“THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ROOTS OF CHRISTIANITY”
Thinking Historically GE & Religious Studies & History course credit
BIG PICTURE
Students will engage with the physical and textual history of early Christianity in its
Greco-roman and Byzantine contexts by visiting key historical sites and reading
primary source documents. They will also engage with a diversity of historical
Christian communities in the Middle East (Armenian, Greek, Syrian and Coptic
Orthodox and Catholic). Students will consider the cultural contextualization of
Christianity and what are the essential truths that transcend time and space and what
are culturally specific attributes and how they do and should respond to these two
different realms of belief and practice. Moreover, they will consider the ways in
which culture is historically grounded. Students will also study the history of modern
Protestant Christian mission in the region and its impact on the indigenous churches
and identity and state formations in the region. Equipped with this background
students will study the challenges facing Christians today in Turkey, Egypt and
Israel/Palestine and be asked what is their responsibility towards these Christians as
members of the global body of Christ.
The course will focus on these three themes:
Martyrdom
To the extent that religion, including Christianity is about right action, orthopraxy,
what role did martyrdom play in the shaping and spread of early Christianity? How
did asceticism and monasticism develop out of this tradition? What role have all
three of these aspects of suffering developed in the church? Does it play a different
role in Orthodox churches than in Protestant or Catholic churches? How do we
account for similarities and differences? Many churches in the contemporary Middle
East see themselves as continuing a legacy of martyrdom and suffering. What does
this mean in the contemporary context of the beleagured churches of the Middle East?
How did persecution under Rome differ from persecution under Islam?
Mystery
Mystery speaks to the other side of the coin in terms of right belief, or orthodoxy.
How did the doctrines of the mystery of the incarnation and the trinity develop in the
early Church? How were they debated, where and by whom? Similarly, the churches
of the Middle East center around key sacraments or mysteries. What is the role of
sacraments in the churches of the region? What do sacramental churches hold in
common? How significant are the differences with Protestant understandings?
Polity
Christians transitioned from being Roman criminals to Byzantine rulers and from
tolerated minorities under Islamic governments to suspect citizens in the modern
states of the region. What have been the dominant characteristics of the relationship
between the church and the state in these different iterations? How have these shaped
Christian doctrine and practice generally and in the Middle East churches
specifically?
We will approach these themes through the tried and true historical rubrics of
“continuity and change” and “compare and contrast.”
COURSE GOALS: THINKING HISTORICALLY
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Students will develop an awareness and appreciation for the particularities of time and
place, a sense of the complex process of change and continuity over time, the ability
to work critically with a range of primary and secondary historical texts, and
appreciation for the art of constructing historical narrative. By studying specific
historical periods, the history of Christianity, the history of academic disciplines, or
by taking interdisciplinary courses, students should: become critical readers of a range
of historical sources; appreciate the importance of historical context in shaping our
understanding of the world in which we live; be able to engage in thoughtful
interpretive and historiographic discussion; have practice in constructing a historical
narrative; understand the complexity of historical change.
1. Read Primary Sources Historically:
Students will study the historical and cultural context of key portions of the New
Testament from the parables of Jesus to the letters of Paul and the Apocalypse of
John. They will also read early Christian creeds, letters, and hagiographies informed
by study of the social and political realities of the time.
2. Appreciate the contextuality of historical narratives and interpretations:
Students will read and hear from Christians in the Middle East and their narratives of
their communities and their faith. Students will compare how persecuted and
beleaguered Christian communities understand their past and present role in the
region, as well as that of the state, and outside forces, both religious and secular.
Students will see how sense of self and faith has changed in response to changing
circumstances and how Middle East Christian communities agree and disagree with
each other and with Western church traditions. Students will also see how Western
Christian understandings of the Middle East and its Christian communities is
continually in flux. This will be particularly acute in regards to Western missionary
activity in the region and understandings of Judaism and the modern state of Israel.
Students will see how interpretations of scripture and historical events change over
time.
3. Articulate with less naivete how the past is relevant for the present:
Recognizing that the past is another country: they do things differently there, and that
this is no less true for Christians of the past, students will be expected to wrestle with
the tension between the eternal truth claims of Christianity and historical and cultural
diversity. Students will see how their understanding faith is a product of
developments over time, not only in terms of doctrine, but also their views of
worship, holiness, missions, and the role of religion in politics, etc. Greater
awareness of the ways in which they and Middle East Christians are informed by a
shared and later divergent past, should encourage students to consider in new ways
what are the foundations of their faith, what are their connections with and
responsibilities to the global church, and how they should interact with the historically
and geographically bound culture and subcultures of which they are a part. Finally,
students will be encouraged to adopt an attitude of greater episemoloogical humility,
appreciating in new ways that even as Jesus is the light of the world, we see that
world through a glass dimly.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Students can analyze primary documents, taking into account genre (hagiography,
creed, etc.), historical context and intended audience.
2. Students can assess the significance of key locations, images and artifacts of
historical Christianity.
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3. Students can formulate, support and present an argument based on a variety of
sources.
4. Students can cooperate with others to accomplish a group project.
ASSIGNMENTS
Participation – 20%
Essays – 80%
Jerusalem to Constantinople. Due Week 5
Constantinople to Istanbul. Due Week 11
Istanbul to Jerusalem Due Week 16
Essay questions
Week 5:
1. Using textual and material evidence what aspects of continuity and change do you
see in belief and practice between the Pagan and Christian Greco-Roman world?
How do you account for it?
2. Based on material and textual evidence in what ways did Christians renounce and
reflect Greco-Roman culture?
Week 11:
1. Based on textual and material evidence what aspects of continuity and change do
you see in Christian belief and practice from Byzantine to Ottoman to Turkish
contexts? How do you account for it?
2. What similarities and differences do you see between the different Orthodox
denominations represented in Turkey and Protestant belief and practice? How do you
account for these and how significant do you think they are? Use textual, material,
and experiential evidence. Consider for example understandings and usages of sacred
spaces and objects or the centrality of belief or practice.
Week 16
1. What are the similarities and differences between the Christians in Turkey, Egypt
& Palestine in terms of belief and practice as well as position and prospects in society.
2. What role have European and American Christians played in the lives of Middle
Eastern Christians?
3. What resources does your Christian faith provide you for understanding and
responding to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
4. How has your understanding of ‘the body of Christ’ and ‘church unity’ evolved
during the course of the semester?
Readings
Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of
the Chrch in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How It Died. San
Francisco: HarperOne, 2009.
Laurie Guy, Introducing Early Christianity: A Topical Survey of Its Life, Beliefs &
Practices. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004.
Course Reader
The course will be overseen by Heather Keaney and Jim Wright with expert input
from academics and Christians in the region. This will likely include Dr. Mark
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Wilson, resident scholar in Turkey on the cultural and historical context of the
message of Revelation and Biblical archeology of Turkey, Dr. Peter Pikkert also long
time resident of Turkey who has written on Protestant missionary activity in the
region. We also expect to find a Turkish scholar of the Byzantium to provide guided
tours of sites in Istanbul and guest lectures. Students will also visit with church
leaders in Turkey and Egypt; visiting worship services of different denominations;
socializing with Armenian, Syriani, Egyptian and Palestinian Christians .
SCHEDULE
Week 1 & 2: Introduction
 Philip Jenkins, Lost History of Christianity, 1-95
 Laurie Guy, Introducing Christianity, 1-28
Week 3 & 4: Greco-Roman Christianity
Travel & Study from Izmir to Capadoccia: visiting several of the churches from
Revelation as well as the Christian ruins in Cappadocia. In addition to relevant
Biblical passages attention will be given to the content and context of key Church
councils.
Readings:
 Introducing Christianity, 29-132
 James B. Rives, Religion in the Roman Empire chpt 1 “Recognizing ‘religion’
in the Graeco-Roman World,” pp. 13-53. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing,
2007
 Robert Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, chpt 3 “The Piety of
the Persecutors,” pp 48-67. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984
 Ramsay McMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire (A.D. 100-400) chpt.
IV “Points of Contact, Modes of Persuasion, before 312” pp. 25-42. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1984
 Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History,
chpt 4 “Epidemics, Networks, and Conversion,” pp 73-94. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1996.
