BCV E-Campus - the Electronic Campus of Bible College of Victoria: Courses

Pre-requisites: Nil

Exclusions:

CH303/503, CH304/504, and CH305/505

Aims:

• To give candidates a survey of major developments in the history of the Christian Churches, so that they develop a fuller appreciation of major streams of Christian faith;
• To introduce candidates to selected topics in the life and thought of the Christian Churches, so that they come to appreciate the problems, opportunities and attitudes of past Christians in their interaction with the societies in which they lived;
• To promote training for candidates in the use of primary documents and begin the more specialised study of particular movements, issues and periods.

It should be noted that these are survey subjects.  Students are required to study the whole syllabus, which includes selected key people or case studies for more focussed study (listed in italics in the Subject Outline) and two special topics per subject.  Assessment procedures shall allow for a certain amount of specialisation, so that candidates are not expected to study each general topic in detail.

Subject Outline:

Section A: The Church in Imperial Rome

1. Christians in society: the spread of Christianity to 312; work and occupations; property, slavery and war.
   Justin Martyr or Tertullian
2. The challenge of other religions and ideologies, especially Judaism and Gnosticism
   Irenaeus or Athenagoras
3. Caesar: enemy or friend? Decius, Diocletion, Constantine.
   Pliny and Trajan or Cyprian
4. Wrestling with the faith: Origen, Arianism, Chalcedon (in outline only).
   Origen or Athanasius
5. Worship and popular religion in a collapsing society: 4th and 5th Century trends: Asceticism, pilgrimage, liturgy, icons.
   Augustine of Hippo
6. Special topic: for the period 100-600 ONE of
   
   1. Key transitions in missionary expansion
   2. The emergence and development of ordained ministries
   3. Constantine: turning point for popular religion
   4. Theological method in the Arian controversy

Section B: The Church as Christendom

1. The conversion of Europe 600-900.  The Holy Roman Empire.
   Boniface of Credition or Alcuin of York 
2. Christendom triumphant: The Western church in the 13th and 14th Century.  The development of scholasticism.
   Innocent III or Thomas Aquinas
3. Byzantium, Islam, and the Crusades.
4. Christendom challenged; protest and spiritual renewal mysticism. The conciliar movment.
   Francis of Assisi or Thomas a Kempis

Section C: The Continental Churches and Reform

1. Reform precursors; renaissance and new learning.
   John Hus or Erasmus
2. Reformation as massive change:
   Martin Luther and John Calvin (introductions)
   1. In Germany (1517-1530)
   2. In Geneva (1536-1564)
3. The Counter Reformation: Trent; the Jesuits; the Papacy reformed.
4. Special topic: for the period 600-1550 ONE of
5. Missionary expansion and retreat: Russia, the Orient, the Roman missions;
6. Development and crises of the Papacy;
7. The medieval parish;
8. Theological method in Aquinas, Occam, and Luther.

Pre-requisites: Nil

Exclusions: Nil

Aims:

• To give candidates a survey of major developments in the history of the Christian Churches, so that they develop a fuller appreciation of major streams of Christian faith;
• To introduce candidates to selected topics in the life and thought of the Christian Churches, so that they come to appreciate the problems, opportunities and attitudes of past Christians in their interaction with the societies in which they lived;
• To promote training for candidates in the use of primary documents and begin the more specialised study of particular movements, issues and periods.

It should be noted that these are survey subjects.  Students are required to study the whole syllabus, which includes selected key people or case studies for more focussed study (listed in italics in the Subject Outline) and two special topics per subject.  Assessment procedures shall allow for a certain amount of specialisation, so that candidates are not expected to study each general topic in detail.

Subject Outline:

Section A: Reform and Revolution

1. Reformation: national church or gathered community? England and Scotland (1533-1588); Anabaptist groups.
   Thomas Cranmer or John Knox or Menno Simons
2. Revolution: Puritan-Anglican struggles (1563-1662); Deism and Socianism.
   Oliver Cromwell or John Locke or Richard Baxter
3. Revolution from outside: the challenge of the Enlightenment and political radicalism. Christianity and France (1789-1815).
4. Renewal: Methodists, Evangelicals, and Tractarians.  Christian Social movements.
   John Henry Newman or William Booth or Frederick Maurice
5. Revolutionary learning: Historical critical method; science and religion.
   Bishop Westcott or Charles Darwin
6. Special topic: A study of ONE aspect of John Wesley:
   
   1. Evangelist and preacher
   2. Leader of a lay movement
   3. Relations with Anglican Evangelicals
   4. His experiential theological method

Section B: The Church Universal

1. Christianity in the USA (1783-1925): Frontier religion; slavery; fundamentalism.
   Moody or BB Warfield or Francis Asbury
2. Christianity as a world religion: main features of the missionary and ecumenical movements.
   William Carey or John Nevius or John Mott
3. Christians in a totalitarian state: the church in Germany (1931-1950) OR Russia (1917-1990)
   Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Alexander Solzhenitsyn
4. Rome and the winds of change: Vatican I; Modernism; the Liturgical movement; Vatican II.
5. Special Topic: For the period 1550 to 1950 ONE of
6. Missionary expansion in ONE major region
   
   1. Patterns in Christian household and family life
   2. Patterns of ordained ministries
   3. Theological method: the role of reason
7. A sketch of the history of the Church in Australia to 1890