TH 311 - Church History I: Early and Medieval Catholicism

• Explore the way Church structures, especially the papacy and the episcopacy, evolved in the first millennium as well as more of the Church’s history
• Identify some of the ways (political, social, and educational) in which the Church responded to the declining Roman Empire in the West
• Appreciate the role of monasticism, beginning with the desert fathers and culminating in the new mendicant orders of the Middle Ages, including its missionary activities
• Understand the cultural and theological background to the East-West Schism
• Recognize the difference between a patristic/monastic style of theology and the scholastic style that emerged in the twelfth century
• Use historical examples to illustrate the social and embodied nature of the Spirit-led Church as it extends the Incarnation of Christ in the world
• Evaluate and consult online reference and primary source materials that provide details of topics in Church history that go beyond the introductory level