Università Roma Tre

The course consists of 2 modules of 6 CFU (= 12 CFU), the first by Prof. Carla Noce (= Storia del cristianesimo antico LM), the second by Dr. Matteo Mennini().
I Module (Carla Noce)
Gomp: 20702466 e 20702465-1
Course title 2020-2021: Purity and pollution, guilt and sin, contamination and contagion in Ancient Christianity

Christians inherit from the Jewish world a corpus of Scriptures that they reinterpret in the light of Jesus' message: among them, a prescriptive book like Leviticus which, through a sophisticated classification system, regulates rites and behaviors. The detailed description of the sources of pollution (unclean animals, corpses of animals, blood, diseases such as leprosy, illicit sexual intercourse, etc.) and the rites necessary to restore the state of purity, acquires, in Christian reading, new and multiple meanings, expressions of different Christianities. These interpretations are rooted in specific conceptions of the relationships that must exist between God, the world and man and are often able to provide the faithful with answers to the questions raised by personal misfortune, natural disasters, illnesses; furthermore, they contribute to determine an alternative religious system to Judaism and the Greco-Roman religious world.
The course aims to focus attention on some texts - chosen as emblematic of different conceptions and practices - and to reconstruct their cultural assumptions through an appropriate historical contextualization.

Bibliography:
Attending students
Bibliographic material will be indicated and provided during the course.