The Fall 2011 course options

The book list for all courses can be found by clicking on this link.

TH205 Christian Rome: Understanding Jesus Christ in Rome (Theology core, Italian Studies Minor)
The past two thousand years of Roman history is marked by Christianity. Indeed, for much of this time, and still today for Roman Catholics, Rome was and is the premier Christian city, rivaling the Holy Land as a place of pilgrimage, prayer, and encounter with Jesus Christ. The course will study this aspect of Rome by examining the Christian understanding of Jesus, his life, death, resurrection, his continued presence in the Church, and his influence on Christians throughout time. It will use the places, the architecture, and the art of Rome to illustrate and deepen the reading of classic texts in Christology. Through this course, students will come to a critical understanding of the Christian belief in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God and how this belief is manifest throughout ages in texts, images, and architecture.

CL309/AH309/HS321 Art and Architecture of Ancient Rome (History core, Italian Studies Minor)
This course is intended to offer students an introduction to the city of Rome that is topographic, architectural, and art historical in nature. In our study of Rome, we will focus on developments in the architecture, painting, sculpture, and urban development in the city. While our survey is limited to antiquity, it is understood that Rome’s modern urban fabric is profoundly affected by the events of the ancient period, so this course is also intended to facilitate your understanding of the modern city in which you are spending the semester.

HS300 Age of Discovery
In the mid-fourteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church dominated the religious landscape of Western Europe, political authority was contested between kings and rival warlords, and Aristotle and Ptolemy were considered scientific authorities. By the mid-seventeenth century, Western Christendom was divided between Protestants and Catholics, powerful nation states were well established on the continent and building colonies in the recently "discovered" Americas, and a new theory about the heavens was gaining credence. This period in European history has been described since the nineteenth century as “the Renaissance,” a term that emphasizes its link with the cultural legacy of antiquity; another term of more recent origin is the “early modern period,” which emphasizes its links to later centuries. This course offers a survey of European intellectual culture ca. 1350-1600, based mainly the study of primary texts. Topics will include humanism, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, exploration, and scientific thought. Authors will include Petrarch, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Luther, Erasmus, Montaigne, and Galileo. Special attention will be given to Roman history, art, and architecture, with on-site visits as appropriate.

PL220 Philosophical Perspectives: Art and Imagination (Philosophy core)
Prerequisite: PL201. An exploration of the parallel development of philosophy and art as truth-disclosing activities.

TH206 Liturgical Art and Architecture (Theology core, Italian Studies Minor)
An exploration of the theology expressed in Christian liturgical art, architecture and worship space. Using a historical approach, the diverse forms, contexts and worldviews that shaped ritual, visual objects and worship space will be investigated from the early church to the present, each with the purpose of understanding the underlying theology of the worshiping community's understanding of the sacred, their relationship to God and their relationship to each other. Course will incorporate local churches (either Washington DC metropolitan area or Rome) in the study of the ways that human beings construct meaning in liturgical art, architecture and worship space as well as how images and spaces are a theological reflection of the faith tradition.

ENG310? Shakespeare's Italian Plays
From the beginning to the end of his career, Shakespeare made recurrent use of Italian sources and settings for his plays. This course offers a study of Shakespearean plays set in Italy, including The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Tempest. Reading these otherwise very different plays together provides an introduction to Shakespeare’s work as a whole; it also enables a focus on the place of Italy in Shakespeare’s imagination. Topics will include Shakespearean genres, versification, use of sources, humor, textual transmission, and performance in Shakespeare’s time and ours.

Italian Politics
The course will study the current political situation in Italy and its background.

IT101 Introductory Italian I
For students with no previous knowledge of the language. A thorough grounding in the four language skills: reading, understanding, writing, and speaking, as well as an understanding of the structure of the language and the literature and culture of the country. Cannot be taken for credit by students who have taken three years of Italian during high school.

IT102 Introductory Italian II
A continuation of Italian 101.

IT103 Intermediate Italian I
A systematic consolidation and expansion of the four basic skills: reading, understanding, speaking, and writing. To increase and perfect students' acquired abilities/proficiencies in the language, and broaden their understanding of the country's culture and literature.

IT150 Italian in Context I
Prerequisite: Placement by examination. Restricted to students studying in Rome. Italian language study with intensive oral practice and review of elementary language structures. Includes contemporary culture in Rome and comprehension strategies for five-skills abilities.

IT151 Italian in Context II
Prerequisite: Placement by examination. Restricted to students studying in Rome. A continuation of IT150.

IT111 Italian Language and Culture I: Rome
Prerequisite: IT103 or placement by examination. Restricted to students studying in Rome. A continuation of Italian language study. Intensive oral practice with contemporary materials.

IT201 Conversation and Composition (Italian Studies Minor)
Prerequisite: IT104 or IT162. Students develop their ability to write and speak correctly and creatively in Italian through models of advanced linguistic structural patterns, related grammar, examples of usage, and composition exercises. Oral practice enhanced through the use of videos.

IT212 Italian Language and Culture II: Rome (Italian Studies Minor)
Prerequisite: IT111 or placement by examination. Restricted to students studying in Rome. A continuation of Italian language study. Intensive oral practice with contemporary materials.

IT213 Italian Language and Culture III: Rome (Italian Studies Minor)
Prerequisite: IT112 or placement by examination. Restricted to students studying in Rome. A continuation of Italian language study. Intensive oral practice with contemporary materials.

IT214 Oral Proficiency in Rome (Italian Studies Minor)
Prerequisite: IT202 or placement by examination. Restricted to students studying in Rome. Intensive oral practice in the classroom and with audiovisual media to develop facility in oral expression and aural comprehension.

Attendance Policy

Italian Studies Minor