Church History

• STH TH 718: Introduction to Church History
  A description and critical introduction to the history of the Church from the postbiblical period to the present; attention is given to the Church's evangelical engagement with other cultures and religions from Hellenism to modern missions, as well as to major theological and institutional issues and persons in context. This course is a prerequisite for all Church History II courses.
• STH TH 812: Late Antiquity
  The development of the Christian Church, its institutions, theology, and social and political roles, from Constantine to Charlemagne, in the context of the transformations of late antique culture and society, East and West.
• STH TH 817: Varieties of Ancient Christianity
  Surveys the many different and often competing forms of Christianity that arose and flourished in the second to the seventh century, from the "apostolic period" to the Arab conquest in the Middle East. It is highly recommended that students have taken at least one prior course in biblical or New Testament literature. Prereq: junior standing
• STH TH 821: History and Doctrine of United Methodism
  An exploration of Methodist origins, the Wesleys, the rise of Methodism in England, and the distinctive doctrines of Wesleyan theology. There is a particular focus on the development of the various United Methodist traditions in America and their impact on society. The course is designed to meet one of the requirements for membership in a UMC Annual Conference.
• STH TH 823: Modern Christian Biography
  This course focuses on the period ca. 1600-1899 and examines Christianity of the Modern Period through the lives of representative personalities from Europe and North America. Their lives provide the focus for an examination of the broader artistic, social, economic, and political trends of the time.
• STH TH 824: Religion, Ethnicity and Conflict
  
• STH TH 825: The Medieval Church
  Social, personal, institutional, and theological aspects of the medieval ecclesiastical structure in the West from Gregory the Great to Boniface. COUNTS AS A MDIV CHURCH HISTORY II CORE REQUIREMENT.
• STH TH 826: The Reformations.
  We will study the religious crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including the social, political, economic, and intellectual context within which the Reformation occurred. Key figures include Martin Luther in the Germanies; the Anabaptist, Menno Simons; John Calvin in France and Switzerland; Henry VIII and his divorce from his wife and from Rome, producing the Church of England, precursor to modern Methodism. The age of the Reformation includes the Catholics, not just the Council of Trent, but also new religious orders, schools, and social initiatives: the socially-conscious Sisters of Charity, the teaching Ursulines, the cloistered Carmelites; Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits; Charles Borromeo, reforming Bishop of Milan; Vincent de Paul, advocate for the poor; Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross, Carmelite reformers and mystics; and Jean Baptiste de la Salle, founder of the Christian Brothers. We will pay attention to the care of the poor in this turbulent era. COUNTS AS A MDIV CHURCH HISTORY II CORE REQUIREMENT.
• STH TH 827: American Church History
  The development of American Christianity as a social, intellectual, institutional, and cultural movement. The course includes visits to churches in Boston. COUNTS AS A MDIV CHURCH HISTORY II CORE REQUIREMENT.
• STH TH 830: Topics in Ancient Christianity/Augustine: Life & Theology
  Topic for Fall 2009: ?Augustine, Conversions and Confessions.? The seminar explores the changes in Augustine?s spiritual convictions from his dozen years as a Manichee, through his discovery of Neoplatonism, to his new understanding of Paul?s letters and his brilliant revisioning of his journey in the Confessions. Fredriksen. 4 cr, 1st semester.
• STH TH 832: Modern Church History
  This Church History II period survey (ca. 1600-1865) examines Christianity in light of social, economic, and political trends in the geographic regions of Europe, North America, and Latin America. COUNTS AS A MDIV CHURCH HISTORY II CORE REQUIREMENT.
• STH TH 838: Methodism in British Society, 1730-1914
  Examines both the roots and rise of Methodism from a relatively insignificant religious society within the Church of England to a major denomination in late Victorian Britain. Particular attention is paid to the social and political context which facilitated such growth as well as to the most important personalities and characteristics of the Methodist movement.
• STH TH 842: Pietism & Methodism in the N. Atlantic World
  The course will investigate the roots and the rise of Pietism and Methodism in Europe and North America in the period circa 1670-1900. Particular attention will be paid to the social context of these religious movements as well as to their most important personalities and theological characteristics.
• STH TH 848: Emergence of Christianity as a Global Movement
  Historical development of world Christianity. Emphasis on social, cultural, spiritual, and political issues in African, Asian and Latin American Christianity in the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries. Also offered as STH TM 848.
• STH TH 856: Women in Mission and World Christianity
  History of Christian women in diakonia and mission outreach, including gender issues in mission and non-western Christianity today. Also offered as STH TM 848.
• STH TH 865: Methodist Expansion in North America, 1760-1860
  An examination of the remarkable growth of American Methodism, to include both its missionary strategy and its social function. Issues of theology, lay spirituality, and institutional consolidation are investigated alongside economic and social changes, the democratization of political culture, and demographic expansion.
• STH TH 870: Calvin and the Reformed Tradition
  On this eve of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, we will accomplish two things in this course. (1) We will read from Calvin in translation from his Institutes, treatises, polemical writings, and letters, and (2) we will anlayze contemporary historical and theological writings on him and his era. Students will be able to read and write on any subject within the Reformed tradition that interests them from the 16th century to contemporary topics in the present such as Presbyterianism, the United Church of Christ, Unitarianism, Puritanism (in England and New England),the Great Awakening, and the impact of the Reformed tradition on the worldwide Anglican churches and their denominatonal offshoots, such as Methodism.
• STH TH 910: History of Christian Mission
  A seminar in the history of Christian missions, from the early church to the present. Issues of historiography, method, and the emergence of non-western church history. Required course for doctoral students in mission studies.
• STH TH 922: Narrative of the African Experience
  
• STH TH 930: History of Missiology
  Seminar on the classic Protestant mission theorists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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