CH040-512 - Rise of Christianity

  • 2,784 Standard Tuition Fee
  • 12
    Credit Points
  • 0.125 EFT 
  • 5
    AQF level
  • Category foundational unit
    A
  • Christianity in History Unit Discipline

Exclusions

CH008, CH010, Students may not enrol in this unit if they have completed BOTH CH001 and CH002

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will

A. Know and understand

Demonstrate Foundational knowledge and understanding of the rise of Christianity down to and including the Reformation of the 16th century

B. Be able to

1. Trace major developments in the rise of Christianity

2. Outline the contribution of selected people to the rise of Christianity

3. Draw on selected primary and secondary sources to formulate historical viewpoints on the rise of Christianity

4. Present Organised evidence-based perspectives on the rise of Christianity

C. Be in a position to

1. Relating perspectives from ‘The Rise of Christianity’ to inform ministry contexts

Content

Section A: The Early Church

  1. The Spread of Christianity to 312. (The Apologists)
  2. The Challenge of Other Religions (Irenaeus)
  3. Wrestling with the Faith (Arianism & Chalcedon)

Section B: Christendom

  1. The Conversion of Europe (600-900)
    (Boniface/Crediton/Alcuin of York)
  2. Byzantium, Islam and the Crusades

Section C: The Continental and English Reformations

  1. The Continental Reformation (Luther and Calvin)
  2. The Counter Reformation
  3. The English & Scottish Reformation (Cranmer and Knox)

Further Information

Prior to 2020, this unit content was delivered under the unit code CH240.

Set Readings

Prescribed:

Atherstone, A., Reformation: A World in Turmoil (Oxford: Lion, 2011)

Birkett, K., The Essence of the Reformation (Sydney: Matthias, 2009)

Chadwick, O., The Reformation, (London: Pelican, 1972).

Coakley, J.W., and A. Sterk (eds), Readings in World History, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2004).

Davidson, I.J., The Birth of the Church: From Jesus to Constantine AD 30-312 (Baker History of the Church, Vol1; Grand Rapids/Oxford: /Monach, 2004).

Davidson, I.J., A Public Faith: From Constantine to the Medieval World: AD 312-600 (Baker History of the Church, Vol2; Grand Rapids/Oxford: /Monach, 2005).

 

Recommended:

Bassett, P., The Medieval Church (Baker History of the Church, Vol 3; Grand Rapids/Oxford: Baker/monarch, 2006).

Bernard, G. W., The King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the Re-making of the English Church (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005).

Chidester, D., Christianity: A Global History (London: Penguin, 2000).

Cottret, B., Calvin: A Biography (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000).

Cross, F.L and E.A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (London, OUP, 1997).

Dickens, A. G., The English Reformation (2nd ed.; University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University, 1989).

Dixon, C. S., The Reformation in Germany (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002).

Evans, G. R., John Wyclif: Myth and Reality (Oxford: Lion, 2005).

Evans, G.R. (ed.), The First Christian Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Church (Mulden: Blackwell, 2004).

Frend, W.H.C., The Early Church (London: SCM, 2003).

Gabler, U., Huldrych Zwingli: His Life and Work (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1986).

Gonzalez, J.L., The Changing Shape of Church History (Louisville, MO: Chalice, 2002).

Hillerbrand, H.J. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Protestantism (New York: Routlage, 2003).

Hillerbrand, H. J. (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (New York: OUP, 1996).

Kellar, C., Scotland, England & the Reformation 1534- 61 (Oxford: Clarendon, 2003

MacCulloch, D., Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, 1490–1700 (London: Penguin, 2003).

MacCulloch, D., Thomas Cranmer (Yale: Yale University, 1996)

McKechnie, P., The First Christian Centuries. Perspectives on the Early Church (Leicester: Apollos, 2001).

Mullett, M., The Catholic Reformation (New York: Routledge, 1999).

Nohl, F., Luther: Biography of a Reformer (St Louis, MO: Concordia, 2003).

Norris, F.W., Christianity: a Short Global History (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2002).

Ridley-Smith, J., The Crusades – A History (2nd ed.; London: Continuum, 2005).

Yates, T., The Expansion of Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2004).

 

Primary Documents:

Bray, G. (ed.), Documents of the English Reformation (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994

Dixon, C.Scott (ed), The German Reformation: The Essential Readings, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999).

Lindberg, C., The European Reformations Sourcebook (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000).