HC1315-02, “Early and Medieval Church History”

 
First Semester, September - December 2005

 

Instructor:  Mark N. Swanson

[BH 100, 641-3227 (office), 917-7142 (home), mswanson@luthersem.edu ]

Office hours: TBA

 

Teaching assistant:  Marc Ostlie-Olson, mostlieo@luthersem.edu 

 

Lectures:  Tuesday and Thursday, 2:10-3:00

Preceptorials:  Friday, 10:40-11:30 and 11:40-12:30

NW 251[*]

 

 

A.  Course objectives

 

  1. That students acquire a general knowledge of the history of the church (AD 100 – 1500) adequate to support their studies at Luther Seminary and later ministry.

 

  1. That through the study of the early and medieval church students come better to understand and appreciate -- and/or interrogate -- aspects of the faith and life of Christians that they “take for granted,” but which in fact may be contested or which were only achieved with great struggle.

 

  1. That students come to appreciate and reflect upon the church’s collective experience in the areas of discipleship and mission – rich experience that can be drawn upon as they seek to bear witness to Jesus Christ in new contexts and in an ever-changing world.

 

  1. That students learn and practice the skills of careful reading in primary sources (in English translation), analysis, and written and oral presentation of results.

 

  1. (plus some objectives close to the heart of your instructor): 

·        that students learn that Christianity spread to the East and South, as well as to the West and North;

·        that students learn something about the challenges posed to Christianity by the rise of Islam, and about the witness of Christians from within the Islamic world;

·        that archaeology, architecture, the visual arts and music be incorporated into the teaching of church history (making good use of our classroom’s technological capacities).

 

 

B.  Textbooks

 

González, Justo L.  The Story of Christianity, Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1984.  Our principal textbook.

 

Placher, William C., ed.  Readings in the History of Christian Theology, Volume 1: From Its Beginnings to the Eve of the Reformation.  Philadelphia: Westminster, 1988.  This will be our main source of readings for the preceptorial sessions.

 

Stark, Rodney.  The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History.  Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.  A fresh and insightful look at the growth of the Christian movement.  We’ll devote a session to it.

 

RB 1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in English.  Translated by  Timothy Fry.  Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1982.  A crucial book in the history of the Western church, and a spiritual classic.  The price is right, too.

 

 

C.  Recommended (and on Reserve in the Library)

 

Irvin, Dale T. and Scott W. Sunquist.  History of the World Christian Movement.  Vol. I: Earliest Christianity to 1453.  Maryknoll: Orbis, 2001.  Reminds us that the story of Christianity does not proceed in just one geographical direction!

 

Placher, William C.  A History of Christian Theology: An Introduction.   Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983. Would you like some background for the selections in Placher’s Readings (listed above)?  Here’s the book.  Take the chapter number in Readings and add three, and you have the appropriate chapter to read in History.

 

Volz, Carl A.  The Medieval Church: From the Dawn of the Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation.  Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997.  A helpful textbook by a long-time teacher of this course, until his sudden death in 1998.

 

 

D.  Also on Reserve in the Library

 

Bettenson, Henry, ed.  Documents of the Christian Church.  3rd ed.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.  A useful collection of primary texts. 

 

Walker, Williston and Richard A. Norris, David W. Lotz, Robert T. Handy.  A History of the Christian Church. 4th ed.  New York: Scribner, 1985 [1918].  Think about purchasing a copy (second hand, if you find one).  This is a very solid presentation of church history that you will be happy to have on the shelf for years to come.

 

E.  Assignments

 

1.      Faithful attendance and punctuality!

 

2.      Keep up with the assigned readings!  By the end of the course, you all should have read -- carefully! -- González (through Chapter 34), Placher, Stark and The Rule of St. Benedict.   Your readings should not be restricted to these, though.  See the recommended reading list.  Bibliographies will regularly be distributed.

 

3.      Each week we will distribute a short list of names and terms from the readings (especially in González) and the lectures.  One item each week might take some searching to identify.  It would be a good idea to keep a notebook with each of these names and terms briefly defined or described.  If small groups of students would like to work together on this, fine!  You will be responsible for these terms in the closed-book midterm quiz and the closed-book section of the final exam.

 

4.      Full participation in the precepts.  Most of the reading assignments for the precepts will come from the Placher volume, although we will supplement this with other readings.  At each session I will distribute some study questions that may be useful to you as you read the next week’s assignment. 

 

On the basis of your reading, write a weekly analysis and reflection paper (of 2-3 double-spaced pages) on the assigned reading for the precept session, due at the precept itself.  The paper should demonstrate careful reading of and reflection on the assignment.  While I expect that you will carefully read all the assigned readings for the precept, a good strategy for writing the analysis and reflection paper might be to choose a single reading or study question and “run with it.”  A good paper may consist in about a page which demonstrates that you have understood what the text says, and about a page in which you react to the text and reflect on its significance for some aspect of Christian life, teaching and ministry. 

 

Note that writing these precept papers -- 12 in all -- and participating in the precept sessions constitute an important part of the course and contribute very significantly to the final grade.

 

5.      A mid-term, closed book quiz in class, focused on names and terms.  The final examination will probably be take-home.  It includes a closed-book section (names and terms!) as well as essay questions for which you may use your textbooks and notes.

These essay questions will test your attentiveness to some of the “big stories” or “major trajectories” of the course.  (See separate handout on these “trajectories”.)

 

 

F.  Grading

 

  • about 50% on precept papers and participation in precepts
  • about 15% on the mid-term quiz
  • about 35% on the final examination.

 

            If you want a letter grade, please remember to submit the appropriate grade request form (and remember to check the letter grade request line in the lower right-hand corner).  If you have any interest in pursuing academic programs beyond the M.Div. or M.A., I encourage you to take the course for a grade.

 

 


[*]On Friday, October 21, the preceptorials will be held in GH 103 instead on NW 251 (because of competition from the Gospel in Our Culture conference).