Pat is asking the wrong person to justify banning the word "pagan". It was
me who made the point that the students have a rather fixed idea of what
"pagan" means, and that they tend to see it as an incompatible opposite to
Christianity - and that is counter productive to their understanding of
Renaissance thought and art.
I must emphasise that I never ban words or concepts simply because students
don't understand them. That would be a dead loss! Moreover,
misunderstanding the concept of paganism is not specifically an art
historical problem - why would it be? How does it connect with possibility
that I misinstructed them about the Renaissance? And while, of course, it
is possible that I misinstructed them, it is also true that many students
misunderstand course material in many subjects because they do not attend
properly, because they are in distress or ill or didn't want to take the
course in the first place - or whatever. The teacher is not responsible for
this.
What I am trying to do on this issue is make the students notice what they
are really talking about - they are very quick to fall back on Sunday school
piety and assume that the job of art history is to justify Christianity (and
recognise great art - pah!) - and that everything that is not Christian
therefore has to be deplored. My point in the Renaissance course is that
the Classical way of thinking has deeply affected Christian thought and art,
and that the two were seen as *complements* not opposites. This is a
concept that is completely unexpected to them - as I have seen in several
different colleges.
Why not visit my course materials online and see what I am actually teaching
them about the Renaissance and Classicism (click on "terms and concepts").
I don't think you'll continue to think I'm an unethical, irresponsible or
lazy teacher after that - even if you don't agree with my take on
Classicism.
Best wishes,
Pippin Michelli, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Art History, St Olaf College
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/michelli/index4.html
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