REL 385 From Polytheism to Monotheism, The Early Christian Period in Italy, Greece & France

IAU's January Term (J-Term) Traveling Seminar promotes visual literacy in the history, art and archaeology as well as philosophical literature from the Mediterranean Basin from Antiquity to Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. It cultivates strong research and critical thinking skills, and develops students? abilities to synthetize cultural, historical, political, and social information as it bears upon the visual arts. The academic component consists of a series of on-site studies made by academic experts from IAU in addition to local guides and experts in the field of history, art history and archaeology.

Course Objectives:
a) Synthesizing a historical overview of the primary themes, figures, and events in the emergence of early Christianity;
b) Learning the disciplinary approaches of Religious Studies from a critical, historical, and artistic perspective;
c) Knowing how to read and interpret primary sources (ancient texts) from the Early Christian period;
d) Understanding the particular methodologies and problems inherent in studying premodern religious history.