12852 - History of Christendom (1)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Docente: Andrea Annese
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: M-STO/07
  • Language: Italian

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will know the essential characteristics of the religious and institutional history of the Western Christian Churches during the 16th-20th centuries focusing on the fundamentals. They will know the main agents and structures which, in this span of time, have created both events and phenomena. They will be able to describe and illustrate the various features of religion encountering cultures (links, hybridization, conflict), using specific instances. They will also have learnt to listen, understand and debate respectfully with different cultures and viewpoints, spotting the tie-ups among different disciplines.

Course contents

The course aims to provide an introduction to the history of Christian origins, with a focus on the first two centuries, showing their dynamic and multifaceted character and the relationships of Christianity with its diverse historical and geographical contexts. Through the study of the texts and the historical events that emerge from them, we will reconstruct the transition from the activity of Jesus to the transmission and reinterpretation of his words and deeds made, in different ways, by the various groups of his followers, to show the processes that, towards the end of the second century CE, mark a turning point, representing the basis of the so-called “proto-orthodoxy.” The course will provide some fundamental methodological coordinates for the study of the history of Christianity.

Topics will include the definition of the historical relationship between Christianity and Judaism; how to set a historical approach to the Christian religious phenomenon; how to approach the analysis of the gospels, apocalypses, and other early Christian texts; how the New Testament canon arose; what the “apocrypha” are; how and when the distinction between “heresy” and “orthodoxy” arose; and the origin and nature of Gnosticism.

The first module (6 credits) will illustrate the abovementioned contents through an overview of the history and the fundamental texts of early Christianity, presenting its doctrines and practices.

Students who intend to take the 12-credits exam will also attend the second module, in which the contents of the first one will be deepened by focusing on a wider selection of texts that will be read and commented. The second module, after a part consisting of traditional lectures (12 hours), will be more seminar/workshop-oriented (18 hours), stimulating the active participation of students, in ways that will be clarified by the teacher at the beginning of the module (also depending on the number of attendees). Among the texts that will be dealt with in a more analytical way there will be the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Apocryphon of John.

Non-attending students will follow the directions provided below, Readings/Bibliography.

Readings/Bibliography

I) 6-credits exam:

1) A. Annese, F. Berno, M. Fallica, M. Mantovani, Le origini cristiane. Testi e autori (secoli I-II), Carocci, Roma 2021 (in its entirety).

2) E. Prinzivalli (ed.), Storia del cristianesimo. I. L’età antica (secoli I-VII), Carocci, Roma 2015 (or reprints), only pp. 15-218.

Non-attending students will add:

1) E. Norelli, La nascita del cristianesimo, il Mulino, Bologna 2014.

2) M. Pesce, La storia delle origini cristiane come disciplina pienamente storica. Un processo dialettico, chapt. 1 in M. Pesce, Gesù e i suoi seguaci. Identità e differenze, Morcelliana, Brescia 2020, pp. 25-42.

 

II) 12-credits exam:

1) A. Annese, F. Berno, M. Fallica, M. Mantovani, Le origini cristiane. Testi e autori (secoli I-II), Carocci, Roma 2021 (in its entirety).

2) E. Prinzivalli (ed.), Storia del cristianesimo. I. L’età antica (secoli I-VII), Carocci, Roma 2015 (or reprints), only pp. 15-218.

3) A. Destro, M. Pesce, Il racconto e la Scrittura. Introduzione alla lettura dei vangeli, Carocci, Roma 2014.

4) Analysis of early Christian sources (selected passages) specified in class.

Non-attending students will study the texts 1-3 and will add:

1) E. Norelli, La nascita del cristianesimo, il Mulino, Bologna 2014.

2) M. Pesce, La storia delle origini cristiane come disciplina pienamente storica. Un processo dialettico, chapt. 1 in M. Pesce, Gesù e i suoi seguaci. Identità e differenze, Morcelliana, Brescia 2020, pp. 25-42.

3) One volume of their choice from the following list:

- A. Annese, Il Vangelo di Tommaso. Introduzione storico-critica, Carocci, Roma 2019.

