History and Interpretation of Christianity. History of Christianity
HC501. History of Early Christian Thought
Spring.Credit, three hours. (Faculty)
Survey of the theological and doctrinal developments of the Christian church in its cultural setting in the first 500 years.
HC502. Medieval Christian Thought
Credit, three hours. (Faculty)
Survey of the theological, doctrinal, and institutional developments of the western church from the Carolingian renewal to the eve of the Reformation.
HC503. History of Theology from the Reformation to the Twentieth Century
Fall.Credit, three hours. (Faculty)
Survey of the theological and doctrinal developments of the Christian church in its cultural setting from the reformations of the sixteenth century to the transitions of the mid-twentieth century.
HC504. Introduction to the Reformation and Early Modern Christianity: 1450–1750
Spring. Credit, three hours. (Strom)
This course is part of a sequence designed to introduce students to foundational materials of Christian history and theology as well as historical method as part of theological education. This course will deal primarily with the early modern period, beginning in the late medieval period and concluding with the rise of Protestant Evangelical and Enlightenment movements. The primary focus will be on the reforming traditions of the 16th century and their implications for modern Christianity.
HC505. History of Christianity in America
Spring.Credit, three hours. (Kim)
This course is a survey of American religious history from the colonial era to the present. We will focus on the history of American Christian traditions in relation to other religious traditions and study theological ideas in their wide-ranging social and political contexts. Topics we will cover include colonial era conquest and encounters, Puritan theology, Native American traditions, early American ideas of gender and theology, the transatlantic awakenings, Methodist theology, slave religion, the Second Great Awakening, Mormonism, Catholicism, Protestant missions and reform, liberalism, fundamentalism, Pentecostalism, the civil rights era, neo-evangelicalism, the “black church,” feminism and evangelicalism, the Christian Right, the prosperity gospel, media and American religion, religion in the public square, contemporary evangelical politics, the diversifying religious landscape of contemporary America, and the rise of the religious “nones.” Assignments will focus on primary source analysis to engage critical thinking and historical analysis.
HC509. The Making of Global Christianity
Credit, three hours. (Hanciles)
Christianity was a demonstrably global faith (with its center of gravity in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East) before it became a predominantly Western religion (c. 1500). Now, after roughly five centuries, it has once again reemerged as a hugely non-Western phenomenon. A full historical account reveals a faith that is inherently global because it is ultimately local and therefore never fully defined by any historic phase or context. This course provides an exploration of Christianity’s 2,000 year history with a primary focus on the processes of cross-cultural transmission and the critical elements that have defined the experience and expression of the faith in successive heartlands. Five core issues will guide the discussion: the translation principle (or indigenous appropriations and vernacular expressions of the faith); the agents and agencies of missionary expansion; major movements of reformation and renewal; interaction with other major faiths; and causative factors in the periodic shifts or extermination of the faith.
HC609. Early Monastic Thought and Practice
Credit, three hours. (Briggman)
A study of major writings of fourth- and fifth-century monasticism, from Aphrahat of Persia to the Rule of Benedict. Themes will include the influence of Jewish traditions, conceptions of God, practices of prayer, and ascetic practices—especially eating habits, celibacy, and the withdrawal from familial relations. (HT609CEE when offered as a Contextual Education elective) (Theology)
HC610. Survey of African Christianity: From Apollos to Adelaja
Credit, three hours. (Hanciles) (Same as M610.)
