How can we model for students the processes that
we go through in reading?
• Class – Day 1
VISIONS OF THE FUTURE: A HISTORY
• What will we be studying?
• Why have I created the
course in this way?
– Concern with fairness
– Explaining what you are
supposed to do
Explaining what you are supposed to do – An Example
• Historians write in a different manner than biologists or
statisticians
– Therefore, to succeed in a history course you will
need to adopt your reading to the field
Explaining what you are supposed to do – An Example
• Historians write in a different manner than biologists or
statisticians
• Historians are story tellers – we create narratives
– The point in reading a story is not to memorize every
detail, but rather to capture the bigger picture
Explaining what you are supposed to do – An Example
• Historians write in a different manner than biologists or
statisticians
• Historians are story tellers – we create narratives
• Historians make their narratives clear and plausible by
giving examples
– But this does not mean that you have to memorize
every example – In fact that will definitely not work
Explaining what you are supposed to do – An Example
• Historians write in a different manner than biologists or
statisticians
• Historians are story tellers – we create narratives
• Historians make their narratives clear and plausible by
giving examples
• Therefore, you need to:
Therefore, you need to:
1.
2.
3.
Separate the broader story (or thesis) from the details
that support it
Remember the story (or thesis) using the examples to
confirm that you understand the point
Forget most of the details – retaining only a few well
chosen examples to help you remember the story and
to allow you to defend the position if you need to
• “The Jewish apocalyptic genre emerged from the earlier
prophetic tradition, but is distinct from it. The Jewish
prophets of the eighth to the sixth centuries B.C. – Amos,
Joel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the others – functioned
primarily as preachers, focusing on the people’s
transgressions and foretelling the Lord’s renewed favor if
they repented and further woes if they did not. The prophets
were present minded and specific as they addressed a
people beset by enemies and continually straying from the
path of righteousness.
•
The Jewish apocalypticists, by contrast, were learned
stylists consciously creating a literary genre that relied
heavily on symbol and allegory to reveal the divine plan
underlying the flow of events. Taking the entire sweep of
history as their subject, they portrayed in metaphorical
language the future of the Jews, the fate of Israel’s enemies,
and the ultimate destiny of humanity and the universe itself.
The prophets viewed the struggle between good and evil as
an individual and corporate matter; the apocalyticists saw it
in cosmic terms.”
•
“The
Jewish apocalyptic genre emerged from the
earlier prophetic tradition, but is distinct from it. The
Jewish prophets of the eighth to the sixth centuries B.C. – Amos, Joel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the others – functioned primarily as
preachers, focusing on the people’s transgressions and foretelling the Lord’s renewed favor if they repented and further
woes if they did not. The prophets were present minded and specific as they addressed a people
beset by enemies and continually straying from the path of righteousness.
•
The Jewish apocalypticists, by contrast, were learned stylists
consciously creating a literary genre that relied heavily on symbol and
allegory to reveal the divine plan underlying the flow of events. Taking the
entire sweep of history as their subject, they portrayed in metaphorical language
the future of the Jews, the fate of Israel’s enemies, and the ultimate destiny of
humanity and the universe itself. The prophets viewed the struggle between good and evil as
an individual and corporate matter; the
apocalyticists saw it in cosmic terms.
My Pledge to You
• In this course you will never be
faced with the question: “Name
five prophets in the Hebrew
Bible.”
How can we model for students the processes that
we go through in reading?
• Class – Day 1
• On Web – Week 1 – “What Readings are Aavailable to
Help Me?”
• On Web – Week 1 Assignment
How can we model for students the processes that
we go through in reading?
• Class – Day 1
• On Web – Week 1 – “What Readings are Aavailable to
Help Me?”
• On Web – Week 1 Assignment
• Class – Day 2
• Last of all arose the age of hard
iron: immediately, in this period
which took its name from a baser
ore, all manner of crime broke
out; modesty, truth and loyalty
fled. Treachery and wickedness
took their place, deceit and
violence and criminal greed.
Now sailors spread their canvas
to the winds, though they had as
yet but little knowledge of these,
and trees which had once
clothed the high mountains were
fashioned into ships, and tossed
upon the ocean waves, far
removed from their own element.
The land, which had previously
been common to all, like the
sunlight and the breezes, was
now divided up far and wide by
boundaries, set by cautious
surveyors.
