Forming the Faith (CH1100T)

Content

In this unit students will undertake an historical theological study of the first five centuries of Christianity, with an emphasis on the differing ways and contexts in which doctrine came to be formed. Students will read key texts from the period - from Origen and Athanasius, to Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine - to examine how the formal clarification of doctrine emerged out of apologetic and exegetical controversies.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Introductory unit in History and Theology. Prohibited combinations: ‘Practice and Belief in the Early Church’; 'Crises, Controversies and Councils'

Pedagogy

This unit is an entry-level unit in the discipline of historical theology and as such, presumes no prior knowledge of either the period itself, or the methods of historical enquiry. It provides an introduction to both, through lectures, discussions, and guided engagement with key primary texts.

Indicative Bibliography

• Behr, John. The Way to Nicaea (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001).
• Burrus, Virginia (ed.) Late Ancient Christianity: A People’s History of Christianity Vol. 2 (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2005).
• Cohick, Lynn, and Amy Brown Young. Christian Women in the Patristic World (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017).
• Edwards, Mark. Catholicity and Heresy in the Early Church (Farnham/Burlington: Ashgate Pub., 2009).
• Giles, Kevin. Patterns of Ministry Among the First Christians 2nd ed. (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2017).
• Humphries, Mark.Early Christianity (London: Routledge, 2006).
• Ludlow, Morwenna. The Early Church (London/New York: IB Tauris, 2009)
• McGowan, Andrew B. Ancient Christian Worship: Early Church Practices in Social, Historical and Theological Perspective 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014).
• Origen. On First Principles Vols.1-2. Edited and translated by J. Behr (Oxford: OUP, 2017).
• Young, Frances. The Making of the Creeds (London: SCM Press, 1991).

Assessment