Christianity and Islam
I. Islam
This part of the course will show the students the importance of Islamic religion and culture in relation with western world in general and with Christianity in particular, in order to answer the question “is inter-religious dialogue possible?”
Structure:
This part of the course intends to give to the students the possibility to use the literature as a weapon in order to understand the history and the real value of the Middle Ages, and clear up many misunderstandings about the role played by the Church in medieval society
Structure:
This part of the course will show the students the importance of Islamic religion and culture in relation with western world in general and with Christianity in particular, in order to answer the question “is inter-religious dialogue possible?”
Structure:
- Essence of Islam: structure and doctrine
- The sacred books of Islam
- Life of Muhammad and birth of Islam
- Development of Islamic culture in Eastern and Western world
- Crusades and Jihad
- Islam terrorism and “moderate” Islam
- During the lesson will be used two important audiovisuals (by the Italian director Renzo Martinelli and the Dutch director – killed by a fanatic Muslim – Theo van Gogh)
This part of the course intends to give to the students the possibility to use the literature as a weapon in order to understand the history and the real value of the Middle Ages, and clear up many misunderstandings about the role played by the Church in medieval society
Structure:
- Birth of Italian literature in the name of religion (St. Francis of Assisi, moral plays)
- Birth of English literature in the name of religion (The legend of the Cross)
- Middle Ages between cathedrals and poems: the Divine Comedy
- Two big misunderstandings: Boccaccio and Chaucer
- Humanism and Renaissance: Tasso vs. Milton
- Neoclassicism and Revolution: Metastasio vs. Sade
- Romanticism: the religious case of Manzoni
- Religious themes in 20th century literature