Previous Years' Course Catalogues

Most people, when the subject of mediaeval liturgy is mentioned, think of the old service books which have the words spoken (sacramentaries, lectionaries, missals, breviaries) and descriptions of the action (ordos). There is another class of book entirely, the liturgical commentaries, which goes through the public services, explaining the elements they contain. They were also interested in the ministers of the liturgy, their orders and dress, in the structure of church and altar, in the calendar (temporal and sanctoral), and of course in the vexed question of how a priest computed the date of Easter (no diocesan journals in those days). Teaching methods: shared reading of 5 commentaries with explanations by the instructor.

This seminar will explore the special relationship of the arts to the concept of the imagination in the history of Western thought. It will also consider the implications this relationship was had for art's role in the areas of theology and ethics, areas in which reason has been thought to fail in providing adequate knowledge.

This seminar will explore the special relationship of the arts to the concept of the imagination in the history of Western thought. It will also consider the implications this relationship was had for art's role in the areas of theology and ethics, areas in which reason has been thought to fail in providing adequate knowledge.

This seminar will explore the special relationship of the arts to the concept of the imagination in the history of Western thought. It will also consider the implications this relationship was had for art's role in the areas of theology and ethics, areas in which reason has been thought to fail in providing adequate knowledge.

This seminar will explore the special relationship of the arts to the concept of the imagination in the history of Western thought. It will also consider the implications this relationship was had for art's role in the areas of theology and ethics, areas in which reason has been thought to fail in providing adequate knowledge.

This seminar will explore the special relationship of the arts to the concept of the imagination in the history of Western thought. It will also consider the implications this relationship was had for art's role in the areas of theology and ethics, areas in which reason has been thought to fail in providing adequate knowledge.

No serious philosopher after Kant has been able to avoid his critique of metaphysical speculations about God, the soul, and the meaning of existence. The horrors of recent history give added urgency to such questions. Theodor W. Adorno has posed these issues in dramatic and decisive ways. This seminar studies his reflections in Negative Dialectics on the status of metaphysics "after Auschwitz."

After the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, Christianity was supported by the whole apparatus of the Roman empire. This course explores how the movement survived and even thrived before that point. We will examine the challenges of life in urban centers of the empire using social scientific models and material evidence from this initial period to assess the ways in which the practices and forms of Christ movement were adapted to address these challenges and sometimes not well adapted. Along the way we will assess the state of scholarship on the "success” of early Christianity to consider alternative ways of formulating the questions it asks. Our topics will include ritual and affect, economic factors (like housing and status), social organization, health care, attitudes to suffering and the body, and ideas that helped to make life meaningful and navigable. 

This course explores the current fascination with the writings of Paul among non-Christian thinkers engaged in the study of political theology.

This course explores the current fascination with the writings of Paul among non-Christian thinkers engaged in the study of political theology.

This course will explore the different interpretations of religion emerging from the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. First generation thinkers in this school understood religion, especially Judaism and Christianity, to be integral to modern social and cultural evolution. Religion must be studied, they felt, because it can both display forms of pathological socialization and yet be a resource for a critique of, and eventual emancipation from, oppressive social realities. After exploring key writings of the first generation of Critical Theorists, the course will examine Jürgen Habermas's evolving appreciation of religious contributions to social justice and conclude with a selection of readings on the continued relevance of religious voices in the public sphere from such third generation Critical Theorists as Seyla Benhabib and Nancy Fraser.

An examination of key issues for the understanding of the letter of James: authorship, date, historical setting, genre, manuscript tradition, and attestation. The course situates James in the context of various wisdom literatures and philosophical discourse. The focus of the course is Jewish and early Christian life in the Judaean diaspora.