28271 - History of Churches and Religious Movements

Academic Year 2022/2023

  • Docente: Andrea Annese
  • Credits: 12
  • SSD: M-STO/07
  • Language: Italian

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student knows the sources and historical evolution of the churches as well as the contribution of Christianity to the history of cultures and the history of relations with other religions. He/she is also introduced to the application of the historical method and to its relations with other methodologies (especially with regard to the social sciences), in relation to religious history.

Course contents

The 6 cfu course coincides with the First Module (for the MA in History and Oriental Studies) or with the Second Module (for the MA in Italian Culture and Language for Foreigners). The 12 cfu course includes both the First and the Second Module.

 

First Module (Andrea Annese)

Christian Gnosticism in Antiquity

The complex and multiform phenomenon that, by applying a modern category, is commonly named “Gnosticism” is one of the most important and influential religious movements (or range of movements) of Late Antiquity. Its impact goes from the ancient metamorphoses of “Gnosis” to the modern literature, philosophy, and cinema. The category “Gnosticism” includes several trends and groups with distinctive doctrines and practices, but which can be grouped in considering a series of common characteristics. The course mainly aims to illustrate the Christian Gnosticism which flourished between the 2nd and the 3rd centuries CE, a sophisticated reinterpretation of Jewish, early Christian, philosophical Greek and (in some cases) Egyptian sources or traditions, which was soon considered “heretical” by the mainstream Christianity of that time.

The course will start with a methodological introduction to the definition of “Gnosticism” and will illustrate, with references to the history of studies, the different theories on the nature and origin of this religious phenomenon (starting with the quest of its Christian or extra-Christian origin). Then the main extant sources (both direct and heresiological) will be presented, from the Greek and Latin sources to the Coptic codices found in Egypt (such as the Nag Hammadi manuscripts or the Askew Codex). Finally, a selection of sources will be examined to provide an overview of the history, doctrines, and practices of some major Christian Gnostic currents; this will also help to understand the reason for their influence over more than fifteen centuries.

The course will start on January 30, 2023.

 

Second Module (Davide Dainese)

Constantine as theological-political paradigm

The module aims to illustrate several features of the use of the figure and myth of the first Christian emperor from Late antiquity to Contemporary age. More specifically, in light of recent historiographic production, it will examine the thesis of M. Scattola, Teologia politica, Bologna 2007. Other issues will also be studied, especially the problem of tolerance to the question of confessional/religious pluralism.

The following topics will be examined throughout the lessons:

  • The myth of Constantine in Antiquity: Eusebius of Caesarea and the Actus Sylvestri
  • Constantine before and after the Reformation
  • Religious tolerance and intolerance
  • Constantine in the contemporary age: art, theology, cinema.

Readings/Bibliography

First Module

I) Exam bibliography:

1) Ch. Markschies, La gnosi, Claudiana, Torino 2019.

2) N. Denzey Lewis, I manoscritti di Nag Hammadi. Una biblioteca gnostica del IV secolo, Carocci, Roma 2019.

3) Selection of ancient sources analyzed during the course. For the Greek and Latin sources, the Italian translations in M. Simonetti (ed.), Testi gnostici in lingua greca e latina, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla – Arnoldo Mondadori, Milano 1993, will be used (selected passages); for the Apocryphon of John, the translation in F. Berno, L’Apocrifo di Giovanni. Introduzione storico-critica, Carocci, Roma 2019, pp. 129-146 and notes (pp. 157-158); for the other sources, the teacher will provide students with a dossier of texts. See the pdf file "Corso gnosticismo" on the Virtuale platform for the detailed list of the ancient sources to be studied for the exam. In case of difficulty to access the platform, please email the teacher.

Non-attending students will add:

1) 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, only pp. 249-267 and 326-364 (on Gnostic texts and groups).

2) G. Lettieri, Della patologia del pensiero: note su Plotino e gli gnostici, in P. Vitellaro Zuccarello (ed.), Gnosi. Nostalgia della luce, Mimesis, Milano – Udine 2012, pp. 31-51 [available online @ academia.edu].

