28953 - Ancient Christian Literature (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows the processes of Christian literary production and its evolution from the 1st century to the 8th. The student can discuss single authors and their writings, their relationships to the classics, their medieval and modern legacies, and the importance of Syriac and Coptic textual transmission in the Christian Orient.

Course contents

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). Reflections on Christ between the 3rd and 5th centuries

In the Gospel episode cited in the title, after enquiring what people thought of him, Jesus asked the Twelve for their opinion, and Peter, recognising him as the Christ, declared him to be the Messiah. In the centuries that followed, reflections on Jesus as the Messiah (= Christ) developed along ever-changing, tortuous and sometimes opposing paths. Through the study of selected passages from the most significant Christian writings of the 2^nd to 5^th centuries, this course aims to shed light on some of these paths leading to the formation of a ‘Christological doctrine’. From the earliest outlines of a reflection on Christ as the Logos with Justin, through to Augustine’s mature synthesis, via Origen’s bold speculations and the fierce debates of the 4th century, the course will outline some of the various portrayals of Christ—whether ‘orthodox’ or ‘heretical’—which were only systematically defined in the subsequent dogmatic elaborations of the 5th century.

The course will be structured as follows

• 10 hours: Christ as Logos, Ratio and Son of God: Justin, Tertullian and Origen
• 10 hours: The relationship between the Father and the Son between the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople: Arius and Athanasius
• 10 hours: The syntheses on Christ by Basil of Caesarea and Augustine of Hippo

Readings/Bibliography

Texts

The texts, in their original languages and in Italian translation, will be uploaded to Virtuale.

A useful selection can be found in the following volumes published by the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla:

Il Cristo, vol. 1: Testi teologici e spirituali dal I al IV secolo, a c. di A. Orbe – M. Simonetti, Milano 1990³ (texts from Justin, Origen, Tertullian)

Il Cristo, vol. 2: Testi teologici e spirituali in lingua greca dal IV al VII secolo, a c. di M. Simonetti, Milano 1986 (texts from Arius, Athanasius and the Creeds)

Il Cristo, vol. 3: Testi teologici e spirituali in lingua latina da Agostino ad Anselmo di Canterbury, a c. di C. Leonardi, Milano 1989 (texts from Augustine)

Bibliography

Monographs

E. Prinzivalli – M. Simonetti, La teologia degli antichi cristiani (secoli I-V), Brescia 2012 (cap. 5-9)

B. E. Daley, Un Dio visibile. Ripensare la cristologia patristica, Brescia 2021 (cap. 3-6) [or. ed. God Visible: Patristic Christology Reconsidered, Oxfrod 2018]

 

Studies

On individual authors, it is worth consulting the profiles found in:

Gesù Cristo nei Padri della Chiesa (I-III sec.), Dizionario di Spiritualità Biblico-Patristica 24, Roma 2000 [on the Apologists, Tertullian, Origen]

Gesù Cristo nei Padri della Chiesa (IV-V sec.), Dizionario di Spiritualità Biblico-Patristica 25, Roma 2000 [on Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers, Augustine]

Additional specific reading lists will be provided in class

Teaching methods

Lectures; analysis of literary texts; use of bibliographic and electronic databases.

Assessment methods

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

In the current academic year, exam sessions are scheduled about a month and a half apart.

Oral exam:

a) The students who attend lessons will be able

• to read and translate the text discussed during the lessons in the Greek / Latin original (required for students of Classics). The students not belonging to the course of Classics will read the text in an italian (or english) translation (see Bibliography, Texts)
• to outline the literary developement of Christology within early Christianity, also with the help of one of the monographs and one contribution of your choice from among those listed above (see Bibliography, Monographs and Studies).

b) The students who cannot attend lessons will study the same program as the students who attend lessons; they will replace lesson notes with two additional readings to be agreed upon with the professor.

Skills will be assessed according to the following guidelines:
- failing grade (< 18): inability to translate short sections from the Greek/Latin texts discussed during the lessons (exclusively required of LM15 students); inability to provide a correct interpretation of the texts or, as for non-attending students, to comment on the critical essays of their choice.
- passing grade (between 18 and 24): elementary ability to translate short sections from the Greek/Latin texts discussed during the lessons (exclusively required of LM15 students); inaccuracy and lack of autonomy in providing a correct interpretation of the texts or, as for non-attending students, in commenting on critical essays of their choice.
- positive grade (between 24 and 30): good comprehension of the grammatical and syntactical structures of the Greek/Latin texts discussed during the lessons (exclusively required of LM15 students); interpretation of the texts is correct, but mostly superficial and not entirely autonomous; as for non-attending students, the critical essays of their choice are cursorily commented upon.
- excellent grade (30L): in-depth knowledge of the grammatical and syntactical structures of the Greek/Latin texts discussed during the lessons (exclusively required of LM15 students); precision and full autonomy in interpreting, contextualizing and critically comparing the texts; as for non-attending students, critical discussion of the essays of their choice is detailed and deep-ranging.

Teaching tools

Computer and projector; bibliographic and electronic databases; fotocopies; texts and segments of texts in PDF format uploaded by the teacher as teaching materials (downloadable from https://virtuale.unibo.it ).

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Villani