Class Schedule
[in progress; subject to modification]
ER =
Electronic
Reserve or ARES (Click here for on-line readings. In most
cases you
should print them out and bring them to class.)
webct = e-learning
WEC = Elizabeth Clark,
Women in the
Early Church
MWVL = Petroff, ed.,
Medieval
Women's Visionary Literature
How to Write a Book Review:
Be sure to read this before you write
your review!
DATE
|
LECTURE
OR DISCUSSION TOPIC
|
READINGS
& ASSIGNMENTS |
Week
1: Intro to Course: The Jewish
& Greco-Roman Background
Week
2:
Women in
the New Testament Era
Tu,
1/12
|
Social,
Legal. & Religious Status of Women in the Early Roman Empire
Discussion:
Interpreting Texts on Women in the New Testament
|
- "Clark & Richardson, "The New Testament & Christian
Origins," in Women &
Religion, pp. 9-18 [webct]
- New
Testament Passages [Click for
list of passages, questions, & assignment]
- Margaret Y. MacDonald,
"Reading Real Women through the Undisputed Letters of Paul," in
Kraemer & D'Angelo, eds., Women
& Christian Origins,
pp.199-218. [webct] - Read this
article last; finish for Thursday.
- Brown, Body & Society,
ch. 1, pp. 5-32. Read the Introduction first if you have the new
edition.
|
Th,
1/14
|
Sprituality & Leadership of Women in New
Testament Communities
|
- Finish MacDonald,
"Reading Real Women," in Women &
Christian Origins,
pp.199-218. [webct]
- Brown, Body & Society,
ch. 2, 33-64
|
Week
3:
Sexuality,
Marriage, and Gnosticism
Tu,
1/19
|
Creation,
Fall, & Sexuality: Genesis 1-3 and the Imago
Dei
Discussion: Genesis, Women, and the Fall; Tertullian on women
|
- Clark,
“Early Christian Women: Sources &
Interpretation,” in That Gentle Strength. Historical
Perspectives on Women in Christianity, pp. 19-30 [webct]
- Reread Gen. 1-3
- Clark,
WEC, Introduction (pp.15-25, if time); Read at least 27-47; 55-76 [may
be finshed for Thursday]
- Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women, at
least Bk. I, chs. 1-2; Bk. II, chs. 8 & 11-13. [Skim or read
the rest if you have time]
- Start Pagels, “God the Father/God
the Mother,” in Gnostic
Gospels, 48-69 [webct]; finish by Thursday
|
Th,
1/21
|
Gnostocism
& the Orthodox Christian Response
Discussion
continued: Clement of Alexandria on Marriage
|
- Pagels, “God the Father/God
the Mother,” in Gnostic
Gospels, 48-69 [webct]
- Clark, WEC, 47-55 [Clement]; 55-76 (if you have not already
finisehd it)
- Clark & Richardson, eds., "Clement of
Alexandria and the Gnostics: Women, Sexuality and Marriage in Orthodoxy
& Heterodoxy," Women & Religion,
pp.19-37 [ER]
|
Week
4:
Female
Martyrs & Prophets
Tu,
1/26
|
Women as Heroines (Part I): Accounts of Women
Martyrs
Discussion:
Women Martyrs & Martyrdom
|
- Petroff, ed., MWVL, 60-63 and 70-77: The
Passion of Ss. Perpetua and Felicity; click here
for on-line version.
