Duke in Venice Summer School

The Religion of Empire and Its Imperial Piety - Catholic Christianity
May 22 – June 19, 2022

Program Director: Dr. Sam R. Miglarese, University Department of Religious Studies

This religious studies plus excursion 4-week course will be taught in English and directed by Professor Sam Miglarese, instructor in the Duke Department of Religious Studies and Deputy Chief Administrator of Durham and Community Affairs.

This interdisciplinary course looks at the religious sensibilities and pieties that permeated imperial Venice and that were embodied in the civic life, the architecture and the visual arts of Renaissance Venice. Special attention will be directed to the theology and place of the Virgin Mary, St. Mark and the protector saints of Venice in Roman Catholic Church teaching. Included are art history and theological readings plus excursions to the churches and galleries of Veneto (Torcello, Aquileia, Bologna and Padua or Verona included).

Course Summary

Religion: Selected Topics: The Venetian Empire (XV-XVI cc) and its Imperial Piety: Catholic Christianity and the role of the Virgin Mary, St. Mark and the many saint “protectors” of Venice.

The course will examine the religious, spiritual and hagiographic traditions of Catholic Christianity as it was lived in the Empire of Venice through religious art as well as current devotional practice, ceremonies and traditions still extant today. The subject matter of Venetian art was of great importance to the artists. Topics will include the place of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Evangelist Mark and other saints in Catholic life and thinking then and now.

Excursions into the churches and art galleries will illustrate the power of the religious sensibilities in imperial Venice. We will study the influence of relics and the history and legends attached to the saints connected to the political history of Venice. We will also use Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice to explore Jewish presence in Venice. We plan to explore cultural opportunities in Venice along with several cultural/religious events, concerts, and field trips.

This course will be taught in English by Dr. Sam Miglarese, adjunct instructor in the Religious Studies Department at Duke, and Deputy Chief Administrator in Duke’s Office of Durham and Community Affairs.

One course credit.