– Ovid, Metamorphoses (c.8 CE)
• And I saw an angel come down from
heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in
his hand. And he laid hold on the
dragon, that old serpent, which is
the Devil, and Satan, and bound him
a thousand years, and cast him into
the bottomless pit, and shut him up,
and set a seal upon him, that he
should deceive the nations no more,
till the thousand years should be
fulfilled: and after that he must be
loosed a little season. And I saw
thrones, and they sat upon them,
and judgment was given unto them:
and I saw the souls of them that
were beheaded for the witness of
Jesus, and for the word of God, and
which had not worshipped the beast,
neither his image, neither had
received his mark upon their
foreheads, or in their hands; and
they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years.
– Book of Revelation (Late 1st
Century)
• As this same End of the World
is drawing nigh, many unusual
things will happen – climatic
changes, terrors from heaven,
unseasonable tempests, wars,
famines, pestilence,
earthquakes. All these things
are not to come in our own
days, but they will all follow
upon our times. If you are
aware of some of them
happening in your land, do not
be disturbed, for these signs of
the End of the world are sent
ahead so that we may have a
concern for our souls. Awaiting
the hour of death, by our good
actions may we be found ready
for the Judge Who is to come.
– Pope Gregory to Ethelbert, King of
the Angels (June 601)
• Thus Man has taken into his
service, and modified to his
use, the animals, the plants,
the earths and the stones, the
waters and the winds, and the
more complex forces of heat,
electricity, sunlight, magnetism,
with chemical powers of many
kinds. By means of his
inventions and discoveries, by
means of the arts and trades,
and by means of the industry
resulting from them, he has
raised himself from the
condition of a serf to the
condition of a lord.
– Winwood Reade, The
Martyrdom of Man (1872)
Reading Primary and Secondary Sources in History
•
Decide whether you are dealing
with a primary or a secondary text
•
“As Christianity triumphed, its millennialist strand faded.
Once an embattled faith sustained by apocalyptic hope,
Christianity by the third century enjoyed an increasingly
secure position in the Roman world, a shift formalized by
Constantine, who after coming to power in 312 not only
tolerated but favored the new faith. He made Sunday a
public holiday; granted privileges to the Christian clergy;
and endowed various church institutions, including the
Jerusalem holy places. He also arbitrated theological
disputes and in 325 presided at the Council of Nicaea
that codified the Church’s fundamental creed.”
– Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More, Prophecy Belief in
Modern American Culture, (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Press, 1992), p.48.
•
“As Christianity triumphed, its millennialist strand
faded. Once an embattled faith sustained by apocalyptic
hope, Christianity by the third century enjoyed an
increasingly secure position in the Roman world, a shift
formalized by Constantine, who after coming to power in
312 not only tolerated but favored the new faith. He
made Sunday a public holiday; granted privileges to the
Christian clergy; and endowed various church
institutions, including the Jerusalem holy places. He
also arbitrated theological disputes and in 325 presided
at the Council of Nicaea that codified the Church’s
fundamental creed.”
– Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More, Prophecy Belief in
Modern American Culture, (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Press, 1992), p.48.
On the two previous pages Boyer writes:
• “In Irenaeus’ own prophetic timetable, patterned on the
six days of creation and the day of rest, history extends
for six thousand years, ending with Christ’s return and
the millennium, ‘the hallowed seventh day,’ which he
described in lush, physically sensuous terms. . .
• “But millenialism met opposition as well … Origen
attacked millenialists for misreading apocalyptic texts
whose meaning ‘they do not perceive is to be taken
figuratively.”
Reading Secondary Sources in History Courses
• Decide whether you are dealing with a primary or a
secondary text
• Decide what is and is not relevant to remember for this
course
What Should Be Remembered Here?
“As Christianity triumphed, its millennialist
strand faded. Once an embattled faith
sustained by apocalyptic hope, Christianity
by the third century enjoyed an increasingly
secure position in the Roman world, a shift
formalized by Constantine, who after
coming to power in 312 not only tolerated
but favored the new faith. He made Sunday
a public holiday; granted privileges to the
Christian clergy; and endowed various
church institutions, including the Jerusalem
holy places. He also arbitrated theological
disputes and in 325 presided at the Council
of Nicaea that codified the Church’s
fundamental creed.”
Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More,
p. 48.
“As
Christianity triumphed, its
millennialist strand faded. Once an
embattled faith sustained by apocalyptic hope, Christianity
by the third century enjoyed an increasingly secure
position in the Roman world, a shift formalized by
Constantine, who after coming to power in 312 not only tolerated but
favored the new faith. He made Sunday a public holiday; granted privileges to
the Christian clergy; and endowed various church institutions, including the
Jerusalem holy places. He also arbitrated theological disputes and in 325
presided at the Council of Nicaea that codified the Church’s fundamental creed.”
What is the Big Idea You Should Come Away From
This Passage With?
• “As Christianity triumphed, its millennialist strand faded.
Once an embattled faith sustained by apocalyptic hope,
Christianity by the third century enjoyed an increasingly
secure position in the Roman world, a shift formalized by
Constantine, who after coming to power in 312 not only
tolerated but favored the new faith. He made Sunday a
public holiday; granted privileges to the Christian clergy;
and endowed various church institutions, including the
Jerusalem holy places. He also arbitrated theological
disputes and in 325 presided at the Council of Nicaea
that codified the Church’s fundamental creed.”
How is the Task of Reading This Passage Different from
Reading the Secondary Work by Boyer?
• “In the beginning was the Golden Age, when men of their own
accord without threat of punishment, without laws, maintained good
faith and did what was right. There were no penalties to be afraid of,
no bronze tablets were erected, carrying threats of legal action, no
crowds of wrong-doers, anxious for mercy, trembled before the fact
of their judge; indeed there were no judges, men lived securely
without them.”
– Ovid Metamorphoses
Reading Primary Sources
• Remember – The point is not to decide whether the
author is right
• You need to view the passage as a window into the ways
of thinking of the era you are studying
• It is important to ask yourself questions about the text
you are reading
Questions I Might Ask
• What do I know about the author, the work, and the period in which
it was produced that might help me understand the significance of
the passage?
– “In the beginning was the Golden Age, when men of their own accord
without threat of punishment, without laws, maintained good faith and
did what was right. There were no penalties to be afraid of, no
bronze tablets were erected, carrying threats of legal action, no
crowds of wrong-doers, anxious for mercy, trembled before the fact of
their judge; indeed there were no judges, men lived securely without
them.”
– Ovid Metamorphoses
Material on the Course Web Site
•
Publius Ovidius Naso was born in Italy in 43 BC, just a
year after the assassination of Julius Caesar. He
became one of the greatest poets in Roman history, but
the scandal of his early works, such as The Art of Love,
and some unknown indiscretion led Emperor Augustus to
eventually exile him to the Black Sea, where he lived
until his death in 17 AD. The Metamorphoses, Ovid's
most memorable work, seems to have been written
around the time of his exile in 8 AD. It was a reworking
of the myths and much of the philosophy of the ancient
world into a marvelous collection of interlocking
stories. Early in this work he repeated the common
belief of his culture that the world had gone through a
series of ever worsening ages. His presentation of these
ages has captured the imagination of writers and artists
for centuries, and the illustrations of an early printed
editions of the Metamorphoses accompany this and
other pages of this week's web site.
Questions I Might Ask
• What do I know about the author, the work, and the
period?
• What is Ovid’s Golden Age Like?
• “Never yet had any pine tree, cut down from its
home on the mountains, been launched on
ocean’s waves, to visit foreign lands . . . Their
cities were not yet surrounded by sheer moats …
The peoples of the world, untroubled by any fears,
enjoyed a leisurely and peaceful existence, and
had no use for soldiers.”
Questions I Might Ask
• What do I know about the author, the work, and the
period?
• What is Ovid’s Golden Age Like?
• How does it differ from the other Ages he describes?
How had things changed by the Iron Age?
• “Last of all arose the age of hard iron . . . All manner of
crime broke out; modesty, truth, and loyalty fled.
Treachery and wickedness took their place, deceit and
violence and criminal greed. Now sailors spread their
canvas to the winds . . . And trees which had once
clothed the high mountains were fashioned into ships . . .
The land, which had previously been common to all …
was now divided up … By this time iron had been
discovered, to the hurt of mankind and gold, more hurtful
still than iron. War made its appearance, using both
these metals in its conflict. … All proper affection lay
vanquished and, last of the immortals, the maiden
Justice left the blood-soaked earth.”
Questions I Might Ask
• What do I know about the author, the work, and the
period?
