Fall 2011/Houston
CH500
Badger
CH500: EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. Carl Badger
DESCRIPTION:
An introduction to the early Church (2nd through 6th century) as it confronted the pagan world and classical culture, defined many of its most fundamental teachings, and cultivated distinctive patterns of biblical interpretation, worship, and practice which have stamped Christianity up to the present.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY:
The gradual process of self-definition, punctuated as it is by crises and conflict, which occurred in the first five centuries of the Church have formed a matrix—whether acknowledged or not—for the continued thought and practice of Christians worldwide.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students successfully completing this course will have demonstrated: 1. An increased basic factual and thematic knowledge of the Christian story. 2. A basic competence in how to interpret the story of the Christian church. 3. A greater ability to evaluate various theological issues and their development. 4. Employment of the tools and knowledge for a critical and sympathetic appreciation for the breadth, unity and diversity of the Christian church.
COURSE FORMAT:
30 hr. course divided into four weekends (Oct.7-8, 21-22, Nov. 18-19, Dec.2-3: on those days classes meet Friday 6:00-9:30 pm and Saturday 8:30 am-12:30 pm). Readings are to be completed before class. Classes will be comprised of lectures and discussions of assigned materials.
REQUIRED READING:
Chadwick, Henry, The Early Church (The Penguin History of the Church, vol. I), revised ed. (Penguin, 1993) 100 out of 290 pp. $16.00 ISBN: 978-0140231991.
Wilken, Robert, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought. (Yale 2003) 241 out of 320 pp. $19.00 ISBN: 978-0300105988.
Hill, Jonathan, Christianity. How a Tiny Sect from a Despised Religion Came to Dominate the Roman Empire. (Fortress Press, 2011) 200 out of 250 pp. $19.77 ISBN: 978-0-8006-9777-8.
Saint Augustine, Confessions. Preferable: Oxford World Classics, Translated with an Introduction and notes by Henry Chadwick (Oxford). 200 out of 305 pp. $7.95 ISBN: 978-0199537822; or, if Chadwick unavailable, R. S. Pine-Coffin (tr.). Penguin Classics $8.00 ISBN: 978-0140441147.
A Course Reader on selected primary and secondary readings, as well as selected e-reserve documents, including secondary readings on cultural context, women in early Christianity, heterodoxy; and primary readings on martyrdom, institutional structures, worship and spirituality, doctrinal disputes, and ethical practices and monasticism. 300 pp.
An article-review, selected from ProfessorÕs list. 40 pp.
RECOMMENDED READING:
McManners, John, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (Oxford, 1990) $31.95 ISBN: 978-0192854391
Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). (Chicago, 1971) $23.00 ISBN: 978-0226653716
Rousseau, Philip. The Early Christian Centuries (Longman 2002). $56.00 ISBN: 978-0582256538
ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Weekly preparation, attendance, and participation are required components of the course, This includes readings to be done before the first class meeting, as will be specified in the class syllabus.
2. A mid-term (35%) and a final (40%). Both have a proctored closed-book portion and an open-book take-home essay. The proctored mid-term will be on Friday or Saturday, Nov.4/5, and the final on Dec.9/10 (whether Friday or Saturday will be determined by class consensus at the first meeting). The exams will test lectures and assigned readings.
3. One position paper to be read in class as discussion starter on some movement, person, controversy to be assigned (10%).
4. Article-review, posted for class use in an on-line Moodle forum (15%).
PREREQUISITES:
None.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM:
Meets M. Div. core requirement in Church History ÒAÓ (CHA).
FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes.