CH602 Medieval and Reformation Church
Spring Semester

Course Description

The first half of the course shall study the development of medieval theology, doctrinal controversies, the growth of the papacy and monasticism, mysticism and the forerunners of the Reformation. The second half shall study the theology and practices of the Protestant Reformation. We will consider the social and intellectual contexts in which the Reformation theologies developed with special attention to Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, and Calvin. Some attention shall be given the English and later Reformations including the rise of Protestant scholasticism and confessionalism.

Course Goals

—Academic Goal:

To enable the student to understand and discuss intelligently the institutional, theological, and social history of the church from c. 500 AD -1619 AD.

—Pastoral Goal:

To help the student gain a critical appreciation for the development of Christian theology, piety, and practice from c.500 AD to 1619 AD.

Required Reading

NB: I do not discuss the background texts (Southern and Cameron) in class. The lectures assume that you have read them but you must read and master them in order to complete the course.

R. W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (New York, [repr.] 1978). This is a general background text not intended for class discussion.

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae in either St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 5 vol. (Westminster, MD [repr.] 1981), or in A.M. Fairweather, ed. Aquinas on Nature and Grace (Philadelphia, 1959).

Euan Cameron, The European Reformation (Oxford, 1991). This is a general background text not intended for class discussion. Chapters 1–5, 14, 19, 21.

T. Lull ed. Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings:

Disputation Against Scholastic Theology
Heidelberg Disputation
Concerning the Letter and the Spirit
A Brief Instruction
Preface to the NT
Two Kinds of Righteousness
Bondage of the Will

R. Scott Clark, "Iustitia Imputata Christi: Alien or Proper to Luther's Doctrine of Justification?" Concordia Theological Quarterly 70 (2006): 269–310.

R. Scott Clark, "The Benefits of Christ: Double Justification in Protestant Theology Before the Westminster Assembly," Anthony T. Selvaggio, ed., The Faith Once Delivered: Celebrating the Legacy of Reformed Systematic Theology and the Westminster Assembly (Essays in Honor of Dr. Wayne Spear). (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2007), 107–34.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. F. L. Battles, ed. J. T. McNeill, 2 vols (Philadelphia, 1961), 1.1–10; 2.9–11; 3.1, 2, 11, 13, 17, 20, 24; 4.14–19.

R. Scott Clark, "Election and Predestination: Sovereign Expressions of God," in David Hall and Peter Lillback, ed. A Handbook of Calvin's Institutes (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, forthcoming).

Philip Schaff, ed. Creeds of Christendom (Grand Rapids, [repr.] 1983).

Vol. 2: Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, Tridentine Profession of Faith;

Vol. 3: Augsburg Confession, Formula of Concord, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of the Synod of Dort, Westminster Confession of Faith.

Carl R. Trueman and R. Scott Clark, ed. Protestant Scholasticism: Essays in Reassessment (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999).

Part 1:
1. Bagchi
2. Steinmetz
Part 2:
1. Muller
Part 3:
1. Schaefer
2. Godfrey
3. Trueman

1. Despite the fact that we live in a post-everything world of endless options, it is nevertheless true that, in this course, your options are rather more limited. In order to pass the course you must demonstrate that you have learned and can adequately summarize and repeat the important material from the lectures and the readings. Refusal or failure to meet this test will result in failure of the course.

2. It is impossible to benefit from this course without the reading. You are on your honor to complete the reading. 20%

3. Final exam 35 % NB: A failing grade on the final exam means a failing grade for the course. 

4. Attendance 10%

The WSC catalogue requires attendance to class. Class conflict petitions will not ordinarily be approved for this course.

5. One double spaced, typed, essay of no more than 3500 words. A normal typescript page is approximately 300-350 words, therefore your essay will be about 11-14 pages or less. 35%

6. DUE FRIDAY 2 APRIL 10:00 AM.

7. Email your paper as a Word (or Pages) document to rsclark at wscal dot edu Name the file: lastnamefirstname.doc (or .pages)

8. Anyone found to be using the computer inappropriately in class will face discipline.

9. It is not possible to pass this course and fail either the paper or the final exam.

10. Any paper that does not have a thesis sentence will receive a failing grade.

11. It is not possible to submit a paper without a thesis sentence and pass this course.

Standards and Manner:

Read On the Writing of Essays, even if you've read it before. Your mark for the paper will be reduced by one full letter for each day an assignment is late. A paper submitted after 10 AM on the last day of classes is late. No exceptions. No excuses.

Start your paper now. If you wait until late in the semester your hard drive will crash, your cat will get leukemia, or something equally dreadful will happen and you will come to me to ask for an extension and I will say "NO!" Be a Calvinist. Plan for trouble and hardship in this life.

