Winter 2018/Pasadena

TC562/862

Dyrness

 

TC562/862: DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY IN THE CONTEXT OF MEDIEVAL ART AND THEOLOGY (4 Units: 170 Hours; 6 Units: 385 Hours).  William Dyrness.

                                                                             

 

DESCRIPTION:  This is a 4-unit seminar for master’s students, also offered at the 800-level as a 6-unit course open to a limited number of PhD level students (course limit including doctoral students is 20). The seminar will read Dante’s Divine Comedy and explore its relation to fourteenth- and fifteenth-century art and theology. Student preparation and discussion will focus critical attention on the themes and characteristics of Dante’s work as an expression of the medieval figural imagination and its consequent understanding of theology.

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES:  Upon successful completion of the course students will (1) have a broad understanding of the development of medieval theology as this is reflected in the Divine Comedy; (2) be familiar with the role of the Divine Comedy in the development of medieval art and culture; (3) understand the role of Dante in medieval spirituality and the role of the liturgy reflected there more generally; and (4) understand the continuing influence both of Dante and the Divine Comedy up to the present.

 

COURSE FORMAT:  This class meets once per week for three-hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours. Each week students will read sections of the Comedy. After discussion of that section students (perhaps a doctoral student paired with a master’s level student) will consider a text from that section of the Comedy in its relation to some theological theme or work (or works) of visual art.

 

REQUIRED READING:  1,200 pp. of required reading.

Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. Knopf, 1995. ISBN: 978-0679433132, Pub. Price $26.00 [798 pp.].

Hawkins, Peter S. Dante’s Testaments: Essays in Scriptural Imagination. Stanford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 978-0804737012, Pub. Price $29.95 [150 pp.].

Jacoff, Rachel, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Dante. Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0521605816, Pub. Price $35.99 [250 pp.].

 

RECOMMENDED READING:

See syllabus for recommended texts.

 

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT: 

1. 1,200 pp. of required reading [80 hours].
2. Watch at least two videos on YouTube of contemporary versions of the Comedy [This assignment is related to learning outcome #4] [10 hours].
3. In addition to reading the Comedy and taking part in the weekly discussions, students will give two presentations on sections of the work (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 3] [10 hours].
4. Write an 18-20 pp. research paper on a portion of the Comedy in relation to a theme in medieval art or theology (80%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2, 3] [40 hours].
5. TC 862 students in addition will meet one additional hour per week [total of 40 hours]; write a

paper of 25-30 pages [50 hours]; make three presentations in class and lead two class sessions in

which master’s level students present; and be responsible for an additional 1,200 pages of reading [160 hours].

 

PREREQUISITES:  Doctoral level students and audits by permission of the instructor.

 

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH5 requirement in the 120 MDiv Program.

 

FINAL EXAMINATION:  None.