From Rome to the Renaissance

Teacher: Paul Gierlach (Read more about his biography here)

First, the Greeks and then the Romans pioneered a new consciousness in the West. This form of consciousness prevails in our times and in ourselves. We will study this consciousness.

For over two millennia, historians have been recording and thinking about this consciousness. To experience it as deeply as possible, we will look at it from the point of view of one of the most basic of human activities: creating a place to live. We call these ‘places’ social organizations. They begin with the family, the clan, extended families of all descriptions, and end, possibly, with the emergence not only of nations but also of empires! We have, as human beings, created such a wide variety of habitats, physical, psychical, even spiritual.

What do they all have in common? Every viable society or civilization embodies three elements: a culture, that is, an expression of shared values and forms of worship, specific languages, and prevailing (or modestly changing) customs; laws, that is, a kind of guideline for behavior; and a means of sustaining one’s group, which we will view through the lens of self-sustaining activity such as farming and trading with other societies. We call this economics.

We will move chronologically through history so we can see how and why these elements have a lasting impact.

Week 1 ROME’S RISE, BCE

• We trace the rise of Rome from village to kingdom to republic to empire

Week 2 ROME’S EXPANSE AND FALL (first five centuries of CE)

• We look at four powerful forces that collide:
  • Roman Virtues
  • Germanic Tribes
  • Christian Impulses
  • Eastern Influences

Week 3 FROM FOLK TO NATIONS

• We will choose at least one particular folk and trace its biography; e.g., the rise of what we now call England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Each of these Western ‘nations’ has a fateful meeting with societies from the East, through the Crusades, the Silk Road, or Islam and its advanced learning.

Week 4 THE RENAISSANCE, THE NEW CONSCIOUSNESS

• The question for the last week is: What is this new consciousness? How can we explain the rise of the Individual amidst the different societies? We will look at the biographies of Dante, Pico della Mirandola, and Martin Luther to demonstrate this change in the cultural sphere.