Week 2: The Intellectual, Theological and Spiritual Context of Early Christianity

1. Reading Assignment for Week 2: Gonzalez, vol. 1, pp. 29-60; Class Lectures:

Lecture 1: Introduction and Lecture 2: The Intellectual, Theological and Spiritual Context of Early Christianity

1. B) Assignment for week 2:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings this week how do you answer these questions?

1) How much of modern Christianity can be traced to Jewish roots;

specifically Jewish Literature and Sects?

2) How much of modern Christianity can be traced back to

Philosophic Roots: Greek, Roman, and Hellenistic?

Week 3: The Growth of Christian Literature: Apostolic Fathers, Greek Apologists

and the mystery religions

1. A)Reading Assignment for week 3:Gonzalez, vol. 1, pp. 61-120; Lecture 3: The

Growth of Christian Literature: Apostolic Fathers, Greek Apologists and Mystery Religions

1. B) Assignment for week 3:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings this week:

1) Who do you suppose was most likely exposed to the growing corpus

of Christian literature?

2) Who were the main targets of the apologists?

3) Discuss Christianity’s influence on the mystery religions.

Week 4: Orthodox Christianity and Gnostic Christianity

1. Reading Assignment for Week 4: Gonzalez, vol. 1, pp. 121-185; Lecture 4:

Heterodox vs. Orthodox Christianity

1. B) Assignment for week 4:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings for this week:

1)    Who determines who is practicing and teaching Heterodox

Christianity and who is practicing and teaching Orthodox Christianity?

2) What are the primary teachings of Gnosticism? Name two and give

brief descriptions of each.

Week 5: Presuppositions, Hermeneutic, and Exegesis

A)Reading Assignment for Week 5: Gonzalez, vol. 1, pp. 186-227; Lecture 5:

Presuppositions, Hermeneutic, and Exegesis: The Early “Schools” of Biblical Interpretation/The formation of the Canon

1. B) Assignment for week 5:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings for this week:

1) Which school of Interpretation do you find yourselves using most

often: Allegorical, Typological, and Literal?

2) What causes you to have faith in the establishment of the Canon?

1. C) Write a 1 page reflection on how the readings of the first 5 weeks of class

speak to expressions of Africentric Christianity in the 21^st century.

Week 6: Arianism and the 1^st Christological Controversies: Issues and Players

A)Reading Assignment for Week 6: Gonzalez, vol. 1, pp. 261-290; Lecture 6:

Arianism and the First Trinitarian and Christological Controversies: Issues and Players

1. B) Assignment for week 6:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings for this week:

1) What is the one question you would ask of the deacon Arius (c.250

– c.335 C.E.) and his Christology?

2) What is the one best word to describe the theology of the Council of

Nicea (325 C.E.)? Explain.

Week 7: Continuing Christological Controversies: Round II

1. A) Reading Assignment for Week 7:

1) Gonzalez, vol. 1, pp. 291-325

2) Lectures: 1) Lecture 7: Continuing Christological Controversies. II)

Lecture 8: Continuing Christological Controversies: Round III

1. B) Assignment for week 7:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings this week:

1) What effect did the Imperial defenders of the Nicene Creed have on

the eventual established Christology of both the East and West?

2) What teaching does Christianity have to sacrifice if Jesus is not

fully divine?

Week 8: The Gendering of Early Christianity

1. A) Reading Assignment for Week 8: Evans, Sex and Salvation, pp. 68-173
2. B) Assignment for Week 8:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings this week:

1) Describe the Church Fathers attitude toward women in 1-2 pages .

2) Sex, Virginity and Marriage: Why, according to the Fathers, was

marriage considered a lesser good when compared to virginity?

Week 9: Monks and Missionaries: The Institutionalization of the Church

1. Reading Assignment for Week 9: Lecture 12: Monks, Monarchs, and

Missionaries: The Institutionalization of the Church

1. B) Assignment for week 9:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings this week which of these three

issues (listed below) proved to be the most important in the history of Christianity?

1) The Growth of Monasticism: Benedict of Nursia (6^th ce.)

2) The Emerging Power of the Papacy: Gregory the Great (6^th ce.)

Week 10: Invasions and Icons

A)Reading Assignment for Week 10: Gonzalez, vol. 2, pp.107-156; Lecture 13:

Invasions and Icons: Muslim Conquests and the Iconoclast Controversy

1. B) Assignment for week 10:

Questions to consider: Based on your readings, speak to the impact of :

1) The Advance of Islam into Christendom (630 – 71 C.E.)

2) The Iconoclast Controversy (725 – 842 C.E.)

1. C) Write a 1-2 page reflection on how the readings of the second five weeks

of the class speak to expressions of Africentric Christianity in the 21^st century.

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