Tuesday Evenings: 5:30 PM to 9 PM
Classroom Location: Iliff Hall, Room I-201
Office: Iliff Hall, Room #-111; Office Hours: --By Appointment--
This course examines a wide range of texts and events from the 11th to the 16th centuries dealing with various forms of violence across the Medieval Mediterranean region and contrasts these with Medieval notions of toleration in theological, literary, and political discourse. Among the topics to be covered will be the Peace of God and the Truce of God, feudal warfare and its legacies, the Crusades and their impact on the Latin West as well as on the Arab East, Antisemitism in the Latin West, the Spanish Inquisition, persecution of heretics and witches, Church and State struggles. These problematic and contested discourses will be contrasted throughout the course with the tradition of dialogues of mutual, theocentric edification among Islamic, Jewish, and Christian authors, visionaries, and mystics across the medieval Mediterranean.
1) Students will develop systematic research skills related to the religious and cultural history of the period covered in the course. 2) Students will develop an understanding of the militaristic legacies of feudalism and the conflict between Church and State that shaped medieval and early modern European imperialism. 3) Students will cultivate critical skills for analyzing primary source documents relating to the treatment of minorities and religious groups in Medieval Europe and across the Medieval Mediterranean basin. 4) Students will develop an understanding of the Crusades, their impact upon the regions of Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, and the on-going legacy of the Crusades in the popular misconceptions and stereotypes of contemporary Arab and Islamic culture. 5) Students will cultivate an appreciation for the modes of understanding and cultural engagement that informed Medieval European discourses of toleration. DEGREE LEARNING GOALS in HISTORY (for Iliff Master’s Degree Programs): Historical Development/Expressions of Religious Traditions (HI): Demonstrate awareness of religious traditions as historically-situated movements that interacted and changed in relationship to their surrounding cultures and subcultures over time, resulting in various expressions located within and influenced by social structures and institutions, ideologies, historical events, ethnicity and gender, and cultural worldviews.COURSE OBJECTIVES:
REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS & EVALUATION:
Each student is expected to have read the assignments and be prepared to discuss the material for each class session.
Regular attendance in class will be factored into this portion of your grade.
Excessive absences or tardiness will lower your final grade by at least ten percent or by one letter grade.
Each student will be responsible for opening and leading a seminar discussion during the course of 15 to 20 minutes duration based upon a summary or overview of a week's given readings, key chapter, or for a portion of that evening's assigned readings/seminar discussion topics.
Students may also complete this requirement by selecting an external primary or secondary source and summarizing its particular thesis/point of view. Internet-based resources are acceptable as long as all print and/or internet sources are properly documented and listed at the end of your summary.
In addition to the oral/verbal portion of this assignment, a brief 2-page written summary that raises no more than two or three questions for critical discussion (with copies provided to the rest of the class by the presenter) is required for successful completion of this assignment. (Copies may be distributed/provided through Canvas; emailed to the entire class via Canvas; or printed and brought to class as hard copies).
Option 1 - Final Exam 60%: Each student who chooses this option will complete and submit a take-home final exam by the due date comprised of comprehensive essay questions on the material covered in the course. Students will be allowed to choose several questions from a list of essay topics and then develop and discuss each answer separately. Students will be expected to write a total of 10 to 12 pages for this final assignment option. The final exam will be distributed to students by the instructor. The due date for submitting the final exam by email to the instructor will be announced in class and posted to Canvas.
Option 2 – Final Research Paper 60%: Each student who chooses this option will write a research paper based upon his/her proposed research topic. Papers should not exceed a total of 10-15 pages in length for MA, MA-SJE, MA-PSC, MTS, and M.Div. students. D.U. & I.S.T. Joint Doctoral Program students will be allowed to write papers up to a maximum of 20 pages in length. All final research papers will be submitted by email to the instructor by the assigned deadline. The due date will be announced in class and posted on Canvas.
NOTE-WELL: If you are graduating this June 2019 your final assignment for this course will be due one to two weeks before the rest of the class. The due date for graduating students will be announced in class and posted to Canvas.
REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS & EVALUATION:
Each student is expected to have read the assignments and be prepared to discuss the material for each class session.
Regular attendance in class will be factored into this portion of your grade.
Excessive absences or tardiness will lower your final grade by at least ten percent or by one letter grade.
Each student will be responsible for opening and leading a seminar discussion during the course of 15 to 20 minutes duration based upon a summary or overview of a week's given readings, key chapter, or for a portion of that evening's assigned readings/seminar discussion topics.
Students may also complete this requirement by selecting an external primary or secondary source and summarizing its particular thesis/point of view. Internet-based resources are acceptable as long as all print and/or internet sources are properly documented and listed at the end of your summary.
In addition to the oral/verbal portion of this assignment, a brief 2-page written summary that raises no more than two or three questions for critical discussion (with copies provided to the rest of the class by the presenter) is required for successful completion of this assignment. (Copies may be distributed/provided through Canvas; emailed to the entire class via Canvas; or printed and brought to class as hard copies).
Option 1 - Final Exam 60%: Each student who chooses this option will complete and submit a take-home final exam by the due date comprised of comprehensive essay questions on the material covered in the course. Students will be allowed to choose several questions from a list of essay topics and then develop and discuss each answer separately. Students will be expected to write a total of 10 to 12 pages for this final assignment option. The final exam will be distributed to students by the instructor. The due date for submitting the final exam by email to the instructor will be announced in class and posted to Canvas.
Option 2 – Final Research Paper 60%: Each student who chooses this option will write a research paper based upon his/her proposed research topic. Papers should not exceed a total of 10-15 pages in length for MA, MA-SJE, MA-PSC, MTS, and M.Div. students. D.U. & I.S.T. Joint Doctoral Program students will be allowed to write papers up to a maximum of 20 pages in length. All final research papers will be submitted by email to the instructor by the assigned deadline. The due date will be announced in class and posted on Canvas.
NOTE-WELL: If you are graduating this June 2019 your final assignment for this course will be due one to two weeks before the rest of the class. The due date for graduating students will be announced in class and posted to Canvas.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS:Anouar Majid, We Are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades Against Muslims and Other Minorities. University of Minnesota Press, 2009. [ ISBN : 978-0-8166-6068-3]
R. I. Moore. The Formation of A Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe, 950-1250. Second Edition. Wiley Blackwell Publishers, 2007. [ ISBN : 978-1-4051-2964-0]
Joseph Perez, The Spanish Inquisition. Yale University Press, 2005. [ ISBN: 0-300-11982-8]
Jonathan Riley-Smith. The Crusades, Christianity & Islam. Columbia Univ. Press, 2011. [ISBN: 978-0-231-14625-8].
SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL READINGS: (Purchasing these books is not required).
Cary J. Nederman. European Discourses of Toleration, c. 1100 – c. 1550. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. [ ISBN: 978-0271020174].
David Nirenberg. Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 1999. [ ISBN: 978-0691058894].
Edward M. Peters. Inquisition. University of California Press; Reprint Edition, 1989. [ ISBN: 978-0520066308].
Lynn T. Ramey. Black Legacies: Race and the European Middle Ages. University Press of Florida, 2016. [ ISBN: 978-0813062075].
SUGGESTED “BACKGROUND” BOOKS : (Purchasing these books is not required).
Brian Catlos. Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain. New York: Basic Books/Hachette Book Group, 2018. [ ISBN: 978-0465055876].
The Crusades: The Essential Readings. Thomas Madden, Editor. Blackwell, 2002. [ ISBN: 978-0631230238].
Justo González. The Story of Christianity, Vol. I: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. Second Edition; Revised and Updated. Harper One, 2010. [ ISBN: 978-006185588X].
Kevin Madigan. Medieval Christianity: A New History . Yale University Press, 2015. [ ISBN: 978-0300216776].
COURSE PROCEDURES AND EXPECTATIONS:
Accommodations :
Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs. Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations. The Advising Center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146 . The Disability Services Officer at Iliff is Vince Tango, Associate Dean of Admissions/Student Services, vtango@iliff.edu . For more information, go to the Disability Services in the Master Student Handbook on Bloomfire .
