COURSE DESCRIPTION: This interdisciplinary course begins exploration of the relations between Catholic Christian faith and culture exhibited through works of imagination and intellect drawn from the New Testament through medieval periods. The course concentrates on two eras: 1) the differentiation of Catholic Christianity from its Jewish and Greco-Roman cultural matrices (New Testament – c. 600 CE); and 2) the development of Catholic Christian culture(s) (c. 600 – c. 1300 CE). As part of the M.A. in Catholic Studies core curriculum, the course focuses on the development of the multifaceted Catholic tradition but includes perspectives from Christians of other denominations and non-Christians selected to show the dialogue between Catholic thought and other cultural views and accomplishments. Primary attention will be given to works of history, literature, music, and visual art.
COURSE
OBJECTIVES:
1) Since this is the first course in the CSMA graduate sequence, it attempts to introduce the student to graduate study at the MA level. To that end, the instructor proposes that the following intellectual tasks form the content of various levels of education in the United States system and attempts to identify the unique task of M.A. level graduate education:
a) Elementary/Grade School: acquisition of fundamental tools in reading, writing, speaking, mathematics, etc.
b) High School: introduction to the world of theory
c) University/College: differentiation and integration of types of knowledge
d) M.A. Graduate School: introduction to metatheory (“thinking about thinking about a subject”)
e) Ph.D. Graduate School: make a contribution to knowledge in a given area/discipline, theoretically and metatheoretically articulated
2) Since not all students come to this course with the same grasp of Catholic Christian history, this course attempts to give an overview of Catholic Christian cultural developments from the period of the New Testament until c. 1300 CE. To that end, textbooks in history, visual art and music as secondary literature will provide both historical data and historical contextualization. Students will also be introduced to metatheoretical reflection on research, interpretation, and historical contextualization of cultural artifacts.
3) Since this course attempts to prepare students for further graduate studies at the M.A. level and possibly at Ph.D. level, students are challenged to develop their analytic and interpretative skills in engaging cultural artifacts, coming to understand and contextualize them in a methodologically informed manner. To that end, literary artifacts, visual art objects, and musical compositions studied as primary “texts” in class as well as the writing of analytic/interpretative papers will provide opportunities for students to hone their skills in understanding. Students will also be introduced to a framework by which to organize their interpretations.
COURSE
TEXTS:
Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journey into God, The Tree of Life, The Life of St. Francis. Trans. Ewert Cousins. New York et al.: Paulist Press, 1978. [ISBN: 0-8091-2121-2 (paper)]
Christianity and European Culture: Selections from the Work of Christopher Dawson. Ed. Gerald J. Russalo. Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1998. [ISBN: 0813209145]
Jensen, Robin Margaret. Understanding Early Christian Art. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. [ISBN: 0-415-20455-0 (pbk)]
Kessler, Herbert L. Seeing Medieval Art. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2004. [ISBN: 1551115352 (pbk)].
Musa, Mark. The Portable Dante. New York: Penguin Books, 1995. [ISBN: 0 14 02.3114 5 (pbk)]
Quasten, Johannes. Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity. Washington, DC: The Pastoral Press, 1983. [ISBN: 0-9602378-7-9]
Saint Augustine: On Christian Doctrine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. [ISBN: 0-19-283928-4]
[Possible: Seay, Albert. Music in the Medieval World. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc., 1991 [2nd ed. 1975]. [ISBN: 0-88133-909-1]]
RECOMMENDED GUIDEBOOKS FOR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS:
PROPOSED COURSE OUTLINE (subject to change):
1. 11/12 September 2006: Introduction and Overview. Questions of Conversion, History, and Culture.
Required Reading:
“What is a Christian Civilization?”, “The Six Ages of the Church”, “The
Institutional Forms of Christian Culture”, “The Study of Christian Culture”,
“Europe and the Seven Stages of Western Culture”, “The Christian View of
History” in Christianity and European Culture: Selections from the Work of
Christopher Dawson. Ed. Gerald J.
Russalo. Washington, DC: Catholic
University Press, 1998. Pp. 19-33,
34-45, 54-64, 107-117, 132-151, 213-231.
