Content

This unit explores three book-length works in depth. It offers the opportunity for students to read whole texts in a structured and supportive learning community, and to reflect on the implications of the content. The books are selected for the quality of their historical scholarship and their engagement with contemporary questions of church or theology. Each year one of the texts will focus particularly on Australian experience, one on a classic work or author in the Christian tradition, and one on an innovative theme in historical work.
In 2015 the book choices will include: Joan Beaumont, Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War, Allen and Unwin, 2014. Carol Pal, Republic of Women: Rethinking the Republic of Letters in the Seventeenth Century, Cambridge University Press, 2013. Rowan Williams, Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert, Lion, 2003.

Unit code: CH9500P

Unit status: Archived (New unit)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Church History

Delivery Mode: Face to Face

Proposing College: Pilgrim Theological College

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Learning outcomes

1.

Describe the approach and content of two recent books in the field of church history

2.

Evaluate the strengths and weakness of each of the books

3.

Assess the contribution each makes to theological conversation, particularly but not exclusively in Australia

4.

Articulate a response to each book

Pedagogy

Online discussion and development of summaries; face to face seminars with options for electronic participation

Indicative Bibliography

  • Beaumont, Joan. Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War, Sydney Allen and Unwin, 2014. (recommended for purchase)
  • Pal, Carol. Republic of Women: Rethinking the Republic of Letters in the Seventeenth Century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. (recommended for purchase)
  • Williams, Rowan. Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert, Oxford: Lion, 2003. (recommended for purchase)
  • Bouwsma, William The Waning of the Renaissance, 1550-1640, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
  • Campbell, Mary. Wonder and Science: imagining Worlds in Early Modern Europe, New York: Cornell University Press, 1999.
  • Harmless, William. Desert Christians: an introduction to the literature of early monasticism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • Inglis, K. S. Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape, Carlton: Miegunyah and Melbourne University Press, 1998.
  • Moses, John A., George F. Davies, ANZAC Day Origins. Canberra: Barton Books, 2013
  • Sturdy, J. D. Fractured Europe 1600-1720, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.
  • Ward, Bendicta. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. St Paul MN: Liturgical, 1984.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Book Review

1000 word book review

0 20.0
Book Review

1000 word book review

0 20.0
Essay

2000 word summary

0 30.0
Essay

2000 word summary

0 30.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by John Capper on 19 Oct, 2014

Unit record last updated: 2020-10-28 14:50:32 +1100