Professor: Tim Smit
4 credits
The course will examine the intersection of religion and violence in premodern Europe, drawing on events including the Crusades and inquisitions held over the course of the Middle Ages. In the course, we will examine how people in premodern Europe understood, justified, and explained religious violence, as well as resistance to religious violence. This will involve reading theological texts, works of history, legal documents, and other sources to build a foundation for how people in premodern Europe thought about religion and violence. We will also engage with how scholars today in fields like Philosophy and Religious Studies frame and explain the topic. We will explore these topics through close reading of sources and scholarship and through writing and revising short papers that explore how people at the time and contemporary scholars frame and answer their questions about religion and violence.