This course aims at providing a general understanding of the major issues of the history of Christianity from its origins to the contemporary age, by outlining the evolution of religious cultures and highlighting how church institutions have been changing in relation to society. Particular attention will be paid to some turning points in the development of Western Christianity: the establishment of the Roman Catholic model (11th-13th centuries); the Reformation and the affirmation of the Tridentine paradigm (16th-18th centuries); the response of Christian churches, and in particular of Catholicism, to the transformations brought by secularisation, the Industrial Revolution, bourgeois revolutions, totalitarianisms and globalisation (18th-21st centuries).
The objective of this course is to provide students with a basic understanding of the two thousand-year-old Christian story as well as the critical tools they'll need in order to evaluate historiographical debates and analyze religious history sources.
AIMS
The teaching aims to:
- convey knowledge of the main lines of the history of Christianity, with particular attention to the early modern, modern and contemporary age;
- make students appreciate the relevance and specificity of the historical-religious dimension, in its connections with political, cultural and social history;
- encourage the contextualisation of Christian cultures in a long-term diachronic perspective;
- provide a framework of the main historiographical themes and interpretative categories of the history of Western Christianity;
- introduce students to the analysis of sources for religious history (press, documents, images, audiovisual sources);
- provide students with transferable skills (teamwork).
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
(a) demonstrate a basic knowledge of the problems and methods inherent in the history of Christianity;
(b) understand the secondary literature essential for unambiguous orientation in the issues addressed during the course;
c) apply the acquired knowledge to the analysis of specific cases (ability to make connections between the historical-religious processes examined);
d) recognise the nature of the sources for the history of Christianity and identify their significance in the light of the related historiographical issues;
e) value a critical approach, aware of historiographic categories and aimed at avoiding apologetic or polemical judgements;
f) understand and focus on the historical evolution of religious and theological doctrines;
g) use appropriate disciplinary language to illustrate one's point of view (oral communication skills);
h) manage their social interactions with a collaborative attitude, constructive communication and willingness to overcome prejudices (social competence - advanced level).
None.
Teaching will mainly consist of lectures, although discussion sessions, reading of texts and analysis of iconographic sources will be included. Dialogue with the teacher and other students is a fundamental part of the teaching method and aims to promote a critical approach, consolidate knowledge and acquire the language of the discipline. Regular attendance is therefore recommended.
During the course, working groups may be organised to analyse and comment on a range of sources, based on the knowledge and methodologies acquired in class. Each group may briefly present to the others the result of the discussion, conceived as a concise critical introduction to the analysed source.
The lectures will be held in person. Only those who make an explicit request at the beginning of the course will be able to follow the lectures at a distance. The latter will be considered non-attending students for all purposes (also for the purposes of the syllabus).
All information and teaching materials will be available on Aulaweb.
This course provides the critical tools needed for understanding the features of Christianity as a plural, multifaceted and changing phenomenon over time.
The introduction of the course will deal with the definition of the scientific field of the history of Christianity and of the churches, by recalling its development as a discipline free from a theological-denominational stance. A second introductory part will frame the mythographic process that transformed Yehoshua, a Jewish preacher from Nazareth, into Jesus Christ, i.e. the founder and object of a new religion, Christianity. Such a highly creative process has over the centuries produced intrusive images, aesthetic forms and moral precepts, intertwining sacred and profane, storytelling of the past and new meanings for the present.
In retracing the stages of this two-thousand-year experience, a thematic-chronological line will be followed. While adopting a diachronic perspective, this will highlight some distinctive elements of the Christian presence in the long term: liturgy, cults and devotions; patterns of sainthood; the relationship between ecclesiastical institutions and political power; government of the churches and, in particular, of the Catholic Church; manifestations of dissent; and gender characterisation.
The following topics will be covered:
Required readings for students attending the course:
A. Reference texts (required)
B. Course materials, slides e texts made available on Aulaweb.
C. One book/pair of essays from the following ones:
Required readings for students NOT attending the course:
C. Two books/pairs of essays from the following ones:
Ricevimento: By appointment (both remotely and in person) upon emailing: matteo.caponi@edu.unige.it. Via Balbi 2, second floor.
MATTEO CAPONI (President)
GURI SCHWARZ
ENRICA ASQUER (Substitute)
20 February 2024.
Oral exam.
The oral exam will assess the achievement of the training objectives, and in particular the following points: a) knowledge of the topics covered; b) degree of critical awareness; c) ability to apply knowledge to a specific topic; d) use of the specialized language of the discipline.
