No other concept in the whole field of medieval history is more ambiguous, yet more potent, than conversion. The word conjures a picture of dramatic transformation, something like St. Paul's blinding vision on the road to Damascus. Textbooks of medieval history use the "Christianization of the barbarians," conveniently illustrated by Clovis' conversion, to mark the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. St. Augustine, however, viewed conversion as a turning to God, not to Christianity or to the Church. Actual conversion did not mean accepting Christianity, submitting to Church authority, or changing from one way of life to another. Conversion was a matter of divine intervention, not of human rationalization. By 1100 A.D., however, the situation changed radically. Herman-Judas' Account of His Own Conversion uses conversion to refer not just to his shift "from Judaism to the grace of Christ," but also to his entrance into the monastic life, thus equating monasticism and conversion. At that time, Christian missionaries and conquerors were engaged in a vast program of evangelization in the lands east of the Elbe river, the most enduring bastion of European paganism. At the opposite corner of Europe, twelfth-century Anglo-Norman incursions into Ireland were justified by depicting the Irish, in the words of St. Bernard, as "Christians only in name, pagans in fact." Although the Irish were of ancient Christian faith and shared the creed of Frankish Europe, their social order, like that of Prussians, Estonians, and Lithuanians, was deviant from the continental western European model. As a consequence, conversion, in this case, was more a matter of cultural change than one of empathy. Similarly, in the modern world conversion is not just a religious experience, but a mode of action and of representation, as the politicization of religious identity continues to be a defining characteristic of the early twenty-first century world. How did the concept of conversion change from the fifth to the twelfth century? Was conversion in the early medieval past as embedded in socio-political relations as it is today? This course will focus upon the history of medieval conversion(s) and more specifically, of the accompanying cultural and political changes during the early Middle Ages. Through reading and discussion of such concepts as conversion, martyrdom, sainthood, gender, and power, we will come to some understanding of the religious experience of the Middle Ages, as a form of social and political mobilization.
As this is a graduate level course, I assume that everyone enrolled has a basic familiarity with the resources available in the library and is willing to use foreign language sources when appropriate. I also assume that everyone knows the mechanics of researching and writing a scholarly paper. By this, I mean the proper use and acknowledgment of sources as well as the fundamentals of compositions, (English) grammar, and spelling.
The format of this course will be reading- and discussion-oriented. In lieu of written examinations, I will require a brief (3-5 page) essay on the readings each week, due in class on the day that they are to be discussed. You are also to complete a substantial research paper on a relevant topic. After we finish with the core set of required readings, I will expect you to locate and read sources on your own, then come to class prepared to discuss them. I have found this to be the most effective way to learn about a topic which is best examined through case studies.
Requirements for the course include attendance at class
meetings,
participation in class discussion, and the timely completion of all
assignments.
Locate and read one book on the archaeology of medieval religion.
Locate and read two articles (or one in a foreign language) on medieval missions.
Locate and read two articles (or one article in a foreign language) on medieval conversion to a non-Christian religion. You may wish to consult Kuzari's references to the Khazar conversion to Judaism.