Karen Scott, DePaul University
Fridays, 2:00-5:00
pm; September 30 - December 9, 2005
How did medieval Europeans understand the human person, how did their
views evolve over time, and why? This course will examine one important aspect
of this large problem by exploring medieval religion and identity, and
particularly the ideas of human exceptionality and exemplarity conveyed in
saints' lives, spiritual autobiographies, and mystical writings.
After a
historiographical overview of the general problem of medieval identity, the
class will focus on the very close analysis of a variety of primary sources
written by and about five exceptional saints and mystics from the high and
later Middle Ages: Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich,
Margery Kempe, and Catherine of Siena. We will read a variety of hagiographic
texts about these figures, as well as the spiritual treatises and mystical
autobiographies that they composed themselves; and we will spend some time on
the representation of saints and mystics in the visual arts. In analyzing these
sources, the seminar will pay special attention to discerning and interpreting
the significance of biblical, hagiographic, and spiritual typologies as
expressions and shapers of medieval identity.
In analyzing these
sources, the seminar will pay special attention to discerning and interpreting
the significance of biblical, hagiographic, and spiritual typologies as
expressions and shapers of medieval identity. Questions like the following will
help focus class discussions, oral presentations, and research papers:
-
How do these texts or art works highlight the ways in which an exceptional
person imitated Christ, important biblical figures, earlier saints, or other
religious or social models? What are the implications of this for our
understanding of the various ways in which medieval people viewed the body, the
soul, the purposes of human life, social roles, and so on?
- How do these
texts or art works convey that a saint's or mystic's life was exemplary and
should be a model for others to follow? What are the historical implications of
this view of the self ?
- What approaches to theological anthropology are
conveyed in texts or art works that contain narratives about exceptional
happenings of a supernatural or heroic nature and that make a saint appear to
be more worthy of veneration and admiration than imitation?
- How do
sources written about an exceptional person compare and contrast to sources
written by that same person, and why?
- How did medieval saints and mystics
view themselves? How did they interpret biblical, hagiographical, and spiritual
topoi and apply them to themselves? For example, did they internalize or
manipulate these commonplaces in singular, personal ways, and if so, why? Did
they reject some of these commonplaces, and if so, what did they replace them
with, and why?
- How do issues of genre, gender, and audience resonate in
these texts or art works, and why?
- How did the various saints' lives
written about the same person at different times or by different authors differ
from one another, or not, and why? How did various mystical texts composed by
the same person evolve over time, and why?
- How did medieval ideas about
the human person evolve over time and space, and why?
To help make the
class accessible to as broad a pool of students as possible, and to facilitate
class discussions, all of the required readings will be in modern English
translation. However, those students with a reading knowledge of Medieval
Latin, French, English, or Italian will read the relevant sources in the
original languages. Class sessions will be devoted to discussions of the
primary sources involving both the English translations and the original texts.
Whenever possible, students will write papers analyzing medieval texts that
they can read in the original and that are held in the Newberry
Library.
The course will require three papers:
- two short
papers (3-5 pages), each of which closely analyzes a different document in
relation to the specialized issues of biblical, hagiographic, and spiritual
typology presented in the seminar. These papers will serve to introduce the
students to the very close reading of the sources and to some of the
interpretative difficulties of this topic.
- a research paper on one of the
exceptional persons studied in the seminar, and on a particular topic approved
by the Instructor. Ideally, this topic would emerge out of the work the student
has done on one or both of the short papers. This final paper will focus on the
close analysis of at least two primary sources, and preferably these sources
will be found in the Newberry Library; but it will also include some additional
study of the specialized historiography on those texts and that topic. The
Instructor will offer each student individual guidance on texts and topics,
historiography and interpretative problems.
Oral presentations:
The students will present their final projects at the last session of the
seminar. During the quarter they will also be required to present one of the
required primary source readings to the class.
Funds may be available for students and faculty members of
Consortium institutions to
travel to the Newberry to attend Consortium seminars. For more information,
please contact the Center.
All students must register for this course. To register, please call the Center for Renaissance Studies at 312-255-3514 or email renaissance@newberry.org