CH602 Syllabus

CH602 Medieval and Reformation Church

Thursday and Friday 1:45-3:40 PM Spring 2008

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).

Summa Theologica Reference Nature and Grace pagination
1a. Q. 1 Art. 1.1–10 35–49
1a. Q.23 Art. 1–8 101–18
1a–2ae. QQ. 112–114 174–218

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(Philadelphia, 1989):

Part 1:
1. Disputation Against Scholastic Theology
3. Heidelberg Disputation
Part 2
6. Concerning the Letter and the Spirit
7. A Brief Insturction
8. Preface to the NT
Part 3:
11. Two Kinds of Righteousness
13. 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

R. Scott Clark, Caspar Olevian and the Substance of the Covenant: The Double Benefit of Christ. Rutherford Studies in Historical Theology, ed. David F. Wright (Edinburgh: Rutherford House, 2005). [all]

Course Structure

Each class session will involve lecture and discussion of the assigned readings in the various medieval, Reformation and post-Reformation theologians.

Course Requirements:

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 4 APRIL 10:00 AM.

7. Email your paper as a Word document to rsclericus at gmail dot com. Name the file: lastnamefirstname.doc.

I cannot read .docx files (which is the default format for Word documents created in Vista). Use "save as" to save as a Word 2003 or earlier format. I can also read Google docs.

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

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 unfamilar 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

  • Lecture Outlines
  • "The Chart"
  • A Chronology of the Medieval-Reformation Church
  • A Glossary of the Medieval-Reformation Church
  • A Chart of the Avignon Papacy
  • Reformation Bibliography
  • Adler on Reading
  • Contemporary Literature on Evangelicalism
  • Outline of Luther's Bondage of the Will
  • A Summary of Zwingli on Baptism
  • Outline of Bullinger's Decades
  • Classic Reformed Texts in English
  • A Brief History of Covenant Theology
  • Classic Covenant Theology
  • Beza on Predestination
  • Owen's Catechisms
  • Zanchi's Confessions
  • 17th-Century New England Layman on Justification
  • Richard Muller on Confessing the Reformed Faith
  • Belgic Confession (1561)
  • Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
  • Canons of Dort (1619)
  • Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)
  • Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647)
  • Westminster Larger Catechism (1647)
  • Helvetic Consensus Formula  (1675)