[ISBN: 0813209145]
Class
PowerPoint Presentations:
Bernard
Lonergan’s Theory of Functional Specialties
Research
on [Catholic Christian] Cultural Artifacts
Interpretation
of [Catholic Christian] Cultural Artifacts
Cultural History
of [Catholic] Christianity
2. 18/19 September 2006: New Testament Christianities I
Required Reading: Acts of the Apostles; Hebrews; Romans; 1 John; 1 Peter
The central question to be posed to each document above: What
evidence does the document provide for the following trajectories in Jewish,
Greco-Roman, and Christian religious identity?
1) Jewish Religious Identities
a) Hebrew/Aramaic-speaking (“Hebrew”, “Jerusalemite”)
i. Pharisees
ii. Sadducees
iii. Essenes
iv. Zealots
v. Am ha-aretz
vi. Samaritans
b) Greek-speaking (“Hellenistic”, “Galilean”, “Diaspora”)
i. Pharisees
ii. Sadducees
iii. Essenes
iv. Zealots
v. Am ha-aretz
vi. Samaritans
2) Greco-Roman Religious Identities
a) State Religion
i. Adherents of the Olympian Gods
ii. Adherents of the Imperial Cult
b) Mystery Religions
i. Greek
ii. Egyptian
iii. Asiatic
3) Christian Religious Identities
a) Ebionite Christians
b) Hebrew/Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians
c) Greek-speaking Jewish Christians
d) Samaritan Christians
e) Adherents-of-John-the-Baptizer Christians
f) “Centrist” Christians
g) Gentile Christians
h) Gnostic Christians
Worksheet for Acts of the Apostles
Worksheet for the Letter to the Hebrews
Worksheet for the Letter to the Romans
Worksheet for the First Letter of John
Worksheet for the First Letter of Peter
N.B. Bring a copy of the Bible to class.
Recommended Reading: Brown, Raymond E., The Churches the Apostles Left Behind (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1984). ISBN: 0809126117; Brown, Raymond E., and John P. Meier, Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983). ISBN: 0809125323; Brown, Raymond E., The Community of the Beloved Disciple: The Life, Loves, and Hates of an Individual Church in New Testament Times (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1978) ISBN: 0809121743.
3. 25/26 September 2006: New Testament Christianities II
Required Reading: Didache [please use either the Ben Swett or “Didache or Duae Viae” translations and commentaries]; The Gospel of Thomas; The Odes of Solomon [please use the Gnostic Society Library translation]; Quasten, 1-57.
Examine these documents for evidence of Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Christian religious identities as indicated for 18/19 September 2006.
Worksheet for the Gospel of Thomas
Worksheet for the Odes of Solomon
Recommended
4. 2/3 October 2006: Apologists and Martyrs I (to 313 CE):
Required
Recommended
N.B. Topic and initial bibliography for Paper #1 must be approved by class time.
The following topics with initial bibliography have been submitted:
Abbott, Chris. “A Letter of Ignatius
of
Adkins, Michael. “Christian Iconography on Constantinian Coinage: An Inquiry.”
Callan, Chris. “The Octagon of the
Church of the Nativity in
Fielder, Tom. “The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus as Christian Cultural Artifact.”
Friederichs, Nadine. “Tertullian on Prayer.”
Haffey, Bryan. “The Sarcophagus of
Adelphia in
Hamlin, James. “The First Epistle of Clement.”
Hawn, Jessica. “An Early Christian Artwork”
Henningsgaard, Natalie. “Letter 28 from Augustine to Jerome.”
Hilgers, Dean. “St. John Lateran as Catholic Christian Architectural Artifact.”
Martin, Matthew. “The Magnificat as Musical Artifact.”
May, Steven. “St. Ignatius of Antioch’s ‘Letter to the Romans’.”
Odell, Joseph. “Clement of Alexandria on Marriage.”
Olson, Jill. “Old St. Peter’s on the Vatican.”
Pedersen, Erik. “San Vitale in Ravenna.”
Rosenthal, Tina. “The Letter of Polycarp of Smyrna to the Philippians: A Christian Literary Artifact.”
Simon, Eric. “Origen’s Contra Celsum and Justin Martyr’s First Apology: Comparisons and Contrasts”
Smith, Cleonne. “Mosaics of doves at a fountain from the so-called Mausoleum of Galla Placidia as Christian Iconography: An Inquiry”.
Wynn, Kirstine. “Eucharistic Ritual and Theology in Ambrose’s De Sacramentis.”
