Early Modern Europe:
Research and Teaching
Constantin Fasolt:
My teaching is evenly divided between undergraduate and graduate courses. On the undergraduate level, I teach courses in the College Core Curriculum as well as upper level undergraduate courses on the history of Europe and European social and political thought from medieval to early modern times. Occasionally I offer courses concentrating on particularly important texts, such as Jean Bodin's Six Books of the Republic or Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. On the graduate level I usually teach seminars on one of three subjects: medieval political thought, early modern political thought, and the Protestant Reformation. No matter what the subject, however, I ask students to devote attention to its place in European history as a whole and to reflect not only on the historiography specific to the subject but also on the significance of historical work as such. I also offer introductory graduate courses on European political thought and the Reformation, and in the future I would like to offer courses focused directly on the nature and significance of historical thinking.
The graduate students who work most closely with me are writing their dissertations on various aspects of European history in the period from about 1300 to 1700, usually with a definite geographical emphasis on central or northern Europe. Their interests range from late medieval theology and jurisprudence via humanism and the Protestant Reformation to seventeenth-century cultural and political history, the scientific revolution, and the beginnings of the Enlightenment. Once they have completed their course work and passed their qualifying examinations, students usually spend at least a year in Europe in order to conduct the research for their dissertations.