This course explores the establishment and growth of Christianity in Africa. Regional experiences and developments form the building blocks of the study. But the assessment aims less to provide detailed historical coverage of the church in every region of the subcontinent than to negotiate major themes, currents and developments constituent to the rise of African Christianity—including the vital role of indigenous religious culture and the interaction with Islam. The significance of colonialism as well as the role and impact of Western missionary enterprise form an overarching theme, but central emphasis will be placed on African initiatives, agency, and enterprise as indispensable elements in the development and prospects of the African Church. The emergence of African Christianity as a major factor within world Christianity also will receive attention. (Race, Ethnicity, and Gender)
HC611. Francis and Clare
Credit, three hours (P. Reynolds)
This course attends equally to the historical, real-life Francis (insofar as he can be retrieved) and to the Francis of piety and legend, i.e., to the historical reception of Francis. This reception includes the several lives, the movements that trace their origins to Francis, and his deception in visual art. The course explores the paradoxes of the Francis phenomenon and the tensions and divisions of the Franciscan movement. The course also looks at two very different women in relation to the saint: Clare of Assisi (1193/94-1253), an early disciple for whom Francis established a severly cloistered way of life, quite unlike that of the medicant friars; and Angela of Foligno (d. 1309), a Franciscan Tertiary who lived among the people, worked with and cherished lepers, enjoyed supernatural visions, and attracted a network of disciples.
HC612. Doctrines and Creeds of the Early Church
Credit, three hours. (Briggman)
This course considers the development of central doctrines of the Christian tradition, with particular attention given to Trinitarian theology, Christology, and Pneumatology. Readings include selections from key figures of this period, as well as statements formulated by early church councils. Prerequisite of HC501, or permission of the instructor, for MDiv students. (Theology)
HC614. Earliest Christian Belief about the Holy Spirit
Credit, three hours. (Briggman)
This course considers the earliest Christian beliefs about the Holy Spirit, with particular attention to the influence and importance of Jewish traditions and forms of thought concerning the Spirit. Readings shall include selections from the Hebrew Scriptures, intertestamental literature, the New Testament writings, Greco-Roman philosophy, and early Christian authors. (Theology) 148
HC615. Women in Radical Protestantism
Credit, three hours. (Strom)
Examination of the role of women in radical Protestant movements from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Particular attention is given to writing and prophecy by women in the Anabaptist, radical Puritan, Quaker, Pietist, and Methodist movements. (Race, Ethnicity, and Gender)
HC616. Pietism: The Development of Modern Piety
Credit, three hours. (Strom)
This course will focus on religious renewal movements in the wake of the Reformation, especially continental Pietism with further attention given to cognate movements such as Puritanism, Quietism, and Methodism. (Theology)
HC617. Early Christian Worship
Credit, three hours. (E. Phillips)
This seminar examines the sources and evolving methods for the study of early Christian worship and sacrament from the New Testament into the late patristic period, including the development of Eucharistic prayers, the rites of initiation, the liturgical year, and daily prayer. (Theology)
HC618. Ethics of Aquinas
Credit, three hours. (P. Reynolds) (Same as ES618.)
Thomas’s treatment of the foundations of ethics, including topics such as human action, free will, the passions, habits, vice and virtue, and law, as explained in his Summa theologiae. Teaching involves lectures, seminars, and close reading of primary texts. (Theology)
HC619. Reforming the Church and the People: Sixteenth-Century Models
Credit, three hours. (Strom)
An investigation of Protestant, Catholic, and radical reform movements as responses to the challenges of the sixteenth century. Special attention will be given to doctrinal issues and ecclesial developments, as well as to the implications for lay piety, the family, and social and political structures.
