RLBcB045 Woman in Christianity

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024

The course is not taught in Autumn 2024

Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Iva Doležalová (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Iva Doležalová
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Kristýna Čižmářová
Supplier department: Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
( RLA06 Christianity I || RLKA06 Christianity I || RLBcA006 Christianity I || RLBcKA006 Christianity I ) && ( RLA07 Christianity II || RLKA07 Christianity II || RLBcA007 Christianity II || RLBcKA007 Christianity II ) && ! RLB45 Woman and man in Christianity
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 50 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/50, only registered: 0/50, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/50
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course focuses on the problems of evolution and changes of women's social status and roles within the frame of European Christian culture during Antiquity and Middle Ages. This topic is grasped within the broader context of the methodology of the academic study of religions and gender studies.

Genuine content of the course is based upon two levels: (1)history of the cult of Virgin Mary and (2) particular lives of various women representing the variability of social roles and conditions which have influenced their lives.

Particular case studies introduce genuine lives of women following ideal patterns as well as contradictory examples.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
  • provide a comprehensive survey on the rise and history of the cult of Virgin Mary;
  • to understand and explain the complexity of factors conditioning the status and roles of women during the Ancient and Medieval history of Christian culture;
  • interpret religious aspects of women lives;
  • summarize and interpret sources analytically.
    • Syllabus
    • Sylabus
    • Introduction. Basic draft of the problem: religion and gender studies
    • Woman and Christianity: understanding woman – tradition: a comparative view (Hellenism/Greec and Roman culture - Judaism – Christianity)
    • Rise of the cult of Mary within the context of late Antiquity (Hellenistic religious system, Ancient mother goddesses – Ísis a Cybelé – comparative perspective)
    • 1st seminar discussion: Status and role of a woman during the early Christian period (The New Testament on women and their status – in society, towards the God). Women and men: Church hierarchy – laymen. Apocrypha: Protoevagelium of James, Acts of Paul and Thecla.
    • Early Christian view of Mary: canonical and apocryphal (Protoevangelium of James – apocrypha as a source of the offical doctrine). Ideals and roles of women in the Christian Church. (The cult of Mary as means of creating models for women's lives. Celibacy/marriage - virginity/motherhood - understandin purity and sexuality.
    • Interpretation of Mary and understanding women in the early patristic literature: Tertullian (asi 160- po 220) - Ambrosius (339-397) - Hieronym (+420) - Augustinus (354-430). Mary as the pattern of an ideal woman – Virgin and Mother, Christ's bride, Mary as New Eve, Virgin Mother of God - council in Efesus 431.
    • Women and heresy: Montanism, Kollyridians, stereotype patterns in the interpretation of women's roles
    • Woman and Medieval Christianity (multiple women roles, from saint to witch)
    • 2nd seminar discussion: Saint and witch
    • Mary during the Medieval period – Mary as New Eve, Madonna; changes within the cult of Mary, an example of Marian spirituality: Bernard from Clairvaux
    • Woman and authority during the Middle Ages. Women and the body/sexuality. Mystical spirituality
    • Saints and witches, inquisitional framework of Late Middle Ages. Woman and power. Religious life of women. Basic overwiev of particular women.
    • 3rd seminar discussion: Sacramentalisation of the marriage.
    Literature
      required literature
    • BROWN, Peter. Tělo společnosti :muži, ženy a sexuální odříkání v raném křetanství. 1. vyd. Brno: CDK-Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury, 2000, 435 s. ISBN 80-85959-72-0. info
    • DINZELBACHER, Peter. Světice, nebo čarodějky? : osudy "jiných" žen ve středověku a novověku. Translated by Petr Babka. Vyd. 1. Praha: Vyšehrad, 2003, 283 s. ISBN 8070216506. info
      recommended literature
    • DUBY, Georges. Vznešené paní z 12. století. Edited by Josef Válka, Translated by Růžena Ostrá. Vyd. 1. Brno: Atlantis, 1997, 126 s. ISBN 8071081353. info
    • DUBY, Georges. Vznešené paní z 12. století. Edited by Jitka Uhdeová, Translated by Růžena Ostrá. Vyd. 1. V Brně: Atlantis, 1999, 149 s. ISBN 8071081671. info
    • DUBY, Georges. Vznešené paní z 12. století. Edited by Jitka Uhdeová, Translated by Růžena Ostrá. Vyd. 1. V Brně: Atlantis, 1999, 149 s. ISBN 80-7108-167-1. info
    • DUBY, Georges. Rytíř, žena a kněz :manželství ve Francii v době feudalismu. Praha: Garamond, 2003, 238 s. ISBN 80-86379-44-2. info
    Teaching methods
  • Lecture, seminar discussion based on reading and written comments on given texts
  • Seminar presentation upon particular text of historical source (two presentation during semestr based on writen comments of historical source and reading)
  • Preparation of writen comments for colloqium
    • Assessment methods
    Colloquim
    Requests for colloquim:
  • Written test based on the required reading, lectures, and presentations (100 points each, the minimum of 60 points is required to pass the test, which is a prerequisite for the oral colloquim)
  • Two submissions of abstracts of source texts - for seminar discussions (see Study materials), evaluated 100 points each, the minimum of 60 points is required. This task is a prerequisite for the oral colloquim)
  • Active participation in seminar discussions based on reading and written comments on given texts
  • Before the colloqium term published in the IS MU, participants of the course submit an analytical comment on elected text of historical source and reading.

    See Study materials for detailed information.
    • Language of instruction
    Czech
    Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
    The course is taught once in two years.
    The course is taught: every week.
    Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo religionistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučující.
    The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2024.
    • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2024, recent)
    • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2024/RLBcB045