• What is Ovid’s Golden Age Like?
• How does it differ from the other Ages he describes?
• What is the basic idea of time and human history that is
being expressed through this myth?
• How does Ovid’s conception differ from the Christian
notion of history?
How does Ovid’s conception differ from the Christian notion
of history?
• “In the beginning was the Golden Age, when men of their
own accord without threat of punishment, without laws,
maintained good faith and did what was right. There
were no penalties to be afraid of, no bronze tablets were
errected, carrying threats of legal action, no crowd of
wrong-doers, anxious for mercy, trembled before the
face of their judge.
Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man (1872)
• When Man first wandered in the dark forest, he was Nature's
serf; he offered tribute and prayer to the winds, and the
lightning, and the rain, to the cave-lion, which seized his
burrow for its lair, to the mammoth, which devoured his
scanty crops. But as time passed on, he ventured, to rebel;
he made stone his servant; he discovered fire and vegetable
poison; he domesticated iron; he slew the wild beasts or
subdued them; he made them feed him and give him
clothes. He became a chief surrounded by his slaves; the
fire lay beside him with dull red eye and yellow tongue
waiting his instructions to prepare his dinner, or to make him
poison, or to go with him to the war, and fly on the houses of
the enemy, hissing, roaring, and consuming all. The trees of
the forest were his flock, he slaughtered them at his
convenience; the earth brought forth at his command.
Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man (1872)
• Thus Man has taken into his service, and modified to his
use, the animals, the plants, the earths and the stones,
the waters and the winds, and the more complex forces
of heat, electricity, sunlight, magnetism, with chemical
powers of many kinds. By means of his inventions and
discoveries, by means of the arts and trades, and by
means of the industry resulting from them, he has raised
himself from the condition of a serf to the condition of a
lord.
The Christian Notions of Time and History
Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse
How can we model for students the processes that
we go through in reading?
• Class – Day 1
• On Web – Week 1 – “What Readings are Aavailable to
Help Me?”
• On Web – Week 1 Assignment
• Class – Day 2
• Class – Day 3 – Team Exercise
“In this sermon [1521] [Thomas Münster]
outlined. . . his view that they were all living in the
last days and what was about to happen. It is an
exposition of Daniel 2, the story of
Nebuchadnezzer’s vision of the great image
which was destroyed by a stone. The book of
Daniel . . . provided Christian interpreters with . . .
the scheme of the five kingdoms or monarchies.
Four had gone: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and
Rome. The fifth he identified as the
contemporary obscene mixture of sacred and
secular power in the coalition of the Holy Roman
Empire and Holy Catholic Church. The ending of
this fifth monarch, he proclaimed, was in full
swing.
•
Münster saw himself as a new Daniel . . .
•
Müntzer was totally convinced that God was
about to end things.. . . . He detected the
beginnings of God’s final judgment in the
Peasant uprising of 1524-5 and saw in the rebels
God’s elect who were gathering to carry out
God’s apocalyptic judgment on all unbelievers..”
• Walter Klaassen, Living at the End of the
Ages: (1992)
•
Each team should:
• Indicate whether this
is a primary or a
secondary source.
• Write a statement
about the role of the
Apocalypse in
Western culture.
• Briefly explain how
this material would
serve to support that
point.
All members of the team
present today should
sign page and put it in
the team folder.
How can we model for students the processes that
we go through in reading?
• Class – Day 1
• On Web – Week 1 – “What Readings are Aavailable to
Help Me?”
• On Web – Week 1 Assignment
• Class – Day 2
• Class – Day 3 – Team Exercise
• Class – Day 3
Reading Secondary Sources
• Sometimes a historian is presenting the point of view of an individual
or individuals in a different historical period.
• Sometimes a historian is presenting the view of another historian,
with which he/she may or may agree.
• Sometimes a historian is presenting his/her own interpretation of a
historical period.
• Sometimes a historian is presenting his/her own values or world
view.
How can we model for students the processes that
we go through in reading?
• Class – Day 1
• On Web – Week 1 – “What Readings are Aavailable to
Help Me?”
• On Web – Week 1 Assignment
• Class – Day 2
• Class – Day 3 – Team Exercise
• Class – Day 3
• On Web – Week 2 Assignment
How can we model for students the processes that
we go through in reading?
• Class – Day 1
• On Web – Week 1 – “What Readings are Aavailable to
Help Me?”
• On Web – Week 1 Assignment
• Class – Day 2
• Class – Day 3 – Team Exercise
• Class – Day 3
• On Web – Week 2 Assignment
• Class – Day 4 – Processing Question on Assignment
• What is the Basic Thesis in This Paragaph?
– While Catholic doctrine increasingly moved away
from end-time speculation, apocalyptic thinking
survived. In his 1970 work. The Pursuit of the
Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical
Anarchists of the Middle Ages, Norman Cohn focused
on the proliferation of millenialism in “the obscure
underworld of popular religion” among “the
underprivileged, the oppressed, the disoriented, and
the unbalanced.” Cohn’s medieval Europe, far
removed from the society Henry Adams imagined as
united in veneration of the Virgin in vast cathedrals
such as Chartres, is a veritable cauldron of hermit
messiahs, wandering visionaries, self-taught
prophecy interpreters, and doomed social
revolutionaries inflamed by apocalyptic expectations.
For Cohn, the fearful speculation aroused by the
approach of the year 1000 was only one incident in a
succession of turbulent mass movements that
germinated in a rich loam of popular millennialism.
• What is the Basic Thesis in This Paragaph?
– In reality, as Bernard McGinn and other scholars have
made clear in recent years, apocalyptic speculation
flourished at all levels of medieval society.
Eschatological hope formed part of the ground of
Christian belief, and thus of the medieval mentality.
Monastic scholars and the most erudite theologians
contributed to, and often cited, the vast body of verse
prophecies known collectively as the Sibylline
oracles, Modeled on Greek, Roman, and Hellenistic
Jewish writings, these literary works wove images
from Daniel and Revelation into imaginative
narratives that were revised periodically as historical
circumstances changed. In the later Middle Ages,
guilds supported by the urban elites produced openair dramas or miracle plays (the Oberammergau
Passion Play is a surviving example) in which the
Last Judgment and other end-time events figured
prominently.
Which of these statements most clearly presents the issues discussed
in this paragraph?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Boyer wants to explain the origins of the apocalyptic thought and
how this began to play a part in everyday Christian learning, and
also how this belief withstood the hands of time.
During the Middle Ages, apocalyptic ideas were thought by all of
society and were rooted from many different religious texts and
beliefs.
The basic idea of the passage is that every culture had its own
views of the apocalypse.
In the Middle Ages, Catholic doctrine focused much less on the
apocalypse, but it was still a major presence in the lives and
thoughts of people regardless of class.
Round the time of the first millennium both scholars and lay
people alike became increasingly fixated on the idea of an
upcoming apocalyptic end.
• Which thesis does Boyer believe is more convincing?
• What tells you that this is his position?
– In reality, as Bernard McGinn and other scholars have
made clear in recent years, apocalyptic speculation
flourished at all levels of medieval society.
• Which thesis does Boyer believe is more convincing?
• What tells you that this is his position?
– In reality, as Bernard McGinn and other scholars
have made clear in recent years, apocalyptic
speculation flourished at all levels of medieval society.
• Why does Boyer believe that this evidence makes
McGinn’s position more convincing than Cohn?
– Eschatological hope formed part of the ground of
Christian belief, and thus of the medieval mentality.
Monastic scholars and the most erudite theologians
contributed to, and often cited, the vast body of verse
prophecies known collectively as the Sibylline
oracles, Modeled on Greek, Roman, and Hellenistic
Jewish writings, these literary works wove images
from Daniel and Revelation into imaginative
narratives that were revised periodically as historical
circumstances changed. In the later Middle Ages,
guilds supported by the urban elites produced openair dramas or miracle plays (the Oberammergau
Passion Play is a surviving example) in which the
Last Judgment and other end-time events figured
prominently.
• Why does Boyer believe that this evidence makes
McGinn’s position more convincing than Cohn?
– Hildegaard of Bingen, a brilliant twelfth-century
German abbess, religious writer, and composer,
recorded her visions of Antichrist and end-time events
in works that enjoyed a wide influence. Issues of
prophetic interpretation sparked immense debate at
Oxford and the University of Paris in the late
thirteenth century. As Marjorie Reeves observes in
her study of prophecy in the later Middle Ages, not
only society’s marginal members but ‘somber
historians and politicians’ took very seriously
speculation about the last days rooted in biblical
apocalyptic.