Fall 2019/Pasadena

HT500

Pollock

HT500: THE CHURCH’S UNDERSTANDING OF GOD AND CHRIST IN ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT (4 Units: 165 hours). Darren M. Pollock.

DESCRIPTION: HT500 is a survey of patristic theology and early church history that focuses especially on the doctrine of God, including the Christian church’s development of trinitarian and Christological theology and creeds in its dialogue with its opponents and with its multiple cultural contexts, including the empires, languages, religions, and philosophies of the ancient Asian, African and European regions. Related topics and themes to be addressed may include the role of the apostolic fathers and apologists, the controversy with Gnosticism, tensions between Eastern and Western forms of Christianity, and selected doctrinal developments that extend through the Protestant Reformation to today.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students who complete HT500 will demonstrate: (1) a basic historical and theological knowledge of the doctrines of God and Christ as those and other selected doctrines emerged in the early church and developed to this day; (2) a basic competence in interpreting this history and theology and an ability to evaluate these theological issues and their historical development; and (3) a critical and sympathetic appreciation for the breadth, unity, and diversity of the Christian church.

RELATIONSHIP TO PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: HT500 introduces students to a basic historical and theological knowledge of the doctrines of God and Christ (inter alia) as these doctrines and associated practices developed especially in the early church, with an eye to developing skills in interpretation and critical appreciation; it thereby seeks to implement the SOT PLO, “Students will have demonstrated capacities for historically informed theological and ethical reflection.”

COURSE FORMAT: This class meets twice weekly for two hour sessions for a total of 40 instructional hours in the classroom for lecture and discussion.

REQUIRED READING: c. 1130 total number of pages required

Basil the Great:. On the Holy Spirit., trans.Stephen Hildebrand. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0881418767, Pub. Price $16.00. Older translation available as an eBook from the Fuller Library [110 pp. assigned—small pages about ½ size of most books].

Behr, John. The Formation of Christian Theology, V. 2: The Nicene Faith. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2004. ISBN: 978-0881412666, Pub. Price $36.00 [100 pp. assigned].

Clark, Elizabeth. Women in the Early Church. Michael Glazier, 1983. ISBN: 978-0814653326, Pub. Price $29.95. Available as an eBook from the Fuller Library [55 pp. assigned].

Dünzl, Franz. A Brief History of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Early Church, trans. John Bowden. T&T Clark, 2007. ISBN: 978-0567031938, Pub. Price $30.95 [131 pp. assigned].

González, Justo. A History of Christian Thought: In One Volume. Abingdon Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-1426757778, Pub. Price $49.99 [83 pp. assigned].

González, Justo. The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. . Harper One, 2010. ISBN: 978-0061855887, Pub. Price $27.99 [155 pp. assigned].

Hardy, Edward R., ed. Christology of the Later Fathers. The Westminster Press, 1954. ISBN: 978-0664241520, Pub. Price $45.00 [111 pp. assigned].

John of Damascus. On the Divine Images, trans. David Anderson. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1980. ISBN: 978-0913836620, Out of print; Older translation available as an eBook from the Fuller Library [100 pp. assigned—small pages about ½ size of most books].

Norris, R. A., ed. The Christological Controversy. Fortress Press, 1980. ISBN: 978-0800614119, Pub. Price $24.00. Available as an eBook from the Fuller Library [56 pp. assigned].

Available (or will be) on Canvas or eReserves (approx. 330 pp.):

“The Gospel of Truth,” in The Nag Hammadi Library, ed. James M. Robinson (Harper & Row, 1988), 38-51.

Anselm, “Cur Deus Homo,” in A Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham, ed. Eugene R. Fairweather (Westminster John Knox, 1956), 100-183.

Athanasius, “On the Council of Nicaea,” in Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius. The Early Church

Fathers. (Routledge, 2004), 176-211.

Augustine. The Trinity, trans. Edmund Hill (New City Press, 1991), [50 pp. assigned].

Cone, James. A Black Theology of Liberation (J. B. Lippincott, 1970), 212-19.

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, “Is the Spirit Still the Dividing Line Between the Christian East and West?” in Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University of Oradea 9/2 (2011): 125-42.

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, “The Chalcedonian Tradition,” “Atonement Traditions” and “Violence, Cross, and Atonement,” in Christ and Reconciliation (Eerdmans, 2013), 106-18, 294-314, 315-23.

Benjamin Myers, “The Patristic Atonement Model,” in Locating Atonement: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics, ed. Oliver D. Crisp and Fred Sanders (Zondervan, 2015), 71-88.

Fred Sanders, “What Trinitarian Theology Is For: Placing the Doctrine of the Trinity in Christian Theology and Life,” in Advancing Trinitarian Theology: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics, ed. Oliver D. Crisp and Fred Sanders (Zondervan, 2014), 21-41.

Martha Schull Gilliss, “Resurrecting the Atonement,” in Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 125-138.

Scott W. Sunquist, “Ancient and Eastern Christianity: Syria, Persia, Central Asia, and India,” in The Blackwell Companion to World Christianity, ed. Lamin Sanneh (Blackwell, 2016), 43-53.

Various excerpts from Arius et al., in Christology of the Later Fathers, ed. Edward R. Hardy (Westminster, 1954), 329-54.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Anatolios, Khaled. Holy Trinity in the Life of the Church. Baker Academic, 2014, ISBN: 978-0801048975, Pub. Price $32.00.

Anatolios, Khaled. Retrieving Nicaea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine. Baker Academic, 2011., ISBN: 978-0801031328, Out of print.

Ayres, Lewis. Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 978-0198755050, Pub. Price $65.00.

González, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought. Abingdon, 2014. ISBN: 978-1426757778, Pub. Price $49.99.

Hanson, R.P.C. The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318–381. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006. ISBN: 978-0801031465, Pub. Price $65.00.

Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Doctrines. Harper One, 1978. ISBN: 978-0060643348, Pub. Price $17.99.

Moltmann, Jürgen. The Trinity and the Kingdom (Fortress Press, 1993). ISBN: 978-0800628253, Pub.

Price $27.00.

Muller, Richard A. Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms. Baker Book House, 2006. ISBN: 978-0801020643, Pub. Price $34.00.

Pelikan, J. The Christian Tradition, Vol. 1: Emergence of Catholic Tradition (100-600). University of Chicago Press, 1975. ISBN: 978-0226653716, Pub. Price $25.00.

Placher, William C. A History of Christian Theology. 2^nd ed. Westminster John Knox Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0664239350, Pub. Price $35.00.

Toom, Tarmo. Classical Trinitarian Theology: A Textbook. T & T Clark, 2007. ISBN: 978-0567026996, Pub. Price $46.95.

Young, Frances M. From Nicaea to Chalcedon. 2nd edition. Baker Academic, 2010. ISBN: 978-0801039157, Pub. Price $40.00.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. Assigned readings of ~1130 pp. (assessed through written summaries, in-class discussion, essays, and exams), to be completed as preparation for lectures and discussion. [This assignment is related to Learning Outcome #1] [75 hours].
2. (a) Maintain a list of key terms with definitions, (b) Make a chronological chart showing key personalities, movements, councils, and topics, (c) Summarize (c. 500 wds. each) the argument of each of the main primary texts (20%) [These assignments are related to Learning Outcomes #1 and 2.] [15 hours].
3. Signature assignment: Three directed essays (1250 words each) on assigned topics, drawing mainly on primary source readings. (45%) [These assignments are related to Learning Outcomes #2 and 3.] [25 hours].
4. Comprehensive final examination, objective and short essay. (35%) [This assignment is related to Learning Outcomes #1, 2, and 3] [10 hours].

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH1 or TH4 requirement in the 120 MDiv and 80 MAT Programs (Fall 2015). Option to meet the TH1 requirement in the 80 MATM and 80 MAICS Programs (Fall 2015). Meets the CHA requirement in the 144 MDiv program.

FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes.