TRS 727L The Natural World and Human Nature in Early Christianity
The books of Genesis and Revelation, among others, presented distinct challenges to learned early Christians attempting both to understand those books in harmony with contemporary medical and natural science, and to defend their deeper interpretations against recurrent challenges from pagans and Christians alike. This course examines the development of differing early Christian accounts of the created natural world in its observable complexity, and of embodied human nature, intricately structured but permeable to invisible influences and capable of various metamorphoses. Considers thinkers from Latin-speaking west to Syriac-speaking east including, but not limited to, Origen, Basil of Caesarea, Firmicus Maternus, Nemesius of Emesa, Synesius of Cyrene, Augustine of Hippo, Sergius of Reshaina, Maximus the Confessor.