HIST249

[WesMaps Home Page] [Course Search] [Course Search by CID]

HIST249

Christianity in World History HIST249 SP

Crosslistings: RELI289

Next Offered in 9899 SP

Christianity is now the religion of 1.6 billion people, stronger in much of the Third World than in its long-time "homeland" of Europe. This course investigates (1) the ways in which Christianity shaped, and was shaped, by contact with different world cultures and (2) 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: (1) nationalism, modernization and the birth of missions in the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation; (2) Evangelical Protestantism among white Americans and African-Americans; and (3) 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
Chidester, RELIGIONS OF SOUTH AFRICA

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Regular class attendance and participation. Four papers. No examinations.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

No extensions. No incompletes. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office. 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.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS HIST

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-03-1998

About the Photo:

Front cover of the LINDAU GOSPELS, circa 870.

Reference:

Cole, Bruce and Adelheid Gealt. ART OF THE WESTERN WORLD: FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO POST-MODERNISM, New York: Summit Books, 1989

Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions.