Courses

The course aims to introduce graduate students to key topics in religious history between medieval Europe and early Latin America (12th to 16th centuries), such as conversion, sacraments, preaching, sainthood, materiality, heresy, and mendicant orders. Students will: learn about the religious practices and institutions in both areas; develop an understanding of religious history as a particular field within history; explore the ways in which comparative history provides tools to study the rise and spread of religious beliefs, practices, and institutions. Each week students will analyze primary sources as well as modern texts, give presentations and write short reports on the readings. The final project is a paper on a particular topic of the course subject chosen in consultation with the instructors.