Course Listings

This course is dedicated to the study of Early Christianity as it was manifested in one particular place, the deeply-charged and long-standing imperial capital of Rome. This immersion course addresses one central question with multiple off-shoots: How did Christianity take shape in Rome? How did it emerge from, rebel against, and engage with that city's deep past? Before Constantine, what was the experience of early Christians? After Constantine, how did the shape and character of the city (not to mention its inhabitants) change? What did early adherents of Christianity believe, and how were those beliefs negotiated, enhanced, challenged, and made orthodox through visual and material culture, especially religious architecture and its decoration? What was the experience of practitioners of traditional Greco-Roman religion after Christianity became the default religion of the Empire? In other words, our investigation will be about social history, architecture, religious history and theology, and art/iconography. It is about the realia of what people believed, saw, experienced, and did. And the best way to get a sense of those features of ancient life and belief is to visit the key places themselves: the city of Rome and, as a complement to the features of the urban experience that Rome lacks, its port city of Ostia. The immersion component of the course will occur November 17-25, 2023. One course credit. By application only. REL-260-01 = CLA-212-01

This course is dedicated to the study of Early Christianity as it was manifested in one particular place, the deeply-charged and long-standing imperial capital of Rome. This immersion course addresses one central question with multiple off-shoots: How did Christianity take shape in Rome? How did it emerge from, rebel against, and engage with that city's deep past? Before Constantine, what was the experience of early Christians? After Constantine, how did the shape and character of the city (not to mention its inhabitants) change? What did early adherents of Christianity believe, and how were those beliefs negotiated, enhanced, challenged, and made orthodox through visual and material culture, especially religious architecture and its decoration? What was the experience of practitioners of traditional Greco-Roman religion after Christianity became the default religion of the Empire? In other words, our investigation will be about social history, architecture, religious history and theology, and art/iconography. It is about the realia of what people believed, saw, experienced, and did. And the best way to get a sense of those features of ancient life and belief is to visit the key places themselves: the city of Rome and, as a complement to the features of the urban experience that Rome lacks, its port city of Ostia. The immersion component of the course will occur November 17-25, 2023. One course credit. By application only. REL-260-01 = CLA-212-01

From Lincoln Center to the Astor Place Opera House, from the Disney mega-musicals of Broadway to edgy one-person shows in the West Village, New York City has shaped American performance culture since the founding of the Republic. The objective of this course is to examine and experience the vast array of performance offerings of the City, a rich and perpetually-shifting tapestry of theater, film, dance, opera, and performance art. We will also reflect on the ways in which New York City itself exists as a site of performance, both literally and symbolically. In this course, the student will study the history of New York performance, the distinctive theater and film industries and cultures of New York, and "the current season." We will also learn about the world of New York theatrical criticism, and become critics ourselves. Through research papers, short critical essays, presentations, and an immersion trip, students will engage with New York City as a center of national and global performance culture. Instructor Consent.