DESCRIPTION: This is a CATS doctoral seminar 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 three hours a week for discussion.

REQUIRED READING:

Bradley, James E., and Dale K. Van Kley, eds. Religion and Politics in Enlightened Europe. Notre Dame, 2001. ISBN: 9780268040529. $24.95.

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

May, Henry F. The Enlightenment in America. Oxford, 1976. ISBN: 9780195023671. $44.95.

Noll, Mark A. Between Faith and Criticism. Regent College, 2004. ISBN: 9781573830980. $26.95.

Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Christianity in a Secularized World. Crossroad, 1989. ISBN: 9780824509361. $8.95.

Chapman, Alister, John Coffey, and Brad S. Gregory. Seeing Things Their Way: Intellectual History and the Return of Religion. Notre Dame, 2009. ISBN: 9780268022983. $38.00.

N.B. Cashdollar is out of print and May is expensive; copies will be supplied to students.