Topics
Special topics or new approaches of current interest to the instructor. This course counts as a 300-level history elective. Students may repeat the course for credit when the topic changes.
Outcomes: Students will gain familiarity with the topic; the ability to make connections between secondary and primary sources; and the capacity to think critically about the ways that historians have approached major issues.
20th Cent Cath Intel Revival
Special topics or new approaches of current interest to the instructor. This course counts as a 300-level history elective. Students may repeat the course for credit when the topic changes.
Outcomes: Students will gain familiarity with the topic; the ability to make connections between secondary and primary sources; and the capacity to think critically about the ways that historians have approached major issues.
This is a course in intellectual and cultural history. The course subject matter will be ideas and values produced by intellectuals, writers, filmmakers, and (time permitting) musicians who either were themselves Catholic or who were deeply influenced by Catholicism. The historical context is the 20th century: the 1920s post-WWI ¿Roaring Twenties,¿ the 1930s Great Depression (communitarianism vs. individualism), the 1940s Second World War and post-1945 Cold War (1950s existentialism and the Beats), and 1960s-1980s post-colonialist postmodernism. Materials to be considered will include novels by François Mauriac, Georges Bernanos, Graham Greene, and Sh¿saku End¿; short stories and essays by Flannery O¿Connor and Annie Dillard; poetry by Denise Levertov; films by Robert Bresson, Federico Fellini, and Krzysztof Kie¿lowski; and (time permitting) music by Olivier Messiaen and Charles Tournemire. Although useful, no prior knowledge of Catholic thought or belief is needed. The only requirements are healthy appetites for reading, viewing, thinking, and (time permitting) listening.
Class Details
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