Historical Overview

Part II: The Middle Ages and Scholasticism, The Reformation and the Enlightenment

Kyle Brown

Summer Quarter 2007

Abstract:

We will continue our historical overview as we learn how the modern church, and western civilization, has been influenced by events of the late classical period, the Medieval Period and the rise of Scholasticism, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment.

Syllabus:

Part I: From the fall of Rome to the Doctors of the Church

Part II: Scholasticism and the High Middle Ages

Part III: The Reformation

Part IV: The Enlightenment and the rise of pure reason

Reading List:

Given that the focus of this class is on not only “How the Church and Western culture got where it is today” but also on where and when many of the ideas, habits and concepts that we now either affirm or reject started, I will draw from a variety of sources by Christian and non-Christian authors. If you want to purchase one book for the quarter, Earl Cairn’s survey of Church History is the best option, as I’ll tie lessons to chapters from his book.

Recommended Reading

Earl Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries, 3^rd Edition, Zondervan Press, 1996

Background Reading:

Thomas Cahill, Mysteries of the Middle Ages, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2006

Christopher Dawson, Religion and the Rise of Western Culture, Image Books/Doubleday, 1950

Jonathan Hill, What has Christianity Ever Done For Us?, Intervarsity Press, 2005

William Placher, A History of Christian Theology, an Introduction, WJK, 1983

Peter Watson, Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention from Fire to Freud, Harper Perennial, 2005

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