3) A. Annese, Il Dialogo del Salvatore (NHC III,5) e la “costellazione giovannista”, in M. Rescio et al. (ed.), Non uno itinere. Ebraismi cristianesimi modernità. Studi in onore di Mauro Pesce in occasione del suo ottantesimo compleanno, “Humanitas”, 76, Suppl. n. 1, 2021, pp. 248-256 [available online @ academia.edu].

4) C. Gianotto, L’uso dei vangeli canonizzati in uno scritto gnostico tardivo: Pistis Sophia, in E. Crégheur et al. (éds.), Christianisme des origines. Mélanges en l’honneur du Professeur Paul-Hubert Poirier, Brepols, Turnhout 2018, pp. 199-215.

N.B. As for the selection of ancient sources, non-attending students will study the same dossier of texts as attending students: the Apocryphon of John and a selection of passages from both the anthology edited by M. Simonetti and other sources (the latter ones will be made available by the teacher on Virtuale). Those who cannot attend are advised to pay special attention to Simonetti’s commentary notes, as a valuable companion to their individual reading of those sources. 

See the pdf file "Corso gnosticismo" on the Virtuale platform for the detailed list of the ancient sources to be studied for the exam. In case of difficulty to access the platform, please email the teacher.


 

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

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

- F. Berno, Il libro aperto. Indagine sulla ricezione valentiniana della “tradizione letteraria enochica”, Morcelliana, Brescia 2018.

- D.M. Burns, Gnosticism, Gnostics, and Gnosis, in G.W. Trompf, G.B. Mikkelsen, J. Johnston (eds.), The Gnostic World, Routledge, London – New York 2019, pp. 9-25.

- A. Camplani, Sulla trasmissione di testi gnostici in copto, in Id. (ed.), L’Egitto cristiano. Aspetti e problemi in età tardo-antica, Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, Roma 1997.

- A.D. DeConick, The Gnostic New Age. How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion from Antiquity to Today, Columbia UP, New York 2016.

- B. Layton, D. Brakke, The Gnostic Scriptures. Second Edition, Yale UP, New Haven – London 2021.

- M. Meyer (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, HarperCollins, New York 2007.

- K. Rudolph, La gnosi. Natura e storia di una religione tardoantica, Paideia, Brescia 1990.

- D. Tripaldi, Dio e gli dèi: tracce di teogonia egiziana nell’Apocrifo di Giovanni?, in “Adamantius”, 18, 2012, pp. 83-107.

 

Second Module

Attending students shall study:

  • One text chosen from:

    Eusebio di Cesarea, Elogio di Costantino. Discorso per il trentennale. Discorso Regale, ed. M. Amerise, Milan 2005.

    Eusebio di Cesarea, Vita di Costantino, ed L. Franco, Milano (any available edition).

    T. Canella, Gli Actus Silvestri : genesi di una leggenda su Costantino imperatore, Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull’alto Medioevo, Spoleto 2006.

  • 2 essays of choice from the following miscellaneous volumes:

    A. Melloni – E. Prinzivalli – S. Ronchey (ed), Costantino 1. Enciclopedia costantiniana sulla figura e l'immagine dell'imperatore del cosiddetto Editto di Milano 313-2013, Rome 2013, voll. I e II

    T. Canella, L’impero Costantiniano e i luoghi sacri, Bologna 2016.

  • 2 essays of choice in:

    A. Melloni – E. Prinzivalli – S. Ronchey (ed), Costantino 1. Enciclopedia costantiniana sulla figura e l'immagine dell'imperatore del cosiddetto Editto di Milano 313-2013, Rome 2013, voll. III

  • One text chosen from M. Scattola, Teologia politica, Bologna 2007 and M. Rizzi, Cesare e Dio. Potere spirituale e potere secolare in Occidente, Bologna 2009.

The only difference in the syllabus for non-attending students concerns the need to study all three of the books in the first section (that is, the monograph by T. Canella and the two works of Eusebius).

Teaching methods

Taught class; historical-critical analysis of sources; use of images and PowerPoint presentations (with maps, reproductions of manuscripts, etc.).

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

Transcripts and scans of sources (uploaded among the teaching materials on Virtuale); images, PowerPoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Annese

See the website of Davide Dainese

SDGs

Quality education Gender equality Reduced inequalities

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