EP141 – Church History II
Early Modern – Present Day
Craig 106
Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.
Dr. Peter P. C. Carlson
pcarlson@callutheran.edu
(818) 679-0399 – mobile
(805) 493-3435 – office
Syllabus
Course Rationale (a.k.a. “Why We’re Here”):
Very often, I am presented with the question of why Church History is a requirement
for people whose mission it is to engage in ministry (lay or ordained) within the Church. I
used to be vexed by the question, as though it should be self-evident. But I came to
realize not only that it is a legitimate question (and should actually be asked of every
course taught in seminary), but that I have a responsibility to be an apologist for my
particular field of study. I’m not necessarily all that good at it, and I find myself looking to
other historians to do the job for me. But the defense of history as a subject matter for
seminaries seems to me to come down to three main points:
1. Christianity is an historical religion. In fact, our Easter Vigil, one of the most
ancient rites of the Christian Church, is in great part comprised of “the history of
salvation.” Moreover, we believe as Christians in a particular, salvific historical event: the
“Christ event.” We believe, in fact, that G-d entered human history and (if you will)
sanctified it.
2. For many people, the past is, as Celtic historian Thomas O’Loughlin has put it, “the
authenticator of the present.” Ancientness has value, if for no other reason than for its
longevity. Personally, I’m not always sure about using this as a defense for history, as I
believe with a rather vigorous passion that the worst reason for continuing to do
something is because “we’ve always done it this way.” But there is no doubt that the past
can teach us in some ways about what might or might not be helpful ways forward today.
3. We look to the past for our identity. Whether through genealogy, institutional
history, or other methods of looking back in time, we do so in order to find out who we
are. This is right and proper, because we are not new things, born into a void – we are
brought forth on the bed of history, with all the goodness and badness (and
mundaneness) it has known combining to shape us as the people we are and the world in
which we live.
Student Learning Objectives:
This course seeks to provide a broad understanding of major events and people in the arc
of Christian history, the ability to identify trends and patterns, as well as disjunctions and
shifts. The course will be global in its scope, and focus on historical texts in its
methodology. The specific goals (and the methods followed to achieve those goals) for
the students will be as follows:
1. Identify the primary events and people who have shaped the global history of
Christianity from the 16th century reformations through the present day.
To this end, some basic memorization of people, places, and dates will be necessary.
Maps will provide geographical context, and timelines will provide chronological
context.
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2. Learn to read and analyze primary source materials. History cannot be done really
properly only from secondary materials. One of our goals in this class is to listen as
directly as possible to the voices of people in history. This means that we will
investigate, for each primary source, not only the text itself, but also the context and
the subtext. We will investigate how context can inform subtext, so that we can
understand as closely as possible with our twenty-first century minds, what meaning
lies within each text.
3. Trace specific themes in our readings, and understand the different ways in which those
themes have played out in Christian history.
The student should be able to identify from original sources and from the main
secondary text certain themes at play in the history of Christianity.
We will focus, in this class, on the following themes:
A. Violence. Not only who used it or decried its use, but what issues were at stake in
violent confrontations. What were the underlying motivations? How did
individuals or groups justify violence? Against whom did they justify it? You
should consider emotional and spiritual violence in this concept as well.
B. Money. Who had it? Who didn’t? How did it move about in society? What
influence did it have on laypeople, clergy, theology, and ecclesiastical structures?
In what ways does money play a role that is either consistent or inconsistent, in
your minds, with scriptural teaching?
C. Gender. We will look not only at the differences between women’s voices and
men’s voices throughout this period (including whether or not those voices were
given a public stage), but we will investigate how gender was constructed in
different eras – what it meant to be female or male during any given period. How
do people in different periods interpret/re-interpret scripture to justify their
gendered views?
D. Authority. The Gospels tell us that onlookers were shocked at Jesus, because he
spoke as one having authority. This topic deals in particular with religious
authority, because, especially since the reformations, a major area of contention in
an increasingly fractured church is authority. Who speaks or writes with authority?
What gives a person or a community authority? What are the consequences of
transgressing authority or speaking without it?
E. Church and State. The rise of the nation states from the fifteenth century onward
is a commonplace. Certainly church/state relations are a key issue throughout the
history of Christianity, but in the latter half, a new ingredient, nationalism, plays a
role. How do different nations understand their relationship with Christianity, and
vice versa? When Christianity is allied to a political power, how are both changed,
if at all? What types of secular governments seem best to fit with what types of
Christianity? What types are antithetical to the faith?
All of these themes are related to power. I hereby remind you: power is not necessarily
a bad thing. Think of power to liberate, and to have authority.
4. Articulate the meaning and importance of the first two learning objectives verbally, both
in essays and in class discussion.
This is the process of being able to decide what you’ve learned from the readings and
lectures, and make sense of it. Writing and conversation will both be essential tasks.
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5. Apply the learning of Christian history to the student’s present-day ministry.
If Christianity is historically contextual, then it still is today. This final goal will not
factor into your grade, per se, but is essential to help you make the fullest use of the
course in your ministry. We will spend time looking at the various ways in which
history affects (or is ignored by) present day Christians. We will also look at how
history today is affecting your faith, as it is manifested in both belief and practice.
Basic Class Structure:
Lecture:
1 – 1¼ hours
Discussion, wrestling
with G-d and/or the texts: 1½ - 1¾ hours
Discussion principles:
One of the great joys of having a small class is that we can function as a seminar for much
of our work. We will use various formats during our discussion time, but it will always
focus on one or more of the historical texts we have read for the week. The challenge will
be to wrestle with the texts in context – historically – and then to work on applying them
to contemporary issues of ministry.
There are basic guidelines to which I will ask the class to adhere during discussion time:
1. Respect – disagreement is not cause for disparagement, even if the people with whom
we disagree are not in our classroom and can’t hear us.
2. Listening – it is tempting for me, I know, to talk too much. I plan to work hard
listening more. I ask you to join me. A reminder that talking lots does not necessarily
mean contributing lots.
3. Talking – for those who have a harder time speaking up, please know that your ideas
are important, and gather your courage.
4. Silence – sometimes, we may need just to sit with ideas for a moment or five. Or ten.
That’s okay. (It’s also okay not to be good at this – I struggle with silence.)
Reading Response Essays:
You will be responsible for writing six brief (1-2 page, single spaced) essays on assigned
historical texts, responding to specific questions about those texts. The top five scores will
be counted toward your final grade, though this does not give you permission to skip one.
The purpose of the essays is to engage the texts directly, and also learn to write concisely
on a particular question or topic (which is also a great help with your sermons!). Please
note that these are not formal research papers – the only reference cited (in-line) will be
the actual historical text(s) being covered. PLEASE NOTE: You are welcome – and even
encouraged – to turn in drafts of your essays to me before the due date for met to review.
Something that I stress about both academia and faith is that it is not about writing, but
re-writing. Very few essays (or sermons, for that matter) done off the cuff are really that
great. The Holy Spirit is perfectly happy to help you out, but I am convinced that
occasionally, she would welcome some extra time to provide that help within your own
spirit. I am more than happy to read your work and provide comments beforehand,
provided you get them to me by the Wednesday before the due date. You will notice (I
hope) that no essays have been assigned on one-week-prep weeks. Aren’t I nice?
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Final Exam:
The final exam will consist of three (3) three-to-five page essays (total, nine to fifteen
double-spaced pages) responding to questions that I provide. In the essays you will make
use of both Oxford and the historical texts in order to make a claim (your thesis
statement) regarding the questions. The thesis statement does not need to be some
brilliant, new piece of understanding that will turn the academic world on its ear. It does
need to be a point that you can defend, and to which your entire essay (in which you
present the evidence) will point.
Grading:
Reading Response Essays: 50% (10% per essay, lowest essay dropped)
Final Exam:
40%
Discussion:
10%
Absences, Late Work
Obviously, we’re on an incredibly tight schedule with this class. When we only have ten
sessions, the math tells us that missing a single class means missing a full ten percent of
the course. In light of this, I want you to take seriously the issues behind missing sessions,
and understand that if you miss more than one session your final grade will go down one
step (i.e., from A to A-), and if you miss more than two sessions, I will ask you – in your
own interests – to drop the class and re-take it at another time.
The second point to be made here is that late work is not acceptable in graduate school
(it’s actually not acceptable in my undergraduate classes, either, but I don’t know what
your experience was). It is more important to turn in work on time than to have it be
perfect. Let’s face it: none of us do perfect work anyway. If for some extreme reason you
must turn work in late, I will deduct a full grade on the essay. If it is later than one week
overdue, I will not accept the work. I will not accept late final exams, unless for some
reason so horrible I don’t even want to consider it here.
I am well aware that Things Happen; these policies are not meant to be punitive, but to
keep you on track and, frankly, to give myself some sanity. The world expects us to get
our work done on time. I know that we are to be in the world but not of it; in this case,
we’re going to be of it, too. Thanks for understanding.
Texts:
Required for Purchase:
McManners, John, Ed. Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity. Oxford: OUP, 2001.
Bettenson, Henry and Chris Maunder, eds. Documents of the Christian Church. [DCC]
Sheldon, Charles. In His Steps. Any edition will do. To be read throughout the semester.
(This is also available on reserve in the library.)
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Additional readings on-line, on reserve, or as handouts:
Andrews, Charles Freer. Selections from “Towards and Indian Church” in The Testimony
of C.F. Andrews. Madras: The Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society,
Bangalore, 1974: 123-135.
Ankrah, Kodwo E. “A Search From Within.” In Windows on Africa: A Symposium, 1-20.
Edited by Robert T. Parsons. Leiden: Brill, 1971. pdf, via e-mail.
Anonymous. History of the Introduction of Christianity Into Japan. In Japanese Traditions
of Christianity, etc., 6-48. Translated and edited by Montague Paske-Smith. Kobe: J. L.
Thompson & Co., 1930. pdf, via e-mail.
Bolivar, Simon. Memoirs. Boston: S. G. Goodrich & Co. 1829.
Book of Common Prayer of India.
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/India/Bombay.html.
Carey, William. An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the
Conversion of Heathens, 1792. pdf, via e-mail.
Cargill, David. The Diaries and Correspondence of David Cargill, 1832-1843. Edited by
Albert Schütz. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1977. pdf, via e-mail.
Darwin, Charles. Life and Letters. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1887.
de las Casas, Bartholomé. The Only Way. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1992.
Declaration of Independence. 1776.
Diego, Juan. Nican Mopohua (the original XVI century story of Guadalupe´s apparitions).
Available at
http://web.archive.org/web/20071022042328/www.interlupe.com.mx/nican-e.html.
Dodge, Ralph E. The Unpopular Missionary. Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1964.
pdf, via e-mail.
"Domostrói": Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible. Edited and
translated by Carolyn Johnston Pouncy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994.
pdf, via e-mail.
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Unto the Churches of Christ Everywhere. 1920.
World Council of Churches Website. pdf, via e-mail.
Edwards, Jonathan. In A Documentary History of Religion In America to 1877. Edited by
Edwin Gaustad and Mark Noll. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.
Fagley, Richard. “The Atomic Bomb and the Crisis of Man” In A Documentary History of
Religion In America since 1877. Edited by Edwin Gaustad and Mark Noll. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2003.
Graham, Billy. “Christianism vs. Communism.” In A Documentary History of Religion In
America since 1877. Edited by Edwin Gaustad and Mark Noll. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
2003.
Gutierrez, Gustavo. “Orthopraxis, not Orthodoxy.” In Towards a Theology of Liberation.
pdf, via e-mail.
Herbert of Cherbury, Edward, Lord. The Antient Religion of the Gentiles. London, 1705.
Kairos Document. 1985. Available at: http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/kairosdocument-1985-0.
Pius IX, Pope. Syllabus of Errors. 1864. Available at
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm.
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Rauschenbusch, Walter. “The Kingdom of God.” Chapter 13 in A Theology for the Social
Gospel. New York: MacMillan Co., 1917. Available at
http://books.google.com/ebooks/reader?id=DHEAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&
output=reader.
