Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An advanced examination of the complex history and patterns of the Religious Reformation in sixteenth century Europe. Emphasis will be placed on the religious thought of the period, and on its social and political context.

COURSE DETAILS:

The European Reformation brought about profound religious changes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. What effect did these changes have on European culture and society? To answer this question we shall begin with a close analysis of Diarmaid MacCulloch’s magisterial synthesis of Reformation history.  In our study of this history in the first part of the course, we shall consider two large questions:

(1) Does it make sense to think of several Reformations, or should historians view the Reformation as a coherent movement with a common agenda? (2) Is the term “Counter-Reformation” an appropriate way of labeling Catholicism in the Reformation era?  In the second part of the course, we shall consider the various ways in which historians have responded to a central question in Reformation scholarship over the past thirty years: (3) Was the Reformation a success or a failure?

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

The lectures, tutorials, and course requirements of History 320 will help you achieve the educational goals of undergraduate courses in the Department of History.  In particular, by the end of the course you will be able

• to identify and explain the principal historical developments of the European Reformation

• to address large historical questions about the Reformation
• to assess arguments about the success and failure of the European Reformation through an analysis of relevant secondary sources

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: