The History of Christianity in One Hour

If you had only one hour to cover the history of Christianity, from the Reformation to the present, what would you talk about? This was my dilemma today as I guest lectured in a course on the "Introduction to Religion."

I spent most of my allotted time speaking on the Reformation, including common Protestant beliefs, Martin Luther, John Calvin,  the Anabaptists, the formation of the Church of England, and the Catholic Reformation. I then moved on quickly to talk about Puritanism, Pietism, and evangelicalism. I argued that American Christianity shows traces of all these influences, not only in our religious beliefs, but in our attitude towards culture.

It has been some time since I taught a basic, general education, undergraduate course, and so I was reminded of the differences between  these types of courses and upper-level electives. In "Introduction to Religion," I had to work for the audience's attention. Most of the students appeared disinterested at first, and perhaps bored at the idea of a guest lecturer speaking on Christianity. I decided to take this as a challenge, and so worked harder than I normally do to emphasize specific points, integrate funny anecdotes, and use more hand gestures. I'm not sure how successful I was, but I was pleased that some of the people who put their heads on their desk at the start of class had by the midpoint showed signs of life.

I contrast this lecture with my earlier course on "Modern Christian Thought," an upper-level elective that I teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9:25am to 10:40am. The benefit of an elective course, from my perspective, is that students choose to take it, rather than enroll to meet a requirement to graduate. Today, I spoke on the life and thought of Paul Tillich. I have blogged before on the question of whether Tillich's thought is too difficult to teach in an undergraduate course. Although it was challenging for them (and me) to grasp some of Tillich's philosophical concepts, students were interested in trying to understand him and how he integrated philosophy and theology with culture. I look forward to Thursday's discussion on Reinhold Niebuhr, and next week on Karl Rahner and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Roger Olson on Molly Worthen's "Apostles of Reason"

I see that Roger Olson, Foy Valentine Professor of Christian Theology and Ethics at Baylor University, has posted an overall favorable review of Molly Worthen's Apostles of Reason on his blog. I commend Olson for looking past Worthen's comments about his "confusing" and "muddled" advice on pp. 258-59 of her book. I remember reading this passage in Worthen's book and wondering how he would react to her comments.

Let me also take this opportunity to recommend Olson's new book, The Journey of Modern Theology: From Reconstruction to Deconstruction. I picked up his book at the AAR/SBL conference in Baltimore last month and have been reading bits and pieces of it ever since.

Olson is an excellent writer, especially when it comes to writing for students and a lay audience. While I have benefited from the information in his co-authored book with Stanley Grenz, 20th-Century Theology, I would not feel comfortable using this text at a secular state university since it is obviously aimed at an evangelical audience. In The Journey of Modern Theology, Olson admits to having an agenda in 20th-Century Theology, and therefore wanted to rewrite an entirely new book that is more even-handed in its approach.

From what I have read so far, I could easily picture using The Journey of Modern Theology for my course on "Modern Christian Thought" at some point in the future. As I have written about in a past post on "Teaching Modern Christian Thought" at this blog, it is very difficult to find a textbook on modern Christian thought that is readable, contained in one volume, and not overly critical of traditional Christianity or unfair to Liberal Protestantism. I believe that Olson has written one of the best textbooks for courses on modern Christian thought that could be used at a variety of institutions.

Modern Christian Thought Revised

For the last two weeks, I have been revising my Spring 2014 course, REL 3620: Modern Christian Thought. I have taught this course two times at UTC, but I keep changing the format because of the difficulty of the material.

Usually, a course on Modern Christian Thought covers 19th- and 20th-century theologians, most of whom are affiliated with Liberal Protestantism. But every time that I have taught this course, students have complained about the difficulty of the readings, particularly from Schleiermacher, Hegel, and Tillich. Since there are no prerequisites for this course at UTC, many students struggle to understand the primary-source readings, and so I keep making adjustments.

I have decided to start the timeline of the course at the Reformation, with readings from Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin. We will then tackle the English Reformation, the Catholic Reformation, Puritanism, Arminianism, early evangelicalism, and the Enlightenment during the first half of the semester. In the second half, we will study Kant, Kierkegaard, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Ritschl, Harnack, Barth, Bultmann, Tillich, Niebuhr, Bonhoeffer, Liberation Theology, Feminist Theology, and end with Postmodernism. Students will write a research paper on one of these theologians or theological movements and present their research to the class. I will follow up the presentations with further material on that particular thinker or theological movement, filling in missing information or reiterating important points that I want the class to know.

In the past, I have used five primary-source readers from Fortress Press's "Making of Modern Theology" series (Formerly, I used readers from Schleiermacher, Harnack or Hegel, Bultmann, Barth, and Bonhoeffer). I am trying new texts for the Spring 2014 semester: Justo Gonzalez's A History of Christian Thought: From the Protestant Reformation to the Twentieth Century, volume 3, revised edition (Abingdon, 1987), and Alister McGrath's The Christian Theology Reader, fourth edition (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).

Gonzalez's book contains some excellent chapters, especially on the Reformation. Some of the middle chapters on Lutheranism, however, are, in my opinion, too detailed on the theological advancements made in the wake of the Reformation. The book also would benefit by adding a chapter at the end as a way of updating the reader on the theological mood since the 1980s. Overall, it is an informative textbook for the period that I want to cover. I have not used McGrath's anthology before, but I am excited to incorporate it into this course. The readings are very brief (often one page), and examine a number of important theological themes, from a multitude of diverse theologians throughout the history of Christianity.

Yesterday, I finished writing online quiz questions from thirteen of the chapters in Gonzalez's book (I have written about the advantages of online quiz questions here). For the McGrath book, I will take questions from the readings for the midterm and final exams, rather than creating separate online quiz questions.

Below is my newly-revised syllabus. Take a look, and let me know if I need to make any further amendments.

Required Texts:        

• Justo Gonzalez, A History of Christian Thought: From the Protestant Reformation to the Twentieth Century, volume 3, revised edition (Abingdon, 1987)
• Alister McGrath, ed., The Christian Theology Reader, fourth edition (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)

Course Requirements:

1.        Exams (25% x 2 = 500 total points)

Students will take two examinations that are based on the readings, lectures, class discussions, and presentations. None of the exams, including the final, are comprehensive. All exams must be taken—notifying me within 24 hours if you have a legitimate reason why you cannot be present to take the exam—and no tests will be dropped. 

2.        Online Reading Quizzes (13% or 130 points)

Students will take 13 online quizzes on the assigned readings in Justo Gonzalez, A History of Christian Thought: From the Protestant Reformation to the Twentieth Century. The online reading quizzes consist of 10 multiple choice or true/false questions. All online quizzes are open book, but must be taken alone (honor system). Also, you are not allowed to share any information with other students concerning the quizzes (honor system). It is highly recommended that you complete the required reading before you take the assigned quiz.

To take the appropriate quiz, go to “Assignments” in your Blackboard account and click on the appropriate quiz (Note: you may not print the quizzes). Quizzes will generate from a bank of questions—so they will vary from student to student. Quizzes have a thirty-minute time limit. If you encounter technical difficulties (computer shut off, etc.), you may go back to the quiz—but the clock does not stop ticking, so please use a reliable computer and find a location with adequate internet access. Once thirty minutes have elapsed, the quiz will automatically terminate, even if you haven’t finished inputting all your answers.

Quizzes can be taken at any time up until the beginning of the class (9:25am) on the day that they are due (see schedule below for due dates). 

3.        Research Paper (25% or 250 points)

Each student will write a research paper on a particular theologian, summarizing the theologian’s life, theology, major works, and contribution to modern Christian thought. Papers should be 3,500 words in length (give or take 500 words), double-spaced, 12 point font, and utilizing both primary (written by the theologian) and secondary (written about the theologian) sources. The paper should use a minimum of five secondary sources (academic books and journal articles—avoiding websites and general dictionaries). Papers will be assessed a 10% penalty for each day late.

Evaluation for research papers will be based on the following:

Style (20%)

-          Does the student show a mastery of grammar and syntax?

-          Is the paper free from spelling errors?

Introduction (10%)

-          Is there a clear introduction in the paper?

-          Does the student provide a clear thesis?

Conclusion (10%)

-          Is there a clear conclusion in the paper?

-          Is the conclusion sufficiently long enough to explain how the paper has answered the research question the student chose?

-          Does the conclusion recapitulate the reasons for taking a particular point of view, evaluating the importance of those reasons?

The Body of the Paper (30%)

-          Are the paragraphs grouped by main points that contribute to answering the research question?

-          Does the first sentence of the paragraph introduce its topic, helping the reader to know what to expect?

-          Is there sufficient evidence—statistics, specific names or dates, primary-source quotations, etc.—that supports the main point in the paragraph?

-          Does the student use quotations properly by quoting only primary sources and not secondary sources, instead, paraphrasing a secondary-source author and citing him or her?

Content (30%)

-          Is there a summary of the theologian’s life?

-          Does the student use a sufficient number of primary and secondary sources in the paper?

-          Does the student accurately describe the theologian’s theology?

-          Does the student describe the theologian’s major works?

-          Is it clear what contribution the theologian has had on modern Christian thought?

4.        Presentation (2% or 20 points)

Each student will participate in an individual or group presentation on an assigned theologian (see signup sheet and dates) and the contribution that this thinker has made to Christian theology. The format of the presentation is left up to the discretion of the presenter(s). The presentation should be 15 - 20 minutes with an additional five minutes allotted at the end for questions by the class and the professor. The presentation will be assessed by the professor, and based on the following:

5.        Attendance and Participation (10% or 100 points)

It is essential that you attend classes regularly and come prepared to take notes on the lectures and participate in class discussion. You are allowed two skips without penalty. I will take attendance until five minutes after the hour. Students arriving after that time will be counted absent. For every absence in excess of two, your attendance and participation grade will be reduced by 20 points. 

