of the Roman Curia; idem, The Lustre of Our Country. The American Experience of Religious Liberty.