- F. Berno, L’Apocrifo di Giovanni. Introduzione storico-critica, Carocci, Roma 2019.

- C. Gianotto, I vangeli apocrifi. Un’altra immagine di Gesù, il Mulino, Bologna 2018.

- Ch. Markschies, La gnosi, Claudiana, Torino 2019.

 

It is strongly recommended for every student (attending or not, for 6 or 12 credits) to be equipped with a Bible (or at least a New Testament) in Italian translation, in paper or digital format. Any modern translation you already have is fine; for those who do not already have one, we recommend the Bibbia di Gerusalemme (EDB) or the Bibbia Tabor (Ed. San Paolo).

 

III) Here is a selection of (non-obligatory) texts which are helpful for further study:

- R. Aguirre, Dal movimento di Gesù alla Chiesa cristiana, Borla, Roma 2005.

- B.D. Ehrman, Gesù non l’ha mai detto. Millecinquecento anni di errori e manipolazioni nella traduzione dei vangeli, Mondadori, Milano 2007.

- H.Y. Gamble, Libri e lettori nella chiesa antica. Storia dei primi testi cristiani, Paideia, Brescia 2006.

- S.A. Harvey, D.G. Hunter (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, Oxford UP, Oxford – New York 2008.

- H. Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels: Their History and Development, SCM, London 1990.

- G. Lettieri, Fiat Verbum, Fiat Lux. Il Prologo giovanneo come ritrattazione protologica del battesimo di Gesù e presentazione dell’incarnazione al Giordano, in S. Lavecchia (ed.), Immagini della luce. Dimensioni di una metafora assoluta, Mimesis, Milano – Udine 2019, pp. 123-249.

- C. Moreschini, E. Norelli, Storia della letteratura cristiana antica greca e latina. I. Da Paolo all’età costantiniana. Nuova edizione riveduta e ampliata, Morcelliana, Brescia 2019.

- R. Penna (ed.), Le origini del cristianesimo. Una guida, Terza ed., Carocci, Roma 2018.

- M. Pesce, Da Gesù al cristianesimo, Morcelliana, Brescia 2011.

- G. Rinaldi, Cristianesimi nell’antichità. Sviluppi storici e contesti geografici (Secoli I-VIII), GBU, Chieti – Roma 2008.

- M. Simonetti (ed.), Testi gnostici in lingua greca e latina, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla – Arnoldo Mondadori, Milano 1993.

Teaching methods

Taught class; reading and commentary of sources; support of images and PowerPoint presentations (with maps, reproductions of manuscripts, etc.). During the second module, a seminar activity will also take place (oral exercises and/or reports on some specific issues or sources, according to modalities which will be communicated in due time).

The first part of the course will be held online (via Microsoft Teams). Please check often the “News” section on the teacher’s website for information on dates, times, and classroom for the lessons that will be held in-person, as well as for further details or changes.

Assessment methods

Oral exam based on the subjects of the course and the books required. Students will be examined on their command of the specific vocabulary; on their knowledge of the topics of the course; on their ability to present clearly what has been learned; on their degree of acquisition of the methodological skills necessary for the study of ancient Christianity, illustrated during the course; on their ability to analyze problems and sources. Final Grade:

- knowledge of a very limited number of topics covered in the course, analytical skills that emerge only with the help of the teacher, poor command of vocabulary, poor clarity of exposition, methodological principles acquired in a barely sufficient way: grade 18-19;

- knowledge of a limited number of topics covered in the course, capacity for independent analysis little more than sufficient, sufficient command of vocabulary, fair clarity of exposition, methodological principles acquired at a fair level: grade 20-24;

- knowledge of a large number of topics covered in the course, ability to make independent choices of critical analysis, good command of specific terminology, good clarity of exposition, good competence in the methodological principles of the discipline: grade 25-29;

- very thorough knowledge of the topics covered in the course, excellent ability to make autonomous choices of critical analysis and logical connection, full command of specific terminology and excellent argumentation skills, high familiarity with the methodological principles of the discipline: grade 30-30L.

Teaching tools

Images, PowerPoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Annese

SDGs

Quality education Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.