Introduction to Church History: The Early Church, Middle Ages, Renaissance (CH8001C)

Postgraduate, 24.0 points

Content

A survey unit which covers the areas of the Early Church, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The unit includes a study of the major movements which shaped church and society and how they have influenced current church practices. The unit focuses particularly on the developments in the first five centuries while also considering the shaping of the church from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. In this context it also considers the significant developments in theology during this period.

Unit code: CH8001C

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Foundational

Unit discipline: Church History

Proposing College: Catholic Theological College

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Learning outcomes

1.

Situate significant people and events in chronological sequence.
2.

Articulate the historical context of some major events in the history of the Church during these ages.
3.

Identify the ways in which the visible Church has been shaped by changing political, social, cultural and economic circumstances.
4.

Critically examine the ways in which the church has articulated its central beliefs (doctrine).
5.

Critically analyse and interpret a representative selection of primary and secondary sources, both written and visual, as evidence in the analysis of specific historical periods.

Pedagogy

Mentored apprenticeship in advanced critical reading of primary and secondary historical sources through targeted learning activities, lectures, and summative assessment tasks.

Indicative Bibliography

  • Brown, Peter. The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000. Rev. ed. Blackwell, 2013.
  • Buckley, James J., Frederick C. Bauerschmidt, and Trent Pomplu, eds. The Blackwell Companion to Catholicism. Blackwell, 2007.
  • Coakley, John W., and Andreas Sterk, eds. Readings in World Christian History. Vol. 1, Earliest Christianity to 1453. Orbis Books, 2004.
  • Comby, Jean. How to Read Church History. Vol. 1, From the Beginning to the Fifteenth Century. SCM, 1985.
  • Gerhardt, Mary, and Fabian E. Udoh, eds. The Christianity Reader. University of Chicago Press, 2007.
  • Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity. Vol. 1, The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. 2nd ed. Harper Collins, 2010.
  • Harries, Richard, and Henry Mayr-Harting, eds. Christianity: Two Thousand Years. Oxford University Press, 2001.
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Allen Lane, 2009.
  • Wilken, Robert Louis. The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity. Yale University Press, 2012.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Document Study

1000 word document study

 1000 20.0
Essay 4000 50.0
Written Examination

2-hour exam

 2000 30.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 25 Jun, 2026

Unit record last updated: 2026-06-25 10:14:30 +1000