298. Experimental Courses
Religion and Devotion in Middle Ages
This course explores the Middle Ages through studies of the ways in which people living in western Europe experienced Christianity, expressed their beliefs and practiced their devotion. Emphasis will be on what has been called "popular religion"--that is, how masses of people enacted their spirituality, rather than the official doctrines or rules of the institutional Church. In addition to a primary focus on more orthodox forms of Christianity, the class will consider heretical forms of Christianity, paganism, Judaism and Islam in western medieval Europe.