COURSE SCHEDULE: CONTENT OUTLINE & WEEKLY READINGS:
WEEK ONE - Tuesday March 26
I. Course Intro: Objectives, Evaluation, Texts/Contexts.
II. Overview of Course Themes and Topics:
a) Persecution of Religious Minorities in Christian History;
b) Islam & Medieval Christendom: Conflict or Coexistence?
c) Discourses of Toleration in Medieval Civilization;
d) “ All past is present …” Current Events & the Medieval Legacy;
e) Reflections on al-Qaeda, ISIL, and the “Post-Andalusian Age”
f) Feudalism & the Medieval Respublica Christiana ;
READINGS: Available on the Canvas "Files" tab for our course, and distributed directly to students via email prior the first week’s class meeting, or by clicking on the respective LINK after each entry below.
Albert Hernández, “The Crusades & Religious Toleration in Medieval Christianity” (this is a short/e-article from M.U.P.W.J .)---- Link
James Carroll, "Chapter 6: Christian-Muslim-Jew: The Necessary Trialogue” (pp. 45-48) in Alan Berger’s Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, Before the Rainbow. Lexington Books, 2016---- Link
Brief Excerpts from George Tinker’s Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide. Fortress Press, 1993 (Preface pp. vii–viii); and from Anouar Majid’s Freedom and Orthodoxy: Islam and Difference in the Post-Andalusian Age. Stanford University Press, 2004 (pp. 51-52)---- Link
Amir Hussain, “American Muslins in the Age of Trump” (April 2018). Published in Religious Studies News ( http://rsn.aarweb.org )---- Link
WEEK TWO - Tuesday April 2nd:
Violence/Toleration in Medieval Europe: "In the beginning. . . ."
a) Feudalism: Contract & Kinship vs. Warfare & Expansionism;
b) Church versus Feudal Lords;
c) The Medieval Economy, c.950 to c.1500;
d) The Peace of God and the Truce of God;
e) Medieval Warfare and the Beginnings of “Crusading”
f) Studying the Crusades in the Early 21st-Century:---Continuities & Discontinuities.
READINGS:
No new readings for this week. Use the extra time to read ahead for next week's reading and seminar discussions of Jonathan Riley Smith's "The Crusades, Christianity and Islam" (entire text).
WEEK THREE - Tuesday April 9th
The Crusades – Part I:
a) Pope Urban II preaches the First Crusade: November 27, 1095;
b) Abd al-Rahman I founds the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba: May 14, 756.
c) The Spanish Reconquista: May of 711 – January 2, 1492;
d) The Fall of Islamic Toledo: May 24, 1085;
e) The Fall of the Crusader Kingdom of Acre: May 18, 1291.
READINGS: Jonathan Riley Smith, The Crusades, Christianity and Islam (entire text).
WEEK FOUR - Tuesday April 16th
The Crusades – Part II:
a) Modern Nation-States: Spain, Portugal, England, and France;
b) The Italian City-States vs. the Holy Roman Empire;
c) The Albigensian Crusade: Montsegur & Catharism, March 16, 1244;
d) The Fall of the Caliphate of Granada: January 2, 1492;
e) The "Matter of Araby" in the Medieval Imagination.
READINGS:
Jonathan Riley Smith, The Crusades, Christianity and Islam (entire text);
Selected brief excerpt from Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival (c.1180–c.1200)---- to be distributed in-class as a handout.
Albert Hernández’ Chapter Two in Subversive Fire: The Untold Story of Pentecost (Emeth Press, 2010) on chivalry, “knight errantry,” Thomas Mallory’s “Pentecost Oath,” and the legends/traditions of the “Quest for the Grail” (pp. 59-82) ---- Link
WEEK FIVE - Monday April 22nd to Saturday April 27th, 2019:
***Class Meets this Week Online thru Canvas due to IST 'Gathering-Days' Schedule***
Medieval Discourses of Toleration, Part I:
St. Francis of Assisi Meets Malik al-Kamil, the Sultan of Egypt (c.1219)
READINGS and GROUP DISCUSSION/OPEN FORUM
----Scroll Down to the "Course Summary" section of this main Course Syllabus Landing Page. Then Click on it to Open the Week Five Required Readings and Assignments----
WEEK SIX - Tuesday April 30th
Persecution and Conversion in the Middle Ages:
a) Christian Heretics and Reformers;
b) Accusations of Witchcraft and Sorcery;
c) Anti-Semitism in Medieval European Christendom;
d) Lepers, Orphans, & Outcasts: Christian Charity/Social Justice.
READINGS: Robert I. Moore. The Formation of A Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe, 950-1250. Second Edition: 2007 (entire text).
WEEK SEVEN - Tuesday May 7th:
**Note-Well: Tonight’s Class Begins at 6 PM**
Medieval European Anti-Semitism & The Spanish Inquisition, 1478–1834:
a) The Anti-Semitic Debates of 1391 in Spain;
b) National Identity, Racialization, and National Messianism;
c) Spain’s Order of Expulsion, 1492 (Primary Source Document); Available on Canvas or by clicking on the LINK provided here below.
READINGS:
Guest-Speaker & Power-Point Presentation – Anti-Semitism and Dr. David Nirenberg’s classic study: Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 1999.
Primary Source Document: Spanish Monarchy’s Order of Expulsion (March 1492) ---- Link
David Nirenberg. Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 1999. [ISBN: 978-0691058894]. Available on the Canvas "Files" tab for this course, or by clicking the Links provided here below.
Introduction to the Book: ------ Link
Chapter One: "The Historical Background" ---- Link
Chapter Seven: "The Two Faces of Sacred Violence" ---- Link
WEEK EIGHT - Tuesday May 14th:
(I) The Spanish Inquisition: 1478-1834.
(II) Medieval Discourses of Toleration, Part II.
a) Dialogues of Mutual Edification;
b) Christian Exclusivity on the Divinity of Christ;
c) Theocentric Visions among Muslim, Jewish, and Christian Writers;
d) Mysticism of the Heart: ---Ibn al-Arabi & Rabbi Abulafia on “Mutual Edification”
READINGS:
Joseph Perez, The Spanish Inquisition: A History (entire text).
Cary Nederman, European Discourses of Toleration, (pp. 1-37); Available on the Canvas "Files" tab for the course or by clicking here on this ---- Link
Selected excerpts from Ibn al-Arabi’s (1165-1240) Meccan Revelations and others of his major theological and philosophical works: --T.B.D.--
Selected excerpts from Abraham Abulafia’s (1240-1291) key works: --T.B.D.--
WEEK NINE - Tuesday May 21st:
Medieval Discourses of Toleration, Part III:
a) Ramon Llull on Religious Diversity and Toleration: The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men (c.1300);
b) Reading/Discussion of Anouar Majid’s We Are All Moors.
READINGS:
Anouar Majid, We Are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades Against Muslims and Other Minorities (entire text).
WEEK TEN - Tuesday May 28th:
Violence & Toleration in Medieval Europe – Closing Reflections/Final Seminar Session:
a) Concluding Discussion of Majid’s We Are All Moors;
b) Continuities and Discontinuities between the Medieval “Past” and the Modern/Post-Modern “Present”
c) Revisiting Fernand Braudel’s dictum: “All Past is Present”
d) Closing Reflections: What Have We Learned?
READINGS: Anouar Majid, We Are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades Against Muslims and Other Minorities (entire text).
| Date | Day | Details | |
| Apr 26, 2019 | Fri | WEEK FIVE - Monday April 22nd to Sat. April 27th, 2019: Class Meets ONLINE This Week Online thru CANVAS | due by 05:59AM |
| Apr 29, 2019 | Mon | WEEK FIVE: Group Discussion/Open Forum on The Meeting of St. Francis & Sultan Malik al-Kamil (ca. 1219) | due by 05:59AM |