History of Christianity I: Origins to Us (CH9103W)

Content

This course examines Christian history with attention to the socio-spiritual location of Indigenous peoples in the Missio Dei. Many versions of the Christian story have reduced that story to a self-narrative, treating it as through it were a history of our civilization. This approach too often reflected the motives of colonial advance, and merged the transmission of the gospel with a Euro-centric view of the world. Contemporary historiography challenges this approach and highlights the polycentricity of Christian histories. This unit addresses Christian history from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and affirms the importance of local histories for growth in and witness to the gospel.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Foundation unit in History and/or Theology

Pedagogy

Lectures, Discussion groups Reading comprehension quizzes, online discussions

Indicative Bibliography

• Andrews, Edward E. Native Apostles: Black and Indian Missionaries in the British Atlantic World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.
• González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: Volume 1, The: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. New York: HarperCollins, 2010.
• Irvin, Dale, and Sunquist, Scott, eds. History of the World Christian Movement: Volume I: Earliest Christianity to 1453. New York: Orbis Books, 2001
• Jenkins, John Philip. The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died. New York: HarperCollins, 2009
• Peterson, R. D. ###A concise history of Christianity.### Australia Belmont, CA, Wadsworth/Thomson, 2007.
• Sanneh, Lamin O. Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.
• _________. Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
• Shenk, Wilbert R., ed. Enlarging the Story: Perspectives on Writing World Christian History Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002.
• Tinker, G. E. Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993.
• Yong, Amos and Barbara Brown Zikmund, eds. Remembering Jamestown: Hard Questions About Christian Mission. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2010.

Short Articles:

• Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas”.
• Martin Luther, “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520).” 1-34.
  
• Philip Spener, “Pia Desideria,” Pietists, Classics of Western Spirituality, 31-49.

Assessment