Syllabus God s Mission in the Early Church: The Time of Christ-1500AD 1) Course: MTC009, God s Mission in the Early Church: The Time of Christ-1500AD 2) Contact Hours/Week: email is checked every day except Sunday; phone professor for urgencies. 3) Course Description: This course explores God s missional purpose being worked out in the first fifteen centuries of Christ s Church, and implications for knowing the presence, power, and purpose of God in our time, in our life, and in our calling. 4) Professor: a) Dr. Linda Borecki b) LBorecki@msn.com c) Phone: 541-973-7548 5) Instructional Goals and Objectives: a) Being (Spiritual Formation) Objectives: The student will i) learn how God has moved in history through the Church, accomplishing His mission of revelation and reconciliation; ii) grow in Wisdom discerning God and God s ways; iii) recognize the ever-present guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in the world; iv) develop the propensity to relieve the suffering of others, that is, empathy that leads to action, in one s life in general, and one s ministry specifically; v) attend to the presence and power of the Triune God in His Church from the time of Christ until the Reformation, and grow in discerning the implications for one s own context. b) Knowing (Cognitive Formation) Objectives: The student will i) increase in critical thinking skills and intuition; ii) learn a basic historical overview of the movement of God s mission through His church from Christ until 1500 AD. c) Doing (Conative Formation) Objectives: The student will i) practice applying knowledge gained appropriately in contemporary ministry contexts; ii) research and present a case study, in class, documenting the theological reflections, art, music, liturgy, social, and political circumstances from some historical instance of the Christian Church, from the time of Christ until 1500. 6) Other Course Insights: a) The Grace of Great Things: the subjects around which a community of learners gather. When uncovered, Great Things disclose wisdom, truth, delight and meaning. The Great Thing of this course is the early church. Sometimes there is wonder at the Story of God and His mission in victory and joy and compassion and hope, and sometimes there is wonder at the capacity of God to maintain the steadiness of his missional work in the middle of earthly conflict, arrogance, and despair. We remember and reflect: there is a Story; there is a Story Teller. The Story Teller has entered into the Story, and invites us to discover and fulfill our role, our purpose, in his Story. i) How have other Christians discerned the Story Teller? ii) How do we discern the Story Teller? iii) What is our role in the Story? 1 P a g e
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. words of Christ, John 16:12 b) Questions we will ask of Church history: i) How has God revealed himself in succeeding generations? ii) When were the Spirit s purposes hindered? iii) How do we attend to the presence and power of God? How do we miss it? iv) What good can we learn from the people and events in history for the role God has purposed for us? What evil can be avoided by attending to presuppositions and actions our own and others? v) Church history shows that God is not a God in a hurry. Through whom, how, when, and why at that particular time did God work his purposes? vi) As a church leader, when and how do I recognize and lean in to the God who convicts, challenges, and transforms in our age, in our congregation? The action of God is allowed to appear in the telling of such a story as that which holds together apparent contradictions and drives us to deeper levels of consistency. - Rowan Williams, Why Study the Past? c) This online course is designed at the university undergraduate level. It combines synchronous (live, entire class present) lecture and discussion with asynchronous (on the student s own, at student s own time and pace) assignments. Three main avenues of learning are employed: i) Reading, with a single written test (the final), to determine comprehension. ii) Discussion, live and in postings, to foster critical skills in listening and responding with wisdom. iii) Case Study. Participants will research and write on a case study documenting the theological reflections, art, music, liturgy, social and political circumstances from some historical instance of the Christian Church, from the time of Christ until 1500. Emphasis: primary sources and one s own, contemporary response. Do less; go deeper: the participant will become an expert in a particular subject of their choosing, to know from the inside the salvation history of a particular people, to inform and inspire one s own ministry and faith journey. See syllabus for further information. 7) Required Course Texts: a) González, Justo L., The Story of Christianity: Volume 1, the Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation, New York: HarperCollins, rev. 2010, note: 2010 edition. b) Ruth, Lester, Walking Where Jesus Walked: Worship in Fourth Century Jerusalem, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010. 8) Attendance Policy: Committed attendance in class (70%); absence only in dire circumstances. 9) Academic Integrity: a) Academic integrity is essential to any academic institution and is in keeping with the mission of Concordia University. Academic integrity includes: i) Working honestly on tests and assignments ii) Honestly reporting research findings. iii) Properly citing the source of any materials quoted, paraphrased or modified in the work one 2 P a g e
submits. Lynn Troyka s Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers defines properly citing source material in this manner: To plagiarize is to present another person s words or ideas as if they were your own. Plagiarism is like stealing. The word plagiarize comes from the Latin word for kidnapper and literary thief. Plagiarism is a serious offense that can be grounds for failing a course or expulsion from a college. Plagiarism can be intentional, as when you submit as your own work a paper you did not write. Plagiarism is also intentional when you deliberately incorporate the work of other people into your writing without using documentation to acknowledge those sources. Plagiarism can also be unintentional no less serious an offense if you are unaware of what must be acknowledged and how to do so with documentation. 10) Assignments and Projects: a) Research, write a paper, and present a study documenting the theological reflections, art, music, liturgy, social, and political circumstances from some historical instance of the Christian Church, from the time of Christ until 1500. Emphasis: primary sources and one s own, contemporary response. Do less; go deeper: the participant will become an expert in a particular subject of their choosing, and, as far as possible, experience from the inside the salvation history of a particular people, to inform and inspire one s own ministry and faith journey. i) Choose a person, movement, or event from an historical instance of the Christian Church, from the time of Christ until 1500. (1) To the extent possible, seek primary source documentation: writings, documents, art, music, liturgy, etc. from the time of research. Use Ruth s Walking Where Jesus Walked as a model. (2) Create a 3-10 page document, as though writing a magazine article or very short book with mini-chapters, academic or pastoral. Include: (a) Context of the worshiping community what was in the news?, what was happening in their Church, their country, the world. (b) Personal insights on this historical event/person. Refer to pertinent texts (in English) and include extended quotes which illuminate the subject. (c) The arts visual art, poetry, and/or music from that era which enrich the subject. Include a graphic for power point use. (d) Include a short commentary about how this is pertinent to the student s ministry setting or personal faith journey. (e) Emphasis: primary sources and one s own, contemporary response. For example, if Augustine of Hippo were chosen, read one or two of his works (Confessions, an extended excerpt of City of God, a sermon), perhaps prayers or hymns attributed to him or those in close connection with him from that time or place. Include images a map of North Africa from that age, fifth century Western Christian art, artists renderings of Augustine, etc. Learn as much as possible about the social, political, cultural, and worship life of that time and place and include that information in paragraph form, bullet points, charts whatever communicates best to the intended audience (this class and people in the student s own ministry context). Note: there are many internet sites with primary source data. Wikipedia is a good starting point note sources cited at the end of a Wiki article, follow 3 P a g e
links, look for names with strong academic or theological ties. Sites ending in.edu are academic and usually high in integrity blogs and personallymanaged sites are more suspect. Explore, use discretion, and seek the professor s and others counsel for gathering material. (f) Finally, reflect on the information gained and set it into one s own understanding of God s purposes being worked out in history, and implications for one s own life and ministry. ii) Send the case study document, and visual graphic for power point, to the professor and classmates by the Friday before class. b) Prepare a 10-15 minute presentation for class time limitations to be determined. 11) Grading Procedure: a) Committed attendance in class (70%), absence only in dire circumstances. b) Verbal participation in each class and written (email) participation for each class s follow- up communications. c) Class presentation of one s case study, and submission of a paper to the instructor at class end (details to be clarified). d) Completion and passing (70% or better) of the final take home exam. 12) Course Outline: Note: the people, events, and topics listed under each session are for quick reference and are also suggestive of topics for the case study, further explained at the end of this document. Each reading is to be prepared for the class session noted to its left. Class time is less lecture and more discussion about the readings and its implications for our own life and ministry wisdom suggests staying current with all readings. a) Class 1 i) González pp 1 39 ii) Jesus and the Eyewitnesses b) Class 2 i) González pp 41-58 ii) The Apostolic Age, A.D. 50-150 Ignatius, Polycarp, the Didache c) Class 3 i) González pp 59-104 ii) Marked by Joy: Apologists, Teachers, Confessors, and Martyrs, A.D. 150 250 Gnosticism, Marcionism, Montanism iii) Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian iv) Canon, Creed, and Apostolic Succession d) Class 4 i) González pp 105 155. ii) Walking Where Jesus Walked: Worship in Fourth Century Jerusalem. Note: the book is a model for the case study iii) Worship in the Constantinian Church 4 P a g e
iv) Eusebius of Caesarea, Egeria e) Class 5 i) González pp 157 179 AND chapter 22: 225 231 ii) Note: topic selection for Case Study due. See details, end of this syllabus iii) Desert Fathers and Mothers, Donatism iv) John Chrysostom f) Class 6 i) González 181 224 ii) Arianism, Sabellianism, Monasticism iii) Athanasius and the Council of Nicaea iv) The Great Cappadocians: Macrina, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa g) Class 7 i) CASE STUDIES ii) (keep reading González 233 261, that is, through Part II: Jerome, Augustine) h) Class 8 i) CASE STUDIES ii) same assignment: González 233 261. Read ahead into Part III i) Class 9 i) MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY, PART ONE ii) González pp 263 356 nearly 100 pages! God bless you! Fly high and touch down at points that particularly speak to you. iii) Benedictines, Eastern Orthodox Christianity iv) Benedict, Gregory the Great v) Final Exam: open book take home exam sent after Class 9. Due Class 10 j) Class 10 i) MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY, PART TWO ii) González pp 357 446 iii) Mendicant Orders, Scholasticism, Mysticism iv) Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Ávila. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forevermore. Amen! 5 P a g e