Storia della Chiesa 2 RA0804

Besides getting to know the facts, personalities of this eventful period, students will discover the successes and shortcomings of the evangelization of Europe, evaluate the different movements of reform in the Latin Church, appraise the achievements of the 13th century, analyse from different points of view the impact of the Crusades, explain the different development of the Eastern Churches, explain the different forces at work in the 14th-15th centuries. They will be able to value the long term movements within the life of the Churches.

General Introduction: • Christianity adjusting to the feudal world (AD 692-1085). Towards a Christian Europe (AD 692-840)? Time of anarchy (692-750). Carolinian renaissance (751-850). Western Churches outside Carolinian empire. The “Dark Ages” or a crisis for the birth of a new age (AD 840-1085)? Collapse of the Carolinian unity and order (840-930). Towards a new order of western Christendom (930-1046). Reform of Papacy and Church in reform (1046-1085). The parting of the first and second Churches. General features. Iconoclast controversies. The parting of ways. • II. The Church leader of the Society (AD 1085-1294). Western Society from 11th to 13th c. The Church in reform (1085-1153): struggles for freedom. Aspiration to a ‘vita evangelica’, the new orders. Control of violence: Peace and Holy War. A Christian Europe (1153-1294)? Papacy and the theocratic temptation. Life of Christendom in mid-12th-13th c. The Byzantine Church and the period of the crusades. • III. A time of unprecedented challenge (AD 1294-1453). General features of Western Society in the 14th and 15th c: a world in crisis. Papacy to the test. Boniface VIII and the rise of lay spirit. Stay in Avignon. Scandal of the western Great Schism. Reform and unity: Pope or Council? Christian life. New Ecclesiologies. New ways to perfection. The fall of Byzantium. Last struggle and agony of Byzantium. Orthodoxy in the last century of Byzantium Learning Outcomes: The students will be able: • to acquire knowledge about the historical context and the main events, personalities of Christianity from the end of the 7th century until the end of 15th century. • to know the continuity and the changes of Christian thought in the western and eastern Church. • to be informed about the Church during the Charlemagne era in Europe and the relationship with the Church of Constantinople during this period. • to know the Church during the crusaders period in Europe and in the East. • to realize the situation of the Church and Christianity that was created after the fall of Constantinople. The students will be able: • to write a scientific essay and to improve their research skills. • To Improve the presentation skills. (Such as summarize one chapter of the requirements of the course within 15 minutes.) • To deal with different historical resources that deals with the history of the Church in order to create critical thinking about these resources.

Deanesly, M. A History of the Medieval Church, 590-1500, Alcester, Read Books, 2010. Duffy, E. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Hay, D. Europe in the XIV-XVth centuries, London: Longman, 1989. Laitsner. M. Intellectual Heritage of Early Middle Age. Ithaca, 1957. Lawrence, C.H. Medieval Monasticism. London, Routledge 2015. Logan, Donald F. A History of the Church in the Middle Ages. London: Routledge, 2007. Meyendorff, J. & A. Papadakos. The Christian East and the Rise of Papacy: The Church 1071-1453. New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1994. Ullmann, W. The Papacy and the Political Ideas in the Middle Ages. London, Variorum, 1976. Ware, T. The Orthodox Church. London: Penguin, 1963. Reference Books Cross, E.L. and E.A Livingstone. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Freitag, A. The Universe Atlas of the Christian World. London, Burns and Oates, 1963.