HIST 359 Medieval Christianities
This course, intended for advanced history undergraduates, examines the diverse and often fraught religious lives of medieval Christians, focusing on the later middle ages. As its name suggests, it emphasizes the plurality of religious expressions, from the liturgical variations between the pre-Tridentine rites to the flowering of new religious movements. Integrating a wide variety of primary sources, it also teaches the historiography associated with Herbert Grundmann, whose scholarship is at the heart of the course's concept of "Christianities." By the end, students will have been exposed to a range of thought-provoking topics which complicate the idea of a unified medieval Christendom and promote informed and responsible thinking about the vibrant religious practice of the middle ages.