Core 4 - Christian Impact on Western Civilization - Term 102

Core 4 Faculty

John Egan - Music
Angela Elrod-Sadler - Philosophy
Paul Geraci - Music
Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S. - Theology
Michael Malone - Philosophy
Roger Olson - Mathematics
Heidi Rahe - Communication

Core 4 Required Texts

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy I: Inferno. Translated by Mark Musa. Penguin Classics: 2003
Beowulf. Translated by Heaney, Seamus. W.W. Norton: 2000
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Translated by David Wright. Oxford World Classics: 2008
Core 4 Syllabus - Rensselaer, IN. Saint Joseph's College: 2011
Core 4 Supplemental Readings - Rensselaer, IN. Saint Joseph's College: 2011
Everyman Dover Thrift Edition: 2008
The New American Bible - Saint Joseph Edition (Large Type - Illustrated). Catholic Book Publishing Company. 1992
Rule of Saint Benedict. Translated by Timothy Fry. Liturgical Press, 1982
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by Bernard O'Donoghue. Penguin Classics: 2006
Spielvogel, Jackson. Core 4: Christian Impact on Western Civilization. Saint Joseph's College Custom Edition. Cengage: 2011
Spoto, Donald. Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi. Penguin: 2002
Wills, Gary. Saint Augustine. Penguin: 1999

Core 4 Recommended Text

The Everyday Writer. Lunsford, Andrea and Robert Connors, eds. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997

Collegial Agreements

Collegial agreements insure that students taking Core 4 have a generally common experience and work on specific skills that are important components of the larger Core Curriculum. The Core 4 faculty agree to the following:

Seating in the Shen Lecture Hall will be by discussion group to an effort to facilitate student learning and discussion group cohesion.
Each student will give an oral presentation sometime during the semester.
A minimum of twenty (20) pages of written work will be required of all students. Your instructor will determine the type of writing assignments you will complete. Part of the twenty page requirement will include the following:

Each student will complete at least one formal writing assignment that requires taking a moral stand on an issue relevant to course material, supporting that stand with solid principled reasoning, and working towards persuading the reader.
Each student will complete at least one assignment that requires research and proper use of references and citations, as prescribed in The Everyday Writer, a text students are encouraged to use as a reference and a resource throughout the semester.

Lecture and Reading Schedule

I. The Rise of Christianity

Topic	Date	Lecture	Required Reading
Mark's Portrait of Jesus	01-11	Tim McFarland Introduction to the Christian Scriptures	Spielvogel, 123-127 and Gospel of Mark, Chapters 1-4
Mark's Portrait of Jesus	01-13	Jeff Kirch Mark's Jesus	Gospel of Mark, Chapters 5-16
The Spread of Christianity	01-18	Ilicia Sprey The Roman Empire and the New Religion	Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 1-7
The Spread of Christianity	01-20	John Nichols The Opening to the Gentiles	Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 8-15
The Apostle Paul	01-25	Jerry Stack The Apostle Paul	First Corinthians, Chapters 1-12
The Apostle Paul	01-27	Jeff Kirch Problems at Corinth	First Corinthians, Chapters 13-16 and Saint Augustine (Wills): pp. 1-15
The Influence of Augustine and Benedict	02-01	Mike Malone The Life of Augustine of Hippo	Saint Augustine (Wills): pp. 16-64
The Influence of Augustine and Benedict	02-03	Heidi Rahe The Rise of Monasticism	Spielvogel, 138-143 and The Rule of Saint Benedict: Chapters 1-7; 33-40; 52-55; and 71-73.

II. Medieval Civilization

Topic	Date	Lecture	Required Reading
The Early Development of Medieval Civilization	02-08	Angela Elrod-Sadler Early Medieval Europe And The Germanic Warrior Culture in Beowulf	Spielvogel, 134-137 and Beowulf, 3-104
The Early Development of Medieval Civilization	02-10	April Toadvine The Legend of Beowulf	Beowulf, 105-213
The Growth of Medieval Civilization	02-15	John Nichols The Flowering of Medieval Civilization	Spielvogel, Chapter 8, 154-166 and Chapter 9, 175-194
Searching for God with the Heart: Francis of Assisi	02-17	Michael Malone and Video The Reluctant Saint I	The Reluctant Saint (Spoto), Chapters 1-4
	02-22	Video The Reluctant Saint II	The Reluctant Saint (Spoto), Chapters 5-11
	02-24	Tom Ryan Service and Simplicity: the Life of Francis of Assisi	The Reluctant Saint (Spoto) Chapters 12-15
Searching for God with the Head: Thomas Aquinas	03-01	Rob Reuter Thomas Aquinas on Morality and Human Nature	Thomas Aquinas on Morality and Human Nature in Core 4 Supplemental Readings
Searching for God with the Head: Thomas Aquinas	03-03	Angela Elrod-Sadler Does God Exist?	Thomas Aquinas's Proofs for God's Existence in Core 4 Supplemental Readings

SPRING BREAK

Topic	Date	Lecture	Required Reading
Crisis in the Late Middle Ages	03-15	Video	Spielvogel, Chapters 10 and 11, 195-241
The Triumph of Medieval Poetry: Dante's Inferno	03-17	Michael Malone Lessons From Hell - Part I	Dante's Inferno, Cantos 1-7
	03-22	Jeff Kirch The Theology of Heaven and Hell	Dante's Inferno, Cantos 8-13; 19; 26-28
	03-24	Michael Malone Lessons From Hell - Part II	Dante's Inferno, Cantos 29-34
The Courtly Love Tradition and the Virtues of the Knight	03-29	Ilicia Sprey Reflections on a Changing Society	Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 3-50
The Courtly Love Tradition and the Virtues of the Knight	03-31	April Toadvine Sir Gawain: Characters, Symbols, and Themes	Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 51-78
The Art of Story- Telling: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales	04-05	Heidi Rahe What a Hypocrite!	Chaucer, Pardoner's Tale, 394-410
The Art of Story- Telling: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales	04-07	Jody Watkins What A Wife!	Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 219-250

III. The Renaissance And The Reformation

Topic	Date	Lecture	Required Reading
Renaissance Art and Music	04-12	Paul Geraci The Music of the Renaissance	Spielvogel, Chapter 12, 242-253
Renaissance Art and Music	04-14	Bonnie Zimmer The Art of the Renaissance	Spielvogel, Chapter 12, 254-266
The Catholic Conception of Salvation	04-19	John Rahe The Drama of Everyman	Everyman, 36-59
The Reformation and the Counter Reformation	04-21	John Rahe Martin Luther	Spielvogel, Chapter 13, 267-274 and Preface to Luther's Latin Writings in Core 4 Syllabus
The Reformation and the Counter Reformation	04-26	Tim McFarland Reformation and Counter-Reformation	Spielvogel, Chapter 13, 274-289
Christian Humanism	04-28	Jeff Kirch The Development of a Christian Humanism	"Crossing Boundaries" in Core 4 Supplemental Readings

*All scripture readings are from The New American Bible.

Core 4 Internet Sources

Here are some links that may be helpful to students in Core Four. You may find these helpful for study of the medieval world. As with all internet resources, students need to be critical in their assessment of materials on the internet.

Resources for Biblical Studies - A rather interesting site with some good background information and some primary documents from other sources.
Online Concordance - Looking for a verse in the Bible? Want to find what St. Paul says about something, try this on-line concordance. You can search for words in a variety of Bible translations...really an interesting site.
St. John's Bible - Illuminated Manuscript - This site has some interesting pages from a project at St. John's University -- an illuminated Biblical manuscript for the new millennium. Definitely worth checking out.
The Labyrinth - From Georgetown University, a wealth of materials for study of the Middle Ages.
Digital Dante - An interesting collection of paintings on the Inferno.
Inferno Illustrations - Here's a site that illustrates some of the various levels in the Inferno.
Saint Thomas Aquinas - From Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a little background about Aquinas.
People of Ideas - Middle Ages - Here you can find information about many of the people you will be studying in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance/Reformation eras.
Medieval Art - Located at the Catholic University of America, this site has some links to interesting and beautiful works of art from the middle ages and the Renaissance.
A Digital Archive of Architecture - A nice site from Prof. Jeffery Howe of Boston College with lots of links to buildings in various architectural styles.
A Feast for the Eyes - A rather interesting site with images of food and dining from the middle ages.
The Medieval Sourcebook - A number of good resources here including some links to other medieval sources.
Canterbury Tales - This site in old English has a handy little dictionary defining the words.
Martin Luther - Find out more about the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. A number of Luther's works appear on this site as well as information about Luther.
Protestant Reformation - Here's a site with lots of information about the Protestant Reformation that may be interesting.
The CNN Millennium Project - A site that loaded with lots of information, including many media files. You can click on a century to discover what significant events happened during the era.