History of the Christian Church 1

beginnings to just before the Reformation

HST 101

Instructor: Alan Humm [ ]

Fall 2014 : Th 6:00-9:00 PM


Required Textbooks:

Gonzalez, Justo. The Story of Christianity, Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. HarperCollins Publishers, New York.

Assignments and Grade Breakdown

Your first responsibility in this class is to show up prepared to discuss. You should read the assigned materials, but most importantly, you should be thinking critically about them. Active participation in class will be rewarded at grade time to the tune of about 15% of your final grade. Also, we will have a very short non-cumulative evaluation every other week. Those grades will together represent 45% of your final grade. Normally this will only take the first 20 min. of class and class will continue afterwards. You will be preparing a final paper that will ultimately represent 40% of your grade, but broken down into three parts. You will provide a first draft about 2/3 into the semester, which I will return the following week with comments and suggestions. In the unlikely event that it is perfect (it has happened), you are done with writing for this class. Otherwise you are expected to rewrite responding to my comments. Finally, you will present a short oral summary of your work to the class as substitute for a formal final exam. The grading breakdown will be, 1st draft: 15%, final written version: 20%, oral presentation: 5%.

Paper target is 10-15 pages. Potential topics will be distributed during the first class session. However, the specific topic of the research paper will be of you own choosing, although it should be related to the course. If it doesn't come from the distributed list, it will require my approval. Because there will be oral presentations, no two individuals will be allowed to write on the same topic, so if you have a favorite, nab it quickly. You should let me know what you are writing on by the third week of class.

Schedule

Class Session Quiz Topic Due on this Date
Aug. 25
Aug. 26
Aug. 27
  First day of classes
New student orientation (5:00pm-6:00pm)
Convocation (5:00pm-6:00pm)
Aug. 28   Intro to class; Nature of history; Before the Church Presence in class
Sept. 1
Sept. 3
  Labor Day (No Classes on Campus)
Equip (5:00pm-6:00pm)
Sep. 4   The earliest Church in context Gonzalez: chs 1-4
Eusebius, Book II (Paul Meyer: 57-91)
Epistle of Peter to James (Thomas Smith [The Clementine Homilies])
Sep. 11 * The early Church in conflict with society Gonzalez: chs 5-7
Didache (skip Greek, Michael Holmes: 345-369)
Valentinus (Gnostic Society)
Valentian Theology (Gnostic Society)
Paper topics due
Sep. 18   The early Church in conflict with heresy Gonzalez: chs 8-10
The New Prophecy [Populi under 'Lessons']
Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas (Herbert Musurillo)
Sep. 25 * More persecution; Early worship; Constantine Gonzalez: chs 11-13
Bauer: The Beginnings (Orthodoxy & Heresy, ch. 10). [Populi under 'Lessons']
Luijendijk: Papyri from the Great Persecution Skip footnotes & appendix
Oct. 1   Equip (5:00pm-6:00pm)
Oct. 2   New conflicts Gonzalez: chs 14-16
Ward: The paradise of the desert fathers
Sullivan: An analysis of Augustine on Tongues and the Donatists
Oct. 4   Memorial Scholarship Fair
Oct. 9 * State Church; Heterodoxy I Gonzalez: chs 17-20
Biblical Passages in the Trinitarian Controversy
Arius and the start of Controversy
Arius' Confession of Faith to Constantine
Arius letter to Alexander of Alexandria
Arius letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia
Athanasius Oration III against the Arians, 29 - 34
When the Jews tried to rebuild
Oct. 16   State Church; Heterodoxy II Gonzalez: chs 21-25
Augustine on Ambrose
John Chrysostom on free will
Jerome in the desert - his experiences as an ascetic
Augustine on hymn singing in Milan
Oct. 23 * The new West and East Gonzalez: chs 26-27
Lossky: Theology and Mysticism in the Tradition of the Eastern Church
Bowman: The Spirituality of Eastern Christianity
Oct. 30   Emergence from chaos; crusades Gonzalez: chs 28-30
Irwin: Muslim Responses to the Crusades
Cathars and Cathar Beliefs in the Languedoc
First draft of paper due
Nov. 5   Academic Advising Event
Nov. 6   Medieval Christianity Gonzalez: ch 31
Essential Humanities: Medieval Architecture
St. Francis: The Testament [tr. Burr]
St. Anselm: Third meditation [tr. M.R.]
Nov. 13 * Babylonian captivity of the Church; pre-reformation I Gonzalez: chs 32-33a (through John Huss)
Nicholson: The Knights Templar in Medieval Europe
Nov. 20   Pre-reformation II; Renaissance Gonzalez: ch 33b (p. 353)-34
Myers: The Renaissance
Maddox: Julian of Norwich
St John of the Cross: The Spiritual Canticle [Skip the video--just music]
Nov. 25-27   Thanksgiving Break No Classes on Campus
Dec. 4 * Spanish and Portuguese expansion Gonzalez: chs 35-36
Catholic Evangelism & Spanish Colonialism
Dec. 8-12   Final Exams Week
Dec. 11   Presentations (in lieu of written final) Final paper due
Dec. 13   GCD Christmas party

Last Modified Aug. 22, 2014
by Alan Humm