Zach Flanagin
dflanagi@stmarys-ca.edu
Core Curriculum Designation Proposal
Theological Understanding: Theological Explorations
TRS 102, “Medieval Christianity”
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Name of Proposer: Zach Flanagin
Email address: dflanagi@stmarys-ca.edu
Department/Program of Proposer: Theology & Religious Studies
Name of Department/Program housing the course: Theology & Religious Studies
Name(s) of Program Director/Department Chair (if not the proposer): Michael Barram
Course Acronym, Number and Title: TRS 102, “Medieval Christianity”
Semester(s) in which course will be offered: spring
How often is this course taught? every two years
Course Prerequisites (if any): TRS 097, “The Bible & Its Interpretation”
Unit Value of Course: 1.0
Proper Audience for the course (delete those that don’t apply):
Sophomores
Juniors
Seniors
12. The Learning Goals for which the course is being submitted: Theological Understanding: Theological
Explorations
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Teaching: A brief narrative that explains how the course will guide students to achieve the learning
outcomes
In TRS 102, I teach outcome #1a (i.e., understanding of a religious tradition) through the following
specific course outcomes:
1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history and theology of medieval monasticism;
2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history and theology of the medieval papacy;
3. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the complex interplay between religious ideals and the
social/political realities of human life in the Middle Ages;
In this context, students will be required to spend significant amounts of time reading both primary
sources and secondary historical texts, which will be the focus of lectures and discussions in the
class. (For specifics topics and readings, see the syllabus below.)
In TRS 102, I teach outcome #1b (i.e., focused study in a subfield of theology) through the following
specific course outcome:
4. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the principles and methods of the study of
church history;
In this context, students will begin the semester with a reading by the church historian David
Steinmetz entitled “The Necessity of the Past,” which discusses the purpose and methods of church
history. After practicing these methods in our analysis of primary texts in class over the course of
the semester, students will return to the article and write a response to it, in light of the semester’s
work. There is also a class early in the semester that deals specifically with the problems of
hagiography as historical source material.
In TRS 102, I teach outcome #2 through the following specific course outcomes:
5. Students will demonstrate an ability to explore multiple perspectives in a theological debate
through written papers and in-class debate;
6. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the complexity of religious issues through close
analysis and articulation of specific theological arguments.
In this context, I will lead students through a close analysis of a variety of opposing arguments found
in primary texts, and the students will then practice these skills in a paper and an in-class debate.
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Learning: A brief explanation of how coursework (e.g., papers, exams, videotaped presentations) will be
used to measure student learning of the outcomes
My course outcomes #1-3 (= core outcome #1a) will be assessed by a mid-term and final exam,
containing both short answer and essay questions. Course outcomes #2-3 will also be assessed by a
significant paper and an in-class debate, both of which focus on church/state conflicts in the later
Middle Ages. Course outcome #4 (= core outcome #1b) will be assessed by a self-reflection paper on the
Steinmetz essay (mentioned above). Course outcomes #5-6 (= core outcome #2) will be assessed by the
same significant paper and an in-class debate on church/state conflicts mentioned above.
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Syllabus
TRS 102: Medieval Christianity
Course Description: When Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers looked back on the years from 400
to 1400 A.D., they scorned them as a time of ignorance, violence, and credulity that could not compare
to the culture and accomplishments of the Classical World (i.e., Greece and Rome) and the new
European Humanism. Thus, in disdain they dismissed these entire 1000 years as the “Middle” Ages. In
some ways, their stereotypes of medieval Europe were valid. However, modern scholars have also
come to view the Middle Ages as the seed-bed for many of the most important ideas and institutions of
our world. This was the age of the dawn of the university, the first struggles between church and state,
and, ominously, religious violence on an almost unprecedented scale. And at the center of medieval life
was the Christian Church, whose monks, popes, theologians, and reformers would set the course of
history for centuries to come. In this course we shall focus on Christian religion in the Middle Ages, in all
of its variety, attempting to understand its most important ideas, institutions, and common practices.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history and theology of medieval monasticism;
 To be assessed by an exam
2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history and theology of the medieval papacy;
 To be assessed by an exam, a paper, and an in-class debate
3. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the complex interplay between religious ideals and the
social/political realities of human life in the Middle Ages;
 To be assessed by an exam, a paper, and an in-class debate
4. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the principles and methods of the study of
church history;
 To be assessed by a self-reflection essay
5. Students will demonstrate an ability to explore multiple perspectives in a theological debate
through written papers and in-class debate;
 To be assessed by a paper and an in-class debate
6. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the complexity of religious issues through close
analysis and articulation of specific theological arguments.
 To be assessed by a paper and an in-class debate
Course Schedule:
1. Introduction & Syllabus
a. Readings: *David Steinmetz, “The Necessity of the Past,” Theology Today 33 (July 1976):
168-77
2. Early Monasticism: Antony & the Desert Hermits
a. Readings:
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i. Bible passages – Matthew 19:16-30 (poverty and 2-tiered Christianity); 1
Corinthians 7:1-9, 25-38 (chastity – cf. Matthew 19:10-12); Mark 1:35 (desert
prayer)
ii. Athanasius, Life of St. Antony, in Mary-Ann Stouck, ed., Medieval Saints: A
Reader, pp. 55-82
iii. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Life of Symeon Stylites, in Stouck, pp. 115-26
Early Monasticism, continued
a. Readings:
i. *David W. Kling, The Bible in History: How the Texts Have Shaped the Times
(Oxford, 2004), pp. 13-43 [This reading can be found on Ebrary at
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/stmarysca/docDetail.action?docID=10103560&p00=k
ling%20bible.]
ii. C. H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism, pp. 1-17
iii. *John Cassian, Conferences, trans. Boniface Ramsey (New York, 1997), 14th
Conference, pp. 499-532
The Life of Benedict and Hagiography as History?
a. Readings:
i. *Aviad Kleinberg, Prophets in Their Own Country: Living Saints and the Making
of Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages (Chicago, 1992), pp. 40-70
ii. Re-read the first paragraph of the life of Symeon Stylites, in Stouck, p. 115
iii. Gregory the Great, Dialogues, in Stouck, pp. 167-203
iv. Lawrence, pp. 18-21
Benedict’s Rule & Monastic Community
a. Readings:
i. Bible – Acts 2:43-47, 4:32-35
ii. Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict in English, trans. Timothy Fry (Collegeville,
MN, 1981), pp. 15-96
iii. Lawrence, pp. 21-36
Monastic Missions & the Conversion of Europe
a. Readings:
i. Sulpicius Severus, Life of St. Martin of Tours, in Stouck, pp. 136-59
ii. Lawrence, pp. 39-53 (optional, pp. 54-65)
iii. *J. N. Hillgarth, ed., Christianity and Paganism, 350-750, rev. ed. (Philadelphia,
1986), pp. 168-75
The Practice of Monastic Life
a. Readings:
i. Lawrence, pp. 66-82, 107-29 (optional, pp. 129-45)
ii. *Penelope D. Johnson, Equal in Monastic Profession, Women in Culture and
Society (Chicago, 1991), pp. 1-5, 13-34
iii. R. W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages, pp. 214-40
Bernard of Clairvaux and Monastic Spirituality
a. Readings:
i. *Bernard of Clairvaux, “On Loving God,” in Selected Works, trans. G. R. Evans,
The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York, 1987), pp. 173-205
ii. Lawrence, pp. 172-83 (optional, 183-206)
iii. Southern, pp. 240-72
Bernard of Clairvaux and Monastic Spirituality, continued
a. Readings:
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i. Bible – Song of Songs (in the Old Testament after Ecclesiastes)
ii. *Bernard of Clairvaux, “Sermons on the Song of Songs,” in Selected Works,
trans. G. R. Evans, pp. 209-26, 231-41
iii. *Kling, The Bible in History, pp. 83-117 [This reading can be found on Ebrary at
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/stmarysca/docDetail.action?docID=10103560&p00=k
ling%20bible.]
10. Francis and the Apostolic Life
a. Readings:
i. Bible – Matt 10:1-15; Luke 10:1-12
ii. Stouck, pp. 470-507
iii. *Julius Kirshner and Karl F. Morrison, ed., Medieval Europe, University of
Chicago Readings in Western Civilization 4 (Chicago, 1986), pp. 281-89
iv. Lawrence, pp. 238-61, 268-70 (optional, pp. 261-68, 270-78)
v. Southern, pp. 272-99
11. The Beguines
a. Readings:
i. *Mechthild of Magdeburg, “The Flowering Light of the Godhead,” in Emilie Zum
Brunn and Georgette Epiney-Burgard, Women Mystics in Medieval Europe,
trans. Sheila Hughes (New York, 1989), pp. 54-68
ii. *Hadewijch, “Oneness in the Eucharist,” in The Complete Works, trans. Mother
Columba Hart (Ramsay, NJ, 1980), pp. 280-82
iii. *Caroline Walker Bynum, “Religious Women in the Later Middle Ages,” Christian
Spirituality: High Middle Ages and Reformation, ed. Jill Raitt (New York, 1997),
pp. 121-39
iv. Southern, pp. 300-31
v. Lawrence, pp. 217-37
12. Female Mystics
a. Readings:
i. *Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, trans. Clifton Wolters (London,
1966), pp. 63-76, 137-57
Mid-Term Exam: Review Session TBA.
13. Authority in the Early Church
a. Readings:
i. *Kling, The Bible in History, pp. 45-82 [This reading can be found on Ebrary at
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/stmarysca/docDetail.action?docID=10103560&p00=k
ling%20bible.]
ii. *Selections from Ignatius, Clement, and Irenaeus, in Bart D. Ehrman, After the
New Testament: A Reader in Early Christianity (New York, 1999), pp. 325-28,
320-23, 209-10
14. The Papacy through the Time of Leo the Great
a. Readings:
i. *Eamon Duffy, Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes, 3rd ed. (New Haven,
2006), pp. 1-47 [The History Channel made a documentary based on this book.
