BASC63111 - Alumni Sequence: The Middle Ages Year I

Course Description

In this two-year Alumni Sequence we will read some of the greatest works of the Middle Ages, in conversation with texts produced both before and after them. The sequence begins with texts that negotiate the pagan inheritance, both philosophical and popular. We will pay particular attention to the enormous impact of responses to Aristotle in Muslim, Christian, and Jewish texts, and also consider the confrontation between Christian and Muslim cultures at the time of the Crusades. The first year finishes with works which, from very different perspectives, focus on providing guidance to the personal pursuit of ultimate values and goals.

Course Outline

Reading List

• The Holy Bible (any Bible will do) preferably Douay-Rheims version, paperback, ISBN 978-1935302056.  
• The Essential Plotinus, trans. Elmer O'Brien, Hackett, 2nd Edition. ISBN 978-0915144099
• Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney, Norton. ISBN 978-0393320978
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Marie Borroff, Norton Critical Edition. ISBN 978-0393930252
• Augustine, City of God, trans. Henry Bettenson, Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0140448948