Key facts

Type	Weekly Classes
Location	Oxford
Address	Ewert House Ewert Place Summertown Oxford
Dates	Tue 15 Jan to Tue 19 Mar 2013 Day: Tuesday Time of meeting: 7.00-9.00pm Number of meetings: 10
Subject area(s)	Religious Studies
CATS points	10
Fees	From £165.00
Application status	Course cancelled
Course code	O12P748THW
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email ppweekly@conted.ox.ac.uk.

Overview

Throughout human history, when faced with death, people needed and found ways of coping with it. They developed various rituals and practices towards such a purpose. Views on the Afterlife will be examined in the class discussions.

Description

Coping with the idea of death and also with the losses brought by it have always been issues which humankind treat as important. The course will focus mainly on the way in which Christians have dealt with this inescapable phenomenon of human existence. Rites and rituals to make this last ‘passage’ bearable will be introduced based on relevant literature. But the idea of what happens with their soul has also preoccupied them; various answered were provided and some of them will be presented during the course.

Programme details

Week 1: Death and afterlife in the New Testament
Week 2: Christian attitude towards death and afterlife
Week 3: Death as the end of creative endeavours
Week 4: Practices in connection to death
Week 5: Christian funerary rituals
Week 6: Mourning
Week 7: Resurrection
Week 8: Art and Death
Week 9: Art and Resurrection
Week 10: Review and general discussion

Background Reading:
Brooks, S., "Art and Death in Medieval Byzantium", in Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2000
Dennis, G. T., Death in Byzantium, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, No. 55, Issue year 2001, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., 2002
Nichols, T. L., Death and afterlife: a theological introduction, Brazos Press, Grand Rapids, Mich., 2010
Rose, S., The Soul After Death, Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood Platina, Calif., 1995
Van Gennep, A., The Rites of Passage, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977, London

Staff

Course aims

Course Aim:
To strengthen the students’ capacity to think critically and analytically, as well as develop writing skills

Course Objectives:
The students should expect this course to:
1. familiarise them with the way Christianity has dealt with the idea of death over time
2. give them an overview on the practices connected to this last ‘passage’ in human life
3. make them understand their importance in people’s dealing with death
4. offer them a selection of funerary rites and rituals as they developed throughout human history
5. strengthen their capacity to think critically and analytically, as well as develop writing skills
6. deepen their appreciation of the value of human life

Assessment methods

Short written assignments, c. 1,000 words
1. Excerpts from literature to be interpreted in the class room
2. Book reviews
3. Oral presentations
4. Etc.

Teaching methods

A combination of lectures, classes, seminars and presentations.

Teaching outcomes

By the end of the course students should be able to:
1. form and express a position on how important is to be able to cope in death situation
2. demonstrate orally and in writing that they have understood the importance of rituals connected to death
3. develop and defend their own interpretations of a text

Fee options

Programme Fee

Home/EU fee: £165.00

Non-EU fee: £165.00

Apply for this course