- Martyrs of Lyons or another
martyrdom
account from chapter 3 or 4 of Sebastian
P. Brock & Susan Ashbrook Harvey, eds., Holy Women of the Syrian Orient
[e-book]
- Clark, WEC, 106-114
- Brown, Body
& Society, ch. 3, 65-78
|
Th,
1/28
|
Prophecy & Power: Women and
Montansim |
- Clark, WEC, 160-161 [Hippolytus on Montantist
women]
- Klawiter,
“The Role of Martyrdom
and Persecution in Developing the Priestly
Authority of Women in Early Christianity: A Case Study
of
Montanism,” Church History 49 (1980):
251-261 [JSTOR]
|
Week
5:
Ministry
& Leadership of Women in the Post-Biblical Church
Tu,
2/2
|
Women
as Heroines (Part II): The
Apocryphal Acts
Women's
Ministry in the First Three Centuries
|
- Clark, WEC, 77-96 [Thecla,
Drusiana, Apocryphal Acts]
- Brown, Body
&
Society, ch. 7
- Francine Cardman, “Women,
Ministry, and
Church Order in Early Christianity”
in Ross Shepard Kraemer & Mary Rose D’Angelo,
eds., Women and
Christian Origins (New
York: Oxford
University
Press, 1999), 300-329. [webct]
|
Th,
2/4
|
Discussion
(cont.): Women's Leadership & Limitations |
- Clark, WEC, 173-184
- Kraemer, “Women’s Leadership and
Offices in Christian Communities,” in Her
Share
of the Blessings, 174-190. [ER]
|
Week
6:
Ascetic
Women and the Monastic Movement
Tu,
2/9
|
Setting
the Context: Asceticism in Late
Antiquity; Introducing the Men
Asceticism and the Exaltation of
Virginity
|
- Brown, Body & Society,
ch. 13
- Cloke, "'Holy women?'" & "Patristic Perceptions":
chs. 1 & 2 of 'This Female Man
of God', pp. 1-24
- Clark, WEC, 126-144 [excerpts from Jerome, Palladius,
Augustine, Caesarius]
- Palladius, Lausiac History, excerpts on women
- Brown, ch. 18 (Jerome) - recommended
|
Th,
2/11
|
Discussion:
Monastic Women: Macrina, Paula, Eustochium
|
- Petroff, ed., MWVL, 63-67 & 77-82 (The Life of St. Macrina)
- Brown, Body & Society,
ch. 14 (Gregory of Nyssa)
- E. Clark, "Ascetic Renunciation and Feminine Advancement: A
Paradox of Late Ancient Christianity," ATR 63:3 (1981): 240-57
- Elm, 'Virgins of God,'
137-183 (On-line - Recommended)
|
Week
7: Desert
& City
Tu,
2/16
|
The
Desert Mothers: Lives and Saying
Discussion:
Women of the Desert--Harlots, Ammas, & Their Disciples
|
- Benedicts Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, at least pp. 1-75, 85-109
- "Sayings of the Desert Mothers" [4-page handout]
|
Th,
2/18
|
Outside the Monastery: Women Ascetics in
the City & the World |
- Jerome
on Marcella, Clark, WEC, 162-165,
205-209; 223-231 [on Olympias]
- Brown, Body
& Society, ch. 15: "Sexuality & the City: John
Chrysostom," pp. 305-322
|
Week
8:
Christianization; Urban Asceticism; St.
Augustine
Tu,
2/23
|
The
Role of Women in Conversion & Christianization
Augustine
on Sexuality and Sinfulness
|
- Clark, WEC, 184-203 (from The
Pilgrimage of Egeria)
- Rufinus, Church History 10.10
- Anne Yarbrough, "Christianization in the
Fourth
Century: The Example of Roman Women," Church
History 45 (1976): 49-65 [JSTOR]
- Michele Salzman, "Aristocratic Women," chapter
5 of The Making of a Christian
Aristocracy (Harvard, 2002) [webct]
- Recommended: Ruether, "Ascetic
Women in the Late Patristic Age," in Women
of Spirit, pp.71-98
|
Th,
2/25
|
Discussion:
Augustine
|
- Clark, ed., WEC, pp. 245-258, and
55-69.
- Brown, Body & Society,
chapter on Augustine
|
Week
9: Patristic
Perspectives
Tu,
3/2
|
Discussion
of secondary source readings for today
Book Reviews: The Making of a Critical Review
A Review of Brown's Body & Society (BMCR)
Review for midterm exam
|
- Ruether, "Misogynism and Virginal Feminism in the Fathers
of the Church," in Religion and
Sexism, pp. 150-183
- Jane Simpson, "Women and Ascetism in the Fourth Century: A
Question of Interpretation," Journal
of Religious History 151 (1988): 38-60
- Peter Brown, Introduction to Body & Society
|
Th,
3/4
|
Midterm
Exam
|
- No new reading. Review for exam; take-home essay due
|
SPRING BREAK: March 6-14
[This part of syllabus will be revised over break!]
Week
10:
Holy Queens and Nuns of the
Early Middle Ages
Tu,
3/16
|
Contexualizing
Women in the Early Middle Ages
Monks, Abbesses, & the Christianization
of Western Europe
|
- Jo Ann McNamara, ed., Sainted Women of the
Dark Ages: "Clothilde, Queen of the Franks," 38-50;
"Radegund, Queen of the
Franks & Abbess of Poitiers," 60-65 (Introduction) & 70-86
(Venantius Fortunatus, "Life of the Holy Radegund"). This is an e-book available on-line through the
library catalog.
- Book Review due today in class!
|
Th,
3/18
|
Discussion: Holy Women and Christianization (Leoba)
|
- Petroff, MWVL, 83-91 and The Life
of St. Leoba, in Petroff, MWVL, 106-114.
|
Week
11:
The 10th -12th Centuries
Tu,
3/23
|
Medieval Women & the Cult of the Virgin Mary
|
- Petroff,
“Women and
Mysticism in the Medieval
World,” chapter one in Body and
Soul: Essays on
Medieval
Women
and
Mysticism [ER]
- Barbara Newman, From
Virile Woman to WomanChrist, Chapter 1,
19-45
|
Th,
3/25
|
Discussion: Early
Twelfth-Century Visionaries (Hildegard & Christina)
|
- Petroff, MWVL,
136-158 (Christina of Markyate, Hildegard of Bingen) [ER]
|
Week 12:
Developments in Monasticism & Spirituality
Tu,
3/30
|
The
Changing Context of Women's Spirituality
The
Rise and Fall of a Women's Movement: The Beguines
|
- Petroff, Body and Soul, chapter 3 [ER]
- "New Types of Feminine Spirituality--The Beguine Movement,"
Petroff, MWVL, 171-177
|
Th,
4/1
|
Discussion: Beguine Spirituality
|
- Excerpt from "The Life of Marie d'Oignies by Jacques de Vitry," Petroff MWVL, 179-183
- Hadewijch of Brabant, "Letters to a Young Beguine," and
"Visions," Petroff, MWVL, 189-200
|
Week
13: Female Mendicants and the New Mysticism
| Tu,
4/6 |
The
New Mysticism and Female Mendicant Visionaries
|
- Petroff, MWVL, 231-263 [Intro. and short writings by Clare
of Assisi, Agnes of Assisi, Umiltà of
Faenza, Angela of Foligno]
|
Th,
4/8
|
Discussion:
Food Issues
Due: 1 page abstract
& bibliography of final project (by 5:00 today)
|
|
Week
14: Anchoresses, Theologians & Mystics in the Later Middle
Ages
Tu,
4/13
|
Late Medieval English Mystics
|
- Petroff, MWVL, 299-302 (intro.) and 308-327 (Readings from
Julian of Norwich & Margery Kempe)
|
Th, 4/15
|
Women, Men, & Ecclesiastical Authority |
- Coakley, "The Power of
Holy Women," chapter 1 of Women,
Men, and Spiritual Power [on electronic reserve]
|
Week
15: Female
Mystics as Activists
Tu,
4/20
|
Mystics
as Activists: The Case of Catherine of Siena |
- Petroff, MWVL, 238-240 (intro) & 263-274
(Catherine of Siena)
- Recommended: Eleanor
McLaughlin, “Women,
Power and the Pursuit of Holiness in Medieval Christianity,” in Ruether
&
McLaughlin, eds., Women of Spirit,
ch. 3 [comparing Leoba, Christina of
Markyate & Catherine of Siena]
|
Fri,
4/23
|
Final
Project Due in my
office by noon
Friday, 4/23! |
|