Spring 2008/Pasadena
CH801A/579
Bradley

CH801A/B/CH579: THE CHURCH IN MODERN SOCIETY. James Bradley.


DESCRIPTION: This is a CATS doctoral seminar (for which students at the 800 level will register Spring and Summer, CH801A and CH801B), open to a limited number of qualified master's level students (CH579). 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.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will acquire a broader understanding of the church in the context of modern culture that will enable them to further their own research agendas. They should attain a deepened ability in the use of critical historical methods that will assist in research and writing at the professional level. Finally, students will hopefully sharpen their ability to interpret the topics of the course in meaningful ways to the academy and the church.

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:

Bradley, James E., and Dale K. Van Kley, eds. Religion and Politics in Enlightened Europe. University of Notre Dame Press, 2005.

Cashdollar, Charles D. The Transformation of Theology, 1830-1890. Princeton, 1989.

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. At the 800 level, the course plan presented at the beginning of the seminar will specify the work on which students enrolled will be graded each quarter.

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 by permission of the professor to a limited number of MA and MDiv students who are planning advanced work in the fields of history or theology. 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.

This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. (1/08)