RELG 217 - An Empire of Martyrs: Christianity in the Mediterranean World

FC ARHU WINT

4 credits
This course offers an interpretive study of the development of Christianity in the Greek east and Latin west, treating the emergence of Chrstianity in its self-conscious division from rabbinic Judaism, early intra-Christian debates about the relationship between God and the world, waves of Christian persecution and martyrdom, the legalization of Christianity and its change to an imperial religion, and growing splits between eastern and western Christians. The course will analyze the historical developments of martyrdom, monasticism, mysticism, iconography, and heresy within their larger contexts of Greco-Roman culture, Christianity as an imperial religion, and the emergence of Islam.