PART ONE: Ancient Roman Foundations, Falls, and Transformations (Lessons 1-3)
Lesson One: Ancient Roman Foundations
Introduction: course prospectus, syllabus, and expectations
Paradigms and Systematics: how does any human society/community form? 1) needs vs. wants; 2) economy, politics, religion
Hermeneutics and Methodologies: 1) philological; 2) epistemological; 3) metaphysical; 4) historical; 5) cultural
Questions: 1) What is the “medieval period” and why is it important (“Timeline One”)?; 2) What is “Religion” and why is it important?; 3) What is the “Catholic Church” and why is it important?; 4) What is “water” and why is it important?; 5) What is the “sun” and why is it important?; 6) What is “food” and why is it important?; 7) What is “Roman Antiquity” and why is it important?
Roman Antiquity’s 3 great contributions to human civilization (“Timeline Two”): 1) Architecture and Engineering; 2) Justice and Law; 3) Constitutional Republic (S.P.Q.R.)
Key Concepts to understanding Rome’s Fall and Transformation: 1) why Rome is “eternal”: sacra, aeterna, caput mundi; 2) why the republican SPQR was imperfect: ratio vs. religio: fides, unitas, pietas, cultus ; patricians/patrons vs. plebeians/clients; pater familias and dominus; social order and citizenship: origo, civis, libertus, servus; 3) why the republican SPQR fell and the imperial SPQR began: religion-politics-economy dynamic; imperium, dux vs. dictator, imperator.
READINGS: (all readings required through the mid-term) distribution of selected readings: 1) Christian New Testament: 1 Cor 15; Jn 19-21; Mt 16 and 19; 2) Neil Christie Chapter 6; 3) Eamon Duffy Chapters 1,2, and 4; 4) Augustine of Hippo Regius; 6) Benedict of Nursia; 7) Donation of Constantine
Lesson Two: Ancient Roman Falls and Transformations
Pontifex Maximus: how Rome’s most important office was the lynchpin of society and guarantor of the transformation from a republican to an imperial SPQR.
Competing Cults: Bacchus/Dionysos; Christus; Mithras/Sol Invictus
Birth and Rise of the Christian Cult I: Jewish and Roman roots and parallels in the first century CE: Mosaic Law (Sanhedrin, Pharisees, Saducees, Scribes, Essenes); Ius civile romanum (Collegium Pontificium, Rhetor/Orator, Magister, Vicarius)
Review of Reading: 1 Corinthians 15 and Matthew 16: creating a hierarchical ecclesia
Birth and Rise of the Christian Cult II: early non-christian sources: Tacitus, Pliny the Younger; Nero’s “Great Fire” of Rome and the “cult” of Peter and Paul; Vespasian’s and Titus’ destruction of Jerusalem; Domitian and the illegalization of the christian cult, Trajan’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, Simon bar Jonah/Cephas, Petros, Petrus; ecclesia
Review of Reading: John 21: creating the “Christ”: eros, philia, agape
Birth and Rise of the Christian Cult III: Diocletian’s “dioceses” and “if you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em” policy; Constantine’s religious “toleration” and “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” policy; Constantine’s strategic move that he lived to regret (literally and metaphorically); Nicaea I, Arianism, and a transformative college of pontiffs; domus, basilica, and cathedra
Review of Reading: John 20,31 and 21,25: which “kind” of Christ?
Identification of Church and State: Theodosius and Gratian; Barbarians at the Gates and the “Fall” and “Transformation” of the Western Roman Empire; Leo the Great and a new Pontifex Maximus
Review of Reading: Matthew 27 and John 19-20: preference for Peter and why he “believed”
Lesson Three: – SITE VISIT ONE
Sant’Agnese fuori le mura: second and third century catacombs; fourth century Constantinian basilica; fourth century mausoleum of Princess Constance; seventh century church of Saint Agnes (Rome’s FIRST medieval church)
PART TWO: “Late Antiquity” and the “Dark Ages” (Lessons 4-6)
Lesson Four: – Late Antiquity/Dark Ages I
Competing Philosophies: the jettison of Stoicism and Epicureanism in favor of Platonism
Readings: Augustine’s Confessions
The Missionary Position: the doctrine of “original sin”; purgatory; infant baptism; “confession”; Gregory the Great’s “mission” to the barbarians
What the West and the East Never Saw Coming: the advent of Islam and how it spread
“Christian” Barbarians…Finally!!!: Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, Carloman, and Charlemagne
Lesson Five: Late Antiquity/Dark Ages II
Sinners and Indulgences: hell is a nasty place and purgatory is not much better: sin and purgatory revisited; an economically viable and lucrative solution to temporal and spiritual woes
Saints and their Cults (some things never change): ancient Roman imperial cults and their patrons; the early christian cult of martyrs; “sexual” healing: “little green men” or “devils” are in them fields (medieval extra-terrestrials or Satan?); medieval crop circles?!?
Reason vs. Rules: final blow to reason and the rise of a new “order”, i.e. monasticism
READINGS: Benedict’s Rule
Lesson Six: SITE VISIT TWO
San Clemente: first century domus; second-third century mithraeum; fourth century Constantinian basilica; eleventh-twelfth century church of Saint Clement; ninth century church and monastery of Santi Quattro Coronati: Chapel of Saint Sylvester; Domus Romanae in Coelio and the eleventh-twelfth century church of Saints John and Paul.
Lesson Seven: MID-TERM EXAM
PART THREE: Early Medieval (Lessons 8-10)
Lesson Eight: SITE VISIT THREE
"Scavi" and Basilica of Saint Peter in Vaticano
Lesson Nine: Low Middle Ages I
Papal Pornocracy: How low can you go?
Rebooting Civilization and Restricting Reason: Monasteries, Cathedral Schools, and the Universitas; trivium and quadrivium; faculties, magister, doctor; from the Codex iuris civilis to the Codex iuris canonicis; the Holy Office of the Inquisition.
Crusades and the Shroud of Turin: how and why they were called and what was gained/lost
Paradigms in medieval practice: De iure pontificio vs. De iure divino; lay investiture; the buying and selling of indulgentiae
READINGS: (all readings required through the final) distribution of selected readings: 1) Anselm of Canterbury; 2) Thomas Aquinas; 3) Southern; 4) Lawrence.
Lesson Ten: Low Middle Ages II
Medieval music, meditation, and mind manipulation: selected recordings from Gregorian Chant and Hildegard von Bingen
Faith vs. Reason: from the ancient cosmological argument to the medieval ontological argument to Aquinas' "Quinquae Viae"
Review of Reading: "Gaunilo: In Behalf of the Fool, and Anselm's Reply"
Lesson Eleven: High Middle Ages I: SITE VISIT FOUR
Santa Sabina, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and Palazzo Porcari
PART FOUR: Late Medieval and Proto-Rinascimento (Lessons 11-14)
Lesson Twelve: High Middle Ages II
The Birth of the “modern” nation-state: the 2nd Council of Lyons and the 4th Lateran Council
No New Orders!: Cistercians, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Albigensians
Review of Reading: Aquinas’ via negativa and the Five “Proofs” for God’s existence
Lesson Thirteen: PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
Lesson Fourteen: High Middle Ages III/Proto-Rinasciemnto: SITE VISIT FIVE
Vatican Museums