Dr. Laura A. Smoller
MW 1:40-2:55 p.m., SH 407
lasmoller@ualr.edu
http://www.ualr.edu/lasmoller/
569-8389; SH 604K
Office hours: MW, 3-4 p.m., and by appointment
This course offers a history of beliefs about the end of the world in the western Judeo-Christian tradition. Through lectures and readings, we will examine such topics as the birth of apocalyptic thought, the medieval development of various aspects of traditions about the End (such as the figure of Antichrist and millenarian traditions), millennial influences on the discovery and colonization of the New World, millennial movements of the last two centuries (such as the Millerites and the Mormons), and contemporary apocalyptic scenarios. A major theme of the course will be the flexibility of apocalyptic language, its ability to interpret various historical situations, and its power to move people to acceptance or action.
Week 1.
W January 19. Introductory meeting.
Week 2.
M January 24. Discussion.
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 various motives for employing apocalyptic language in our own times (to make a political or social criticism, to enlist support, to bolster the status quo).
W January 26. What is an apocalypse? The birth of apocalyptic thought.
Reading:
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 1-26
Week 3.
M January 31. Discussion: Daniel; 2 Esdras 3, 5:1-18, 7:1-35, 11-14
Reading:
McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp.
1-16
Bible: Daniel 7-12
2 Esdras (=4 Ezra) 3, 5:1-18, 7:1-35, 11-14 (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 27-40
W February
2. Christians and Romans in the first century.
Week 4.
M February 7. Discussion: early Christian apocalyptic (Revelation, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 2 Thessalonians)
Reading:
Bible: Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21; 2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation
(complete)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 40-44
W February 9. Apocalypticism
and authority in the early church.
Week 5.
M February 14. Discussion: Irenaeus, Lactantius
Reading:
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book V,
chaps. 25-36 only (ER)
OR
Lactantius, from Divine Institutes,
in McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality
pp. 17-28, 55-80 (that is skip VII.2-13, pp. 28-54)
(You will be assigned to read either Irenaeus or Lactantius. Graduate students must read both texts.)
W February 16. The problem of millenarian beliefs (Paper due today,
February 16)
Week 6.
M February 21. Discussion: Augustine, City of God; Landes
Reading:
Augustine, City of God, book XVIII,
chaps. 52-54 only; book XX, chaps. 7, 8, 11-13, 19, 23, and 30 only (ER)
Richard Landes, "Lest the Millennium Be Fulfilled" (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 45-47
W February 23. The Last World Emperor and the Muslim enemy
Week 7.
M February 28. Discussion: The Tiburtine Sibyl and pseudo-Methodius
Reading:
"The Tiburtine Sibyl" (ER)
Selections from pseudo-Methodius, Revelations
(Latin and Syriac versions) (ER)
W March 2. Antichrist and apocalypse in the Middle Ages
Week 8.
M March 7. 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)
W March 9. The Investiture Controversy and the Gregorian Reform
Week 9.
M March 14. Discussion: Hildegard of Bingen; The Play of Antichrist
Reading:
Hildegard of Bingen, from Scivias (ER)
The Play of Antichrist, Introduction
(at least pp. 24-40) and text (pp. 67-99)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 47-52
W March 16. The Abbot Joachim of Fiore: an introduction
SPRING BREAK: MARCH 21-25
Week 10.
M March 28. Discussion:
"Joachim of Fiore" and "The Franciscan Spirituals"
Reading:
"Joachim of Fiore" and "The Franciscan Spirituals," in
McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality, pp.
97-182
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 52-60
W March 30. Millennial movements of the later Middle Ages
Week 11.
M April 4. MIDTERM EXAM
W. April 6. Medieval natural
philosophy and the science of the future
Week 12.
M April 11. Discussion: Roger Bacon, Pierre d'Ailly
Reading:
Roger Bacon, from The Opus Maius (ER)
Pierre d'Ailly, On the Persecutions of
the Church (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 83-98
W April 13. Florence in the
fifteenth century
Week 13.
M April 18. Discussion: Savonarola
Reading:
"Savonarola," in McGinn, Apocalyptic
Spirituality, pp. 183-275
W April 20. In-class
workshop: Columbus, Book of
Prophecies (ER) (no reading questions due)
Reading:
Pauline Moffitt Watts, "Prophecy and Discovery" (ER)
Columbus, Book of Profecies (ER)
Week 14.
