The Devil in Western Civilization

Catalog description

This course takes an interdisciplinary look at how the Devil has been thought of and portrayed over time, from the Bronze Age Middle East to the present. Students will examine, analyze, and discuss media as diverse as poetry, drama, theology, the visual arts, popular music, and film. Lectures and readings will provide the historical background that will enable students to analyze divergent explanations for the shifting portrayals of this exceedingly durable character in the Western historical imagination.