Sergius, Patriarch. Patriarchal Letter, 1927. Cited in William Chauncy Emhart. Religion in
Soviet Russia. Milwaukee: Morehouse Publishing Co., 1929: 146-150. pdf, via e-mail.
Taylor, J. Hudson. A Retrospect. London: Morgan and Scott, 1894. pdf, via e-mail.
Tutu, Desmond. An African Prayer Book. New York, Doubleday, 1995. pdf, via e-mail.
Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet). A Treatise on Toleration. Translated by Richard Hooker.
http://public.wsu.edu/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/voltaire.html.
pdf, via e-mail.
Xavier, Francis. Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier, pp 318-340. Available online at
http://www.archive.org/stream/lifelettersofstf01coleuoft#page/n0/mode/2up.
Zwingli, Ulrich. On the Lord’s Supper. In Zwingli and Bullinger; Selected Translations with
Introductions and Notes, ed. G. W. Bromiley. Library of Christian Classics, v. 24, pp
185-199. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1953. pdf, via e-mail.
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Class Schedule
OHC: Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity
DCC: Documents of the Christian Church, 4th edition
AR: Additional readings, available on line or as a handout
Subject to the whimsies of the Spirit.
DATE
Session 1
January 12
COURSE TOPIC / READINGS DUE
INTRODUCTION
WHO HAD A RENAISSANCE?
HUMANISM, NATIONALISM
Session 2
January 26
THE REFORMATIONS
OHC: Chapter 7
DCC: pp 197-203; 209-212; 226-228;
250-255; 264-269.
AR: Zwingli, On the Lord’s Supper
CHRISTIAN (EUROPEAN) EXPANSION
OHC: Chapter 9
AR: Bartolomé de las Casas;
Ignacio de Sepulveda; William
of Ruysbruck; John of Monte
Corvino; Andrews
ENLIGHTENMENT AND BEYOND: HOW
DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW?
OHC: Chapter 8
DCC: pp 275-277; 330-334
AR: Voltaire; Herbert of Cherbury
GREAT BRITAIN AND EUROPE
OHC: Chapter 10
DCC: pp 344-348, 350-351, 357-360
AR: Kierkegaard; Marx; William
Robertson Smith
NORTH AMERICA
OHC: Chapter 11
DCC: pp 360-363; 397-399
AR: Declaration of Independence;
Edwards; In His Steps; Fagley;
Graham.
Session 3
February 2
one week prep
Session 4
February 16
Session 5
February 23
one week prep
Session 6
March 9
CLASS EVENTS
▪ Introductions, Getting-ToKnow-Yous
▪ Texts, historical and
spiritual.
▪ What were the
Reformations?
▪ Why the plural?
▪ Essay due
▪ Reforms German, Swiss,
English, and Romish.
▪
Christians go to Lots of
Places; they bring their faith
with them; they do other
things less laudable
▪
▪
Essay due
Rationalism and Revelation:
the issues of epistemology,
human freedoms and
church/state relationships
The Western Church in the
Modern World
▪
▪
▪
Essay due
E pluralism unum?
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DATE
Session 7
March 23
Session 8
April 6
Session 9
April 20
Session 10
May 4
COURSE TOPIC / READINGS DUE
LATIN AMERICA
OHC: Chapter 12
DCC: pp 363-373
AR: Bolivar; Gutierrez; Juan Diego.
AFRICA
OHC: Chapter 13
DCC: pp 381-384
AR: Ankrah; Dodge; Carey
ASIA
OHC: Chapter 14
DCC: pp 408-411.
AR: Taylor; Paske-Smith; Kim.
WHERE WE ARE; WHERE WE’RE GOING
OHC: Chapter 18 (skim chapter 19)
DCC: pp 373-381, 424-437
CLASS EVENTS
▪ Essay due
▪ Occupation and Liberation
▪
▪
Essay due
Light on the
Dark Continent?
▪
▪
Essay due
Christianity and
non-western ideas
▪
The church today, the
church tomorrow?