As always, even after the syllabus has been posted, be aware that assignments may change. HONS1102 students are always encouraged to watch the Announcements section of the course’s blackboard site and their emails, and to listen and make note of any changes as they are announced in class.
HONS1102 printable syllabus for Spring 2023
PLEASE NOTE: The schedule information that follows hereafter is “under construction.” In the meantime, refer to the course schedule that is included in the syllabus (which can be accessed by clicking the green link above).
Constantine, councils & creeds
Theodosius presiding over the races in the Hippodrome in Constantinople
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Thursday, January 20, 2022
Read before class:
- Eusebius, Life of Constantine (Readings in World Christian History, hereafter referred to as “WCH” 87-97)
- Letters of Arius and Alexander (WCH 98-101)
- Creeds (WCH 101-102)
China: The Period of Division & the development of Buddhism
Buddha from Yungang Cave Northern Wei period, 5th century
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Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Read before class:
- Tao Qian (Norton Anthology of World Literatures, hereafter referred to as “NAWL” 1091-1104)
- Chinese Buddhism (Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1, hereafter referred to as “SCT” 415-26, 433-34, 404-52, 471-74, 481-82, 485-89)
Augustine
Augustine Lateran Basilica, Rome 6th century
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Thursday, January 27, 2022
Read before class:
- Confessions (NAWL 49-56, 58-62)(3rd ed 49-56, 58-62) (Course Packet, hereafter referred to as “CP”, pp. 1-5)
- City of God (WCH 195-206, ch. 4, 10, 13, 17, 26, 27) (CP 6-7)
- Augustine on the Jews (CP 8-9)
Monasticism
St. Catherine's Monastery Mount Sinai, 6th century
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Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Read before class:
- Athanasius, Life of Anthony (WCH 131-44 – intro, ch. 1-5, 8-10, 14, 44-47, 50, 69-73, 81, 87, 93)
- Basil, Longer Rule (WCH 144-47)
- Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict (Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, hereafter referred to as “ICCW” 175-89)
- Selections from the Desert Fathers and the Cistercians (CP 10-12)
Justinian, Orthodoxy, and the Byzantine Empire
Justinian and his court San Vitale, Ravenna
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Thursday, February 3, 2022
Read before class:
- The Council of Chalcedon (WCH 165-71, 175-76)
- Third Council of Constantinople, Exposition (CP 13-14)
- Justinian, Corpus Iuris Civilis (CP 15-16)
- Justinian, Novella VI (CP 17)
- Justinian, Novella 146 On the Jews (CP 18-19)
- Agapetus, “Advice to the Emperor Justinian” (CP 20)
The Quran
14th century Quran, Damascus
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Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Read before class:
- Qur’an, Sura 1, 4, 12, 55, 77-107 (Norton Anthology of World Religions: Islam, hereafter referred to as “NAWR- Islam”)
- Qur’an, Sura 1, 4, 12, 55, 77-107 (Norton Anthology of World Religions: Islam, hereafter referred to as “NAWR- Islam”)
China: Tang Dynasty
Night-Shining White, by Han Gan, c. 750
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Thursday, February 10, 2022
Read before class:
- Han Yu (SCT 568-73, 582-86)
- The Meditation School of Chinese Buddhism (SCT 491-504)
- Nestorian Stele and Chinese Christian Sutras (WCH 243-51)
- Tang Poetry (instructors’ choice from NAWL)
Continuity and Tradition in Judaism and Islam
Talmud Scrolls
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Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Read before class:
- The Babylonian Talmud (CP 21-33)
- Hadith from Muslim Ibn Al-Hajaj (NAWR-Islam, 170-179)
- Hadith from Bukhari (CP 34)
First Paper Due
Faith & Philosophy in Islam
Madrasa bun Inania Meknes, Morocco Founded by Abu Inan Faris in 1350
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Thursday, February 17, 2022
