Spirituality and Nature in the Late Middle Ages
RELI 473
Spring 2007
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
MDST 373 |
In pre-modern Europe the Book of Nature of believed to be a supplement to God's Book of Scripture, a supplement available to everyone, even the underprivileged and illiterate. This course will examine a variety of medieval constructions of nature as reflective of the word of God, of landscape as a sacred language. We will begin in the fifth century with Augustine's first articulation of nature as God's book and end in the 15th Century with European encounters with the New World, which catalyzed a schism between nature and God's word. This course is situated within contemporary developments in ecocriticism, the theoretical movement examining cultural constructions of nature in their social, religious and political contexts. As such, we will juxtapose primary source readings from the Middle Ages with modern formulations of the experiential and spiritual aspects of nature. The medieval Book of Nature and its modern resonances will allow us to explore a variety of themes including: analogies between natural and social order, whether one can know an objective nature apart from human values, the relationship between nature and nation, and nature's authority as a standard of goodness, beauty of justice. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Speaking, Writing |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (RELI) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Aristotle, PHYSICS
Plato, GORGIAS
Augustine of Hippo, THE CITY OF GOD
Kate Soper, FEMINISM, ECOSOCIALISM AND THE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF NATURE
Verena Conley, ECOPOLITICS: THE ENVIRONMENT IN POSTSTRUCTURALIST THOUGHT
Caroline Walker Bynum, METAMORPHOSIS AND IDENTITY
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Examinations and Assignments:
This course fulfills the Religion in Society requirement for the Religion major. |
| Instructor(s): Ritchey,Sara Margaret Times: ..T.R.. 02:40PM-04:00PM; Location: FISK115; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 20 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 6 | | |
| Seats Available: 14 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 7 | SO: 5 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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