Reading list:
Middle Ages:
Abelard: Dialogue: Dialogue – better and more complete translation
Hildegard of Bingen, background, illustrations
Hildegard: Divine Works; alternative link
Rudolf von Ems, Der guote Gerhart: Rudolf von Ems, Der guote Gerhart (an expression of tolerance in the Middle Ages)
Renaissance:
Boccaccio: Decameron, 1st day, stories 2-3, 10th day, story 9 (Jews, Christians, and Muslims)
Reformation:
Martin Luther: 95 Theses, and many others (Protestant Reformation)
Baroque:
Angelus Silesius (A Baroque Mystic)
Enlightenment:
Lessing: Lessing: Nathan the Wise (Enlightenment). Alternative link
19th century:
Friedrich Nietzsche, God is Dead (Anti-Enlightenment, “The Parable of the Madman”)
A selection of quotes by Nietzsche
Karl Marx, Tyler and Frazer, Sigmund Freud, Emil Durkheimer, et al.
We read on Marx and Engels, this text selection
20th century:
Karl Barth, The Humanity of God (Twentieth Century)
Alternative: excerpts
Declaration of Religious Freedom, Vatican II: Dignitatis
Online:
You must attend at least 10 out of 12 chatroom meetings, otherwise loss of points. Only 9 meetings: – minus 10 pts, only 8 meetings, – minus 20, only 7, – minus 30, only 6 – minus 50, only 5 meetings: you failed the course. Always read the assigned texts before our chatroom meetings.
Syllabus for the Online Course (Summer II 2019)
July 7: First day of class: Introduction, read the survey online Wikipedia (history of religion in Germany)
Then, take a look at some of the public statements published by representatives of Religious departments across the country:
Swarthmore: Why study religion?
UC Davis: https://religions.ucdavis.edu/about/why-study-religion
William A. Graham (Harvard): https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/articles/summerautumn2012/why-study-religion-twenty-first-century
July 8: 8 p.m (always the same time). chatroom meeting 1: please have read Emily Amt’s intro to the Middle Ages (we focus only on the religious aspects, so: history of the Christian church, Jews, Muslims)
July 10: chatroom meeting 2; Hildegard of Bingen, intro, and Divine Works
July 12: chatroom meeting 3: cont. Hildegard
July 15: chatroom meeting 4: Rudolf von Ems, The Good Gerhard (only pp. 29 to 40)
July 17: chatroom meeting 5; Rudolf von Ems, pp. 41-69
July 19: chatroom meeting 6; 1st essay due online 5 p.m.; Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther, 95 Theses (selection tba)
July 22: chatroom meeting 7; cont. with Martin Luther: 1. background, protest against the Church, Wycliffe and Hus, then the 95 theses
July 24: chatroom meeting 8; Angelus Silesius
July 28: chatroom meeting 9: Lessing, Acts 1-3
July 29: 2nd essay due online 5 p.m.; chatroom meeting 10: Lessing Acts 4-5
Aug. 01 (Thursday): chatroom meeting 11: Friedrich Nietzsche, “God is Dead””; Karl Marx
Aug. 04: I will hand out the questions for the final
Aug. 05: chatroom meeting 11; Sigmund Freud and Emil Durkheimer I think it will be enough if we focus on Barth only today. This is the last chat.
Aug. 06: Karl Barth, The Humanity of God (please read on your own)
Aug. 07: last day of class, final exam is due online: 12 p.m.; last meeting, we can meet in person, individually, or as a group, in my office, LSB 318
Possible Changes: The information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policies, may be subject to change with reasonable advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.