RLB247 Christians and the Others in the Middle Ages

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2008
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jana Valtrová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Dušan Lužný, Dr.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Lucie Čelková
Timetable
Thu 11:40–13:15 zruseno D51
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course is focused on interreligious relations in medieval Europe, especially on the attitude of Latin Christians towards Judaism, Islam and religions of Asia. The course comprises both levels - theoretical basis on which these relationships were formed, as well as particular examples of actual encounters. At the end of this course, students should be able: to reflect various levels of inter-religious encounters; to classify different sources and records about the "Others"; to understand terminology and typology of Non-Christians as created by medieval Christians; to criticaly use records about these "Others"; to explain and argue particular historical positions and opinions of Latin Christians on the "Others"; to distinguish between contemporary and medieval concepts of "tolerance", "identity" and "otherness".
Syllabus
  • 0. Introductory lecture; 1. Medieval imago mundi and the nations on its outskirts; 2. Foundations of the attitudes of Latin Christians towars Non-Christians, terminology and typology; 3. Transformations of these attitudes towards Non-Christians, legal prescriptions and the consequences of the Crusades; 4. Christians and muslims I - Chrsitian critique of Islam, knowledge of oriental languages and translations of the Quran, Peter Venerabilis, Raymundus Lullus; 5. Christians and muslims II - Iberean peninsula, the image of muslims in chansons de geste; 6. Christians and Jews - images of Jews in medieval fine art, stereotypes and thier origins; 7. Latin Christians and the Eastern Christianity - Nestorians and Indian Christians; 8. Christians and Non-Christians in Asia; 9. Medieval concepts of "othernes", "tolerance" and "identity"; 10. Students presentations; 11. Students presentations; 12. Students presentations, final discussion.
Literature
  • MENDEL, Miloš, Bronislav OSTŘANSKÝ and Tomáš RATAJ. Islám v srdci Evropy : vlivy islámské civilizace na dějiny a současnost českých zemí. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 2007, 499 s. ISBN 9788020015549. info
  • Medieval christian perceptions of Islam. Edited by John Victor Tolan. 1st pbk. ed. New York: Routledge, 2000, xxi, 414. ISBN 0415928923. info
  • Text and territory : geographical imagination in the European middle ages. Edited by Sylvia Tomasch - Sealy Gilles. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998, vi, 330. ISBN 0812216350. info
  • HIGGINS, Iain Macleod. Writing East : the "travels" of Sir John Mandeville. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997, ix, 335. ISBN 0812233433. info
  • STOW, Kenneth R. Alienated minority : the Jews of medieval Latin Europe. 1st pbk. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994, 346 s. ISBN 0674015932. info
Assessment methods
Contents of the semester:
Lectures, class discussions, student presentations.
Requirements:
(a) active participation in seminars;
(b) written commentaries to given texts;
(c) presentation of a seminar work and its written form.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo religionistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučující.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2015, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2008, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2008/RLB247