ART 110H 01. Art History I
4.00 credits
Gimenez-Berger, A.
Prerequisite: none
A selective chronological survey of architecture, painting, sculpture and decorative arts from the birth of art in the Prehistoric period through its development in the Middle Ages, with an emphasis on the Western tradition.
ECON 231 –European Economic History
4 .00 credits
Wishart, D.
This course examines the evolution of capitalism in Europe from the Paleolithic period to the present, the impact of European capitalism on economies and societies in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the rise and demise of centrally planned state socialist economies in Russia and the Eastern European countries, and European economic integration. The topics presented in this course will emphasize the use of principles of economics to understand historical change and methods of empirical analysis that are commonly used by economic historians. Grades will be determined by two exams, a final, and a 10-15 page term paper. Lecture/discussion format. Writing Intensive.
ENGL 180A 3W. Vampires in Fiction and Film
4.00 credits
Hinson, S.
Prerequisite: ENGL 101E
For millennia, creatures of the night have descended upon us to drink our blood, drain the life from us, and ignite our imaginations. Succubi, lamiae, great white worms, and debonair counts all want one thing and one thing only--blood, for "the blood is the life." Vampires have fascinated us from their first appearances as creatures of our nightmares, to their manifestations as the undead swollen with grave gases, to the reluctant, beautiful, and sensitive outcasts we find in today's vampire novels and films. This course will study vampires across time and cultures in fiction and film with a special emphasis on understanding what our obsessions with vampires can tell us about ourselves and our cultures. What explains our obsession with vampires? Why do we now seem to be seeing an epidemic of vampire stories and movies? Extensive reading will include John Keats and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Polidori and Sheridan Le Fanu, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, and Octavia Butler. We'll screen vampire classics like Nosferatu , The Horror of Dracula, and Vampire Lovers, as well as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Near Dark, 30 Days of Night, Twilight, Interview with the Vampire and others. The course is writing intensive, and requires a comprehensive final examination and self-scheduled film screenings out of class.
ENGL 280A - British Survey I
4.00 credits
Dixon, M.
Prerequisite: ENGL 170, 180A, or 190A/C
In this course, we will look at the development of English literature from its beginnings in the Middle Ages to the rise of the novel in the eighteenth century. We will read and discuss representative literary texts and ask a series of important questions: how do these texts grow out of their historical and cultural contexts? How do they build upon, speak to one another? How do they define and redefine the roles of writer and reader? What does a growing literary canon have in constructing what it means to be a British subject, a self, a man, a woman? We will explore as well the way genres-epic and romance, tragedy and comedy, prose fiction-emerge, change, disappear, in response to a changing culture and readership. You should come out of this course with a foundational knowledge of important writers, dates, literary styles, genres, and critical terms that you can build on in more advanced courses. The course will include some periods and a comprehensive final; two or three formal papers and several informal responses to the reading. Writing Intensive.
HIST 101H 1W. Life, Love and War in the Middle Ages
4.00 credits
Livingstone, A.
Prerequisite: Freshmen Section only. Supplemental Instruction available.
What was it like to live, love and die in the Middle Ages? This course will examine the lives of famous medieval people, like Charlemagne and Eleanor of Aquitaine, but also those whose experiences are not as well known – such as peasants, Jews, heretics, women and children. The lives of these people will be brought to life through modern novels but also the medieval accounts of their lives. By coming to appreciate the lives of medieval people, the larger political, economic, cultural and social developments that shaped the medieval period will be brought to life. Course assessment will consist of essay exams, papers, quizzes, presentations and class participation. Writing intensive.
HIST 105H/C 1W. Pre Modern World
4.00 credits
Brooks Hedstrom, D.
Prerequisite: First and Second Year Students only. Supplemental Instruction available.
This course considers how in the world ancient history matters in shaping the modern world. We will discard memorization of dates to consider real questions that have historical importance in thinking about the past. We will develop skills in reading, debating and argumentation as we consider issues such as how telling stories about the world reflect core values of society, what medical beliefs about the body tell us about gender roles in the past, what beliefs were foundation to the Islamic empire, how Genghis Khan ushered in the modern age, and to what degree ancient religious beliefs predetermine the political and ethical history of a community. We will read primary sources from period, examine archaeological remains of material culture and read historical fiction as a way to engage with these questions and establish skills in thinking critically about the past. Reading and writing intensive.
HIST 105 C/H 1W. Pre-Modern World History
4.00 credits
Raffensperger, C.
Prerequisite: none. Freshman only. Supplemental Instruction available.
Pre-Modern world history is fundamentally about the interconnectivity of the global system. In this class we will discuss kings, emperors, and philosophers from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas in addition to how the kingdoms and empires of the world interacted during this period. Key topics include the development of empire from Persia to China to Rome, the migrations of steppe peoples from Mongolia into Europe over the course of a thousand years, and the religious interactions (and their sometimes violent conflicts) in Eurasia and Africa that resulted in the spread of Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. In addition to discussing happenings within various kingdoms and fledgling states of the world, this class, specifically in lecture and discussion, is designed to look at how those kingdoms interacted with one another and what the consequences were—culturally, religiously, and economically. What was gained, and what lost? Writing Intensive. This course counts toward the PAST minor.
HIST 202H: Luther
4.00 Credits
Taylor, T.
Prerequisite: ENGL 101E
HIST 202 courses introduce students to problems in the interpretation of history (more technically called historiography) and to the writing of historical prose. This version of HIST 202 tackles the extraordinary and complex figure of Martin Luther. The course approaches him as a problem in biography, through readings of some of major biographical interpretations of his life, as a problem in theology, through readings of his own writings as well as those of modern theologians and scholars; and as a problem in historical interpretation. Books will include Martin Marty, Martin Luther; Roland Bainton, Here I Stand; Patrick Collinson, The Reformation: A History; Richard Marius, A Short Guide to Writing about History; John Osborne, Luther; Writing intensive: papers and tests and quizzes. This course counts toward the PAST minor.
HIST 301 1W. Eurasian Nomads
4.00 credits
Raffensperger, C.
Prerequisite: One course in history or permission of instructor.
Eurasian nomads are part of a variety of histories and historiographies in China, Russia, India, the Middle East, and Europe. But in every one of those cases they primarily exist as an “other,” the “outsider” who raids the settled empire, the “barbarian” who ravages civilization. This class will attempt to change that perspective and focus on the nomads themselves as the actors. Over the course of the semester the class will acquire an understanding of nomadic society and traditions, as well as the various cultures involved in the regions and periods under consideration. They will do in-depth research on one particular steppe culture or people and present that material to the class, with the goal of helping to understand who these Eurasian nomad are, why they acted the way they did, and why history and historians traditionally portray them negatively. Writing intensive.
HIST 312 1W. Age of Cathedrals
4.00 credits
Livingstone, A.
Prerequisite: one course in History or permission of instructor.
One of the most enduring images of the medieval world is the cathedral. Have you ever wondered why medieval people felt compelled to create such monumental structures? How did they build cathedrals? Who built them? This course will explore the society that produced these magnificent monuments. Our discussion will begin with the art and society of the period preceding the Age of Cathedrals: the Romanesque. Key to our discussion will be the pilgrimage churches that came to cover much of France and Northern Spain. How did faith and religious practice, as well as social and economic factors, contribute to the construction of these churches? Next we will examine how the Romanesque period transformed into the age of Gothic. Again the focus will be not only the artistic and aesthetic changes, but what economic, social and political changes led to the construction of cathedrals such as Chartres, St. Denis, Notre Dame, Amiens and Rheims. Why were cathedrals designed to capture light and to seem to ascend toward heaven? How do cathedrals reflect intellectual and philosophical developments of the central Middle Ages? Finally we will consider what impact cathedrals had on medieval civilization. How do cathedrals reflect the social and cultural changes that characterized the twelfth and thirteenth centuries? Students will write three short papers, an in-depth research paper, and a synthetical essay. They will present their research to the class at the end of the semester. Writing intensive. This course counts toward the PAST minor.
MUSI 301H 1W. History of Western Music to 1750
4.00 credits
Siek, S.
Prerequisite: ENGL 101E.
An historical survey of Western art music from Antiquity through the Baroque period, which views repertoire both from the standpoint of theory and literature. Medieval composers include the Notre Dame School, Landini, and Machaut, while the Burgundians, Josquin, Palestrina, and the Italian and English madrigalists are among the Renaissance composers emphasized. The background and historical context of opera and instrumental music will be examined in the Baroque period, along with the works of Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel, and Bach. The course includes a midterm, a final, and a paper. The text is A History of Western Music by Burkholder/Grout/Palisca, 8th ed. (W. W. Norton, 2009). Required for music majors. Writing intensive.
PAST 400 01. Capstone Seminar
2.00 credits
Raffensperger, C.
Prerequisite: Must be a junior or senior Pre Modern and Ancient Studies minor and have completed twelve hours of the PAST minor.
Capstone course in which the junior or senior Pre Modern and Ancient World Studies minor integrates the major strands of Pre Modern and Ancient World history, culture, religion and philosophy, and literature around a specified theme and writes an extensive research paper.
PHIL 310 1W. Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
4.00 credits
Reed, D.
Prerequisite: One prior course in PHIL or permission of instructor.
This course is an introduction to the historical method of philosophical reflection and an introduction to the philosophers of a particular period and a particular tradition (ancient Greek to medieval European). As part of the first goal, we will observe the historical nature of philosophical thinking, i.e., the way it develops historically, not by accident but by its very nature. We will trace one tradition of answers to questions variously answered by four particular notions (which themselves are reformulated over and over again): (1) the notion that abstractions (like geometrical figures and the periodic table of elements) are the true objects of knowledge; (2) the notion that it is sometimes very difficult if not impossible to do what you know is good and not to do what you know is bad; (3) the notion that to be real and to be excellent are the same, i.e., that being and goodness are identical; and (4) the notion that the soul is immortal and lives on after the body decays and ceases. Students will take a mid-term and a final exam and write four papers. Writing intensive.
RELI 100R TOPIC: Judaism and Christianity: The 2000 Year Conversation
4.00 credits
Millen, R.
This seminar examines the ongoing relationship between Judaism and Christianity beginning in the first century. Through analysis of primary texts, as well as some secondary ones, the course will familiarize the student with the variety of ways that Judaism and Christianity interacted over the centuries of Western history. Students will read Christian sources on Judaism and Jewish sources on Christianity; will study the medieval disputations of the thirteenth century; and also focus on Luther's writings on Judaism. The early modern period, as well as the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be discussed through the exploration of primary documents. The central focus of study will be the questions of how and why Jews and Christians came to view each other as religious opponents and what does this 2000 year conversation tell us about the nature of religious truth and religion in general. The course will conclude with discussions of interfaith efforts and analysis of their implications for us all.
Religion 100R/C – TOPIC: Religions of the Silk Road
4.00 Credits
Oldstone-Moore, J.
By the second century BCE the Silk Road connected diverse and powerful civilizations across the Eurasian landmass. The civilizations of China, Iran, Iraq, India, the Mediterranean world and numerous nomadic tribes were a part of a movement that integrated regional systems into an early world system. This was a time of tremendous religious ferment, growth and change. Taking the starting place of the Chinese empire and its role in this global trading network, this course will focus on the religions found on the Silk Road through time (second century BCE to the fourteenth century CE, and in the modern era) and space (central and eastern Eurasia). In addition to an overview of major traditions of the premodern era, including Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity, Islam, Judaism, many schools of Buddhism, and indigenous Chinese religion, we will spend part of our semester focusing on the movement of Buddhist pilgrims responding to the religious growth of Buddhism on the Silk Road including Xuanzang and Fa Xian. We will finish with a look at the modern Silk Road, especially in China’s Muslim Xinjiang province.
Religion 121 R Art of Biblical Literature
4.00 credits
Kaiser, B.
Pre-requisite: None
This course is intended to help readers appreciate the artistry of biblical prose and poetry. We will examine texts from the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha, paying special attention to plot structure, word-plays, imagery, repetition, characterization, themes, parallelism and aetiology. Throughout the term, we will consider reinterpretations of biblical literature in the music, literature, and film of our own culture. Class sessions have a lecture/discussion format. There will be three or four exams and regular written responses to readings. This course counts toward the PAST minor.
RELI 134R/C 01. Chinese and Japanese Religious Traditions
4.00 credits
Oldstone-Moore, J.
Prerequisite: none. Supplemental Instruction available.
This course examines several religious traditions which have shapes East Asian civilizations. We will study the formal traditions of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Shinto and the New Religions; we will also consider the popular religious traditions of China and Japan. Classes include both lecture and discussion; students will be evaluated through essay exams, short papers and projects, and analysis of scripture and other texts.
Religion 221 R – Understanding the Old Testament
4.00 credits
Kaiser, B.
This course is designed especially for religion majors, pre-theological students, and others with a serious interest in biblical studies. We will attempt to place the Old Testament literature in its historical context, understand the theological perspectives which shape the texts, develop methods of interpretation, and simply appreciate the artistry and inspiration of the Old Testament literature. Class sessions have lecture/discussion format. Students will take three exams and write a paper. Writing intensive. No prerequisites.
Religion 324 R – Apocalyptic Vision in Ancient and Modern Literature
4.00 credits
Kaiser, B.
Prerequisite: one previous biblical course.
We will begin the semester with an analysis of ancient Jewish apocalyptic tests – Daniel, Enoch, and 2 Esdras. Historical context and literary style of the Jewish texts will be the focus of our attention. Second, we will consider apocalyptic literature of two sectarian groups, the Essenes and Christians. During this part of the quarter we will read the War Rule from Qumran and Revelation and examine and respond to modern interpretations of the latter, such as views of the Branch Davidians of Waco. Finally, we will consider apocalyptic aspects of English literature by examining such texts as poems of William Blake, Nathaniel West’s Day of the Locust and selected novels chosen by participants. Students will be responsible for a research paper and several short presentations (theodicy debate, imaging ultimate states of good and evil, reporting on newspaper and magazine articles, etc.). The class is conducted as a seminar with discussion, frequent student presentations, occasional lectures. Writing intensive.