Comparative papers are more difficult than papers with one subject because a comparative paper requires investigation of two bodies of secondary literature (assuming they both exist). Thus a paper comparing Luther and Calvin will be about twice as difficult as a paper focusing only on Calvin or Luther.

Papers must be grounded in primary sources. This means that there must be primary sources for any topic you wish to cover. If there are not primary sources at hand to support your research you should find another topic. Do not count on inter-library loan. Those resources may not arrive in time for you to meet the deadline.

Electronic sources found on sites such as Google Books are appropriate insofar as the original text is a published primary source or secondary text. Other appropriate electronic sources are the DLCP database (available through the WSC library page) or EEBO or the Post-Reformation Digital Library other such reputable primary source sites.

Cheating and Plagiarism

Don't even think about it. Cheating and plagiarism are a serious infractions of the law of God and punishable by a measures determined by the faculty up to and including expulsion from the seminary. Cheating is presenting someone else's work during an exam as your own. Plagiarism is presenting someone else's work as your own in a paper. Please acknowledge all sources with appropriate footnotes. See the Student Handbook for a complete statement on plagiarism.

Advice

Students who take class notes by computer tend to create a large, detailed transcript but they also tend not to analyze the information they are receiving. They hear the lecture but they do not listen to what is being said. In such a case, it is difficult to think about and interact with what is being said. As a consequence, students end the course with a large transcript of material with which they are not intimately familiar. This means that students have only reading week to master a large amount of relatively unfamiliar class material for the final exam.

In 2007, I encouraged students to take notes by hand. By doing so, those students had to listen closely to what was being said and they had to make a decision whether to write down anything and what to write. The student who takes notes by hand must synthesize and prioritize material. As a result, the student with handwritten notes has relatively less material to review before the exam. An informal survey of students with handwritten notes suggests that they felt better prepared for the final exam than they had with a large transcript.

Helps

Mere Suggestions for Essay Topics (in no particular order)

There may be several ideas under one topic. It is not suggested to attempt all of them in one paper. Your paper will be best served by focusing on one topic.

1. Albertus Magnus
2. Alexander of Hales
3. Anabaptists (pick one or two)
4. Anglican Articles of Religion
5. Anselm or one of his works’
6. Bernard of Clairveaux or one of his works
7. Book of Common Prayer?
8. Book of Homilies
9. Brethren of the Common Life
10. Calvin on justification
11. Calvin on the Lord's Supper
12. Calvin on union with Christ
13. Consolidation and confessionalism
14. Confessionalization
15. Copernicus
16. Second Council of Orange
17. Duns Scotus
18. Gottschalk and Ratramnus
19. Pseduo-Dionysius & medieval theology?
20. Who was Boethius & medieval theology
21. Renaissance Humanism and the Reformation
22. Italian Reformation
23. What was the Protestant view of Jews?
24. Johannes Reuchlin or Immanuel Tremellius
25. John Knox
26. Calvin's view of worship.
27. Lambeth Articles
28. Law and Gospel (in ______'s theology
29. Luther on predestination
30. Calvin on predestination
31. Luther or a Lutheran on Baptism
32. Luther on the Supper
33. Zwingli on the Supper
34. Luther on justification
35. Martin Bucer
36. Describe and analyze Chemnitz' doctrine of the Trinity?
37. What was the Lutheran doctrine of communicatio idiomatum?
38. Bucer's doctrine of the Christian life.
39. Bucer's practice and doctrine of worship.
40. Abelard and Heloise
41. Clerical marriage and celibacy in the Medieval church and the Reformation
42. Why did the Reformation abolish clerical celibacy?
43. Ignatius of Loyola, Peter Canisius (or another early Jesuit).
44. Peter Lombard's Sentences. What were they? Why were they important?
45. Peter Martyr Virmigli or Jerome Zanchi
46. Philip Melanchthon
47. Melanchthon's doctrine of the Supper
48. William Perkins
49. Racovian Catechism
50. Radical reformation
51. Richard Hooker
52. The Spanish Reformation (pick a figure/event
53. Counter-Reformation (pick a figure)
54. Theodore Beza
55. Jacob Arminius
56. Calvin on the Two Kingdoms
57. Luther on the Two Kingdoms
58. Aquinas' biblical exegesi
59. Aquinas' theology (pick a locus)
60. Council of Trent. What did Trent say about ______
61. Thomas Cranmer
62. William of Ockham. His commentary on the Sentences
63. Calvin's doctrine and practice of Worship
64. Wycliffe
65. Zwingli's doctrine of justification
66. Zwingli's Christology
67. Zwingli's theology of worship
68. Zwingili's humanism
69. Zwingli's doctrine of God and providence
70. Tyndale
71. Bullinger's doctrine ____
72. The Scots Confession. Its background, history and development

Contact Information
Email Dr Clark: clark at wscal dot edu
760.480.8474
Office Hours: Wed 10:40 AM-12:40 PM

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