Course Details in 2024/25 Session

Module Title	LI Option: Radical Pieties: Militants, Martyrs and Mystics in Medieval Christianity and Islam
School	History and Cultures
Department	History
Module Code	09 38266
Module Lead	Christopher Markiewicz
Level	Intermediate Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module explores the innovative modes of religious expression that developed within Christianity and Islam between 300 CE and 1250 CE. During this period, Christians and Muslims sought solitary or communal retreats from worldliness (e.g. eremitism, monasticism, Sufism), fought and/or died for their faith (e.g. through martyrdom, jihad, or crusade), and embraced various punitive forms of bodily suffering (e.g. extreme fasting, body-marking, mortification of the flesh). Frequently, such lived religious practices existed in tandem. Through a series of case studies drawn from the Near East, Western Europe and the Mediterranean, we shall consider why people were attracted to these practices and ask to what extent these devotions remained radical or became embedded in mainstream religious culture. We shall probe the common links between Christians and Muslims to ask whether these practices developed more frequently in dialogue, in parallel, through competition or conflict.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Analyse and explain key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny. Analyse and explain reasons for and implications of these events and processes. Identify the main scholarly views on the subject under investigation. Work with an appropriate degree of learner independence to explain and analyse the material under scrutiny. Communicate explanation and analysis of the subject clearly and effectively in writing.
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: S1 = 1 x 3,000 word essay (100%)
Other
Reading List