About the Course

This course will focus on the history and doctrine of Eastern Christianity from its origins in the early Church through today. Emphasis will be placed on the cultural manifestations of Orthodox doctrine: liturgy, iconography, pious practice. We will compare Eastern Orthodoxy to Western Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), and will examine various different national Churches within Eastern Orthodoxy (Byzantine, Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian, Georgian). We will also ask about the significance of Church doctrine and practice for the development of culture as a whole in the areas of the world in which Eastern Christianity predominates, and the ways in which that culture both differs from and relates to what we inaccurately call "Western" civilization. In general, Orthodox practice relies heavily on the senses, and the course is designed to be experiential. To that end, we will make at least one field trip to a local Orthodox Church during the course of the semester.

Course Requirements

Regular class participation (20 pts)
- Mini-essays, (6 out of 7 @ 5 pts each); usually due the second slass period of the week
- Research paper (thesis statement [5 pts], draft [15 pts], and final version [30 pts])
OR
- Class presentation (initial outline of presentation [5 pts], presentation [30 pts] and final write-up [15 pts]). 

NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS ACCEPTED FOR CREDIT.

Course Materials

Primary texts:

Stephen Harakas, Living the Liturgy (Light and Life Press)
Leonid Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1978)
Gleb Pokrovsky, trans., The Way of a Pilgrim (Skylight Paths Publishing, 2001)
Alexander Schmemann, Ultimate Questions (St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 1977)
Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, (Penguin Books, 1997)
Articles on e-reserve (The Electronic Course Reserves Collection (E-Reserves))
Icons and other materials posted on class website (http://imp.lss.wisc.edu/~kornblatt/index.htm)

Optional texts:
Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1999)
Sergius Bulgakov, The Orthodox Church (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1988)

Syllabus

1/23 The course begins with a discussion of our assumptions about American life (what it means to be an individual, what is a community, how do we as individuals relate to nature...), followed by discussion of preconceived notions about Russia and Eastern Europe, where many of the Orthodox Churches are centered.  A discussion of the relativity of cultural biases will lead into the theoretical questions that undergird the course as a whole: Why study religion as an element of culture?  How did the development of the various monotheistic “global” religions (Eastern Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism, Protestantism, Islam) affect the global context as a whole?  More specifically, how do Eastern Christianity and Russian Orthodoxy differ from Western Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant, and are there ways in which they differ so fundamentally that we must begin to reassess our assumptions about Russia and the other countries that are predominantly Orthodox?  Finally, once we can better understand Orthodox culture from its own point of view, how can we better understand the world as a whole, and our place within it?  The viewing of a video this week will allow us to begin to identify aspects of the Orthodox Church that feel “different.”

          Video:       Art and Spirituality: The Russian Icon

          Reading:             Ware, The Orthodox Church, 195-207

 

 

PART ONE: HISTORY

1/28-

1/30:    The Early Church, the Byzantine Church, the Schism

We will discuss the origins of the Church in early cultic practice, the development of doctrine through the Ecumenical Councils, leading up to the Schism in the twelfth century.

 

            Reading:           Ware, The Orthodox Church, pp. 1-72

            Writing:            Mini-essay

 

2/4-

2/6:      The Development of National Churches

Our discussion of the history of the Church will continue with an examination of its growth during the Byzantine Empire and, after the fall of Constantinople, throughout Eastern Europe.  This week will prepare students for presentations later in the semester.

                       

            Video:               “The History of Christianity”

            Readings:          Ware, The Orthodox Church, pp. 73-144

                                    Jakobson, “The Beginnings of National Self-Determination in Europe” pp. 29-42 (e-reserves)

                                    Obolensky, “Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Apostles to the Slavs,” pp. 205-217 (e-reserves)

            Writing:             Mini-essay

 

2/11-

2/13:    The Russian Church: Moscow: “The Third Rome”

After the fall of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, Moscow began to see itself as the only and final defender of the Orthodox faith.  We will discuss this association of the Church with national messianism, affecting both the Church in Russia and the nation or people of Russia.

 

            Readings:            "Prolegomen" and "Vladimir Christianizes Russian" from Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles,

                                      and Tales, ed. Zenkovsky, pp. 44-46 and 66-71 (e-reserves)

                                      Billington, The Icon and the Axe, pp. 46-77 (e-reserves)

                                      Fedotov, St. Sergius of Radonezh, in The Russian Religious Mind , pp. 195-229 (e-reserves)

            Writing:               Mini-essay

 

 

PART TWO: DOCTRINE

 

2/18-

2/20:    The Trinity and Christology

In the second part of the course, we will consider some of the major questions in Christian theology, first by reading original documents by some of the theologians who formed the debate, and then showing how the questions are manifest in later Church practice.  We will always keep in mind how the Eastern Church understood itself vis-a-vis the Western Church, since often the differences are more of emphasis and interpretation, rather than doctrine per se.

