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Academic Year 2000/2001


The Promised End: Millenium & Apocalypse
COL 308 FA

Clusters:
Christian Studies

An examination of selected millenarian and apocalyptic responses to radical shifts in demography, religion and political structure after the outbreak of the Black Death, the Protestant Reformation and the English Civil War, three critical periods in the formation of the modern world. We will study how new forms of engagement with society and new forms of withdrawal from it sought either to foster radical change in others or to preserve the integrity of the individual in the face of a world that appeared irredeemably lost. The relationships between religious and political radicalism, utopian speculation and pragmatic reform, nostalgic restoration and progressive rationalism will be explored.

MAJOR READINGS

William Langland, PIERCE PLOWMAN; Machiavelli, THE PRINCE; Erasmus, PRAISE OF FOLLY; William Shakespeare, KING LEAR; and other works.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Three papers (4-5 pages).

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA COL    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001


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