The Occult Renaissance (P02496)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : HCA-P-TOR

In this course postgraduate students will be introduced to an important aspect of the European Renaissance (c. 1350-c.1600) – the occult. The ‘occult’ in pre-modern Europe is broadly defined as the forces in nature which were generally hidden from ordinary human perception or occasionally forbidden and contested in learned and non-learned contexts. The study of the occult gained momentum during the Renaissance. As scholars collated and searched classical and post-classical texts they found that their view of the nature of the cosmos was often challenged and sometimes confirmed, spurring them to make deeper and more sceptical investigations into nature and the supernatural, and to redraw the boundary separating both. The occult was also a subject for treatment by a number of artists, poets, and musicians. The historical investigation of the relationship between the occult and the Renaissance has been one of the most fruitful areas of scholarship in recent decades, and this course is designed to introduce students to some of the principle texts and themes fundamental to this enquiry.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of History and Classics), (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Schedule E)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate a satisfactory level of competence in the following areas, by performance in class, submission of coursework, and achievement in formal examination:

1. The ability to recognize and analyse textual and non-textual historical evidence.

2. The ability to synthesise and apply methodologies from history to the understanding of prophecy, magic, and astrology.

3. The ability to synthesise large amounts of primary and secondary historical material into a coherent form in order to answer questions and tackle problems in the history of the occult.