WESTERN INTELLECTUAL AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY SINCE 1500

HISTORY/RELIGST 411

European intellectual history in the 17th and 18th centuries, from the Wars of Religion to the French Revolution. Examines the rise of Enlightenment thought in relation to political and religious conflict, revolutions in science and philosophy, and the emergence of the public sphere. Special attention is paid to the Enlightenment's relationship to religion and to contemporary critiques made of Enlightenment thinking, including those of the early Romantic movement.

HISTORY/RELIGST 208

Survey of key themes in Western intellectual history and religious thought from ancient Greece through the Renaissance, focusing on relationships among classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions.

ILS/RELIGST 234

Explores literary forms through which religions originating in western culture convey ideas. Focuses on Jewish, Christian, Muslim and related religious texts.

HISTORY/RELIGST 409

Between the late Middle Ages and the era of democratic revolutions Western Christianity saw a series of sweeping changes that altered its global profile and helped form the modern world - examines some of these shifts and their impact. Questions explored include: Why did the Reformations of the 16th century occur and with what effects on people's lives and on early modern societies? What was the relationship between European colonization, the Atlantic slave trade, new theories of race, and the spread of Christianity to the "New World"? How was the Christian religion resisted, received, and reshaped by Native Americans and people of African descent? What sparked movements of reform and renewal - including new Catholic religious orders and the Protestant Evangelical Awakening - and with what consequences for modern Christianity? How did the nature of Christian belief and identity change under the impact of religious conflict, political revolution, and new intellectual movements?

HISTORY/RELIGST 212

A survey of Christianity from being a small, persecuted sect in the Roman Empire to becoming the dominant religion of western Europe, penetrating into the lives of Europeans, fissuring into multiple churches, and spreading across the globe. Attention is given to doctrine, ritual, worship, architecture, images, and music.