Introduction to the Patristic Literature and Hagiology

Specific Foundation / Core

The aim of the course is to familiarize students both with the genres of Christian literature especially hagiography but also with the attitudes that gave rise to these texts and the attitudes that these texts helped to instil. The approach is historical-philological (historical context, literary genres, language, literary style, editions) and theological (external challenges and internal needs that contributed to the production of these texts, their themes, their apologetic, didactic and anti-heretical uses).

The first part of the course (Hagiography) examines the anthropological, Christological and ecclesiological aspects of sainthood through analysis of the hagiographic models that prevailed throughout different periods in the church’s history, from the biblical times to modern age, as they have been monumentalized in their respective narratives and the poetry of the Christian literature. The second part involves a general introduction to Christian literature: its basic genres, the various approaches to it, its historical, social and cultural context and their soteriological aims.

12-09-2016