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Academic Year 2003/2004

Christianity in World History
HIST 249 FA
Crosslistings:
RELI 289

Christianity is now the religion of 1.6 billion people, stronger in southern countries than in its long-time homeland of Europe. This course investigates the ways in which Christianity shaped, and was shaped by, contact with different world cultures and the ways that the globalization of Christianity interacted with other global phenomena like imperialism, nationalism, and modernization. After a brief look at the spread of Christianity in late European antiquity, the course will concentrate on three main subjects: nationalism, modernization and the birth of missions in the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter Reformation; evangelical Protestantism among white Americans and African-Americans; and Christian missions, imperialism, and the birth of African Christianity in Southern Africa. Students interested in Christianity in other parts of the world, or in other branches of Christianity, will be encouraged to write papers on the area of their interest.

MAJOR READINGS

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
McManners, THE OXFORD ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY
Sanneh, TRANSLATING THE MESSAGE
Axtell, THE INVASION WITHIN
Raboteau, SLAVE RELIGION
Epstein, THE POLITICS OF DOMESTICITY: WOMEN, EVANGELISM AND TEMPERANCE IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA
Marsden, UNDERSTANDING FUNDAMENTALISM AND EVANGELICALISM
Elphick and Davenport, CHRISTIANITY IN SOUTH AFRICA: A POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL HISTORY

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Regular class attendance and participation. Three papers. Take-home final.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

No extensions. No incompletes. Students wishing to put their names on the course waiting list should drop a note to the professor; they should NOT use e-mail or voicemail. This course fufills a "Religion in Society" requirement for Religion majors.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004

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