6.      Grading Scale

900-1,000         A

800-899           B

700-799           C

600-699           D

Below 600       F

7.        Course Assignments and Values

Exams                                                            50%

Online Quizzes                                                13%

Presentation                                                     2%

Research Paper                                                25%

Attendance and Participation____________       10%

                                                                      100%

Tentative Schedule

1/7       Introduction

1/9      Lecture:                       The End of Scholasticism

Reading/Quiz 1:          Gonzalez: Chapter 1 (pp.13-28)

1/14     Lecture:                       Martin Luther

Reading:                    Gonzalez: Chapter 2 (pp. 29-69)

1/19      Lecture:                      Martin Luther (continued)       

Reading/Quiz 2:          McGrath: 1.12, 2.15-2.16, 4.24, 6.32-6.34, 7.12-7.13, 8.17-8.20

                                   

1/21     Lecture:                       Ulrich Zwingli

Reading/Quiz 3:          Gonzalez: Chapter 3 (pp. 70-85); McGrath: 8.23-8.24

1/23     Lecture:                       The Anabaptists

Reading/Quiz 4:          Gonzalez: Chapter 4 (pp. 86-102)

                                   

1/28     Lecture:                       John Calvin

Reading:                     Gonzalez: Chapter 6 (pp. 133-177)    

1/30     Lecture:                       John Calvin (continued)

Reading/Quiz 5:          McGrath: 1.13, 2.17-2.18, 5.19, 6.36-6.38, 7.17, 8.26-8.27

                                   

2/4       Lecture:                       The English Reformation

Reading/Quiz 6:          Gonzalez: Chapter 7 (pp. 178-195); McGrath: 7.18

2/6       Lecture:                       The Catholic Reformation

Reading/Quiz 7:          Gonzalez: Chapter 8 (pp. 196-247); McGrath: 1.17-1.18, 2.19, 2.25,

                                                6.39, 8.28

2/11     Lecture:                       Divisions within Protestantism

Reading/Quiz 8:          Gonzalez: Chapter 10 (pp. 266-299); McGrath: 1.14, 2.21, 2.24, 2.26,

                                    3.29, 4.25, 5.20, 6.40, 6.43, 7.19-7.20, 8.29

2/13     Lecture:                       Early Evangelical Thought

Reading/Quiz 9:          Gonzalez: Chapter 11 (pp. 300-317); McGrath: 2.29-2.31, 5.23, 6.45,

                                                6.47-6.48, 8.30, 10,18-10.19

2/18     MIDTERM EXAM      

2/20     Lecture:                       Life Before 1600 and the Enlightenment

Reading/Quiz 10:        Gonzalez: Chapter 12 (pp. 318-346); McGrath: 1.16-1.18, 2.32, 3.30,

                                    4.26

2/25     Lecture:                       Immanuel Kant

Reading/Quiz 11:        Gonzalez: Chapter 13 (pp. 347-386); McGrath: 1.19, 1.22-1.23,  2.34-

                                    2.35, 4.31,

2/27     Presentation:                Soren Kierkegaard

Reading/Quiz 12:        Gonzalez: Chapter 14 (pp. 387-410); McGrath: 1.20, 1.21, 7.22

3/4       Presentation:                F. Schleiermacher 

Reading/Quiz 13:        Gonzalez: Chapter 16 (pp. 428-471); McGrath: 3.31, 4.27, 5.24-5.25,

                                    7.21

3/6       Presentation:                G.W.F. Hegel

Reading:                      McGrath: 2.42, 3.33, 4.36, 5.29, 5.32, 6.50, 6.55, 7.25-7.26, 8.31, 9.7

3/11     Spring Break              No Class

3/13     Spring Break             No Class

3/18     Presentation:                Albrecht Ritschl

            Reading:                      McGrath: 4.28

3/20     Presentation:                Adolf Harnack

            Reading:                      McGrath: 1.23

3/25     Presentation:                Karl Barth

            Reading:                      McGrath:1.24, 2.41, 3.32, 6.51, 7.24, 9.4

3/27     Presentation:                  Rudolf Bultmann 

            Reading:                         McGrath: 2.43, 10.20

                                   

4/1       Presentation:                Paul Tillich

            Reading:                      McGrath: 1.29, 4.35

4/3       Presentation:                Reinhold Niebuhr

            Reading:                      McGrath: 6.53

                                                Research Paper Due

4/8       Presentation:                Karl Rahner

            Reading:                      McGrath: 2.45,  9.6

4/10     Presentation:                Dietrich Bonhoeffer

            Reading:                      McGrath: 1.28

4/15     Presentation:                Liberation Theology

            Reading:                      McGrath: 1.32, 3.35, 7.28

4/17     Presentation:                Feminist Theology

            Reading:                      McGrath: 1.31, 3.43-3.44, 4.38-4.39, 5.37

           

4/22     Reading Day

Final Exam: Thursday, April 24, 8-10am