Christian History

“History is bunk,” Henry Ford is supposed to have said. So why include Christian History in a theological curriculum? Very simply, because Christian History is the memory of the church, and we can’t hope to understand the contemporary situation of the church, its beliefs and its practices, unless we cultivate a Christian memory which tells us where we have come from and how we got to be the way we are. Of course, Christian History will not solve all of our problems, but hardly any discipline will give us a better understanding of those problems.

The apostle Paul’s image of the church as the body of Christ is crucially important; but we ought to take more seriously the fact that the body of Christ extends not only “horizontally” throughout our world, but also “vertically” back through time, and there doesn’t seem to be any good reason why we should cut ourselves off from our Christian forebears just because they happen to be dead!

On the contrary, the Christian tradition is a very rich one indeed, and the aim of the Christian History curriculum is to facilitate a first-hand encounter between students and the great Christians of the past, by means of their own writings wherever possible.

Bernard of Chartres put it like this, back in the Middle Ages:
"We are like dwarves on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their great size."

That’s the invitation of Christian History. Enjoy the ride!

The Christian History Curriculum
The two courses offered by the College in Christian History are designed to provide an overview of the sweep of Christian History, and to introduce students to their Christian forebears by means of their own writings wherever possible. Special attention will be given to the mission activities of the church and to the development of the church in Africa. The overall structure of the Christian History curriculum is as follows:

BCH 215 - Earlier Christian History - Apostolic Age to Pre-Reformation
Overview of Christian History from the end of the apostolic age until the late middle ages. Themes include the expansion of the church in the early centuries, theological developments, the relationship between church and state, the development of devotional movements, and efforts made to reform the church in the late medieval period.

BCH 225 - Later Christian History - Reformation to Modern Era
The Reformation. This great transitional movement between the medieval and modern periods is studied in detail, with attention being given to Luther, Zwingli, the radical Reformation, the Reformation in England and Scotland, and the Catholic or Counter-Reformation. The course then introduces the student to the development of Christianity until the modern era. Students will be introduced to Pietism, Puritanism, Arminianism, the evangelical revivals and the Great Awakening, and the impact of modern science and philosophy on the development of Christian thought.