January 13, 2000
HISTORY 3344: HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY
Spring 2000
TEACHER
John Howe
Office: 143 Holden Hall
Office Hours: MW 1:00-2:00 pm;M 9:30-10:00 pm; TTh 8:15-9:00
am;and by appointment
Telephone: 742-2573 Telephone Messages: 742-3744
E-Mail: john.howe@ttu.edu
Web: http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/howe
(the best way to access this syllabus)
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
Howard Kee, et al. Christianity: A Social and Cultural History.
2nd ed. Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998.
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, 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 Monday February 21 and Friday
March 24. Each will include multiple-choice questions,
identifications, a single essay (from two or more choices), and
perhaps map work. If, for good reason, a test must be missed, it
may be made up at 2:00 pm on Monday, May 1. Students receiving a
grade below "C" on a midterm should meet with the
teacher to discuss it (this is 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
describe it in a 10-12 page, double-spaced, typed paper. 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
Monday, February 21. The papers will be due on Friday April 21.
Papers received by the due date will be returned, with
corrections, as soon as possible. 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 noon on Wednesday,
May 10.
Necessary Accomodations
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 accomodations 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 19 Introduction
Kee 7-17; Netsite Guide
F Jan 21 Israel at the Time of Christ
[F Jan 21 Last Day for Student-Initiated Add-Drop]
Kee 18-45
M Jan 24 The Ministry of Christ and Its Reception
Kee 46-68; The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity
W Jan 26 The Early Church / Expansion and Persecution / Apostolic Authority
Kee 69-89
F Jan 28 Christian Responses to Roman and Jewish Culture
Kee 89-96
M Jan 31 Gnosticism and the Canon of Scripture
Kee 97-121; Sacrifice Certficate ; Nicene Creed
W Feb 2 The Last Persecutions / Constantine
[W Feb 2 Last Day to Drop a Course and Receive a Full Refund]
Kee 122-31; Augustine 1-70 (Books I-III);
F Feb 4 The Christian Empire / Young Augustine
Augustine 71-132 (Books IV-VI)
M Feb 7 Augustine's Conversion(s)
Augustine 133-252 (Books VII-X)
W Feb 9 The Search for God
Kee 131-49
F feb 11 The Fate of the Christian Empire [Rescheduled: Now also Western Monasticism]
M Feb 14 Western Monasticism [Rescheduled: Now The Barbarian Kingdoms and Conversion]
Kee 150-62
[M Feb 14 Last day to withdraw from the University with a partial refund]
W Feb 16 Greek Christianity and the Byzantine Empire
Kee 163-67; Bede; Patrick's Confession
F Feb 18 The Barbarian Kingdoms and Conversion [Rescheduled: Now Research Resources in the TTU Library] Meet in the Library Instruction Lab, just to the right of the big screen at the front of the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center, which is just to your right as you enter the Library.
Study; Finalize Paper Topic
M Feb 21 Midterm Examination No. 1
Kee 167-81; Saxon Capitularies
W Feb 23 The Carolingian Renaissance
Kee 182-95; Cluny's Charter
F Feb 25 Chaos / Monastic Reform
Kee 195-206; Dictatus Papae; Henry IV to Gregory VII
M Feb 28 "Gregorian Reform"
[M Feb 28 Last day to declare P/F or to drop a class for a W]
Kee 207-223
W Mar 1 The Twelfth-Century Renaissance
Kee 224-39; Innocent III
F Mar 3 Innocent III / The Rise of the Universities
M Mar 6 Church Building
Kee 240-57
W Mar 8 The Later Middle Ages
Kempe 9-76
F Mar 10 Mendicants / Popular Devotion
[Mar 11-19 Spring Break]
Kempe 76-167
M Mar 20 Margery Kempe
Erasmus1; Erasmus2; Erasmus3; Erasmus4
W Mar 22 Humanism
Study
F Mar 24 Midterm Examination No. 2
Kee 258-71; 95 Theses; Letter to the Christian Nobility
M Mar 27 Martin Luther
Kee 271-85
W Mar 29 Zwingli / Anabaptists
Kee 286-94; Calvin
F Mar 31 John Calvin
Kee 295-304; Act of Supremacy 1534; 39 articles
M Apr 3 Reformation in England
Bainton 276-87; Trendentins Creed
W Apr 5 The Catholic Reformation
Kee 304-28; Map
F Apr 7 Catholic Reform / Wars of Religion
Bunyan 7-10, 31-33, 43-134
M Apr 10 English Civil Wars / Puritan Piety
Bunyan 134-217
W Apr 12 John Bunyan
Kee 329-55
F Apr 14 Enlightenment / Pietism
Kee 356-71
M Apr 17 Nineteenth-Century Christian Revival
Kee 372-86
W Apr 19 Twentieth Century Christianity
Finish First Draft of Paper
F Apr 21 Reports
[M Apr 24 Day of No Classes]
W Apr 26 Reports
F Apr 28 Reports
[F Apr 28 Last day to declare Pass/Fail, to drop a course,
to receive a grade of W for courses dropped.]
M May 1 Reports
[M May 1 Make-Up Examinations at 2:00]
W May 3 Reports
Study
M May 8 FINAL EXAMINATION at 1:30 pm
W May 10 Noon: Last possible day to submit rewritten paper.
