This course considers the evidence for the presence of early Christian believers in the so-called "Celtic" areas of western Europe. Students will examine how the Celtic peoples received Christianity in the context of native (pagan) religion; they will look specifically at how the Roman Church doctrine influenced the doctrinal stands of the early Celtic church(es), and vice versa, with particular attention to the Pelagian controversy, the date of Easter, the monastic tonsure, and the use of penitentials. The period covered is approximately 70 CE to 800 CE.

The course (CS173) will examine the early reception and development of Christianity in Ireland and Britain. Particular attention will be paid to the role that insular pre-Christian Celtic religious systems played in this reception and the conversion to Christian belief. Lectures and primary works that will be read (complete or in extract) to elucidate this issue will be drawn from wisdom texts, secular and canon law texts, ecclesiastical legislation, penitentials and monastic rules, apocrypha, and lyric poetry. A selection of saints' lives, both Irish and Welsh, with a French connection via St. Martin of Tours, will round out the course. All texts will be available in English translation and the majority of them available in a Course Reader. These will include: the Irish wisdom text, Audacht Morainn [The Testimony of Moran]; Cáin Adamnáin [the law of Adomnan], Cáin Domnaig [the law of Sunday] and Cáin Darí [the law of Dari]; The Irish Penitentials (extracts), the "Monastery of Tallaght"; the "Martyrology of Oengus" and the “Old Irish Poems of Blathmac”; The Voyage of St. Brendan; and the following saints' lives: Adomnan's Life of Columba, Muirchú's Life of St. Patrick, Cogitosus's Life of St. Brigid, Rhigyfarch's Life of St. David, Lifris's Life of St. Cadog, and Sulpicius's Life of St. Martin. Course requirements include a midterm and final examination. Texts: • Reader: TBA • Kelly, Fergus, ed. & tr. Audacht Morainn. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976. • O'Meara, John J. tr. The Voyage of St. Brendan. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997. • Murphy, Gerard, tr. Early Irish Lyrics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.

Fulfills L&S Historical Studies breadth requirement.

No prerequisites, although a basic knowledge of Christianity is required.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills