Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Church History
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Introduction to Church History
Introductory remarks
Importance of Church History
Review Syllabus
Structure of course
Requirements
Course Web Site
Primary sources
Where are they?
How to read them
Periods or eras in histiography
Assignments
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Importance of Church History
An appreciation for importance of Catholic Church in Western
civilization
Papacy is oldest continually functioning institution in the world
Witness (testimony) of holy men and women
Context for the theological answers that have been developed
and taught by the Church
Often, can’t appreciate the answer without knowing the question
Example: Jesus Christ whom we confess as one person with two
natures
God’s plan of salvation unfolds in history
History is an aspect of theology, Providence
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Pilgrim Church
The Pilgrim Church is moving toward her celestial home
at the end of time
Individual members as members of the society of the
Church
The Pilgrim Church is in the world but not of the world
Martyrs
Political entanglements
The Pilgrim Church is not a church of the pure
Sinful members
Political entanglements
History helps us to understand where the Church has
been so far on her pilgrimage
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Structure for Course
Course covers Church History from Pentecost
through late Middle Ages
Divide semester into four parts
Antiquity, especially late antiquity (100 – 604)
Rise of Islam and Charlemagne (612 – 900)
Early Middle Ages (900 – 1225)
Late Middle Ages (1225 – 1415)
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Requirements
Class attendance and active participation.
Papers and discussion on primary source readings three times during semester at
conclusion of each Part
Papers should be 1-2 pages
Theme of thesis statement
FOCUS ON PRIMARY SOURCES
Presentation once during the semester
Small group assignment
Focus on how PRIMARY SOURCE readings impact Church today in, for example, CCC, Liturgy, VII
documents, recent encyclicals, etc.
Two Exams:
Midterm will cover first half of semester (closed book)
Final will cover second half of semester (closed book)
Both midterm and final will include matching quotes to primary source authors; identification of
terms and people; geography identification (midterm only)
Grade:
1/3 papers and discussion, presentation
1/3 midterm
1/3 final
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Texts for Class
1. Modern text (secondary source) recommended
text from list in syllabus
James Hitchcock, History of the Catholic Church: From the
Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium is strongly
recommended.
2. Augustine, City of God, available at
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1201.htm or
Dyson translation (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
3. Many primary sources available on web, see
syllabus for details
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Web Site for Class
http://web.mit.edu/aorlando/www/BJFirstChu
rchHistory/
Several files
Word file of syllabus
Web file (html) with links to web primary
readings; other background resources of interest;
Basic map of key historical regions (large pdf file)
Lecture slides; posted day after each lecture, in a
folder called Lectures; PowerPoint format
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Sources
Primary Source: original works from the historical period under study
Secondary Source: later works written about earlier historical periods or works
Primary Source readings are FOCUS in class
Different, multiple sources each week; should be focus of papers and presentations
Reference ancient works using Book/Chapter/Paragraph numbering (e.g., Luke 1:1-4)
Most are available on the web; URL provided in syllabus and web site
Read everything critically (includes secondary sources)
What is author’s perspective
Bokenkotter: late 20th C American Catholic
Orlando: early 21st C American Catholic
What issues is the author addressing;
How important is the historical circumstance to those issues
Who is the audience
What is genre of the work (homily, thesis, poem, letter, Biblical commentary,
histiography)
Caution using Web Resources
Anybody can put anything on the web and claim that it is ‘authoritative’
Many ancient works, especially early Church Fathers, are available, but in older
translations
Maintenance of a web resource is still on an individual basis; no guarantee that
information will be well maintained
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Difficulty of Primary Source
Readings
I know that this is a lot of material
I know that it is often very difficult to read
Therefore
At the end of each class I will strongly suggest what should
be read carefully, and what should be skimmed
I will try to point out key themes
It will serve you well to bring the next weeks’ readings with
you
Remember when referring to primary source use
Book.Chapter.Paragraph; NOT page number
Would you refer to a Biblical passage by page number??
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Marking Sacred and Secular
Time: B.C. and A.D.
Almost all journals and books in the last
20 years have gone to BCE and CE
BCE = Before the Common Era
CE = Common Era
I stubbornly hold on to B.C. and A.D.
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Historical Eras or Periods…
Are arbitrary fictions of later historians
All historians have an agenda
But are convenient ways to arrange historical material.
Periods usually marked by some dramatic change causing a
disruption in the ‘old’ order
But even dramatic changes do not change all of society all at once
Commonly referred to eras:
Antiquity
Late Antiquity
Early middle (dark) ages
Middle Ages
Renaissance
Reformation
Early Modernity
Enlightenment
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Important Concepts in
Antiquity
Actually concepts that will be unchallenged
until the Enlightenment
There is no separation of Religion and State
Limited concept of individual rights –
emphasis on individual duties
The antiquity of something was a direct
measure of its value
Prophecy is not predicting the future like
magic; it is more like cause and effect
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Assignment
Recommended
Hitchcock, Introduction
Review rubric for essay papers
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