In lieu of reading this chapter, you can watch volume 1 of the video, on reserve
in the library.]
ii. *Cyprian, “On the Unity of the Catholic Church,” in Ehrman, pp. 340-42
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iii. *Brian Tierney, The Middle Ages Volume I: Sources of Medieval History, 5th ed.
(New York, 1992), pp. 61-64
The Early Medieval Papacy: Gregory, Charlemagne, and the Dark Ages
a. Readings:
i. *Duffy, Saints & Sinners, pp. 48-109 [In lieu of reading this chapter, you can
watch volume 2 of the History Channel video, on reserve in the library.]
ii. Southern, pp. 15-33, 91-100
iii. Brian Tierney, The Crisis of Church and State 1050-1300 (Toronto, 1988), pp. 123 (focusing on pp. 16-23)
iv. *Stephen Lahey, The Cadaver Synod,
http://www.unl.edu/classics/faculty/lahey/cadaversynod/cadaversynodp1.shtml [Link available on website; reading all pages requires clicking “next
page” several times.]
The Gregorian Reformation – The Beginnings
a. Readings:
i. *Duffy, Saints & Sinners, pp. 110-76 [In lieu of reading this chapter, you can
watch volume 3 of the History Channel video, on reserve in the library.]
ii. Tierney, Crisis, pp. 24-36, 45-73
The Gregorian Reformation – The Theory
a. Readings:
i. Tierney, Crisis, pp. 74-95
ii. Re-read Tierney, Crisis, pp. 30-31, 49-50, 59-62, 66-73
Innocent III
a. Readings:
i. Tierney, Crisis, pp. 97-101, 110-11, 127-38
ii. *Pseudo-Dionysius, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, in Selected Works, trans. Colm
Luibheid, The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York, 1987), pp. 195-200,
233-39
iii. *Intro to Pseudo-Dionysius, sections 1 and 2,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-dionysius-areopagite/#1 [Link
available on website]
The Papal Machine
a. Readings:
i. Southern, pp. 34-44, 100-33, 170-213 (esp. 188-213)
ii. Tierney, Crisis, 139-49
iii. *Becket [This is a film on reserve in the library. I will schedule a showing for the
class prior to this date. If you cannot make the showing, you can watch the film
in the library on your own.]
Boniface VIII
a. Readings:
i. Tierney, Crisis, pp. 172-92
ii. Southern, pp. 44-52, 133-69
The Secular State vs. Papal Hierarchy, part 1
a. Readings: Tierney, Crisis, pp. 159-71, 193-210
The Secular State vs. Papal Hierarchy, part 2
a. Readings:
i. Giles of Rome, On Ecclesiastical Power, trans. R. W. Dyson (Woodbridge, Suffolk,
1986), pp. 8-13, 24-27
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ii. John of Paris, On Royal and Papal Power, trans. Arthur P. Monahan (New York,
1974), pp. 47-48, 50-52, 70-76, 78-79, 86, 94-95, 97-98
DEBATE / PAPER: Royalists vs. Papalists in the Crisis of Church and State – The class will be split into
representatives of the royalist and papalist positions in the struggle over control of Christian society
(both Church and State) in the Middle Ages (focused on the period between 1050 and 1300). Your job in
the oral debate is to take up the position of your side and to defend its views of ultimate power. This
will involve not only the ability to clearly and accurately articulate and defend each side’s understanding
of royal and papal power, particularly how it is believed to be derived from God (or another source), but
you will also need to be able to support your position with as many arguments as you can muster, drawn
from the Bible, theological authorities, historical precedents, logic, philosophy, etc. A decent debater
can defend his position. A great debater also knows the objections that his opponent will make and
answers them before they can be brought up. All students are expected to (1) participate in the debate
in class and (2) write up a 5-6 page debate paper, either in dialogue form or as a compare/contrast
paper. (This paper is not group work). Unlike the oral portion of the debate, the paper should not be
written from only one side, but should fairly and accurately represent how each side (royalist and
papalist) would represent its position within the context of the medieval writings that we have discussed
so far.
23. Medieval Scholasticism: Anselm of Canterbury on Theology and God
a. Readings: *Anselm of Canterbury, selections from Proslogion, trans. David Burr, at
http://www.history.vt.edu/Burr/AA.html [Link available on website]
24. Medieval Scholasticism: Thomas Aquinas on Theology and God
a. Readings:
i. *Brian Tierney and Sidney Painter, Western Europe in the Middle Ages, 3001475, 3rd edition (New York, 1978), pp. 379-99 [E-reserve; link available on
website]
ii. *Thomas Aquinas, selections from Summa Theologica, trans. David Burr, at
http://www.history.vt.edu/Burr/Aquinas1.html [Link available on website]
Due May 13: On the first day of class you read a short article about the importance of studying history,
written by David Steinmetz. Now that you have studied the history of early Christianity for nearly a
semester, I would like you to re-read the article. Please write up a two-page response paper to the
Steinmetz essay in light of what you have learned / discovered this semester. There will be a link on the
website for you to upload this final assignment.
Final Exam: According to College Schedule. Review Session TBA.