HISTORY 3344:

History 3344: History of Christianity

TEACHER

John Howe

Office: 143 Holden Hall
Telephone: 742-2573; Telephone Messages: 742-3744

Office Hours: MWF 10:00-10:45; M 9:30-10:00 pm; TTh 8:15-9:00; and by appointment

PURPOSES OF THE COURSE

To survey the history of Christianity from the early Church until the present. To examine, in particular, certain themes of this history: how Christians have a knowledge of God; how individual believers experience God as seen in Christian literature; how Christian communities are organized and how these organizations relate to secular governments.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Required Texts

Roland Bainton. Christianity. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1964.

Augustine of Hippo. Confessions. Transl. R.S. Pine-Coffin. 1961, rpt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Margery Kempe. The Book of Margery Kempe. Ed. B. A. Windeatt. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1985.

John Bunyan. The Pilgrim's Progress. Ed. Roger Sharrock. Baltimore, Md.: Penguin, 1965.

Required Reading

Specific reading assignments for each class are listed in the "Reading and Lecture Schedule," just ahead and to the right of the lecture date by which they should be completed. Each assignment is the subject of the following class. Read so that you arrive in class prepared to explain, praise, criticize, and question. If read on schedule, the assignments are manageable; if neglected, they quickly become overwhelming.

Class Attendance

Successful completion of this course requires regular attendance. Difficult reading assignments are interpreted and contextualized in class; additional subject matter is introduced. If you cannot attend 80% or more of the scheduled classes, you should not be enrolled.

Examinations

Midterm tests are scheduled for Friday, February 19, and Friday, March 26. Each will include multiple-choice questions, identifications, a single essay (to be selected from two or more choices), and perhaps map work. If, for good reason, a test must be missed, it may be made up at 2:30 pm on Monday, May 3. Students receiving a grade below "C" on a midterm should meet with the teacher to discuss it (this will be part of the class participation grade).

The final examination will feature multiple-choice and identification questions on the material covered since the second midterm, and several comprehensive essay questions (to be chosen out of many more). Bring blue books for the final.

Short Research Paper and Class Report

Each student will choose a contemporary Christian group, and, using at least four primary and six secondary sources, will write a 10-12 page, double-spaced, typed paper on it. The paper should introduce the group in question, and examine its attitudes towards the themes examined in the course (how Christians know God; how individual believers experience God; how the community is organized and how this organization relates to secular government). Students will present their results to the class during the last six meetings. The subject must be chosen by Friday, February 19. The papers will be due on Friday, April 23. Papers received by the due date will be returned, with corrections, as soon as pssible. Students may keep the grade earned or rewrite the paper for a higher grade, but no rewritten papers or late papers will be accepted after 5:00 pm on Tuesday, May 11.

Necessary Accommodations

Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible so that the necessary accommodations can be made.

GRADING

The course grade will be computed as follows: 30% from the midterm tests (that is, 15% from each); 25% from the paper (20% for the paper itself; 5% of `A' credit for a satisfactory class presentation); 10% from participation; and 35% from the final.

The class participation grade is computed in this way. At the end of the semester students are divided into three groups on the basis of attendance, class preparation, and class contributions: 1) individuals who were outstanding; 2) individuals who were average; and 3) individuals who were well below average. The first group gets the class participation component credited as an `A'; the second group has these points neutralized (so they neither help nor hurt); and the third group has them credited as an `F'.

READING AND LECTURE SCHEDULE

W Jan 20 Introduction

Bainton 6-31; Netsite guide

F Jan 22 Israel at the Time of Christ

Bainton 32-45

M Jan 25 The Ministry of Christ

Bainton 46-66; Sacrifice Certificate; Scillitan Martyrs

W Jan 27 The Early Church: Expansion and Persecution

Bainton 66-72; Nicene Creed

F Jan 29 Creeds and Scripture

Bainton 73-85

M Feb 1 Apostolic Tradition

Bainton 86-96; Augustine 1-70 (Books I-III); Eusebius

W Feb 3 The Christian Empire / Young Augustine

Augustine 71-132 (Books IV-VI)

F Feb 5 Augustine's Conversion(s)

Augustine 133-252 (Books VII-X)

M Feb 8 The Search for God

Bainton 96-104

W Feb 10 The Fate of the Christian Empire

Rule of Benedict

F Feb 12 Western Monasticism

Bainton 105-113

M Feb 15 Greek Christianity and the Byzantine Empire

[M Feb 15 Last day to withdraw from the University with a partial refund]

Bainton 114-43; Bede

W Feb 17 The Barbarian Kingdoms and Conversion

Study; Finalize Paper Topic

F Feb 19 Midterm Examination No. 1

Bainton 144-55; Saxon Capitularies

M Feb 22 The Carolingian Renaissance

Bainton 156-59; Cluny's Charter

W Feb 24 Chaos / Monastic Reform

Bainton 159-167; Dictatus Papae; Henry IV to Gregory VII

F Feb 26 Gregorian Reform

Bainton 168-77

M Mar 1 Chivalric and Courtly Culture

[M Mar 1 Last day to declare P/F or to drop a class for a W]

Bainton 178-83; Innocent III

W Mar 3 The "Apostolic Life" / Innocent III

Bainton 183-86; Medieval Churches

F Mar 5 Church Building

Bainton 186-203

M Mar 8 Canon Law / Popular Heresies / Mendicants

Kempe 9-76

W Mar 10 Mendicants (cont.) / Popular Devotion

Kempe 76-167

F Mar 12 Margery Kempe

[Mar 13-21 Spring Break]

Bainton 204-25; Troubadour criticism

M Mar 22 Decline of the Papacy

Bainton 225-29; Erasmus1; Erasmus2; Erasmus3; Erasmus4

W Mar 24 Humanism

Study

F Mar 26 Midterm Examination No. 2

Bainton 230-59; 95 Theses;
Letter to the Christian Nobility

M Mar 29 Martin Luther / Anabaptists

Bainton 259-71; Calvin

W Mar 31 Zwingli / Calvin

Bainton 271-75, 287-88;
Act of Supremacy 1543; 39 articles

F Apr 2 Reformation in England

Bainton 276-87; Tridentine Creed

M Apr 5 The Catholic Reformation

Bainton 288-317; Map

W Apr 7 Wars of Religion / Revolution in England

Bunyan 7-10, 31-33, 43-134

F Apr 9 Puritan Piety

Bunyan 134-217

M Apr 12 John Bunyan

Bainton 318-32; Voltaire; Locke

W Apr 14 Enlightenment

Bainton 332-43; John Wesley

F Apr 16 Pietism / Methodism

Bainton 344-64; Battle Hymn; Gerard Manley Hopkins

M Apr 19 Nineteenth-Century Christian Revival

Bainton 365-89; Einstein

W April 21 Twentieth Century Christianity

[ Apr 22 Last day to declare Pass/Fail, to drop a course, to receive a grade of W for courses dropped.]