 Elsner, Jas and J. R. Elsner. Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph: The Art
of the Roman Empire AD 100-450. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
(excerpts)
 Mark Wilson, Biblical Turkey, (excerpts)
 Documents of the Christian Church,
Week FIVE & SIX: Byzantium
Site visit to Chora Church and guest lecture on Byzantine art & architecture
Discussion of saints and asceticism
 Introducing Early Christianity
 “Life of St. Matrona of Perge” from Alice-Mary Talbot, ed., Holy Women of
Byzantium: Ten Saints’ Lives in English Translation. Washington, D.C.:
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1996)
 “St. Daniel the Stylite” from Elizabeth Dawes and Norman H. Baynes, Three
Byzantine Saints: Contemporary Biographies Translated from the Greek.
Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1977.
 The Rule of St. Benedict translated with introduction and notes by Anthony C.
Meisel and M.L. del Mastro. New York: Image Books, 1975 (excerpt)
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Week SEVEN & EIGHT: The breakup of Christendom: Chalcedon and after
The doctrinal and political divisions that split the church
Orthodox Christianity
 Kalistos Ware, The Orthodox Way (excerpt)
 “The Bible and the Orthodox Church,” from The Orthodox Study Bible,
Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1993
 “Are Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism Compatible? No: An Orthodox
Perspective” by Vladimir Berzonsky, excerpt from Three Views on Eastern
Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, ed. James Stamoolis (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 2004).
 “A Kinder, Gentler Understanding” excerpt from Turning over a New Leaf:
protestant Missions and the Orthodox Churches of the Middle East, the final
report of a Multi-Mission Study Group on Orthodoxy, 2nd ed. 1992
 Documents of the Christian Church
Week NINE & TEN: Christianity under Islam
 Philip Jenkins, Lost History of Christianity, 97-262
Protestant Mission in Ottoman and Republican Turkey
Guest Speaker: Peter Pikkert
 Reading: Peter Pikkert, Protestant Missionaries to the Middle East:
Ambassadors of Christ or Culture? Hamilton, ON: WEC Canada, 2008
Week ELEVEN
Exams & Papers
Week TWELVE
Retreat at Bugday
Week THIRTEEN & FOURTEEN: Egypt & Sinai
Visit Coptic Cairo and Garbage City
Visit with Bishop Thomas and meet with Coptic Christians
Visit monasteries of Wadi Natroun
Visit Greco-roman and early Christian sites in Alexandria
Visit St. Catherine’s Monastery & climb Mt. Sinai
Readings:
 “The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt,” Encyclopedia Coptica
http://www.coptic.net/encyclopediacoptica/
 “Let my people go,” By Robert Shaffern, First Things, March 2005
 Mariz Tadros, “Sectarianism and its Discontents in Post-Mubarak Egypt,”
MERIP Summer 2011, 26-31
 Mariz Tadros, “Egypt’s Bloody Sunday,” MERIP Oct 13, 2011
WEEK FIFTEEN & SIXTEEN: Israel & Palestine
Spend Orthodox Easter with Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem
Meet with Palestinian Christians to discuss their response to the Conflict
Visit Christian sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Galilee, and Nazareth
Readings:
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Charles M. Sennott, “Bethlehem” and “Beit Sahour” in The Body and the
Blood: The Middle East’s Vanishing Christians and the Possibility for Peace
Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in
the Gospels. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2008. (excerpts)
N. T. Wright, “The Challenge of Easter” in The Challenge of Jesus:
Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is. Downers Grove, IL, Inter Varsity
Press, 1999
Bruce Fisk, Backpackers Guide to Jesus (excerpts)
Christian Zionism
“What is Christian Zionism: Giving Definition to the Movement” International
Christian Embassy: Jerusalem
“Biblical Reasons for Christian Support of Israel by Alan C. Lazerte
“What it Means to Love Israel.” Christianity Today editorial September 5,
2007
“How Christian is Zionism?” by Leslie C. Allen and Glen Stassen Sojourners
“Christians United For Israel and Attacking Iran’ by Dedrick Muhammad and
Farrah Hussein, Foreign Policy in Focus
The Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism, 2006
“The Dangerous Potent Elixir of Christian Zionism” by Pat Morrison,
Washington Review of Middle East Affairs, April 2007
April 27 Final papers due
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