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HIST 645 will take us, on the run, through three-and-one-half centuries of religious developments. Course will focus on events, persons, and institutional developments in American religious history. Class members will be expected to purchase two volumes to provide continuity and factual basis for discussion.
HIST 645 will take us, on the run, through three-and-one-half centuries of religious developments. Course will focus on events, persons, and institutional developments in American religious history. Class members will be expected to purchase two volumes to provide continuity and factual basis for discussion.
HIST 645 will take us, on the run, through three-and-one-half centuries of religious developments. Course will focus on events, persons, and institutional developments in American religious history. Class members will be expected to purchase two volumes to provide continuity and factual basis for discussion.
The History of Christianity 2: The United States from the
Colonial Period to the Present (HIST 645) Fall, 2010 Elizabeth C. Nordbeck
Course Description HIST 645 will take us, on the run, through three-and-one-half centuries of religious developments in the United States, from the earliest Puritan and Anglican establishments in Americaand the natives they displacedto the richly variegated religious milieu of today. The purposes of this survey are several: To encounter the historical realities of American diversity (especially, but not exclusively, in its Protestant dimensions) as it has shifted from fact to ideology To explore ways of dealing with our theological particularities (and peculiarities) in an environment that insists on the essential equality of different religious beliefs To become aware of the ways in which certain concerns of our contemporary religious life reflect and resonate with historical events and themes To explore history itself as a construct, a mixture of fact and interpretation shaped always by the context and concerns of those who receive it To become intelligent readers and writers of historical materials, as well as stewards of the history that is going on around usand over which we preside as leaders in particular settings
The course will focus on events, persons, and institutional developments that have been particularly significant in Americas religious history, but that also surface important topics or themes in our collective religious life and settings for ministry. This means, inevitably, that selection of topics for class discussion will be somewhat arbitrary, and that many important and worthy chunks of American religious history will get short shrift.
To provide continuity and factual basis for discussion, class members will be expected to purchase two volumes:
Edwin S. Gaustad & Mark Noll, A Documentary History of Religion in America to 1877 Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada
There will also be occasional materials for reading on reserve in the library and online. Please note: Each weeks assigned texts are important for class discussion and/or for historical continuity, and you are expected to keep up with the readings. However, class discussion will not typically involve discussion of those specific texts.
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Goals of the Course Students who have completed this course will have Familiarity with some of the major institutional events and personalities that have been formative in American religious life Knowledge of the unique demands that Americas heritage of religious diversity places upon people of all denominations and religions (what Donald Shriver has called the pain and promise of pluralism) Basic skills in reading the context that is American religious life, especially as this larger context relates to various ministry settings Awareness of their own location in the tapestry of American religion Familiarity with important themes and issues that have affected our past and our present religious lives (for example, revivalism, church-state relations, mission, reason versus emotion, scientific knowledge and faith, majority- minority relations) Experience in researching local and/or oral historyin other words, they will be more savvy readers and writers of history where it is being lived
Course Requirements 1. Participation. Regular attendance, completion of assigned reading, and informed participation in discussions. 2. Papers. One 6-8 page reflection paper, responding to question(s) based on the reading and discussion. The questions will be handed out on October 19, and the papers will be due the following week (October 26). A local history project. This is to be an in-depth and original study of a religious institution, event in the life of an institution, person, or period of time in a setting that is familiar and/or nearby. (A religious institution, for example, might be a local congregation, interfaith charitable organization, or school, among other possibilities.) In a 15-18 page paper, you will be asked to utilize primary sources, including (as appropriate) such things as institutional records, letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, oral interviews, and the like. The assignment will be due November 30. Projects will be returned on the last day of class. 3. Final exam. Written indication of the mastery and synthesis of historical facts, concepts, and themes in a final, take-home essay examination. To be handed out on December 7; due by noon in Prof. Nordbecks mailbox on Wednesday, December 15. The exam is intended to take no more than three hoursas if you were taking it in classand it may be taken as an open book test. **Please note: if you wish to have your exam returned, you MUST append a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the hard copy you turn in.
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Schedule of Lectures and Readings September 14 Session one: Introduction to the course and the subject: Major Features of American Religious History Introductions Overview of the American religious scene, both historical and contemporary. Discussion of syllabus and requirements.
September 21 Session two: What IS History, Anyway? Discussion: the nature of history. (We will also discuss the local history project in depth.)
September 28 Session three: American Tapestry: A Nation of Immigrants Newcomers to North America came for a variety of reasons, and settled in a variety of places, establishing distinctive patterns of faith, church governance, and religious culture. What were the tensionsand responses to themthey set in motion?
October 12 Session four: Pilgrims, Puritans, and a City set on a Hill: Diversity and Dissent The Puritans (and others in the 17 th century and later) believed that religious homogeneity is essential for maintaining good order. Is it possible to have a society that is both well-ordered and religiously pluralistic? What are the consequences of encouraging diversity, or promoting conformity?
Readings: Noll: 30-53 Gaustad/Noll: 63-72, 93-109
October 19 Session five: Awakening and Enlightenment, Religion and Revolution The eighteenth century was a period of both heightened religious experience and heightened intellectual awareness. It was also a time when patterns and paradigms of religion changed. Do Christians know God primarily through rational acceptance (reason) or through feelings and emotions?
Readings: Noll: 83-162 Gaustad/Noll: 160-251 (Questions for reflection papers to be handed out.) 4
October 26 Session six: Nineteenth Century Beginnings: Rational Religion, Revivalism, and the Benevolent Empire In the aftermath of the Revolution came decades of growth, expansion, and millennial hopes; America was envisioned as the new Canaan. Denominations and benevolent societies grew and multiplied in ways unknown in Europe, and rational religion vied with experiential religion. Today, how do we assess the 19 th century desire for a Christian America and a Christianized world?
November 2 Session seven: American Tapestry II: Winning the Westand the Challenge of Religious Outsiders Immigrationespecially from Roman Catholicsand indigenous new movements challenged the assumptions and the dominance of Protestants throughout the nineteenth century. What happens to newcomers and/ or innovators, and how do they alter existing patterns of religious lifeor get altered by them?
Readings: Noll: 191-218, 245-85 Gaustad/Noll: 328-470 online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/Noll 2: Documentary History of Religion in America since 1877): readings on Judaism and Catholicism
November 9 Session eight: Slavery, African-American Religion, and Human Rights The Civil War divided the churches and challenged Christians to discover new ways of understanding biblical texts. How do churches deal with divisive social and political issues? Readings: Noll: 313-334 Gaustad/Noll: 471-596
November 16 Session nine: The Victorian Era; Darwin and the New Science Darwins theories of natural selectionas well as new critical understandings about language, literature, and the Biblechallenged many of Christianitys familiar understandings in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. How do the churches reconcile faith with science? And how do faithful Christians understand the authority of the Bible in their lives?
Readings: Noll: 363-37 5
online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/Noll 2): readings on science and religion, the Bible
November 23: Thanksgiving Week BreakNo Class
November 30 Session ten: New Theological Movements for New Times: The Social Gospel. Pentecostalism, Fundamentalism, Modernism, Neo-Orthodoxy The social gospel movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s encouraged Christians to consider salvation as a social/political, and not only a personal, matter. But some became concerned about what was being left out, theologically. Others recovered earlier ways of accessing the divine. What is the nature and significance of theological movements in the life of the churches?
Readings: Noll: 373-89 online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/Noll 2): readings on early 20 th
century theologies and movements
December 7 Session eleven: Later Twentieth Century Themes and Developments Beginning after the Second World War, new patterns of diversity and new alignments within Christianity were redefining American religion itself. What themes and developments characterized American religion during this turbulent period of social change?
Readings: Noll: 390-500 online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/ Noll 2): readings on late 20 th
Century developments (Final exam questions to be handed out)
December 14 Session twelve: The Unfinished Tapestry: Developing Trends in American Religion at the End and Beginning of Two Centuries What does the new face of religion in America look like at the dawn of the 21 st
century, and what might the future hold? Are there resonances with any of the issues, events, or realities that historically have challenged Christian churches and institutions of other faiths? What wisdomif anymight history have to offer? Readings: Noll: 531-53 online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/ Noll 2): readings on recent developments and trends