Italian. Greek and Latin for the texts. English, German, French for bibliography.
Course Content
The aim of the course will be to trace, from the Scriptures to the fifth century, the forms of “writing the self”, especially analyzing those texts in which the author gives information about himself, without disregarding the narrative strategies adopted.
1) Texts of Old and New Testament. Works of ecclesiastical writers and of the Church Fathers, from the Ist to the Vth centuries.
2) M.-F. Baslez-Ph. Hoffmann-L. Pernot (éd.), L'invention de l'autobiographie d'Hésiode à saint Augustin. Actes du deuxième colloque de l'Équipe de recherche sur l'hellénisme post-classique (Paris, École normale supérieure, 14-16 juin 1990), Paris 1993.
3) P. Courcelle, Antécédents autobiographiques des Confessions de saint Augustin, in «Revue de philologie, de littérature et d'histoire anciennes», 31.1 (1957), pp. 23-51.
4) M. Foucault, La cura di sé, trad. it., vol. 3 Storia della sessualità, Milano 1985.
5) G. Funaioli, L'autobiografia nell'antichità, in «Atene e Roma» 11 (1908), pp. 332-346.
6) B. Gentili-G. Cerri, Storia e biografia nel pensiero antico, Bari 1983.
7) G. Misch, Geschichte der Autobiographie, 4 voll., Bern-Frankfurt am Main 1949-1969 (trad. ingl. del I vol.: A History of Autobiography in Antiquity, I-II, London 1950).
8) A. Momigliano, Lo sviluppo della biografia greca, tr. it., Torino 1974 (ed. orig. Harvard 1971).
9) L.F. Pizzolato, Le “Confessioni” di sant'Agostino. Da biografia a “confessio”, Milano 1968.
10) A. Sizoo, Autobiographie, in RACh, vol. I, Stuttgart 1950, coll. 1050-1055.
11) M. Testard, Antécédents et postérité des Confessions de saint Augustin, in «Revue d'études augustiniennes et patristiques» 10.1 (1964), pp. 21-34.
Manuali di riferimento:
C. Moreschini – E. Norelli, Manuale di letteratura cristiana antica greca e latina, Brescia, Morcelliana, 1999.
M. Simonetti – E. Prinzivalli, Storia della letteratura cristiana antica, Bologna, EDB, 2010.
Learning Objectives
The course provides students with literary, doctrinal and historical elements on the topic, through a comparative study of literary and theological sources. Thanks to an interdisciplinary approach, students will acquire elements of historical, theological and hermeneutical methodology.
The course aims to promote:
1. the ability to orient oneself on the main topics of ancient Christian literature;
2. the interpretation of ancient Christian texts from a historical and literary point of view, as well as a specific methodological rigor;
3. the strengthening of critical and analytical skills, to allow the student to insert each text within its context;
4. knowledge of bibliographic sources;
5. the ability to use the terminology of the discipline.
At the end of the course, students are supposed to be able to read, to translate and to contextualize in historical perspective texts belonging to Greek and Latin Christian tradition. They are also supposed to use correct methodology in order to give a scientific commentary.
Prerequisites
Good knowledge of Greek, Latin, Classical philology.
Students able to read Biblical Hebrew are welcome.
Teaching Methods
Traditional lesson with active participation of students, who are invited to discuss problems and issues posed by the texts. During lessons, some concepts and terms specifically related to the topic will be analyzed and students will be able to understand the semantic and conceptual novelty of such terms.
Further information
The texts will be distributed in the classroom by the teacher and upload on Moodle.
For any problems or needs, students are invited to contact the teacher.
Type of Assessment
Oral examination to check the knowledge of the program, orientation within the discipline, literary and historical contextualization, and interdisciplinary relationship. Along with the knowledge of the historical context and of the texts analyzed, it is required the ability to adopt the specific language of the discipline.
The final evaluation of the exam will pay attention to the following parameters:
1) critical reasoning skills; 2) methodological rigor in relation to the contents of the discipline; 3) knowledge of the fundamental notions of the discipline; 4) ability to express contents clearly and precisely, using the specific vocabulary of the discipline.
Course program
Forms and Self Writing in Ancient Christian Literature: Autobiographical and Literary Motifs.
As it is well known, Christianity contributed in a decisive fashion to the birth of autobiography, enhancing the individual and favoring the emergence of self-awareness, of the “self”, of the spirit, of psychological introspection.
According to many scholars, Augustine's Confessions would be the first autobiographical work, decisive for the development of the literary genre in the following age: this work has played a notable role on the later tradition, both ancient (Paulinus of Pella, and Ennodius), medieval (Dante, and Petrarch) and modern (Rousseau’s Confessions). However, Augustine’s Confessions generate debates over the definition of their literary form. Also for the Christian world, some fundamental problems arise: when, how and why was autobiography born? What literary genre is it related to? Which is its audience? What are its beginnings? What are its models? Before Augustine’s Confessions, starting from Scripture, it is possible to find forms of "writing the self", namely texts in which the author gives information of himself, in which literary and narrative strategies are strictly intertwined. The following texts will be analyzed:
1) The history of a vocation: the Confessions of Jeremiah.
2) The history of a conversion and an apology: Paul's Letters, and the Acts of the Apostles.
3) Flavius Josephus, Autobiography.
4) Hermas, Shepherd of Hermas, Visions.
5) Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans.
6) Perpetua, Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis.
7) Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Tryphon (prologue; cf. Theophilus, Ad Autol. I,14; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. I,1,11,1-3).
8) Cyprian, Ad Donatum.
9) Commodianus, Carmen apologeticum.
10) Gregorius of Nazianzus, Carmen de vita sua.
11) Augustine, A selection of passages from the Confessions.