UMS : Unit: CH8109T

Content

In this unit students will undertake an historical theological study of the first five centuries of Christianity with an emphasis on the developments in doctrine and liturgical practice across the Christian communities of the Middle East, North Africa, and Western Europe. Students will examine how the formal clarification of doctrine emerged out of apologetic and exegetical controversies, that pushed the Church to the limits of its language about God.

Unit code: CH8109T

Unit status: Archived (Major revision)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Foundational

Unit discipline: Church History

Delivery Mode: Online

Proposing College: Trinity College Theological School

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Learning outcomes

1.	Outline a chronology of key events within the Christian community c.100-500 CE and describe their significance
2.	Articulate key principles of historical interpretation of ancient Christian texts.
3.	Identify key features of the context and method of at least one writer in the early Christian Church.
4.	Outline key theological debates during the period.
5.	Discuss the interactions of Church and Empire in the early Christian Church, before and after Constantine.
6.	Describe ways in which an historical understanding of the early Church has implications for ministry in the contemporary Church.

Unit sequence

Prohibited combination: ‘Practice and Belief in the Early Church’

Pedagogy

This unit is an entry-level unit in the discipline of Church History 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, tutorial discussions, and guided engagement with key primary texts.

Indicative Bibliography

Bradshaw, Paul F. The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship (2nd ed.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
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).
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume 1: The Early Church to the Reformation (New York: HarperOne, 2010).
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).
Young, Frances. The Making of the Creeds (London: SCM Press, 1991).

Assessment

Type	Description	Word count	Weight (%)
Multiple Choice Quizzes or Tests	Online quiz 500 words	500	10.0
Document Study	Document Study 2,500 words	2500	30.0
Multiple Choice Quizzes or Tests	Online quiz 500 words	500	10.0
Essay	Research Essay 3,500 words	3500	50.0

Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by John Capper on 27 Sep, 2019

Unit record last updated: 2024-08-06 11:31:30 +1000