This course examines the development of the western intellectual tradition from the fall of the Roman Empire through the High Middle Ages. Our basic premise will be that the triumph of Christianity in the west was not the inevitable outcome it appears from hindsight. Our attention will therefore be focused not only on the development of Christian thought and practice, but on its challengers as well. Particular emphasis will be devoted to northern paganism, the rise of Islam, Byzantine orthodoxy, indigenous heretical movements, and the ambiguous position of Jews in European society.