LDST 390-07 and RELG 393-02 Fall 2008 Emperors, Bishops, & Martyrs Peter Iver Kaufman [email protected] LDST 390 considers the efforts of political leaders to annex a new religious faith to their disintegrating empire and efforts of religious leaders to annex government to their religious faith or, to be precise, to find room for political calculations in their religious thought and practice. What follows gives you a week-by-week description: what we’ll read and discuss, what you’ll write, and why. More specific explanations of your “if absent” assignments and the grading for the course follow the schedule. And a series of paper topics with starter-bibliographies brings up the rear. August 27th We begin at the end or--to be precise--with what some contemporaries perceived to be the end--the so-called “fall” of Rome and disintegration of the western empire. Each weekly session starts with a conversation about assigned reading. The assumption is that fatigue will only become a factor as the afternoon makes its turn towards evening. As that occurs, I’ll do more of the talking and try to set the following week’s assignment in a context (historical or historiographical) that will enliven your encounter with the material assigned. Hence, today we have an abbreviated session (you’ve no assignment to discuss) so we can get acquainted, share your initial impressions of the Roman Empire--its extent, decline, and “fall”--probe the differences between “historical” and “historiographical,” before recreating the crisis of 410. If absent, work your definition of “civilization” into and through the account of the fifth-century calamities offered by Ward-Perkins, and tell me whether what you’ve defined did indeed “end” at that time. September 3rd Please read Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization and spend time with the maps--the hardback has them on the inside cover; if the paperback doesn’t, get an historical atlas to scout out the Mediterranean world from roughly 310 to 500. We’ll check on the meaning of the word “civilization,” so come with some preconceived notions. If you randomly grabbed a few specimens from the herd of historians of late antiquity, you’d get responses to the “crisis” of the early fifth century that range from indifference (as if nothing of major consequence occurred) to shock (as if “civilization” ended). His subtitle tells you where Ward-Perkins settles. You’ll tell me how he makes his case and whether he does so to your satisfaction--when we open our session. No need to write for submission (unless you were absent last week), but you may want to scribble a few notes 1to yourself in addition to whatever file card is assigned. Your colleagues might appreciate the coherence that comes with preparation. Note the differences between developments in the eastern and western parts of the empire. So how might such differences be explained? If absent, consult the discussion of Salvian and Orosius in Kaufman’s Redeeming Politics (on reserve), and compare the assessments there with the shorter ones included in Ward-Perkins. Conclude your essay with a half-page outline of the chapter that you’d add to The Fall of Rome and devote to an elaboration of the responses of Augustine, Salvian, and Orosius. September 10th Today we stay close the end of our story and read contemporaries’ evaluations of same. You’ll find Augustine’s sermon on the sack of Rome in Atkins and Dodaro, Augustine, Political Writings, pp. 205-14. Augustine, a prominent and prolific African bishop was trafficking in consolations at that time (390s to 430). But Salvian of Marseilles approaches the crisis very differently. You’ll find him--books 4 thru 7 of his On the Government of God--on reserve in the library. If absent, ponder not the “fall” or disintegration of the empire, but ponder what held it together for so long. Do so by commenting on the first two chapters of Lendon’s Empire of Honor (on reserve) September 17th We’ll spend time in the second century with a philosophical emperor and a rather frantic bishop. Please read The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Smyrnaeans (on reserve). Our conversation will touch on the similarities and differences between Stoicism and Christianity. You’ll be asked to come up with a word that describes the tone of the Meditations and one that captures the tone of the bishop’s letter. Prepare by asking whether and how “grief” is (in)adequate for the first and “aggrieved” for the second. If absent. One could argue that Ignatius of Antioch’s early efforts to centralize authority in the church--at least locally or regionally--responded to a crisis in the early Christian ministry. Evaluate that argument by returning to one of two documents used often to depict that “crisis,” either the Book of Acts in the New Testament (translation, your choice) or The Didache (on reserve). September 24th Please begin by reading Ramsay MacMullen’s Christianizing the Roman Empire, A.D. 100-400, then sail thru the first five chapters of Averil Cameron’s The Later Roman Empire. Two of those chapters bear the title “new empire.” What’s new? If absent. MacMullen mentions the “restless and imperious ambition” of Bishop Ambrose of Milan. Indeed, nearly every effort to fathom Ambrose’s leadership style and strategies--as well as his objectives--identifies rather than resolves a raft of problems. He 2was “ambitious,” but for himself, as well as for the church? Was he playing defense as often as, or more often than, defense? Neil McLynn’s striking biography (on reserve) puts Ambrose in control, fashioning his image. Read what McLynn has to say about Ambrose’s election and about the basilica crisis, compare that to what Kaufman says (Church, Book, and Bishop, on reserve), then take sides. October 1st Please read Peter Brown’s Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity. All the talk about a comprehensive “conversion” of the Roman Empire to Christianity during the fourth century, as MacMullen informed us, needs to be qualified, notwithstanding the difficulties encountered by Emperor Julian (as you’ll see) when he tried to revive pagan rituals. Paganism, nonetheless, hangs on. But perhaps we can talk about a “conversion” of a different sort in the fourth