Spring Semester http://literaryworkshop.blogspot.com/

LAP IV: The Two Cities, Monastic Legacies, Lady Philosophy, and Thomism

Rationale: Following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, Western Europe entered a unique chapter in its history, which was marked by brilliant intellectual advances and rapid societal deterioration, relative safety and radical instability, the heralding of a new civilization and the death gasps of a defunct imperial infrastructure. In this period, the grandeur and majesty of a Roman Christianity fused with the sensibilities of the newly-settled barbarian tribes nestled throughout the region. This synthesis of the wild with the cultivated led to the emergence of a legitimate Christian aesthetic, which generated many of Europe’s most beautiful edifices that still stand today like Chartres and Notre Dame.

In order to fully grasp the beauty of the literary achievements of the period, a basic comprehension of the dominant themes, ideas, and dilemmas is imperative. Dante’s Commedia, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and many of Shakespeare’s great plays are richly decorated with references and allusions that require an understanding of medieval principles and sensibilities. This LAP will investigate several of the significant authors of the early and late medieval world including St. Augustine, St. Benedict, Boethius, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Objectives: By the end of this LAP you will:

Recall the major intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic themes, ideas, and

dilemmas of the medieval world.

B) Evaluate the centrality of the Thomistic vision and its influence on the

Renaissance and a contemporary audience.

C) Illustrate vocabulary from unit 12.

Extra Credit: Compose your own imaginative rendition of an encounter with Lady Philosophy (5 pts). Create an informed and stunning PPT on one of the major churches or works of art in the medieval period (5 pts). Write a thoughtful examination of a theological issue following the format of the Summa Theologica (5 pts).

Bring the appropriate handout to class everyday on this LAP.

#1 (regular), #3 (short), #4 (special)

Class 1, Monday, March 19 (#1AB) Medieval Thought PowerPoint.

HW: Read selections from Augustine’s famous Confessions. Handout provided! Complete vocabulary unit 12.

Class 2, Tuesday, March 20 (#1AB) Bingo: vocabulary unit 12. Comments on St. Augustine’s work and class discussion.

HW: Read selections from Augustine’s theological masterpiece the City of God. Handout provided.

Class 3, Wednesday, March 21 (#3ABC) Vocabulary quiz on unit 12. Remarks and class discussion of the City of God reading.

HW: Read selections from The Holy Rule of Saint Benedict. Handout provided! Study for vocabulary quiz.

Class 4, Thursday, March 22 (#1AB) Comments and discussion of The Holy Rule of Saint Benedict.

HW: Read selections from Beothius’s Consolation of Philosophy. Handout provided!

Class 5, Monday, March 26 (#1AB) Lecture on Boethius and his Consolation of Philosophy.

HW: Read selections from Beothius’s Consolation of Philosophy. Handout provided!

Class 6, Tuesday, March 27 (#3AB) Remarks & discussion of the Consolation of Philosophy.

HW: Read selections from Aquinas’s Summa Theologica. Handout provided!

Class 7, Wednesday, March 28 (#1AB) Lecture on Aquinas and the summa concept.

HW: Read selections from Aquinas’s Summa Theologica. Handout provided!

Class 8, Thursday, March 29 (#1AB) Remarks and discussion of the Summa Theologica and LAP test review for Monday.

HW: Study for the LAP test on Monday!

Class 9, Monday, April 2 (#1ABC) LAP TEST!!!

HW: See new LAP!