HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

Religious Studies 230 F8

 

William A. Tooman, Ph. D.

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

 

Location:  Predolin 116                                              Office:  Predolin 323

Time:  12:00-1:40 T & Th                                      Home phone:  (608) 663-3271

Office Hours: 10:00-12:00  M & W                            Email:  wtooman@edgewood.edu

 

Edgewood College, rooted in the Dominican tradition, engages students within a community of learners

 committed to building a just and compassionate world.

 

The College educates students for meaningful personal and professional lives of ethical leadership,

service, and a lifelong search for truth.

 

 

Course Description

 

A survey of major historical events which affected the development of Christianity from the time of the Gospels until the present.  Attention is given to the origins and expansion of Christianity, relationship of the church to the state and surrounding culture, and development of different Christian traditions.  The course is designed to strengthen cognitive integration skills, reading comprehension, and written expression.

 

 

Course Goals and Objectives

 

By the end of this course you will:

 

  ·   Understand the major events and transformations experienced by the Christian church in the last two millennia.

 

  ·   Understand the reasons for these transformations and their long term effects on the Christian church.

 

  ·   Learn how to integrate complex topics and express them clearly.

 

There are four primary components to the class, designed to help us achieve our goals:

 

  ·   Lectures.  Lectures are designed to make the basic history of the Church as clear as possible.  Lectures will be supplemented with illustrations of the art and architecture of Christianity.

 

  ·   Text Book Readings. Nystrom & Nystrom, The History of Christianity, was selected to supplement and reinforce classroom instruction.

 

  ·   Exams.  The four exams are primarily essay exams.  They will mainly comprise material from lectures.

 

  ·   Project Paper.  Each student will write a project paper on a subject of their interest (see below).

 

 

Text Book

 

Bradley P. Nystrom and David P. Nystrom, The History of Christianity: An Introduction. New

York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.  (Required)

 

 

Assignments and Grades

 

Exams.  Four short exams will be given in the course of the semester.  They will cover the following material:

 

  ·   You will be asked for short descriptions, definitions, and/or dates for major ideas, movements, persons, or events in the history of Christianity (30 pts.).

 

  ·   You will be asked to write an essay on a subject presented in lectures and in the textbook readings.  In the essays you will be asked to summarize and explain major events or changes that took place in the period covered ("The Church in Antiquity," "The Medieval Church," "Renaissance and Reformation," "From Rationalism to the Modern World").  The essays are designed to be integrative, calling on the student to recall, assimilate, and express material from several lectures and readings (70 pts.).

 

Exams are not cumulative.

 

 

Textbook Readings.  At the end of most class periods, the instructor will assign readings from Nystrom and Nystrom due to be read by the beginning of the next class period.  (Students who miss class are responsible for contacting a class mate about the assignment.)  The readings are selected to reinforce or expand on topics addressed in lectures.  Students will turn in notes on the assigned reading at the next class period.  Late summaries will be accepted, but they will be downgraded.  These assignments will be graded on the following scale:

 

10 pts.        exemplary

6 pts.          satisfactory

3 pts.          unsatisfactory (too brief, not thoughtful enough, etc.)

0 pts.          incomplete

 

 

 

Project Paper.  Students will write a 6-8 page project paper (double spaced), due on May 1.  There are three options for the project paper:

 

  ·   Academic Book Review – Students may write a review of an academic book on a topic of interest.  Books must be approved by the instructor.

 

  ·   Research Paper – Students may write a research paper on a narrow topic of choice (E.g., Eusebius as Historian, Martyrdom in Early Christianity, Origins of the Shaker Movement, The Colonial Church in Rhode Island, Papal Motives for the First Crusade, The Ecumenical Movement in American Catholicism).

 

  ·   Investigative Paper – Students may investigate a recent event or topic related to the history of Christianity that has received notice in popular culture.  (Examples from previous semesters include: archaeologist James Tabor's claim that he can prove Jesus did not rise from the dead; the suppression of Christianity in China; court cases in West Virginia against 'snake-handling' Pentecostals; the new Liberal Evangelical movement in American politics.)

 

The following dates are important:

 

  ·   Students need to select their book or research topic and have it approved by the end of class on March 13 (10 points).

  ·   Students need to turn in a 2-page précis on their paper on April 10 (40 points).

  ·   The final project is due on May 1 (100 points).

 

Writing quality will make up 30% of the grade for the progress report and paper.  I will read and correct finished drafts for anyone who turns one in by April 19.  This will have no adverse effect on your final grade for the paper.  The grade of the project paper will be reduced 10% for every day that it is late.

 

 

Class Participation.  Students are graded for attendance and classroom participation.  Your attendance grade is the number of times you attend divided by the total number of lecture periods.  (Four class periods are exam review; attendance is optional on review days).  This grade may then be increased or decreased by up to 25% based upon classroom participation.

Extra Credit.  Students may earn extra credit points.  There are two options for earning extra credit.

 

  ·   You may visit the worship services at a local Christian community or church (provided that it is not within your own faith tradition), and write a reflective report on your experience.  Try to capture the meaning of the primary elements of the service, and to identify what the service communicates about the community's values.

 

  ·   You may view a documentary on Christian history, and write an analytic report on its contents and argument.  The goal is to be able to explain and critique the argument of the documentary. 

 

In either case, the report should only be 2-3 pages in length (double spaced), so focus your attention on the most important ideas or events.  Each extra credit project earns 30 points.  Students may do as much extra credit work as they like, but extra credit cannot lift your final grade by more than one full grade point.  Please speak with me before undertaking an extra-credit project.

 

Students should feel free to suggest other topics or activities for extra credit.

 

 

 

─────────────────────────

 

 

Grading Summary and Scale

 

TOTAL POINTS                                                          GRADE SCALE

 

· 4 Exams                           400 points                          94-100      A

· Project                             100 points                          88-93        AB

· Reading Assignments        200 points                          82-87        B

· Class Participation            100 points                          76-81        BC

 69-75        C

   Total                   800 points                                63-68              CD

 57-62        D

 

──────────────────────────

 

 

Class Schedule

 

The following is a schedule of topics for each week of the semester.  This schedule

may be altered to account for the specific interests of the students or

revised based on classroom progress.

────────────

 

  Date              Topics                                                                        Reading Assignment

 

· Jan 23            Introduction to the Course

 

Unit I – The Church in Antiquity

 

· Jan 25            Religious & Cultural Background                                  1-19

· Jan 30            Origins and Expansion of Christianity (33-90 C.E.)        22-44, 55-57

· Feb 1       Church & State from 90-313 C.E.                                      48-50, 58-73*1

· Feb 6       Orthodoxy & Heresy from 90-313 C.E.                             80-88, 106-110

· Feb 8       Church & State from 313-476 C.E.                                    51-55

· Feb 13           Orthodoxy and Heresy from 313-476 C.E.                   73-78, 88-96

· Feb 15           Exam Review

· Feb 20           Exam 1: The Church in Antiquity.

 

Unit II – The Church in the Middle Ages

 

· Feb 22           New European Nations and the Church                           113-24, 151-54

· Feb 27           Eastern Christianity in the Middle-Ages                         91-96, 216-18

· March 1         The Crusades                                                                  131-32, 163-67

· March 6         Monasticism, Relics, & Pilgrimage                                 136-9, 154-56, 197-200

· March 8         The Papacy in the Middle Ages                                        139-47, 156-63, 192-95

· March 13 Exam Review                                                                     Project Approval Due

· March 15 Exam 2: The Church in the Middle-Ages.

 

Unit III – From Renaissance to Reformation

 

· March 20 Renaissance & Early Attempts at Reform                      212-66, 195-200, 205-6

· March 22 Martin Luther & Lutheran Tradition                                     228-41

· March 27 The Reformed & Anabaptist Traditions                           247-52, 259-69, 291-94

· March 29 Church of England: the Anglican Tradition                   269-75

· April 3-5  Counter-Reformation                                                          279-84

· April 10          Exam Review                                                                  Progress Report Due

· April 12         Exam 3: Renaissance and Reformation

 

 

Unit IV – The Church in the Modern World

 

· April 17          The 17^th Century.                                                            288-91, 295-300, 275-9

· April 19          Rationalism and Pietism (18^th Century)                          300-12, 321-25

· April 24          The Roman Catholic Church in Modernity                     326-31

· April 26          Protestant Trends in Modernity                                        332-41

· May 1            Student Choice                                                                Project Paper Due

· May 3            Exam Review

 

· Exam Week  – Exam 4: Modernity,  May 12  (regular time and location)

 

 

Cancelled Classes

 

If the College is ever closed due to weather, it will be reported in the morning on local TV and radio (e.g., channel 27 or 105.5 FM).  If the instructor ever needs to cancel class due to illness or emergency the dean's office will be notified, and an announcement will be posted on the door of the classroom.

 

Students with Disabilities

 

If you have a documented disability that requires accommodation, please contact Elizabeth Watson in Learning Support Services (Student Resource Center, 206 DeRicci, 663-2281).  She will work with you provide appropriate accommodation, and all information will be kept confidential.

 

 

Learning Support Services

 

Learning Support Services (Student Resource Center, 206 DeRicci and 408 Sonderegger) provides academic support for students.  Peer tutoring is available in some introductory-level undergraduate courses.  Individual assistance in time-management, study skills, and test-taking skills is also available.  Please contact Learning Support Services at 663-2281 for more information.

 

 

Academic Honesty Policy