HC620. Theology in the Monastic Tradition
Credit, three hours. (P. Reynolds)
This course has a foreground and a background. In the background is the institutional and social history of monasticism and related religious movements, from the origins of Christian monasticism to the end of the Middle Ages. In the foreground are some classic and perennially popular examples of monastic writing, from Benedict’s Rule to the 14th-century Cloud of Unknowing, which we read closely by analyzing the theological arguments and by interpreting them in light of their historical context. (Theology)
HC621. Seminar in Thomas Aquinas
Credit, three hours. Instructor permission required. (P. Reynolds)
This seminar, which is cross-listed with a doctoral seminar (RLHT721R), provides Candler students with an opportunity to study Thomas Aquinas’s theology in greater depth than is possible in an introductory or survey course. The focus of the course varies from year to year, but topics include God, cognition and epistemology, happiness, and theology as a science. Some familiarity with Thomas’s work is prerequisite. This might be acquired from previous course (such as HT618 or HT625) or, by agreement with the instructor, from an assigned reading. (Theology)
HC623. Theology of Augustine
Credit, three hours. (Faculty)
The development of Augustine’s thought across his life and career, with attention to contemporary issues of the church and theology. (Theology)
HC624. Jesus: Faith and History
Credit, three hours. (Pacini)
The aim of this seminar is to show that throughout Christian history, the complex question of Jesus, faith, and history has achieved different configurations and correspondingly different “answers” at different times. Examples from the history of art, writings of the Deists, and essays from Kant, Hegel, Hoelderlin, Schelling, and Kierkegaard are discussed. (Theology)
HC625. Theology of Thomas Aquinas
Credit, three hours. (P. Reynolds)
Thomas’s understanding of the nature, methods, and aims of theology (sacra doctrina), as explained in his Summa theologiae. Teaching involves lectures, seminars, and close reading of primary texts. (Theology)
HC627. Theology of Luther
Credit, three hours. (Strom)
An examination of Luther’s work and theology in the context of the Protestant Reformation movement and 16th-century German society. (Theology)
HC629. Mystical Theology
Credit, three hours. (P. Reynolds)
An examination of a wide variety of medieval mystical theologians in light of the shared concept, or paradigm, of mystical theology. Emphasis is on close reading of primary texts in translation. Authors include Plato, Plotinus, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and ps.-Dionysius (for the foundational paradigms), and then William of St. Thierry, Guigo II, Bonaventure, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, Meister Eckhart, and The Cloud of Unknowing. (Theology)
HC633. African American Religion and Culture
Credit, three hours. (N. Phillips) (Same as SR633.)
This interdisciplinary course offers a panoramic view of cultural practices that have been the social glue for African Americans, historically and advancing into the present. We will move through the ways ecclesial and nonecclesial religious belief and practice have intersected with black folk tradition, ritual, music, art, literature and other material and non-material cultural forms to give rise to a vibrant and enduring black social, political and economic life in America. In this culturally thematic course, we will also wrestle with ethical subjects and issues that despite the strength of black spirituality possess the potential to contribute to forms of black social death.
HC636K. Reformation Theology and Historiography
Credit, three hours. Instructor permission required. (Strom)
This advanced seminar will examine issues of Reformation theology and historiography from a variety of methodological perspectives. Topics include the significance of the Reformation for the modern era, the growing impact of new historical methods, the place of religion and theology in early modern history, popular culture and piety, research methods, and bibliographical resources. The seminar will focus primarily on Germany and Europe, but attention will also be given to the expansion of early modern Christianity to Asia. The course assumes a familiarity with the basic themes of Reformation history. (Theology)
HC640. Theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher
Credit, three hours. (Pacini)
A study of the genesis and development of Schleiermacher’s thought on Christ and religion, from the “Speeches on Religion,” “The Christmas Eve Dialogue,” “The Soliloquies,” and “The Christian Faith.” (Theology)
HC641. Early Christian Women
Credit, three hours. (Hylen) (Same as NT641.)
This course explores the roles and authority of women in the early church (first to fourth centuries) and the ways this history is used in modern arguments about women’s leadership. (Race, Ethnicity, and Gender)
HC642. History of Clergy and Their Office
Credit, three hours. (Strom)
An overview of the theologies of clerical office from the late medieval to modern era with an emphasis on autobiographical writings. (HC642CEE when offered as a Contextual Education elective)
HC645. Theology in America
Credit, three hours. (Faculty)
Lectures and discussions on theology in America from the seventeenth century to the 21st century, exploring figures, movements, and denominational traditions of Christian thought. (Theology)
HC646. The Method of Early Methodism: Community, Discipleship, and Holiness
Credit, three hours. (Watson)
This course explores the role of communal formation in eighteenth-century Methodism. John Wesley’s theology of discipleship is explored, along with a variety of aspects of Christian formation in community in early Methodism. Particular attention is given to the way Wesley’s theology of social holiness was expressed in early Methodist small groups, especially the class meeting and the band meeting.
HC647. The Holiness Movement and American Methodism
Credit, three hours. (Watson)
This course provides an in-depth examination of American Methodism and the rise and development of the Holiness movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The course considers key American Methodists who advocated for, or resisted, the renewed focus on holiness and entire sanctification in American Methodism. Particular attention is given to the development and fragmentation of American Methodism as a theological tradition in the second half of the 19th century.
HC651. History of Christian-Muslim Relations
Credit, three hours. (Womack) (Same as WR652.)
This course introduces students to the history of Christian-Muslim relations from the early Islamic period to present and acquaints them with recent initiatives for interfaith dialogue. Attention is given to multiple global contexts and to the cultural and theological diversity of both Islam and Christianity. Part I of the course introduces significant events, themes, and players in the history of Christian-Muslim relations. Part II centers upon Christian-Muslim dialogue initiatives since the mid-20th century.
HC652. Augustine, Descartes, and Wittgenstein on the First Person “I”
Credit, three hours. (Pacini)
This seminar explores the ways in which three dominant thinkers in Western thought exploited the features of the self-referential character of the “First Person ‘I’” to articulate the worlds within which they found themselves. (Theology)
HC653. World Evangelism in an Age of Empire
Credit, three hours. (Jones) (Same as EV653, M653.)
From the beginning of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century, Christians from North America and Europe were involved in a massive effort to conquer and Christianize the world. This course examines the relationship between Western imperial missions and religious missions, noting the ways in which they both conflicted and cooperated in their endeavors. Attention will be given to indigenous Christians in Asia, Africa and Latin America, whose life, work and witness was crucial in shaping religious responses to imperialism.
HC654. Faith and Reason
Credit, three hours. (Pacini)
A seminar exploring the differing conceptions of “faith” and of “reason” in both classical (Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin) and modern thinkers (Kant and Schleiermacher), with emphasis upon the ways in which faith and reason are more frequently related than opposed. Readings from Jean Luc Marion and Luce Irigaray will introduce criticisms of the emphases of this tradition of thinking. (Theology)
HC656. Reality of God
Credit, three hours. (Pacini)
A seminar that explores the question of the being of God in the context of the practices of prayer and meditation. The so-called “ontological arguments” for the existence of God that Anselm and Descartes advanced will be addressed through the context of the literary genre of “mediation” that Marcus Aurelius elaborated and the context of the spiritual observance of the Liturgy of the Hours (Breviary), together with the arguments of its principal critics, Thomas Aquinas and Immanuel Kant, and a contemporary version in the letters of Simone Weil. (HC656CEE when offered as a Contextual Education elective) (Theology)
HC659. Religion in America
Credit, three hours. (Faculty)
Lectures and discussion on religious movements, institutions, and traditions of piety and practice in America from the 17th century to the 21st century.
HC660. Piety and Politics: Evangelicalism in America
Credit, three hours. (Kim)
What is the evangelical tradition? What are the social, cultural, and political contexts out of which evangelicalism emerged and evolved? What does “evangelical” signify in America and the world today? This course will address these questions as students study the evangelical tradition in America from the 18th century to the present. The course begins with the transatlantic awakenings, the Enlightenment, the rise of the foreign missionary enterprise, and the Second Great Awakening, and moves into the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversies, Pentecostalism, civil rights, neo-evangelicalism, the rise of the Christian Right, prosperity gospel, and televangelism. We also analyze categories of gender, sexuality, race, and immigration. Students will study the evangelical tradition as a historical and multiracial phenomenon in relation to American culture and politics and within transnational and global contexts. Assignments will focus on primary source analysis to engage critical thinking and train students in historical research.
HC661. The Black Church
Credit, three hours. (Erskine)
This course seeks to investigate the evolution of the black church in America. We will not attempt a chronological history of this church but will choose decisive moments in the life of this church for examination. There will be a sustained discussion with E. Franklin Frazier, Melville Herskovits, Albert Raboteau, Julia Foote, and Marilyn Richardson. (Race, Ethnicity, Gender)
HC665. Catholicism in America: Migration, Transnationalism, and Devotion
Credit, three hours. (S. Reynolds) (Same as SR665)
This course explores the history and present of U.S. Catholicism by tracing the migrations that have shaped Catholic life in the Americas throughout the past five centuries, beginning with an examination of accounts of the Guadalupan apparition and of Catholic slaves and slaveholders. We attend in a particular way to the role of the parish and populare religious practices in immigrant communities throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as to dynamics of race, culture, and borders in shaping U.S. Catholic identities through the present day. (Race, Ethnicity, and Gender).
HC669. The History and Theology of Eucharistic Worship
Credit, three hours. (Faculty)
A liturgical and theological study of the origins and evolution of the Eucharist and related practices. The subject is covered in terms of the major cultural, philosophical, and historical movements which formed the background of this evolution. (HC669CEE when offered as a Contextual Education elective) (Theology)
HC672. Modern Catholicism
Credit, three hours. (Alonso, Lösel) (Same as ST678.)
This course introduces students to modern Catholicism both from a historical and a theological perspective. We trace the significant theological and ecclesiastical changes the Catholic Church has undergone from the eighteenth century through the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and in its aftermath. Along with the major documents from Vatican II, authors we engage may include Henri de Lubac, Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Elizabeth Johnson, Jon Sobrino, Mark Jordan, and Cyprian Davis. (Theology)
HC676. Modern Christianity as a Global Phenomenon
Credit, three hours. (Hanciles) (Same as M676.)
This course serves as an introduction to the historical study of Christianity as a global phenomenon. It will survey major developments within, as well as significant encounters between, the church in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific from roughly 1600 to the present. Course material will highlight the complex actors and trends that have shaped the church as an indigenous social institution and examine major historical developments that reflect concrete ways in which the church (as a community of faith) has impacted its immediate context and the wider world. Special attention will be given to the critical role of various forms of outreach and missions in Christianity’s global expansion as well as the significant role of non-Western initiatives in shaping global Christianity.
HC678. St. Paul and the Philosophers
Credit, three hours. (Pacini)
The founder of Western Christianity– Tertullian–posed the question, “What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?” intimating a certain tension between theological and philosophical readings of Paul that had already been in play. In a sense, Tertullian raised the question that has resurfaced periodically in the history of Pauline interpretation: can one read Paul philosophically (or from the perspective of other critical perspectives) and still capture what the first-century itinerant apologist for a radical Jewish faith actually meant? In this course, we argue that from the outset, philosophical perspectives imbued not only Paul's letters, but also those who began to interpret him. Within the scope of this seminar, we will restrict ourselves to Paul's Letter to the Romans, and identify three major strands of philosophical thinking that informed Pauline interpretation: Stoic, Germanmysticism and nominalism, and Kantian philosophy.
HC679R. Colloquy Leadership
Credit, two hours.
Offered each semester by invitation of the instructors of HC501 and HC503. Does not fulfill area requirements, provides elective credit. 152
HC685. History of Canon Law
Credit, three hours. (P. Reynolds) (Same as ES685. Course is concurrently listed from Emory Law.)
A historical introduction to canon law, its sources, its methodology, its juridical procedures, and its influence, with special emphasis on the development of canon law from Gratian (died ca. 1140) to the promulgation of the comprehensive collection of canon law under Pope Gregory XIII in 1580. Topics include episcopal jurisdiction and its evolution; church councils as sources of law; the early medieval canonical collections; the emergence of the scientific study of canon law during the central Middle Ages; the development of the legal profession; records of actual cases from episcopal courts; Gratian and the decretists; decretals, decretal collections and the juris-prudential use of decretals; the evolution of the ius commune; and the lasting influence of canonical ideas and procedures, many of which have survived in modern law (including concepts of justice and equity, rights, due process, natural law, the common good, and so forth, as well as evidential practices. (Theology)
HC698. Special Topics in History of Christianity
Credit, variable. (Faculty)
Special topic or one-time offering courses led by Candler regular and visiting faculty. Prerequisites may be required and are noted on the course schedule when applicable.
