LAPI 826 - Renaissance: Politics, Religion and Money

The course explores three modern interpretations of the Renaissance, political, religious and economic and pairs them against central texts from the period to both test their validity and gain a wider understanding of the texts themselves. We first deal with the Renaissance to establish the connections between the birth of the state and the birth of the “individual” stressing, all the meanwhile, the emergence of both the public and private spheres and their reflection on literature and architecture. Then we will look at the reformation to understand the impact not only of the religion, but of social action and its influence. Finally, the course focuses on the Renaissance as the period that gave birth to a capitalist mode of production exploring how as the economy shifted from land ownership to capital “universal” concepts value came into question.

Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisite: LACR 102

Credits: 3 cr, 3 hr