M April 25. The special place of America
W April 27. Discussion: Numbers and Butler, The Disappointed
Reading:
Ronald Numbers and Jonathan Butler, eds., The
Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth Century,
selections (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 167-191
Week 15.
M May 2. Apocalyptic and politics in the late twentieth and twenty-first
centuries
W May 4. Discussion: Lindsey and Reagan
Reading:
Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth, chapters 1,
4-8, 11-13
Ronald Reagan, "Remarks at the Annual Convention of . . .
Evangelicals" (ER)
Weber, Apocalypses, pp. 193-222
Week 16.
M May 9. Apocalypse now: apocalypse in the contemporary media
Bring newspaper clippings, web sites, leaflets, magazine articles, YouTube videos, or any other evidence of apocalypse in the media to share with the class.
___________________________________________
Course requirements for undergraduate students:
--Paper.
Write your own apocalypse (3-4 pg.), with an additional 1-2 page commentary
demonstrating how your apocalypse fits within the genre and how apocalypses
relate to their historical contexts, due February 16 (20%)
--Midterm exam on April 4 (20%)
--Take-home final exam or 8-10 page
research paper, due Wednesday, May 11, at 1:30 p.m. (25%)
--Weekly discussion questions (25%)
--Attendance at and active participation in all weekly discussions (10%)
Requirements for graduate students:
Graduate
students must complete all of the assignments above (with the same weighting
for the grade), with the following exception. In lieu of the take-home final,
graduate students must write a 15-page paper on a topic chosen in
consultation with the instructor (due on May 11). The paper may either be a
primary-source based 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.
General policies:
Reading assignments are due
on the day they appear in the lecture schedule. Reading questions are due
on the day of the discussion on the pertinent materials. Late work will
be penalized 10% for each calendar day late. I do not accept emailed
assignments without prior arrangement and only under the most exigent of
circumstances.
Attendance:
Students are responsible for all material covered in and announcements made in class; attendance is, thus, crucial for doing well in the course. Participation in discussions is a critical component of the course. The instructor reserves the right to impose a failing grade for the course after a student’s absence from four or more discussions. (For the sake of accounting, three tardies will constitute one absence.) Students who are absent from more than five consecutive classes without excuse and without contacting the instructor will be administratively withdrawn from the course.
Books to purchase:
Bible (any
translation is OK).
Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth
(New York, 1970). ISBN: 9780310277712
Bernard McGinn, Apocalyptic Spirituality
(New York, 1978). ISBN: 9780809122424
Eugen Weber, Apocalypses: Prophesies,
Cults, and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages (Cambridge, 1999). ISBN:
9780674003958
John Wright, transl., The Play of
Antichrist (Toronto, 1967). ISBN: 9780888442567
Readings designated ER (=electronic reserves) can be found on Blackboard.
Learning objectives:
At the end of this course, students will be able to
Student learning objectives for the history major:
1.
Demonstrate a significant degree of knowledge about both United States
and World history through completion of a broad selection of courses in
history.
2. Ask appropriate historical questions that demonstrate an understanding
of the discipline of history and distinguish it from those of other
disciplines.
3. Distinguish between primary sources and secondary sources used in the
writing of history and know how to use and analyze each appropriately. Students
will thus be able to:
a. Analyze a primary source as a product of a particular
historical context;
b. Respond critically to a secondary source, taking into
account the primary sources used by the historian, the historian’s methodology,
the logic of the argument, and other major interpretations in the field.
4. Present historical analysis and arguments in a clear written form,
including the ability to construct an argument by marshalling evidence in an
appropriate and logical fashion.
5. Write a research paper that asks a significant historical question,
answers it with a clear thesis and a logical argument, supports it with both
primary and secondary sources documented according to the standards of the
Chicago Manual of Style, and is written in clear and artful prose with the
grammar and spelling associated with formal composition.
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.
Classroom etiquette: Please turn off cell phones and beepers before entering the classroom or set them to a silent alert; do not read or send text messages in class. 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 or an encyclopedia article without quotation marks or an identifying citation, for example, constitutes plagiarism.) Anyone who engages in such activities will receive a failing grade in the course and will 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.
Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change topics and assignments on the syllabus at any point in the semester.