Topics in Christianity (460-0-20)

Instructors

Barbara Jane Newman
847/491-5679
University Hall 215

Meeting Info

Crowe 4-130 Rel Studies Sem Rm: Mon 2:00PM - 5:00PM

Overview of class

Medieval Women Writers: For most of the twentieth century, scholars thought there were virtually no medieval women writers. "Everyone knew" that women couldn't read and the Church didn't allow them to write. But the feminist revolution changed all that, as dozens of women writers were rediscovered, edited, and translated. In this seminar we will read some of the most accomplished, representing a variety of genres and linguistic traditions: Hildegard of Bingen, Christina of Markyate, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, Catherine of Siena, Julian of Norwich, and Margery Kempe. The genres in question include visionary theology, hagiography (and autohagiography), letters, liturgical song, and theological dialogue, along with a selection of critical and historical essays. Issues to be explored will include the nature of "authorship" and "authority" as applied to women, their tendency to expand or even explode the conventions of genre, the roles of male hagiographers and scribes, and sanctity vis-a-vis heresy.

Requirements: regular attendance and participation; one oral presentation (10 min.) based on a short paper; term paper of 12-15 pp., with a bibliography of at least 10 items.