Zittlow, Jessica. “Old St. Peter’s on the Vatican.”
5. 9/10 October 2006: Apologists and Martyrs II (to 313 CE): Summary and Conclusion on Pre-Constantinian Christianities
6. 16/17 October 2006: Engaging Empire I (313 CE - c. 600 CE): CLASS CANCELLED DUE TO THE DEATH OF FR. JONCAS’ FATHER, Paul E. Joncas
N.B. Paper #1 is due at class time.
7. 23/24 October 2006: Christian Arts in the Patristic Era: Visual Arts (graffiti/wall paintings; sarcophagi; mosaics; ivorywork), Architecture (house churches, basilicas, central-plan churches, baptisteries) and Music (Notated Song-Text, Non-notated Song Texts; Ambrosian Hymns)
Required
Christian Visual Art (c. 100 CE – 600 CE)
Christian Architecture (c. 100 – 600 CE)
Christian Music (c. 100 – 600 CE)
Recommended
8. 30/31 October 2006 + 6/7 November: Rebuilding Empire I (c. 600 – c. 1000 CE): The Romano-Frankish (Roman Rite) Liturgy
Required
Recommended
Heffernan, Thomas J., and E. Ann Matter, The Liturgy of the Medieval
Church.
Introduction to the [Historical Reconstruction of the] Roman Rite
N.B. Topics and initial bibliography for Paper #2 due at class time.
9. 13/14
November 2006: Rebuilding Empire II (c. 600 – c. 1000 CE): Art (Icons),
Architecture (Carolingian), and Music (Gregorian chant)
PowerPoint Presentation: Catholic Christian
Visual Art (Icons)
PowerPoint Presentation: Catholic Christian
Architecture (Carolingian)
PowerPoint Presentations: Catholic Christian Music
(Romano-Frankish [Gregorian] chant)
Required
Recommended Reading:
Icons:
Evdokimov, Michael, Light from the East: Icons in Liturgy and Prayer (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2004); Onash, Konrad, and Annemaire Schnieper, Icons: The Fascination and the Reality (New York: Riverside Book Co, 1997); Zalensky, Elizabeth, and Lela Gilbert, Windows to heaven: introducing icons to Protestants and Catholics (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2005)
Romanesque Architecture:
Conant, Kenneth John, Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture: 800 to 1200, 2nd int. ed. (rev.) (New York: Penguin, 1979); Jackson, Thomas Graham, Byzantine and Romanesque Architecture, 2nd ed. (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1975) Kubach, Hans Erich, Romanesque Architecture (New York, NY: Electra/Rizzoli, 1988)
Gregorian Chant:
Crocker, Richard, An Introduction to Gregorian Chant (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000); Gallagher, Sean (ed.) Western plainchant in the first millennium: studies in the medieval liturgy and its music. Aldershot, Hants (England) – Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003; Hiley, David, Western Plainchant: A Handbook (Oxford-New York, NY: Clarendon-Oxford University Press, 1993); Levy, Kenneth, Gregorian Chant and the Carolingians (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998); McKinnon, James, The Advent Project: The Later-Seventh-Century Creation of the Roman Mass Proper (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000).
N.B. I have just run across some information that
the Getty Museum in Malibu, CA, will be hosting an exhibition called “Holy
Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai” beginning 14 November 2006. You might want to check out the exhibition
website when it goes up as a complement to our in-class study of icons.
10. 20/21
November 2006: The Great Synthesis (c. 1000 – 1300 CE): Art (MSS
Illuminations), Architecture (Romanesque/ Early Gothic), and Music (Early
Polyphony)
PowerPoint Presentation: Catholic Christian
Visual Art (MSS Illuminations)
PowerPoint Presentation: Catholic Christian
Architecture (Romanesque / Early Gothic)
PowerPoint Presentation: Catholic Christian Music
(Early Polyphony)
Required
Recommended Reading:
Manuscript Illuminations:
Backhouse, Janet, The Illuminated Manuscript (Oxford: Phaidon, 1979); Bradley, John W., Illuminated Manuscripts, 2nd ed. (London: Methuen, 1920); Smeyers, Maurice, La Miniature (Turnholt: Brepols, 1974) [this is in French, but has an EXCELLENT bibliography and is part of the prestigious “Typologie des souces du Moyen Age occidental” series that should be familiar to any M.A. student of medieval topics]
Gothic Architecture:
Grodecki, Louis, Gothic Architecture (New York: Electra/Rizzoli, 1985/1978); Scott, Robert A., The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003); Toman, Rolf, The Art of Gothic: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting (Cologne: Konemann, 1999)
Early Western Polyphony:
Thurston, Ethel, The Works of Perotin: Music and Texts Transcribed with Explanatory Preface and Performance Directions (New York, NY: E. F. Kalmus, 1970); Waite, William G., The rhythm of twelfth-century polyphony, its theory and practice (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954);
N.B. Check out the following website for the present
Getty Museum exhibition “The Gospels in Medieval Manuscript Illumination” as a
complement to our class engagement with MSS illuminations: http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/gospels/
N.B. Paper #2 is due at class time.
