Core 4 Lecture and Reading Schedule
I.
The Rise of Christianity
TOPIC
The Founding of
Christianity
Date
Lecture
Required Reading
Michael Nichols
Your Journey Continues:
Welcome to Core Four
No reading
01-13
01-15
Tim McFarland
Understanding the Christian
Scriptures
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 1-12
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 122-127
Angela Elrod-Sadler
Interpretation of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 17-28
01-20
The Spread of
Christianity
Paul’s Influence
on the Christian
Community
John Nichols
The Council of Jerusalem and
the Opening to the Gentiles
Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 1-10, 15
01-27
Tim McFarland
The Early Christian Community
Rodney Stark, Epidemics, Networks, and
Conversion (Syllabus, pgs. 11-22)
01-29
Edward Habrowski
The Apostle Paul
1 Corinthians, Chapters 1-7;
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 127-134
Courtney Stewart
Women in the Early Christian
Church
1 Corinthians, Chapters 8-16;
Rodney Stark, The Role of Women in
Christian Growth (Syllabus, pgs. 23-33)
01-22
02-03
The Growth of
Monasticism
02-05
Rob Reuter
Christian Monasticism
II.
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 141-147;
Excerpt from the Rule of St. Benedict
(Syllabus, pgs. 34-39)
Medieval Civilization
TOPIC
Background of
Medieval
Civilization
Christian Contact
and Conversation
with other cultures
Date
Lecture
Required Reading
Peter Watkins
Civilization in the Medieval
Period
Lewis, WCIV, Chapters 10 and 11;
02-10
02-12
Heidi Rahe
Beowulf and Germanic culture
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 150-155;
Beowulf, pgs. 3-104 (lines 1-1496)
Michael Nichols
Heroes, Monsters and Beowulf
Beowulf, pgs. 105-213 (lines 1497-3182)
02-17
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Core 4 Lecture and Reading Schedule
Michael Nichols
Islam and Medieval Europe
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 159-163
02-19
02-24
Peter Watkins
The Crusades
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 212-219;
Pope Urban II’s address at the Council of
Clermont (Syllabus, pgs.40-42)
02-26
Courtney Stewart
Natural Law Theory
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 232-237;
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica,
selection 1 (Syllabus, pgs.43-54)
03-03
Angela Elrod-Sadler
Natural Law Application
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica,
selection 2 (Syllabus, pgs.55-65)
03-05
Michael Nichols
A Guide to Hell
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 237-240
Dante’s Inferno, Cantos 1-7
Christian Contact
and Conversation
with other cultures
(continued)
Medieval
Philosophy,
Theology, and
Moral Reasoning
SPRING BREAK
TOPIC
Date
Lecture
Required Reading
03-17
Michael Malone
Lessons from Hell, part I
Dante’s Inferno, Cantos 8-13; 19; 26-28
Michael Malone
Lessons from Hell, part II
Dante’s Inferno, Cantos 29-34;
03-19
Medieval Poetry
and Literature
03-24
William Stang
The Black Death
“The Black Death,” (Syllabus pgs.66-70 ); “The
History of Plagues, Pandemics, and Ebola”
(Syllabus, pgs.71-74)
03-26
Heidi Rahe
Introduction to the Canterbury
Tales
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, “Pardoner’s
Prologue and Tale”; “Miller’s Tale”
03-31
Jody Taylor-Watkins
The Wife of Bath in Text and
Context
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, “Wife of Bath’s
Prologue and Tale”
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Core 4 Lecture and Reading Schedule
III. The Renaissance and the Reformation
TOPIC
David Dixon
Crises at the End of the Medieval
Period
Crises in the Late
Medieval Period
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 244-258
04-02
The Beginnings
and effects of the
Reformation
04-07
Video:
The Life of Martin Luther
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 308-316;
Excerpt from Martin Luther’s Treatise on Christian
Liberty (Syllabus pgs.75-82)
Tim McFarland
The Counter-Reformation
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 316-329
04-09
04-14
John Rahe
Renaissance Humanism
Founding Concepts
of the Renaissance
04-16
04-21
Renaissance
Humanism in
Literature
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 265-267; 286-294
Excerpt from Machiavelli’s The Prince (Syllabus pgs.
83-84)
Paul Geraci
Renaissance Music
Lewis, WCIV, pgs. 294-307
Peter Watkins
An Introduction to Shakespeare
Othello, Acts 1-2
04-23
Video: Selections from Othello
(1996)
04-28
April Toadvine
An Analysis of Othello
04-30
Michael Nichols
The Road Behind and the Road
Ahead
Othello, Act 3
Othello, Acts 4-5
No reading
*All scripture readings are from The New American Bible.
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