- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
The election of Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis I on 13 March 2013 has been seen by many as a new chapter in the history of Roman Catholicism. Yet the advent of the first pope from the New World was anticipated ca.1500-ca.1700 by a period which, for all its incompleteness, saw the making of Roman Catholicism as a world religion. Missionaries such as the Portuguese Jesuit Manuel de Nóbrega (1517-70) in Brazil, for whom famously ‘One World is not enough’, brought Christianity to the four inhabited continents of the world for the first time in history. Although scholars no longer see this in such one-way terms as ‘spiritual conquest’, but rather as negotiated two-way outcomes, where the role of ‘go-betweens’ and the reciprocal dynamics of ‘cultural encounter’ need to be taken into account.
Accordingly, this module looks not only at the Roman Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation – the so-called ‘Counter Reformation’ - but also at how Roman Catholicism adapted itself to local conditions from Rome to the River Plate; Milan to Manila (via Mexico). Among the concepts and topics to be considered are: confessionalisation; censorship & inquisition; social discipline; language and communication (including catechisms and preaching); liturgy and the cult of saints. Since early modern Catholicism engaged all the senses, the lectures will deal with music, art and architecture as well as written and printed sources, while the weekly discussion groups give students the opportunity to engage with a correspondingly broad selection of primary sources in translation.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Autumn Term 2022-23 |
The aims of this module are:
Students who complete this module successfully will:
Teaching Programme:
This 20-credit module consists of sixteen twice weekly lectures delivered in weeks 2-9, plus one round-up session in week 10 and eight 90 minute discussion groups.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
Understanding practice: what was ‘local religion’?
Understanding theory: the Council of Trent
The setting: Rome as ‘theatre of the world’
The papacy and the papal court
The missionary enterprise outside Europe I: going west
The missionary enterprise outside Europe II: going east
The missions to ‘the other Indies’: methods & outcomes
Some local protagonists I: bishops
Some local protagonists II: the female religious
Some local protagonists III: the laity
Drawing boundaries I: making sinners
Drawing boundaries II: making saints
Persecution and identity I: 17th century Japan
Persecution and identity II: 16th century York
Conclusion: confessionalisation and its limits
‘Trent and All That’: recap and revision
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
Students will be required to write a 2,000-word procedural essay for formative assessment, due in either week 5 or week 7 of the autumn term. They will then complete a 2,000-word essay for summative assessment, due in week 1 of the spring term.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.
Work will be returned to students in their discussion groups and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their procedural work with their tutor (or module convenor) during student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Preliminary Reading:
EITHER: Robert Bireley, The Refashioning of Catholicism 1450-1700, (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999)
OR: R. Po-Chia Hsia, The World of Catholic Renewal, 1540-1770, 2nd edition, (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
AND:
Simon Ditchfield, ‘Catholic Reformation and Renewal’, in Peter Marshall ed., The Oxford Companion to the Protestant Reformation, (Oxford University Press, 2015) - downloadable at:
https://www.academia.edu/9828053/Catholic_Reformation_and_Renewal
(You need to register at academia.edu but it is free of charge)