Cultures of Devotion in Renaissance Italy (12 points)
(ARTS)
Leader: Peter Howard
Offered:
Not offered in 2004.
Synopsis:
Objectives: Upon successful completion of this unit students will: 1. Have acquired an understanding of the nature of Christianity as the matrix of experience in the Italian Renaissance city. 2. Have acquired an understanding of the variety within that experience. 3. Be critically conversant with the conceptual and analytical issues relating to the term 'popular'. 4. Have worked with the conceptual complexities of 'religious culture'. 5. Understand the nature of, and the religious and the social function of, devotion and devotional space. 6. Have examined the Renaissance understanding of the nature of the natural order, sign and symbol, language and power. 7. Understand the impact of the return 'to sources' which was part of the humanist agenda. 8. Will have engaged the inter-relationship between the material world (piazza, building; representation) and the aesthetic, spiritual and religious activities of Renaissance Italians. 9. Have developed a capacity to analyse the processes which underpinned the construction of devotional and theological texts. 10. Will have developed the capacity to detect the resonances of language and code embedded in particular texts and their relationship to social context. 11. Will be able to engage in critical discussion of texts in relation to the urban context of Italian Renaissance Society. 12. Will be able to engage in critical discussion of texts in relation to the urban context of Italian Renaissance Society. Students taking the subject at Level 5 have the additional objectives of acquiring a greater degree of analytical skills and a greater understanding of the key conceptual and methodological issues involved in using different kinds of literary and historical works in the context of social history.
Assessment: Research essay (6000 words): 60% + Critical journal (2000 words): 20% + Seminar presentation (1000 words): 20% + Students taking the subject at Level 5 will be expected to demonstrate more sophisticated analytical skills and submit work incorporating a higher level of competence in independent reading and research.
Contact Hours: 2 hours per week
Prerequisites: A History or RLT Major
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