Winter 2014/Houston

CH502

Turley

CH502: MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION CHURCH HISTORY. Steve Turley.

DESCRIPTION: An introduction to the most important themes and people in church history from roughly A.D. 500 to 1600.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Medieval and Reformation history introduces the student to the Western theological tradition and the major Protestant churches, thereby providing the foundation for one's confessional identity. The course provides a theological grounding for the work of the Christian ministry by surveying the historical development of Christian doctrines. The goal of Medieval and Reformation history is to make students conversant with the history and vocabulary of the Western church, to bring them to an awareness of the circumstances that have influenced the origins, growth, and development of Protestantism, to develop a critical methodology that will enable them to discern and evaluate the perennial theological issues, to provide them with insights into the theological character and meaning of the church's ministry, and to form their identity as Christian leaders.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students completing this course will have demonstrated (1) an overall, positive appraisal of Medieval, Catholic Christianity; (2) an ability to evaluate their own traditions with new depth and insight, as well as to gain a new level of understanding of other denominations, movements and historical events that have influenced and shaped the Christian faith; (3) an understanding of the abiding importance of the sixteenth-century controversies over Scripture, justification, the sacraments, and church and state; (4) increased critical skills in reading, through the study of primary source materials.

COURSE FORMAT: The course will meet once weekly in a three hour session, to include both lecture and discussion.

REQUIRED READING:

Hillerbrand, Hans J. The Division of Christendom: Christianity in the Sixteenth Century. Westminster John Knox, 2007. ISBN: 978-0664224028, Pub. Price $50.00 [520 pp.].

Pelikan, Jaroslav. Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture. Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN: 978-0300079876, Pub. Price $18.00 [304 pp.]

Spitz, Lewis W., ed. The Protestant Reformation. Major Documents. Concordia, 1997. ISBN: 978-0570049937, Pub. Price $24.99 [192 pp.].

Volz, Carl. The Medieval Church: From the Dawn of the Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation. Abingdon Press, 1997. ISBN: 978-0687006045, Pub. Price $26.00 [260 pp.].

Assorted medieval primary source documents (available online).

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. Regular assigned reading from the textbooks.
2. A midterm with both essay and objective components (30%).
3. A final examination with both essay and objective components (30%).
4. Attendance and substantive participation in class discussion (10%).
5. A ten-page research paper based on at least two primary source documents (30%).

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets MDiv core requirement in Church History "b" (CHB); meets MAT requirement (effective Winter 2010).

FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes.