Historical Courses for the Fall and Winter Sessions of 2009-2010

From the subapostolic age to the "Triumph of Orthodoxy" in the East and the Carolingian revival and Treaty of Verdun in the West. Geographical expansion of the church; the relation of Christian faith to cultural settings and other religions; the development of doctrinal and ethical positions; forms of Christian life and worship; the rise of Islam. Class participation using "iclickers" (15%); eportfolio (25%); one short (four-page) essay (20%), and two other academic exercises selected from several choices (reading notes, short papers, weekly quizzes, final exam, creative exercise, catechetical exercise, etc.) (20% each).

From the subapostolic age to the "Triumph of Orthodoxy" in the East and the Carolingian revival and Treaty of Verdun in the West. Geographical expansion of the church; the relation of Christian faith to cultural settings and other religions; the development of doctrinal and ethical positions; forms of Christian life and worship; the rise of Islam. Lectures, 2 seminars. One synthetic paper, one essay.

A survey of the history of Christianity and an introduction to the study of Christian history. Book review, seminar participation, mid-term exam, final exam. Mandatory seminar.

A general history primarily of the western church from 600 to 1500. Lectures will supplement students' reading of the text by Donald Logan (which students should bring to the first lecture). Students will be expected to have read the relevant chapters of Logan before they are discussed in class. Three short papers based on original reflection on primary material (20% each); short quiz at the beginning of each class based on the prescribed reading (10%); final written exam in December (30%)

Development of thought and piety; monasticism and mendicants; crusades, parish life; papacy, princes and church councils; Byzantium; East-West relations; relations with Jews and Muslims; Renaissance and reformations; reformers; missionary expansion; confessionalism. Lectures and class discussion of readings. One research essay, one reflection paper.

NOTE: Students who have taken --H2002H Medieval Christianity (600-1500) and/or --H2003H Reformation & Early Modern Christianity may not take Christianity II (843-1648).

Development of thought and piety; monasticism and mendicants; crusades, parish life; papacy, princes and church councils; Byzantium; East-West relations; relations with Jews and Muslims; Renaissance and reformations; reformers; missionary expansion; confessionalism. Lectures. NOTE: Students who have taken --H2002H Medieval Christianity (600-1500) and/or --H2003H Reformation & Early Modern Christianity, may not take Christianity II (843-1648). Prerequisite: 1000 level history course. Primary source, assignment, paper, take home final.

An introduction to Patristic thought to 451 AD, surveying principal writers East and West. Detailed study of Athanasius On the Incarnation and The Tome of Leo. Lectures, readings, four short reports and a final oral examination.

A survey of Medieval and Reformation Theologies, from 843 to 1648. The Carolingian Revival and Monastic Schools; Anselm and Cur Deus Homo; Peter Lombard and the Cathedral Schools; Abailard and the Universities; the rediscovery of Aristotle; the Friars: Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Occam; Gregory Palamas; the Reformation: Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer; the Synod of Dort; Richard Hooker; Second Scholasticism.

An examination of the concept of martyrdom and its literature during the early modern period, its political and theological causes, and its inspirational and polemical role in the consolidation of early modern religious traditions. The course will also discuss methods of approaching martyrology across various denominations and regional settings including England, Reformation Europe, the Americas and the Orthodox Church in various countries. Evaluation: short assignments, participation, short presentation and final exam or research paper.

Sketches 4 major cultural challenges facing the Church, 1900-1960. Explores the official responses from the Magisterium, and a few individual attempts to find living solutions to these problems, leading up to Vatican II. Lectures/Seminar and readings. Class participation, weekly email questions, three short papers and final exam.

This course is an introductory survey of the institutional and intellectual history of Modern Catholicism from 1648 (the unofficial end of the religious wars in Europe following the Reformation) to the present. It explores the reciprocal relationship between the unfolding of history and the development of Catholic theology. Much attention will be given to significant events (such as the First and Second Vatican Councils) and important personalities (particularly popes, bishops and theologians) that shaped the teachings and attitudes in Rome. Equal weight will be given to the lived experience of Catholicism in the unique political and social context of Canada. Lectures and periodic Tutorials; Book Review; Primary Source Analysis and choice of Final Assignment (Research Paper or Final Examination).

Surveys the spirituality of evangelicalism primarily in the Anglican tradition in England in its formative period between c. 1730 and 1833. Short papers (including biographical study), and discussion forums.

A History of Eastern Christian /Orthodox Church(es) from Chalcedon to the present, and their relationship to Western Church history and world ecumenical movements. Major developments in the life and experience of the various Christian churches of the eastern Tradition, including Chalcedonian, Oriental and Eastern Catholic Churches, identifying the seminal issues that have shaped and formed the contemporary situation of the Eastern Christian Churches throughout the world.

Exploration of Amerindian and French interface, arrival of the Irish and Scots, ultramontane spirituality, Confederation and Catholic education, messianic language groups, Canadians cope with the Depression, church unity and the CCCB, the Asbestos Strike, Quiet Revolution, Vatican II, women, and Aboriginal People. Presentation, paper, and open exam.

This course is a survey of the history of Christianity in Africa from antiquity to the era of African freedom (independence) and the formation of nation states in the 1960s. The regional survey of North Africa, the Horn of Africa, East, Central Africa and Southern Africa, and West Africa will be punctuated in episodes, with the following rough divisions of dates: AD62 to c.1500, c.1500

An exploration of the parallel development of Biblical interpretation and Canon in the Early Church, from the first to the 4th centuries. A high point in this process was the development of systematic Christian commentaries on the Old and New Testaments. In this course students will look at excerpts from commentaries ranging from the Dead Sea Scrolls through the late 4th century and read selections from Christian authors, both orthodox and heterodox, with an eye to understanding how the boundaries and interpretation of Scripture changed over time. The systematic commentary marked a significant change in the way Christians “did” theology which provides an opportunity to explore of the meaning of exegesis in our own as well as earlier times. Lectures, reading of original sources in translation, group discussion, 1 reflection paper, research essay.

A study of the articulation within the church of what remains the normative understanding of Christology, focusing on the period framed by the Council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Constantinople (553). Attention is paid to dynamics of this process, including personalities and politics, but focusing on interplay of religious/experiential and intellectual/theological factors. Reading notes, research essay, presentation (graduate students).

A review of all of the surviving works of Richard Hooker, often called the first theologian of Anglicanism, his Calvinism and reaction to Calvinism, his scholasticism, and his defence of the institutions of the Church of England. Seminars, short report and major paper. (Taught in alternate years)

This course examines four temporally and culturally distinct examples of Christian thinking about God, self and world. It takes up one ancient, one medieval, one modern and one "postmodern" thinker and compares how they frame their thinking with respect to their scholarly world and the pre- and post-Christian elements characteristic of it. It compares their respective attempts to speak of the problematics signaled by the terms God, self and world: a. knowledge as religious, b. self as simultaneously divine image and part of a world of creatures, c. the social world as the field within which God, self and world intersect.

This course provides an historical analysis of the evolution of elementary and secondary schools in Ontario, from the 1830's to the present. In addition students will study the development of Catholic colleges and universities and the emergence of catechetical education both in the parishes and in formal educational settings.

Growth and development of the Presbyterian tradition within Canada with particular note of themes which continue to affect the church today. Lecture and class participation. Prerequisite: 1000 and 2000 level history course. Major assignment and book review.

Theological writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the context of his life: studies, teaching, World Council of Churches, Confessing Church, resistance to Hitler. Essay, take-home exam. Taught in Toronto.

Is beauty simply "in the eye of the beholder," or is it something more? Is it a way to God, a moral precept, or the specific locus for a unique kind of pleasure? This course examines a variety of subjective and objective views of beauty in the history of Western philosophy and theology from antiquity to the present (e.g. in the thought of Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Kant, Weil, Barth, and Balthasar). It will also consider the implications of these views of beauty for the production of the visual arts, music, and literary culture in Western religion and society.

During the Renaissance, a notion of grace served as the central critical concept for understanding art, and the achievement of grace in art was taken to be the highest artistic ideal. The course willl examine the concept of grace within its theological, philosophical, and art theoretical contexts in an effort to understand more completely how art was thought to function in the early modern period. It will also consider the place of grace in the development of the aesthetics tradition.

Canada is a nation of immigrants, and the Canadian religions are the religions of immigrants. The waves of religious immigrants will be studied including 17C French, 18C Irish and Scottish, 19C German, Polish, Jewish, and Ukrainian immigrants; 20C English, Italian, and Portuguese to the more recent Caribbean, Filipino, Chinese, Tamils, Vietnamese, and Korean religionists. The attitudes of Euro-Canadians will be examined as they progress from Anglo-Celtic Calvinism to Canadian secular multiculturalism. The techniques of archival research, historical analysis, and historiography will be explored. Seminar presentation and research paper. Class Presentation 30%; Research Essay 40%; Collaborative Recapitulation (open book exam) 30%.

Alongside with Greek and Latin, Syriac Christianity was a crucial factor in the development of Christian theology, worship, and spirituality in the first centuries. A unique witness to the original Semitic character of the Church, Syriac Christianity provides deep insights into the symbolic and poetic approach to the mystery of God. This attains its summit in the theology and spirituality of Ephrem the Syrian. In the present course, reading and discussion of his works will be undertaken against the background of the development of Syriac Christianity from the 2nd up to the 8th century. Discussions, presentations. One essay.

Mani, an inhabitant of 3rd century Iraq/Iran believed himself to be the Paraclete promised by Jesus. From that belief grew a church which reached from North Africa to China and lasted over a thousand years, including among its sympathizers the young St. Augustine. This course will use the writings of Manichaeans and their opponents, including Augustine, to address the criteria of Christian identity, and use a theological system not based on the incarnation to explore the meaning of creation, revelation, and redemption in more conventional contexts.

Topics for the seminar will vary from year to year but will focus on issues related to approaches to spiritual formation and the relationships between individual experience, social transformation, and institutional identity in North American contexts. Responsible participation, mid-term written assignment, research paper.

In light of recent renewed interest in the meanings and mechanisms of empathy in such areas as ethics, visual studies, and the philosophy of the mind, this course examines the place and role of compassion in the development of the Western aesthetics tradition. Considering a range of art theoretical texts, literature, and images for which the theme of compassion has been thought able to account for certain of the emotional and cognitive links that exist between artwork and its audience.

An exploration of the parallel development of Biblical interpretation and Canon in the Early Church, from the first to the 4th centuries. A high point in this process was the development of systematic Christian commentaries on the Old and New Testaments. In this course students will look at excerpts from commentaries ranging from the Dead Sea Scrolls through the late 4th century and read selections from Christian authors, both orthodox and heterodox, with an eye to understanding how the boundaries and interpretation of Scripture changed over time. The systematic commentary marked a significant change in the way Christians “did” theology which provides an opportunity to explore of the meaning of exegesis in our own as well as earlier times. Lectures, reading of original sources in translation, group discussion, 1 reflection paper, research essay.

In the period between 200 AD and the end of the sixth century, Christian art emerged and evolved as a particular manifestation of the mystery of Christian faith. Sacred (but also secular) architecture witnesses this new cultural phenomenon. Churches following various patterns, baptisteries, and monasteries alongside wall paintings and mosaics, sarcophagi and small-scale pieces of art reveal and interact with a particular comprehension of the mystery of Christ and the Church. In this course, early Christian art is set against its theological, cultural, socio-economical, and political background. This onsite course places their study in addition to this in their geographical milieu, by visiting the main extant places for Early Christian Art in Italy (Rome, Ravenna, Venice, Tuscany, Assisi, among others). Meetings & Readings before the trip.

A review of all of the surviving works of Richard Hooker, often called the first theologian of Anglicanism, his Calvinism and reaction to Calvinism, his scholasticism, and his defence of the institutions of the Church of England. Seminars, short report and major paper. (Taught in alternate years)

This course examines four temporally and culturally distinct examples of Christian thinking about God, self and world. It takes up one ancient, one medieval, one modern and one "postmodern" thinker and compares how they frame their thinking with respect to their scholarly world and the pre- and post-Christian elements characteristic of it. It compares their respective attempts to speak of the problematics signaled by the terms God, self and world: a. knowledge as religious, b. self as simultaneously divine image and part of a world of creatures, c. the social world as the field within which God, self and world intersect.

Western liturgy and its calendar, physical setting, sources, rites. Ancient and developed mediaeval Roman mass. Divine office. Baptism. Nuptial Blessing. Introduction to use of manuscripts. Some Latin helpful but not required. Class participation, assignments, quizzes, final exam.

Emphasis on the history of the iconoclastic controversy and ecumenical councils, especially for the development of Christology. Readings from Nicaea II, Theodore the Studite, John of Damascus and Theodore Abu Qurrah.

Iconography and spirituality. Church visit. Lectures-seminar, reflection papers, major paper. Prerequisite: Three courses from the Theological or Historical departments.

During the Renaissance, a notion of grace served as the central critical concept for understanding art, and the achievement of grace in art was taken to be the highest artistic ideal. The course willl examine the concept of grace within its theological, philosophical, and art theoretical contexts in an effort to understand more completely how art was thought to function in the early modern period. It will also consider the place of grace in the development of the aesthetics tradition.

Canada is a nation of immigrants, and the Canadian religions are the religions of immigrants. The waves of religious immigrants will be studied including 17C French, 18C Irish and Scottish, 19C German, Polish, Jewish, and Ukrainian immigrants; 20C English, Italian, and Portuguese to the more recent Caribbean, Filipino, Chinese, Tamils, Vietnamese, and Korean religionists. The attitudes of Euro-Canadians will be examined as they progress from Anglo-Celtic Calvinism to Canadian secular multiculturalism. The techniques of archival research, historical analysis, and historiography will be explored. Seminar presentation and research paper. Class Presentation 30%; Research Essay 40%; Collaborative Recapitulation (open book exam) 30%.

Introductory study of the Anglican communion as a worldwide form of Christianity; its history, key theological issues, worship, schools of thought, approaches to spirituality. 3 short papers. Interdisciplinary History and Theology.

This course will trace the historical development and theology in the East and West of the catechumenate and the rites of baptism, confirmation/chrismation and Eucharist. In light of this historical investigation, contemporary reforms in various churches will be critically evaluated, with special emphasis on the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Readings, lectures, discussions, online exercises, take-home examinations, short papers or research paper.

This course will study the documents of the Second Vatican Council with a view to understanding their theological foundations, their histroical context and development, and their pastoral implications for today's church. 5-page paper.

This course serves as an introduction to the highly relevant Islamic faith and culture. It will cover the historical evolution as its doctrine and life. Beginning with its emergence with the Prophet, his revelation and early community, its spread under the caliphs, the fixation of the Qu’ran, and its subsequent historical development: the Umayyad, Abbasid, Famitid, Mamluk, Ottoman, and contemporary periods. Alongside this historical aspect, a systematic reflection on the main principles of Islamic faith, its theology and piety, its life, observances and festivals, and not least, its interaction with other religions in the modern world, chiefly Christianity, will be engaged. Discussions, presentations. One essay.

Studies the documents and teachings of Vatican II. Brief overview of the historical background to the Council and to Councils in the life of the church. Seminars guide discussions based on close readings of the 16 documents with emphasis on the historical context and ecclesiological significance of each document. Seminar presentations; participation in analysis of the documents; integration paper.

This course focuses on Aquinas' Summa Theologiae and its systematic theology of the Christian life: faith, hope and love are the foundational principles that ground the concrete living out of the imitatio Christi in a life of prayer, service, preaching and leadership in the Church. Importance of philosophical, rhetorical and historical tools for reading the text. Weekly reading, weekly papers, term paper, participation in class discussion.

This course of lectures will examine Luther's writings on the theology of the cross and on human freedom; and Calvin's writings on Scripture and the Christian life. Weekly readings; a final examination (oral or written).