11. 27/28 November 2006: Dante: The Divine Comedy I
Required Reading: Musa, 3-191.
Recommended Reading:
N.B. Topics for Paper #3 must be approved by class time.
12. 4/5 December 2006: Dante: The Divine Comedy II
Required Reading: Musa, 195-387.
Recommended Reading:
13. 11/12 December 2006: Dante: The Divine Comedy III
N.B. These final classes will be held at the
instructor’s home (2170 Summit). As you
might expect, parking is at a premium close to the UST campus. There is some space that is supposed to be
left open for my guests in the alley behind my house marked by signs saying
“Private Parking for 2170 Summit Resident” but, typically, the undergraduates
who live nearby and their friends pay no attention to those signs and park
where they should not. All of which is
to say: try to park behind my house (including in my garage [I will leave the
door open and will move my car to one side], in front of my garage when it is
filled [since I won’t be going anywhere during the class]) in the spaces
designated for 2170 Summit, but once they are filled you will need to find
other parking.
Required Reading: Musa, 391-585.
Recommended Reading:
N.B. Paper #3 due at class time.
Learning Assessment:
1. Class attendance, participation, questions, conversation. (10%)
2. Paper #1 will consist of a 5-10 page (double-spaced, using a font no smaller than 12 pt, employing standard academic vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and stylesheet) analysis of a Christian literary, visual art/architectural, or musical artifact generated 50 CE – 600 CE. The paper must include poietic, esthesic, and neutral-level analysis of the artifact; demonstrate how the artifact adopts, adapts or rejects elements of non-Christian culture; and declare how the artifact both expresses and shapes a Catholic Christian worldview. Suggested topics for Paper #1: Literary // Visual Art/Architectural // Musical. Topics for Paper #1 with at least a 5-item bibliography must be approved by the instructor by class time on 2/3 October 2006. The paper must be submitted in electronic format (.doc preferred) to jmjoncas@stthomas.edu by class time on 16/17 October 2006. (30%)
3. Paper #2 will consist of a 5-10 page analysis of a Christian literary, visual art/architectural, or musical artifact generated 600 CE – 1000 CE in a category not treated in Paper #1. The paper must include poietic, esthesic, and neutral-level analysis of the artifact; demonstrate how the artifact adopts, adapts or rejects elements of non-Christian culture; and declare how the artifact both expresses and shapes a Catholic Christian worldview. Suggested topics for Paper #1: Literary // Visual Art/Architectural // Musical. Topics for Paper #2 with at least a 5-item bibliography must be approved by the instructor by class time on 30/31 October 2006. The paper must be submitted in electronic format (.doc preferred) to jmjoncas@stthomas.edu by class time on 20/21 November 2006. (30%)
4. Paper #3 will consist of a 5-10 page analysis of a [Catholic] Christian literary, visual art/architectural, or musical artifact generated 1000 CE – 1300 CE in a category not treated in Papers ## 1 or 2. The paper must include poietic, esthesic, and neutral-level analysis of the artifact; demonstrate how the artifact adopts, adapts or rejects elements of non-Christian culture; and declare how the artifact both expresses and shapes a Catholic Christian worldview. Topics for Paper #3 with at least a 5-item bibliography must be approved by the instructor by class time on 27/28 November 2006. Suggested topics for Paper #3: Literary // Visual Art/Architectural // Musical. The paper must be submitted in electronic format (.doc preferred) to jmjoncas@stthomas.edu by class time on 11/12 December 2006. (30%)
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