Course Description
The two great intellectual movements of early modern Europe: the Renaissance and the Reformation. The religious and social context in which the developments associated with these movements took place, as well as their impact on European society.
Athena Title
AGE RENAISS & REFOR
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
Week One: Late Medieval England Week Two: Tudor England Week Three: Humanism Week Four: The English Reformation Week Five: Mary and Elizabeth Week Six: Elizabethan England Week Seven: The Stuart Monarchy Week Eight: Cromwell and the Civil War Week Nine: Puritanism in Seventeenth-Century England Week Ten: Restoration and Bloodless Revolution Week Eleven: Political Thought in Early Modern England Week Twelve: The Royal Society Week Thirteen: England and the British Isles Week Fourteen: England and the World Week Fifteen: Britain and Ireland in the Modern Era
Syllabus