This spring, Kim Haines-Eitzen, Professor of ancient Mediterranean religions with a specialty in early Christianity, early Judaism, and religion in late antiquity in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, and director of the religious studies program, will teach a 3 credit course, Introduction to Christian History (RELST 2695), on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:40am-12:55pm.
This course offers an introduction to the history of Christianity from the first century through the seventeenth and perhaps a bit beyond. The emphasis will be on the diversity of Christian traditions, beliefs, and practices throughout history. The course will explore the origins of Christianity within the eastern Mediterranean world, the spread of Christianity, the development of ecclesiastical institutions, the rise and establishment of monasticism, and the various controversies that occupied the church throughout its history. Throughout the course, reading of primary texts will be supplemented with art, archaeology, music, and manuscripts.
Professor Haines-Eitzen’s most recent book, The Gendered Palimpsest: Women, Writing, and Representation in Early Christianity, deals with the intersection of gender and text transmission (Oxford University Press, 2012). Currently, she is working on a new project, entitled A Sacred and Sonorous Desert in Late Antiquity, which focuses on the desert monastic literature of late antiquity and its attention to sensory landscapes, especially the acoustic dimensions of the desert environment. To learn more, visit her website: http://kimhaineseitzen.wordpress.com.
