Christianity's Dangerous Memory: Early Church to Middle Ages (CH8020P)

Content

This unit explores dangerous and creative memories within the Christian community from the second century until the 1400s, noting that history is always in dialogue with the contemporary world. It helps you understand key people, events, ideas and theological developments. It equips you with skills, approaches and new perspectives to tell nuanced and interesting stories of the past that resonate today. We will ask why some assumptions about the church and people of faith proved widely popular, while other Christian histories have been forgotten, neglected or distorted. We will explore how memories of people and events have been shaped and show how new work drawing on different sources and asking new questions can enrich, enliven and challenge understandings of the past. Within a timeline that covers the Early Church and Middle Ages, we will explore key events and ideas that shape and re-shape the church's memory and identity.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

A foundational unit in Church History designed to provide an overview of key controversies in the history of Christianity and an introduction to historical method.

Pedagogy

guided seminar reading and discussion, lecture input, student research and reflection on primary source material

Indicative Bibliography

• Cassidy-Welch, Megan. Crusades and Violence. Arts Humanities Press, 2023.
• Doerfler, Maria. Church and Empire. Fortress, 2016.
• Glancy, Jennifer. Corporal Knowledge: Early Christian Bodies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Jotischky, Andrew. The Monastic World : A 1,200-Year History. Yale University Press, 2024.
• Lieu, Samuel N. C., & Glen Thompson, eds. The Church of the East in Central Asia and China. Brepols, 2021.
• Lössl, Josef. The Early Church: History and Memory. T&T Clark, 2010.
• Miles, Margaret. Word Made Flesh: A History of Christian Thought. Hoboken: Wiley, 2013.
• Parks, Sara, Shayna Sheinfeld, & Meredith J. C Warren. Jewish and Christian Women in the Ancient Mediterranean. Routledge, 2022.
• Rubin, Miri, ed. Medieval Christianity in Practice. Princeton University Press, 2009.
• Taylor, Joan E., & Ilaria Ramelli, eds. Patterns of Women's Leadership in Early Christianity. Oxford University Press, 2021.

Assessment