Course Description
Multi-media investigation of the period of massive intellectual and religious transition between 1350 and 1600 in the German-speaking lands. Emphasis on the Catholic conciliar movement; the Protestant Reformation and Sectarianism; and the rise and spread of Northern Humanism. Includes close-readings of German texts. Taught in German.
Athena Title
The Age of Reformation
Prerequisite
GRMN 3010 or GRMN 3015
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Acquire an understanding of the 16th-century religious Reformation itself, especially in Germany; the chief intellectual currents from the Middle Ages as well as the humanist Renaissance that prepared the ground for the Northern Reformation; and an appreciation for the consequences of this profound watershed on the intellectual and religious afterlife to the turn of the 17th century. Central to this study will be gaining knowledge of seminal writings that provoked and sustained the Reformation (special emphasis on Luther, Erasmus, Hutten, and Melanchthon). Interpretation of important paintings, dramas, and music will be included. Students will be evaluated on the basis of in-class discussions and oral presentations, a final paper, and in-class quizzes.
Topical Outline
Medieval Intellectual History (Augustine; Thomas; Scholasticism) Spiritual Traditions (Franciscanism, Joachimianism; mysticism) Ecclesiopolitical Tradition (Papalism; Consiliarism) Religious Culture (monasticism; money) Northern Renaissance Humanism (friend and foe of Reformation) Luther (stages of his life and thinking) Reformation Society (City and Family) Representing the Reformation (drama; music) Radical Reformation Swiss Reformation Sectarianism (Calvanism; Anabaptism) Catholic Reform (Jesuits)
Syllabus