Medieval Mediterranean Faiths

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived side by side for centuries in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean throughout the Middle Ages--the occupied the same towns, shopped in the same markets, dwelt in the same neighborhoods, read each others' books, and borrowed each other's stories. While covering the broad sweep of Latin-Christian, Islamic, and Byzantine civilizations that grew up in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea after the fall of Rome, we will focus especially the on-going interactions between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in this area. While doing so we will constantly ask how can we know--and what kinds of things we can know--about the Middle Ages, as we examine many types of medieval sources, including literary works, historical texts, religious and philosophical writings, and works of art.