CH 274 Pastors: Creating an Ideal in the Early Middle Ages

Abstract

Course Description: The purpose of this seminar is to examine the portrayal of the pastor in the early Middle Ages (6th-9th centuries). It was a period of great political transition. The church had to meet the challenge of Germanic culture and beliefs, but perhaps more significantly, of the breakdown of Roman institutions such as schools, the army, and courts of justice. The church took on the roles of educator, judge, defender of the poor and oppressed, manumittor, and arbitrator in civil disputes. The pastor becomes a critical figure, both socially and politically. The church is unavoidably entangled in the world. How did she avoid becoming of the world? The argument of this seminar is that the material we will be reading was written to create the ideal pastor and set a standard of Christian living based on monastic ideals.