 

            Readings:           Ware, The Orthodox Church, pp. 208-263

                                     Ware, The Orthodox Way, pp. 11-41 (e-reserves or in optional book)

                                     Gregory of Nyssa, "On Not Three Gods," pp. 256-267 (e-reserves)

            Writing:              Mini-essay

 

2/25-

2/27:            Salvation as Deification

This week we take up questions of salvation, redemption, and humanity as created in the image and likeness of God.  We also look at church architecture as a visible sign of our redemption.

 

            Reading:            The Festal Menaion, pp. 38-67, 468-503 (e-reserves)

3/4-

3/6:      Icons, Iconoclasts and Iconodules

Here we ask: Why are visual aspects of Church culture so important? How are they related to Orthodoxy theology?

 

            Videos:            “Byzantium: The Lost Empire (section on iconoclasm/2nd half of Tape One)

                                   “Contemplating Icons”

            Readings:         Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon

            Writing:            Thesis statement for research project or outline for presentation

 

3/11-

3/13:    Liturgy and Sacraments

 

            Slide Show:       Icons

            Readings:          Ware, The Orthodox Church, pp. 264-327

                                    Harakas, Living the Liturgy

                                    Ware, The Orthodox Way (optional)

            Writing:             Mini-essay

 

 

***************************** SPRING BREAK *********************************************

 

 

3/25-

3/27:            Monasticism/Hesychasm/”The Jesus Prayer”

 

            Readings:          The Way of a Pilgrim

            Writing:             Mini-essay

 

4/1-

4/3:            Modern Russian Orthodox Culture: Slavophiles and the Russian Religious Renaissance

 

            Readings:           Khomiakov, “The Church is One,” pp. 29-53 (e-reserves)

                                     Khomiakov, “On the Western Confessions of Faith,” in Schmemann, Ultimate Questions

                                     Florensky, “On the Holy Spirit,” in Schmemann, Ultimate Questions

                                     Bulgakov, The Orthodox Church (optional)

            Writing:              Mini-essay

 

4/8-            Modern Russian Orthodox Culture (continued)

4/10

 

 

4/15-

4/17:            ********************* RESEARCH WEEK/NO CLASS *********************

 

 

PART THREE: DIFFERENCES WITHIN ORTHODOXY

 

4/22-            Presentations on National Churches and the contemporary Church

4/24:

 

            Writing:            Draft of research project due

 

Note: ORTHODOX EASTER on 4/27

 

4/29-

5/1:            Presentations on National Churches and the contemporary Church, continued

 

 

5/6-

5/8:            Conclusion

We will spend the final week discussing how the students’ new knowledge of Eastern Christianity has affected the way in which they understand the world.  We will review our notes from the first week, and see if/how our assumptions about ourselves and about Russia and/or other Orthodox countries have changed.

 

 

5/18:    Final research papers or presentation write-ups due NO LATER THAN 12:00 noon

            in 1438 Van Hise Hall (or Kornblatt mailbox in 1439 Van Hise)

Image Galleries

Russian Orthodox Art: Icon Gallery

Russian Orthodox Architecture

Eastern Orthodox Art and Architecture

Religious Art and Architecture of the West

Saint Sophia: Icons and Churches

• University of Wisconsin-Madison Home Page (www.wisc.edu)
• UW Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Home Page (http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic/)
• Official Home Page of the Russian Orthodox Church (http://www.russian-orthodox-church.org.ru/en.htm)
• Church terms (in Russian) (http://www.days.ru/Life/Index.htm)
• Icons (http://auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/foreign/russian/icons/index.html)
• Icons (www.christusrex.org/www2/art/icons.htm)
• Icons (www.fordham.edu/halsall/byzantium
• Orthodoxy (www.svots.edu/orthodoxy/index.html)
• Orthodox Church of America (www.oca.org)
• Serbian Church (www.spc.org.yu)
• Armenian Church (http://www.sain.org/ArmenianChurch/index.htm)
• Maps of Europe in time of early Church (www.euratlas.com/time1.htm)

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Last Updated: April 06, 2004