Peter
Brown,
Through the Eye of a Needle:
Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in
the West, 350-550 AD (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 2012)
Kim Bowes,
Private Worship, Public Values, and Religious
Change inn Late Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2008)
Eusebius, The History of the Church,
tr. G.A. Williamson and A. Louth (Penguin, rev. ed.,
1990)
Recommended
for purchase if you can find inexpensive copies, but not
required:
Peter Brown, The
World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750 (Norton,
1989)
[Highly recommended for
purchase if you do not already have a copy.]
Peter Brown, The
Rise of Western Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, 200-1000
AD. 2nd edition,
(Blackwell, 2003)
[Despite the title,
Brown deals quite a bit with eastern Christendom as well.
Again, this is a book you should certainly purchase!]
Ramsey MacMullen,
Christianizing the Roman
Empire, AD 100-400 (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1986) [available as an e-book at Smathers]
A.D. Nock,
Conversion. The Old and the New in Religion from
Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Baltimore and
London, 1933; 1998)
Martin Goodman,
Mission
and Conversion. Proselytism in the Religious History of
the Roman Empire (Oxford University Press, 1996)
Ian Wood, The Missionary Life.
Saints and the Evangelisation of Europe 400-1050 (Longman, 2001)
[Not normally available
in the U.S.;
at the moment, however, there are a number of good used
inexpensive copies available on Amazon. Get it if you
can!]
Many essays, articles, and book chapters, books, and
dissertations will be available on reserve or electronic
reserve (ER) at the library or through Sakai.
SCHEDULE
[in process - readings tentative]
1/8 - Intro. to the Course
Introductions & Course Overview
Gibbon, Harnack, Nock
Recommended Reading:
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, Vol. 1, chap. 15
Nock, Conversion, Chapters
1 and 5-14 [chapter 1 is posted here]
Karl F. Morrison, chapter 1: "Posing the
Question: Perspectives from a Historian's Desk," Understanding Conversion (Charlottesville:
Univeristy of Virginia Press, 1992), 1-26; keep reading if
you have time. To get a quick take on Morrison's whole book,
here is a review.
For those interested, I will also put up Thomas
Head's review of Morrison's two related books on
conversion.
Start Brown, Eye of a Needle [long book; full
discussion on 2/5]
1/15 - Explaining
Early Christian Expansion(c.100-c.300)
A few arguments, approaches, & assessments:
MacMullen,
Christianizing the Roman
Empire, 1-42
Harris volume, 1-41, & 53-68 (Drake, Rives, & Kyrtatas
articles)
Cameron,
Christianity and the
Rhetoric of Empire. The Development of Christian Discourse,
chapter 1 [webct]
Martin Goodman, Chapters 1-5 in
Mission and
Conversion. Proselytism in the Religious History of the
Roman Empire, 1-108. [webct]
Béatrice Caseau, "Sacred Landscapes," pp.21-59 in G.W.
Bowersock, P.R.L. Brown, and O. Grabar, eds.,
Late
Antiquity. A Guide to the Postclassical World
Conversion of Elites & Non-Elites:
Justin Martyr,
Dialogue
with Trypho, chapters 1-8 (skim the rest)
Justin Martyr,
Second Apology (focus
on chapters 12-15)
Cyprian,
Ad Donatum, especially
3-5
Pontius the Deacon,
Vita Cypriani
Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus
[excerpt - webct]
Alan Kreider, "The Conversions of Justin and Cyprian," 1-9 in
The Change of Conversion and
the Origin of Christendom [webct]
Rebecca Lyman, “The Politics of Passing: Justin Martyr’s
Conversion as a Problem of ‘Hellenization’” in Grafton &
Mills, 36-50/60. [library ER]
Recommended: Ramsay
MacMullen,
"Two
Types of Conversion to Christianity," Vigiliae
Christianae 37 (1983): 174-192. [JSTOR]
Report: Eusebius of Caesarea
1/22 - Early
Christian Expansion (cont.)
Bowes,
Private Worship, Public Values, chapter 1, 18-60
The Role of Women?
Passages from Origen,
Contra
Celsum:
3.44-60
and
6.12:14
[find on-line if link doesn't work];
Acts of [Paul and] Thecla
[this is a good translation of most of it]
Matthews,
First Converts,
Introduction and chapter 4 [book on library reserve]
Osiek, “Women as Agents of
Expansion,” in Carolyn Osiek & Margaret Y. MacDonald,"
A Woman's Place, 220-243
[library reserve; hopefully scanned soon]
Elizabeth Clark, “Thinking with Women: The Uses of
the Appeal to ‘Woman’ in Pre-Nicene Propaganda Literature,”
in
Harris, ed., Chap.3
Pagans, Polytheists, Barbarians, and the Conversion of Constantine
John Curran, “The Conversion of
Rome Revisited,” in Stephen
Mitchell & Geoffrey Greatrex, eds.,
Ethnicity and
Culture in Late Antiquity, 1-14. [on reserve]
Harris volume, chapters 4, 5, 7 & 8
MacMullen, CRE, 43-67
Eusebius accounts:
Church
History, Book IX.9.1-12 and Life
of Constantine (excerpt on Constantine's conversion)
Van Dam, “The Many Conversions of Emperor Constantine,” in
Grafton & Mills
1/29 - Christianizing Late
Roman Society
Excerpts
from Book 16 of the Theodosian Code
David Hunt, "Christianising the Roman Empire: The Evidence of
the Code," in Jill Harries and Ian Wood, eds., The Theodosian Code. Studies in
the Imperial
Law of Late Antiquity,
Duckworth, 1993, 143-158. [webct]
Michele Salzman, "Evidence for the Conversion of the Roman
Empire to Christianity in Book 16 of the Theodosian Code," Historia 80 (1993):
362-378 [webct]
Harris volume, chapter 6: Isabella Sandwell, "Outlawing
'Magic' or Outlawing 'Religion'? Libanius and the
Theodosian Code as Evidence for Legislation against 'Pagan'
Practices," 87-123.
Bowes, Private Worship, Public Values, chapter 2
Rita Lizzi, “Ambrose's Contemporaries and the
Christianization of Northern Italy.”
Journal of Roman Studies 80 (1990): 156-173 [webct]
Michele Salzman, The Making
of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in
the Western Roman Empire, chapters 6 & 7:
"The Emperor's
Influence on
Aristocratic Conversion" and "The Aristocrats' Influence on
Christianity" [webct; endnotes to Salzman 6&7 a separate
file]
Peter Brown, "Conversion and Christianization in Late
Antiquity: The Case of Augustine," in Straw & Lim ed., The Past Before Us. The Challenge
of
Historiographies of
Late Antiquity (Brepols, 2004), 103-117.
[webct]
Richard Lim,
"Converting the Unchristianizable: The Baptism of Stage
Performers in Late Antiquity," in Mills & Grafton, eds.,
84-126.
J. Maxwell, "Teaching to the Converted: John Chrysostom's
Pedagogy," in Christianization and Communication in Late
Antiquity: John Chrysostom and
his Congregation in
Antioch, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Report: Theodosian Code, Book XVI
Possibly: Eric Rebillard, Christians
and their Many Identities in Late Antique North Africa
(Cornell University Press, 2012)
Discussion
of Research Papers: Choosing a Topics
2/5
- Christianizing Society (cont.): the West
Peter Brown, Eye of a Needle
2/12 - No seminar meeting
Work on written assignments
Everyone must meet with me individually this week about book
review, translation & commentary, & direction of
paper!
2/19
- Monks, Mission, Imperial Politics
Richard M. Price, "
The Holy Man
and Christianization from the Apocryphal Apostles to St
Stephen of Perm," in
The
Cult of the Saints in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages:
Essays on the
Contribution of Peter
Brown. Edited by James Howard-Johnston and Paul Antony
Hayward. (New York: OUP, 1999) [webct]
Philostorgius,
Church History III.4-6 - account of the
missionary work of Theophilus the Indian. There is a new
edition and English translation of this work by
Philip
Amidon, and this section
is available on
line. An older translation of
Photius's
Epitome of Philostorgius, Book III.4-6 is also available
on-line.
"Abraham"
in Theodoret,
History of the
Monks of Syria (Historia religiosa)
W.H.C. Frend, "The Missions of the Early Church, 180-700 AD,"
in Derek Baker, ed.,
Miscellanea
Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 3 (Louvain, 1970) [webct]
W.H.C. Frend, “The Church in the Reign of Constantius II
(337-361):
Mission—Monasticism—Worship,”
Entretiens sur L’Antiquité Classique (
Geneva,
1989), 73-111; reprinted in Frend,
Orthodoxy, Paganism and
Dissent in the Early Christian Centuries (Ashgate:
Variorum, 2002).
Anastasios Yannoulatos, "Monks & Mission in the Eastern
Church During the Fourth Century,"
International Review of Missions 58 (1969),
208-226. [webct]
E.A. Thompson, "Christianity and the Northern Barbarians,"
in Arnaldo Momigliano, ed., The Conflict between
Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth
Century (Oxford, 1963)
[webct]
Sergey A. Ivanov, "Casting Pearls Before Circe's Swine: The
Byzantine View of Mission," in
Travaux et Mémoires 14.
Mélanges Gilbert Dagron
(Paris,
2002), 294-301. [webct]
- here or 3/26
Book Review due in class or in my office by Friday noon
(2/22).
2/26 - Mission & National
Conversions: Histories, Hagiography
& the problem of the sources
East: Georgia, Armenia, Axum, South Arabia
Primary sources:
Rufinus,
Church History,
10.9-10 [on Axum and Iberia], Philip Amidon's English
translations is available as an e-book
Agathangelos,
History of the
Armenians [excerpts on the conversion of Armenia]
The relevant excerpts from these two texts are now available in
one document on webct.
Françoise Thelamon, "La conversion des Ibères,"
chapter 2 in
Païens et
chrétiens au IVe siècle, 85-122 (French -
available on ARES - library electronic reserve)
Christopher Haas, "Mountain Constantines: The
Christianization of Aksum and Iberia,"
Journal of Late Antiquity
1.1 (Spring, 2008):101–126 [on-line & webct]
Andrea Sterk "Mission from Below: Captive
Women and Conversion on the East Roman Frontiers"
Church
History 79/1 (2010) & "'Representing' Mission from
Below: Historians as
Interpreters and Agents of
Christianization"
Church History 79/2 (2010)
Cornelia Horn, "The Lives and Literary Roles of
Children in Advancing Conversion to Christianity: Hagiography
from the Caucasus in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages on
Georgia," Church
History 76 (2007): 262-297.
[sakai]
West: Franks, Lombards, Anglo-Saxon England...
Primary sources:
Patrick,
Confession
[versions readily available on-line or a good translation on
webct]
Gregory
of Tours on the Conversion of Clovis
Bede
on the Conversion of England
Ian Wood, article [up on webct]
Walter Pohl, "Deliberate Ambiguity: The Lombards and
Christianity," in Armstrong & Wood, eds.,
Christianizing Peoples and
Converting Individuals (Brepols, 2000), 47-58
Ian Wood, "Some Historical Re-Identifications and the
Christianization of Kent," Armstrong & Wood, 27-35.
Wolfert Egmond, “Converting Monks: Missionary Activity in Early
Medieval Frisia and
Saxony” in
Guyda & Wood
Reports:
Rufinus, Sozomen & Socrates, Patrick, Columbanus
SPRING BREAK
3/2-3/10
3/12 - Mission and the "First Byzantine Commonwealth;" Mission
under Justinian
Primary Sources:
The Martyrs of Najran [pre-Islamic Arabia]
John of Ephesus,
Ecclesiastical
History (excerpt on the mission to Nubia); followed by
Cosmas Indicopleustes (1-page excerpt on Christians in India)
[webct]
Procopius,
Wars I.19-20
[available on-line, more passages coming]
Recommended for Background:
Volker L. Menze,
Justinian and the Making of the Syrian
Orthodox Church (Oxford, 2008).
S.P. Brock, "Christians in the Sassanian Empire: A Case of
Divided Loyalties,"
Studies in
Church History 18 (London, 1982), pp.1-19. [webct]
Garth Fowden, "The First Byzantine Commonwealth: Interactions of
Political and Cultural Universalism," chap. 5 in
Empire to
Commonwealth. Consequences
of Monotheism in Late
Antiquity (Princeton, 1993), 100-137. [webct]
Isrun Engelhardt,
Mission und Politik in Byzanz. Ein
Beitrag zur Strukturanalyse byzantinischer Mission zur Zeit
Justins und Justinians (Munich, 1974),
4-22 [webct]
Philip Wood,
'We have no king but Christ.' Christian
Political Thought in Greater Syria on the Eve of the Arab
Conquest (c.400-585) (Oxford University
Press, 2006), chapter 7: "A
Miaphysite Commonwealth,"
209-256,
Stanley Burstein, "When Greek was an African
Language: The Role of Greek Culture in Ancient and Medieval
Nubia,"
Journal of World
History Vol. 19, No. 1
(2008): 41-61. You
can skim 41-49, and focus on 54-61. [JSTOR]
Jitse Harm Fokke Dijkstra,
Religious Encounters on the
Southern Egyptian Frontier in Late Antiquity
(Groningen, 2005), pp. 125-150. (comparing Procopius
& John of
Ephesus on Nubia) [Dissertation & now book on-line]
Michael Maas, "'Delivered from their Ancient Customs':
Christianity and the Question of Cultural Change in Early
Byzantine Ethnography," in Mills & Grafton, eds.
Conversion, 162-188.
Report: John of Ephesus
Translation & Commentary due
3/19
- Conversion & Christianization: The Evidence of
Art/Archeology/Material Culture
Kim Bowes,
Private Worship, Public Values
Florin Curta, "Before Cyril and Methodius: Christianity and
Barbarians beyond the Sixth-Century Danube Frontier," in Curta,
ed., East Central and Eastern
Europe in the Early Middle Ages,
181-208. [webct]
Eric Rebillard, "Conversion and Burial in the Later Roman
Empire," in Mills & Grafton, eds., 60-83. [webct]
Bonnie Effros, "De partibus Saxoniae and the Regulation of
Mortuary Custom: A Carolingian Campaign of Christianization or
the Suppression of Saxon Identity?"
Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire 75 (1997): 267-286.
[webct]
Thomas Mathews,
The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early
Christian Art, 2nd rev. edition (Princeton University
Press, 1999), Chapter 4 and
Epilogue [sakai]
Find one article of your own on this topic and, if possible,
relevant to your own research paper for the course!
2nd half of seminar:
Ian Wood, The Missionary Life [all or parts - or save
for 3/]
Paper topic proposal or abstract due in my
office on Friday afternoon, 10/31 (with preliminary
bibliography)
3/26 - Byzantine
Mission:
Slavs
Primary Source: Life of Constantine[-Cyril] [webct]
Recommended: Excerpt on the Conversion of Russia from
the Primary Chronicle
[webct]
Recommended for background:
Florin Curta, "The Rise of
New Powers (800-900)," in Southeastern Europe in
the Middle Ages, 111-179. [will be put on
reserve at library]
Jonathan Shepard, "Byzantium's
Overlapping Circles," Proceedings
of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies.
Vol. I Plenary Papers (London,
2006), 15-56.
[On-line pdf; also up on webct]
J. Shepard, "Spreading the Word: Byzantine
Missions," in The Oxford
History of Byzantium (OUP, 2002), 230-248 [webct -
coming]
Another Shepard essay (brand new in the Cambridge History of Christinaity,
vol. 3, Oct. 2008) on Slavic Christianities
Sergey A. Ivanov, "Casting Pearls Before Circe's Swine: The
Byzantine View of Mission," in Travaux et Mémoires 14. Mélanges Gilbert Dagron
(Paris,
2002), 294-301.
[webct] and/or
Sergey A. Ivanov, "Religious Missions," in the The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire
(2009), chapter 7.
Thomas S. Noonan, “Why Orthodoxy did not Spread among the
Bulgars of the Crimea during
the Early Medieval Era: An Early Byzantine Conversion Model,”
Armstrong & Wood, eds, 15-24. [webct]
Omeljan Pritsak, "Turkological Remarks on Constantine's
Khazarian Mission in the Vita
Constantini in In Christianity among the Slavs:
The Heritage
of Saints Cyril and
Methodius, eds. Edward G. Farrugia, Robert F. Taft,
& Gino K. Piovesana. Rome, 1988. Pp. 295-298
[webct]
Ihor Ševčenko, "Religious Mission seen by Byzantium" Harvard Ukranian Studies 1988-1989
[webct]
Richard E. Sullivan, "Early Medieval Missionary
Activity: A Comparative Study of Eastern and Western
Methods," Church
History 23/1 (1954): 17-34
[older article
attempting comparative questions - available through JSTOR
& on webct]
4/2 -
Seminar with Megan Williams
Historia Augusta
Readings TBA
4/9 -
Further East: Conversion, Christianity, Syria, & Islam
Jack Tannous, "Syria Between
Byzantium and Islam: Making Incommensurables Speak,"
Dissertation, Princeton University, 2010. chapters TBA.
Possible Readings:
Primary Source: Apocalpyse of Samuel Qalamun
(http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/apocalypse_of_samuel_of_kalamoun_02_trans.htm)
Bulliet, Conversion to Islam in the
medieval period an essay in quantitative history
(Cambridge, Mass., 1979), 1-42, 64-79, 128-138 and/or
Bulliet article in New Cambridge History of Islam,
vol. 3
D.J. Wasserstein, "Conversion and the ahl
al-dhimma' New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 4: Islamic
Cultures and Societies to the End of the Eighteenth Century,
ed. R. Irwin (Cambridge, 2010), 184-208
Michael Gervers and Ramzi Jibran Bikhazi,
eds., Conversion and Continuity. Indigenous Christian
Communities in Islamic Lands (Toronto: PIMS,
1990). Several essays in Part One:
The Rationale and
Polemics of Conversion (TBA).
Other readings coming...
Recommended for Background:
F. Donner, Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of
Islam (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2010)
N. Khalek, Damascus after the Muslim Conquest. Text and
Image in Early Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2011)
4/16 -
Further East (cont.) [or back to
the West]
Start Presentations
Presentations