Read before class:
- Ibn Rushd, The Decisive Treatise (NAWR-Islam, 277-85)
- Al-Ghazali, Deliverance from Error (CP 36-46) (NAWR-Islam, 418-31)
Church & State
Detail from The Coronation of Charlemagne (as depicted by Claudius Jacquand, 19th Century)
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Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Read before class:
- Pope Gelasius, On spiritual and temporal power (CP 47)
- John of Damascus, On the Divine Images (WCH 291-94, ch. 6. 7, 11, 14)
- The Iconoclast controversy (CP 48-50)
- Popes and Carolingian kings (CP 51-52)
- The Donation of Constantine (CP 53-54)
China: Song Dynasty
Scholar in a Meadow 11th century
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Thursday, February 24, 2022
Read before class:
- Wang Anshi (SCT 609-16)
- Zhu Xi (SCT 697-702, 706-707, 713-14, 720-22, 725-27, 729-31, 749-51)
War in Islamic & Christian Traditions
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Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Read before class:
- Augustine, To Count Boniface; Reply to Faustus the Manichean (CP 55-59)
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (CP 60-65)
- The Qur’an on warfare (CP 66)
- Hadith on jihad from the collection of Muslim Ibn Hajjaj (CP 67-70)
Christian/Muslim Encounters
The Capture of Constantinople Tintoretto, Ducal Palace, Venice
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Thursday, March 3, 2022
Read before class:
- The Pact of Umar (CP 71)
- Patriarch Timothy, “Apology before the Caliph Mahdi” (WCH 231-42)
- Patriarch Nicholas I Mysticus, “Letters to Muslim rulers” (CP 72)
- Pope Urban II, “Speech at the Council of Clermont” (CP 73-78)
- Guibert de Nogent, The Deeds of God through the Franks (WCH 324-34)
- Ibn al-Athir (WCH 334-35)
Spring Break – No class
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Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Spring Break – No Class
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Thursday, March 10, 2022
Development of Scholastic Method and Universities
Sainte Chapelle, Paris 1250
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Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Read before class:
- Robert De Courcon, “Statutes for the University of Paris” (CP 79-80)
- Peter Abelard, Sic et Non (CP 81)
- Domingo Gundisalvo, De divisione philosophiae (CP 82-83)
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (ICCW 203-204 Second Article, 206-207 Fifth Article, 220-23 First, Second, and Third Articles
Midterm Exam
God and Philosophy
The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas, by Francesco Traini 1340
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Thursday, March 17, 2022
Read before class:
- Anselm, Proslogion (CP 84-85)
- Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed (CP 86-90)
- Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles (CP 91-93)
- Aquinas, Summa Theologica (ICCW 202-203 First Article, 209-14)
The Influence of Aristotle and the development of medieval science
This 16th century miniature depicts a meeting of doctors at the University of Paris.
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Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Read before class:
- Adelard of Bath, Natural Questions (CP 94-96)
- Domingo Gundisalvo, De divisione philosophiae (CP 97-100)
- “Statute of the Faculty of the Arts, 1272” (CP 101)
- “The Condemnations of 1277” (CP 102)
- John Buridan, Questions on the Eight Books of the Physics of Aristotle (CP 103-105)
- John Buridan, Questions on the Four Books On the heavens and the World of Aristotle (CP 106-107)
Second Paper Due
Political Theory
Abu Nasr Al- Farabi monument, Kazakh National State University
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Thursday, March 24, 2022
Read before class:
- Aquinas, On the Governance of Rulers (ICCW 241-55)
- Dante, De Monarchia (ICCW 302-305, 310-21)
- Al-Farabi, The Virtuous City (NAWR-Islam 258-65)
- Ibn Sina, The Book of Healing (NAWR-Islam 267-69, 274-76)
Who's in charge here?
