Popes, Paupers, and Heretics: The Christian Church in the Middle Ages.

Catalog description

The Christian church was one of the most important forces in the shaping of medieval Europe. This course will allow students to study the medieval church from a variety of perspectives. Topics covered will include rise of the Papacy, the develoment of monasticism, the office of the bishop, lay, piety, religious literature, and the codification of canon law and religious dogma. Students will learn that, far from the monolithic institution so often caricatured in later accounts, the medieval church was a vibrant institution, rife with internal arguments and tensions.