Winter 2006/Pasadena
CH801/579
Bradley
CH801/579: THE CHURCH IN MODERN SOCIETY. James Bradley.
DESCRIPTION:
- This is an advanced seminar primarily for doctoral students open on
the 500-level on a limited basis to qualified master's-level students. In early
modern Europe, Christian thought and institutions dominated vast areas of human
endeavor, including science, philosophy, social and economic theory, law and
politics. The revolutions of the modern world have almost completely overturned
this relationship and thrown the church into a series of prolonged crises. This
seminar will survey the critical points of intersection between the church and
society since the Enlightenment, particularly in Britain and North America. We
will read selections from several of the most influential thinkers of the
Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Positivism, and we will study the most
important contemporary theories of secularization, including those of Weber,
Berger, Wilson, and Pannenberg.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY:
- This course is intended for students who plan a vocation in
teaching, research, and writing. The course will furnish students with an
understanding of the most formidable intellectual challenges facing the church
today, and hopefully, it will help lay a foundation that will enable the
Christian intellectual to offer a credible answer to these challenges.
COURSE FORMAT:
- The seminar will meet two hours a week for discussion.
REQUIRED READING:
- Cashdollar, Charles D. The Transformation of Theology,
1830-1890. Princeton, 1989.
- Gilbert, Alan D. The Making of Post-Christian Britain. Longman,
1980.
- May, Henry F. The Enlightenment in America. Oxford, 1976.
- Noll, Mark A. Between Faith and Criticism. Harper, 1986.
- Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Christianity in a Secularized World.
Crossroad, 1989.
ASSIGNMENTS:
- Rigorous participation in the seminar discussions and a major
research paper. Students will be able to choose from a wide variety of specific
topics for their papers, but the seminar is also designed to enhance the
student's overall competence in the broad field of modern church
history.
PREREQUISITES:
- The seminar is intended primarily for PhD and ThM students working
in the area of modern church history and theology. The course is open to a
limited number of MA and MDiv students who are planning advanced work in the
fields of history or theology by permission of the professor. Such students
should have completed one or more survey courses in modern church history,
American church history, or modern theology.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM:
- Elective for MA and MDiv students; it is part of the required
curriculum for history students in the Center for Advanced Theological Study.
FINAL EXAMINATION:
- None.