Dec 13, 2024  
2020-2021 Saint Joseph’s College Online Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Saint Joseph’s College Online Catalog [Archived Catalog]

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TH 311 - Church History I: Early and Medieval Catholicism


The course is the first of a two-part survey of the evolution of the Catholic Church from Apostolic times to the present. Although concerned primarily with the story of the Catholic West, Church History I includes the history of the Orthodox East and the gradual separation of the Latin and Greek Churches in the course of the Middle Ages.

Course Learning Objectives
  • 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


Credits: 3

Offered: March



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