Magna carta cum statutis angliae (Great Charter with English Statutes), early 14th-century
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Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Read before class:
- Charter of Homage and Fealty/The Peace of God (CP 108-109)
- Pope Gregory VII, “Dictatus Papae” (CP 110)
- Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV (CP 111-114)
- Magna Carta (ICCW 416-19, 422, 425-27)
- Villani, Florentine Chronicle (CP 115-122)
Mendicants, Heretics, Jews
St. Francis preaching to the birds (Giotto, Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi)
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Thursday, March 31, 2022
Read before class:
- Francis of Assisi, Testament, “Canticle of the Sun,” Rule of the Franciscan Order (CP 123-127)
- Soloman bar Samson (CP 128-130)
- Pope Innocent III, Constitution for the Jews (CP 131)
- Pope Innocent III, (ICCW 393-94)
- Nicetas Choniates on the Fourth Crusade (WCH 335-36)
- Bernard Gui, Manual of the Inquisitor (ICCW 256-65)
Dante – The Divine Comedy
Dante Aligheri, by Sandro Botticelli, 1495
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Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Read before class:
- Inferno, cantos 1-5, 18-19, 28, 33-34 (NAWL)
- Courtly love and poetry (CP 132); (NAWL, selected by instructors)
Dante: The Divine Comedy
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Thursday, April 7, 2022
Read before class:
- Inferno, cantos 33-34 (NAWL)
- Purgatorio, cantos 1,2, 27, 30
- Paradiso, canto 33
Byzantines, Latins & Muslims
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī
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Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Read before class:
- The Lives of Mar Yahbh-Allaha and Rabban Sawma (WCH 373-78)
- Sunjata (NAWL Volume C, 12-16, 27-28, 32-35, 50-58)
- Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah (CP 133-135)
- Rumi (NAWL 381-86)
Holy Thursday – No classes
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Thursday, April 14, 2022
Boccaccio & Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
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Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Read before class:
- Decameron (NAWL 719-28)
- The Canterbury Tales (NAWL 772-819)
The Late Middle Ages
Boccaccio and Florentines fleeing the plague, from a 1485 Bruges manuscript
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Thursday, April 21, 2022
Read before class:
- Responses to the Black Death (CP 136-141)
- John Wycliffe (ICCW 679-81)
- The Council of Constance (WCH 414-15)
China: Early Ming Dynasty
Empress Xu
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Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Read before class:
- Empress Xu (SCT 831-36)
- Wang Yangming (SCT 841-55)
Third Paper Due
Renaissance Society and Politics
Detail from the Sistene Chapel, Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam"
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Thursday, April 28, 2022
Read before class:
- Leonardo Bruni , “Panegyric to the City of Florence” (CP 142-143)
- Petrus Paulus Vergerius, “The New Education” (CP 144-147 )
- Juan Luis Vives, On Assistance to the Poor (CP 148-150)
- Christine de Pizan, Book of the City of Ladies (NAWL 893-98, 908-12)
Renaissance Humanism
Pope Sixtus IV appoints Bartolomeo Platina Prefect of the Vatican Library Melozzo da Forli, 1477 Vatican Museums
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Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Read before class:
- Coluccio Salutati, “Letters” (ICCW 565-80)
- Giovanni Pico della Mirandola , Oration on the Dignity of Man (ICCW 581-87)
- Juan Luis Vives, A Fable about Man (CP 151-157)
- Giorgio Vasari, “Michelangelo Buonarroti” (ICCW 592-609)
Exploration, conquest, encounter
Portrait of Hernán Cortés, 17th century, oil on canvas, Museo Naval de Madrid
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Thursday, May 5, 2022
Read before class:
- James I of Aragon (WCH 336-38)
- Christopher Columbus, “Letter Concerning the First Voyage” (Norton 540-44)
- Hernan Cortes, “The Second Letter” (Norton, 547-57)
- The Florentine Codex (Norton 557-63)
- Inca Garcilaso De La Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru (Norton 574-80)
Machiavelli
Bust of Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy
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Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Read before class:
- The Prince (ICCW 459, 463-79)
- Discourses on Livy (CP 158)