History 4313/5313
Professor Laura Smoller
TR 9:25-10:40, SH 407
lasmoller@ualr.edu
http://www.ualr.edu/lasmoller
569-8389; SH 604K
Office hours: Tuesday, 1-3 p.m.
Week 1.
Tu. Aug. 21. Introductory meeting.
We will look at a number of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, etc. dealing with the apocalypse. We will think about numerous schedules for the end of the world (religious, nuclear, ecological, astronomical, paranoid schizophrenic?) and about what it means to think you are living near the end of time. We will also consider ulterior motives for employing apocalyptic language in our own times (to make a political or social criticism, to enlist support, to bolster the status quo).
Th. Aug. 23. NO CLASS.
Read introductory material in Kirsch and McGinn.
Readings:
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 1-18
McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 1-16
Week 2.
Tu. Aug. 28. What is an apocalypse? The birth of apocalyptic thought.
Th. Aug. 30. Discussion: Daniel; 2 Esdras 3-14
Readings:
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 19-51
Bible: Daniel 7-12; 2 Esdras 3-14 (=4 Ezra) (ER)
Week 3.
Tu. Sept. 4. Christians and Romans in the first century.
Th. Sept. 6. Discussion on early Christian apocalyptic: Revelation, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, 2 Thessalonians
Readings:
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 53-99
Bible: Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21; 2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation (complete). (NB: The Book of Revelation is also reproduced completely in Kirsch.)
Week 4.
Tu. Sept. 11. Apocalypticism and authority in the early church.
Th. Sept. 13. Discussion: Irenaeus, Lactantius
Readings:
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book V, chaps. XXV-XXXV (ER)
Lactantius, from Divine Institutes, in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 17-28, 55-80 (that is, skip VII.2-13)
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 101-119
Week 5.
Tu. Sept. 18. The problem of millenarian beliefs. Paper due Sept.
18 in class.
Th. Sept. 20. Discussion: Augustine, City of God; Landes
Readings:
Augustine, City of God, book XVIII, chaps. 52-54; book XX, chaps. 7, 8, 11-13, 19, 23, and 30 (ER)
Richard Landes, “Lest the Millennium Be Fulfilled” (ER)
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 119-35
Week 6.
Tu. Sept. 25. The rise of Islam: the new Enemy
Th. Sept. 27. Discussion: The Tiburtine Sibyl and pseudo-Methodius
Readings:
"The Tiburtine Sibyl" (ER)
Selections from pseudo-Methodius, Revelations (Latin and Syriac versions) (ER)
Week 7.
Tu. Oct. 2. Antichrist and apocalypse in the Middle Ages
Th. Oct. 4. Discussion: Adso; McGinn, “Portraying Antichrist”
Readings:
Adso, "Letter on . . . Antichrist," in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 81-96
Bernard McGinn, "Portraying Antichrist in the Middle Ages" (ER)
Week 8.
Tu. Oct. 9. The Investiture Controversy and the reform tradition
Readings:
Hildegard of Bingen, from Scivias (ER)
Antichrist and Judgment Day (complete)
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 144-60
Week 9.
Tu. Oct. 16. The Abbot Joachim of Fiore: An Introduction
Th. Oct. 18. NO CLASS : Work on take-home midterm exam
Readings:
None.
Week 10.
Tu. Oct. 23. NO CLASS : Work on take-home midterm exam. Exam due in history
department
by 5 p.m.
Th. Oct. 25. Millennial movements of the later Middle Ages
Week 11.
Tu. Oct. 30. Discussion: "Joachim of Fiore" and "The Franciscan
Spirituals"
Th. Nov. 1. Medieval natural philosophy and the science of the future
Readings:
"Joachim of Fiore" and "The Franciscan Spirituals," in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 97-182
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 137-48
Week 12.
Tu. Nov. 6. Discussion: Roger Bacon, Pierre d'Ailly
Th. Nov. 8. Florence in the fifteenth century
Readings:
Roger Bacon, from The Opus Maius (ER)
Pierre d'Ailly, On the Persecutions of the Church (ER)
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 160-71
Week 13.
Tu. Nov. 13. Discussion: Savonarola
Th. Nov. 15. In-class workshop: Columbus, Book of Prophecies (no reading
questions due)
Reading (for Tuesday):
"Savonarola," in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp. 183-275
Readings (for Thursday’s workshop):
Pauline Moffitt Watts, "Prophecy and Discovery" (ER) (read)
Columbus, Book of Profecies (ER) (bring to class, but need not read before)
Week 14.
Tu. Nov. 20. The special place of America
Th. Nov. 22. THANKSGIVING
Readings:
Ronald Numbers and Jonathan Butler, eds., The Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth Century, selections (ER)
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 173-96
Week 15.
Tu. Nov. 27. Discussion: Numbers and Butler,
The Disappointed
Th. Nov. 29. Apocalyptic and politics in the
late 20th and early 21st centuries
Readings:
Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth, chapters 1, 4-8, 11-13
Ronald Reagan, "Remarks at the Annual Convention of . . . Evangelicals" (ER)
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 196-234
Week 16.
Tu. Dec. 4 Apocalpyse now: reports from the
media
Find some discussion of an apocalyptic nature online or in the media and bring to class.
Readings:
Kirsch, History of the End, pp. 234-56
Course requirements:
•Paper. Write your own apocalypse (3-4 pg.), with a 1-2 page commentary
demonstrating how your apocalypse fits within
the genre and how apocalypses relate to their historical contexts. Due September
18. (20%)
•Midterm exam. October 18. (20%)
•Take-home final exam or 8-10 page research paper, due Tuesday, December
11, at noon. (25%)
•Weekly reading questions. (25%)
•Attendance at and active participation in all discussions. (10%)
Requirements for graduate students:
Graduate students must complete all of the assignments above, with the following
exception. In lieu of the take-home final,
graduate students must write a 10-15 page paper on a topic chosen in consultation
with the instructor (due
on
December
11). The paper may either be a research
paper focusing on a particular problem in the history of apocalyptic thought
or
a historiographical
survey of the
scholarship in one particular area of the
history of apocalypticism.
Books to purchase:
Bible (any translation)
Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (New York, 1970)
Bernard McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality (New York, 1978)
Jonathan Kirsch, A History of the End of the World (San
Francisco, 2006)
Richard K. Emmerson and David F. Hult,
trans., Antichrist and Judgment Day (Asheville,
1998)
All texts designated ER (electronic reserves)
are available through WebCT.
Students with disabilities:
It is the policy and practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or to accurate assessment of achievement--such as time-limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos--please notify the instructor as soon as possible. Students are also welcome to contact the Disability Resource Center, telephone 501-569-3143 (v/tty). For more information, visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.
History department assessment policy:
The policy of the History Department is to engage students in the process of assessing courses in the department's curriculum. Department faculty and the UALR administration use assessment data to monitor how well students are learning both historical content and the skills of essay writing. At several points during the semester you may be asked to participate in this process by writing a brief essay in class or your instructor might submit one or more of your examinations for review by other members of the department. All assessment activities are conducted on an anonymous basis and any evaluations will be kept in strict confidence. When you are asked to participate in this process please do your best. Direct any questions regarding assessment to your instructor or the department chairperson
Classroom etiquitte:
Please turn off cell phones and beepers before entering the classroom or set them to a silent alert. In the rare event you must enter late or leave class early, please let me know in advance.
Cheating and plagiarism:
Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses and will be treated as such. ("Plagiarism" means "to adopt and reproduce as one's own, to appropriate to one's use, and incorporate in one's own work without acknowledgment the ideas of others or passages from their writings and works." See Section VI, Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Behavior, Student Handbook, p. 39. Copying directly from the textbook, the Internet, or an encyclopedia article without quotation marks or an identifying citation, for example, constitutes plagiarism.) Anyone who engages in such activities will receive no credit for that assignment and may in addition be turned over to the Academic Integrity and Grievance Committee for University disciplinary action, which may include separation from the University.
Copyright notice:
Copyright © by Laura Smoller as to this syllabus and all lectures. Students and auditors are prohibited from selling notes during this course to (or being paid for taking notes by) any person or commercial firm without the express written permission of the professor teaching this course.