Winter 2015/Pasadena

CH539

Thompson

CH539: TEXTS AND THEMES IN REFORMATION THEOLOGY (4 Units: 210 hours). John L. Thompson.

DESCRIPTION: CH539 is the master’s-level section of a doctoral seminar and admits a limited number of advanced master’s students (with the instructor’s permission). The seminar’s topics change regularly; for Winter 2015, we will focus on a particular aspect of the reception of the church fathers in the Reformation, namely, the reception of the 4th- and 5th-century ecumenical councils — Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon — along with the mainly Eastern fathers (orthodox and otherwise) who contributed to these councils. Accordingly, at least a quarter of our time will be spent reviewing the history and doctrinal pronouncements of these councils, after which we will probe various documents and controversies of the sixteenth century, including materials that bear on Luther, Melanchthon, Bullinger, Calvin, and others. The course should be of interest to students in both history and theology.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon successful completion of this course, students will have demonstrated (1) factual knowledge of how early Protestants regarded the legacy of the Patristic era; (2) an ability to interact critically and fairly with primary and secondary sources in history and theology; (3) facility in academic research and writing; and (4) a basic grasp of the rudiments of Latin as a tool for research.

COURSE FORMAT: This class meets once per week for three-hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours. Hours will be distributed over ten weeks, as follows: 3 classroom hours weekly spent in seminar discussion of readings and issues, including a half-hour Latin tutorial, plus 1 hour each week in directed learning activities such as reading-response prompts and Moodle forum postings.

REQUIRED READING: 1,200 pp. required.

Ayres, Lewis. Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0198755050, Pub. Price $65.00 [430 pp. assigned] .

Kelly, Joseph F. The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church: A History. Michael Glazier, 2009. ISBN: 978-0814653760, Pub. Price $24.95 [150 pp. assigned] .

Lane, Anthony N. S. John Calvin: Student of the Church Fathers. Baker, 1999. ISBN: 978-0801022296, OUT OF PRINT but available used for ~$25.00 [155 pp. assigned].

 Olin, John C., ed. A Reformation Debate: John Calvin & Jacopo Sadoleto. Baker, 2000. ISBN: 978-0801023903, Pub. Price $15.00 [130 pp. assigned].

REQUIRED READING, DIGITAL SOURCES: Access texts below via library databases (e.g., EEBO / Early English Books Online, DLCPT / Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts), or at the Internet Archive (archive.org), Google Books, or Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Book chapters are usually eReserves.

Luther, “On the Councils and the Churches” (1539), tr. Charles M. Jacobs, in Works of Martin Luther (Philadelphia, 1931), 5:131-300. [170 pp. assigned]

Luther, “The Leipzig Debate” (1519), LW 31:307-25 [19 pp. assigned] 

Luther, “Babylonian Captivity of the Church” (1520), LW 36:3-126 [124 pp. assigned]

Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion” (CCEL).

Bullinger, “Decades.” STC 4056 (English 1577); 4076 (Latin). 

Musculus, “Common Places of the Christian Religion.” London, 1578. STC 18309. 

Vermigli, “The Common Places.” London, 1583. STC 24666 (English); 24668 (Latin).