    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. How did he influence Thomas? How did he use Aristotle? Why? Against whom?
    2. Alexander of Hales. His relations to Thomas. His importance. His theology (pick a locus).
    3. Anabaptists (pick one or two, but donÂ’t drown them!). How is their theology different from Protestantism? What were its relations to Medieval mysticism and moralism? Did they make any progress in theology?
    4. Anglican Articles of Religion. What were they? Why were they written. How were they received? Why and when did they fall out of favor? Their relations to the Irish Articles, Dort and the WCF?
    5. AnselmÂ’s Cur Deus Homo?. What was his argument for the necessity of the atonement? What was his soteriology?
    6. Anselm's Proslogion. What was his argument for GodÂ’s existence? Why did he make such an argument? How did he relate faith and reason? How was his argument received by the later tradition?
    7. Bernard of Clairveaux. What sort of theology did write? Was he really a mystic? His relations to the Reformation?
    8. Book of Common Prayer. What was the role and history of the BCP in the Reformation? How did the other branches of Protestantism relate to it?
    9. Book of Homilies. Why was the book formulated? Who were the contributors? Was there a uniting theology?
    10. Brethren of the Common Life. What role the Brethren play in the Reformation? Were they forerunners? How did they facilitate the Reformation? Has their contribution been ignored or over-emphasized?
    11. Calvin on justification. What did he teach on justification? What are the relations between his doctrine and those of the late medieval theologians and church, between his, AugustineÂ’s, and Luther's doctrine of justification? Relations between Luther's doctrine of justification and his teaching on predestination?
    12. Calvin on the Lord's Supper. To what degree was Calvin dependent upon Luther on the Supper? Where did they differ? Why?
    13. Calvin on union with Christ. Sources? Parallels with Luther? Augustine? Function in his theology? Relations to the other parts of his theology?
    14. Consolidation and confessionalism. Did the later Reformation default on the essentials of the Reformation? What was the effect of consolidation on the Reformation? Copernicus. How was he received by Rome? By the Protestants? Comment on the progress of natural science in the 16th century.
    15. Second Council of Orange. Why was it called? What did it accomplish? Why was it forgotten?
    16. Duns Scotus. What is voluntarism and what were ScotusÂ’ relations to it? What were his relations to ThomasÂ’' theology? How did he formulate his theology? Why?
    17. Gottschalk and Ratramnus. Who are they? Why are they famous? Why did the church react to Gottschalk the way it did?
    18. Who was Pseduo-Dionysius and how did he affect medieval theology?
    19. Who was Boethius and how did he affect medieval theology?
    20. Humanism and Reformation. How did humanism facilitate or hinder the Reformation? How did the Reformers use humanism? Were the humanists moral or theological Reformers?
    21. Italian Reformation and International Calvinism. How did Calvinism spread across Europe and Great Britain? Why did Calvinism spread across Europe and largely eclipse Lutheranism?
    22. Jews and Protestants. What was the Protestant view of Jews? Was there 'one' view? Was Luther anti-Semitic? Why or why not?
    23. Johannes Reuchlin and Immanuel Tremellius. The influx of converted Jews into Protestantism and their impact on it.
    24. John Knox. His importance. His relations to Calvin and other Reformers. Distinctives in his theology?
    25. Calvin's view of worship.
    26. Lambeth Articles. What were they?
    27. Law and Gospel. What is the role of the Law in Luther's theology? Calvin's? Melanchthon's? Why? How did it affect there theology? Did Calvin agree with Luther? Develop Luther? Abandon Luther? Did Calvin have a "law/gospel" hermeneutic?
    28. Luther and Calvin on Predestination. To what degree was Calvin dependent upon Luther's On the Bondage of the Will?
    29. To what degree is predestination integral to Protestantism?
    30. Luther and the Lutherans on Baptism. What were Luther's views on baptism? How did they develop? How did
    31. Lutheranism handle Luther's views?
    32. Luther and Zwingli on the Lord's Supper. Over what did they disagree? Why did they disagree? What were their respective views? Did they understand each other? Do we still understand them?
    33. Luther on justification. What did Luther teach on justification? What are the relations between his doctrine and those of the late medieval theologians and church, between his and Augustine? Relations between Luther's doctrine of justification and his teaching on predestination?
    34. Martin Bucer. Biography. How did Bucer's circumstances affect his theological development. Why is he significant? What were his influences? Whom did he influence? How was he regarded by the Lutherans?
    35. How did the Protestant doctrine of God develop from 1540-1650?
    36. Describe and analyze ChemnitzÂ’ doctrine of the Trinity?
    37. What was the Lutheran doctrine of communicatio idiomatum?
    38. Bucer. Analyze his doctrine of __________ (pick a locus)
    39. Was Bucer a predestinarian? If so, how did he differ from Luther and Calvin?
    40. How did Bucer influence Calvin?
    41. Describe and analyze BucerÂ’'s doctrine of the Christian life.
    42. Describe and analyze BucerÂ’'s practice and doctrine of worship.
    43. Abelard and Heloise. What was the nature of their relations?
    44. Clerical marriage and celibacy in the Medieval church and the Reformation. Why did the Reformation abolish clerical celibacy?
    45. Peter Canisius (or another early Jesuit). Who was he? What was the nature of his order? His goals? Why is he significant? What impact did he have on the development of the Roman reaction to Protestantism?
    46. Peter Lombard. What were the Sentences? Why were they written? To whom? What importance did they have in history of theology?
    47. Peter Martyr Virmigli or Jerome Zanchi. The Italian reformation. His importance to the rise of Italian Protestantism. His relations to Calvin. His theology. His theological training. His Thomist background.
    48. Philip Melanchthon on predestination and justification. From where did he get his views? How did they change? Why? With what result for Lutheranism?
    49. Philip Melanchthon on the Supper. Was he faithful to Luther? Why or why not? How did his views develop? Why? How? What influence did he have?
    50. Puritanism. What were the relations between mainstream British Puritanism (e.g., W. Perkins) and the Reformation? How did Puritans develop the Reformation?
    51. Racovian Catechism and the rise of Unitarianism in the 16th century. Why did it happen? Who were the players? Socinianism.
    52. Radical reformation. Who were they? Why did they dissent from the 'magisterial' Reformers? How did they differ from Luther, Calvin et al? What happened to them? Did they succeed or fail? Why or why not? Do they have modern heirs? Social ethics?
    53. Reformation and Art. The relations between Reformation theology and renaissance art and music.
    54. Reformation colloquies. Marburg, Speyer, Regensburg, Montbeliard. What role did they play? What impact did they have?
    55. Reformation in France. How did it begin and develop? What happened to it? What was the effect of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre on French Protestantism?
    56. Richard Hooker. His theological relations to Luther and Calvin? To the English and Scots Presbyterians? His distinctive views? Some locus of his theology. His view of worship.
    57. Robert Bellarmine. How did he defend the Tridentine settlement and why?
    58. Robert Bradwardine. His soteriology. His role in the renaissance of Augustinianism in the later Middle Ages.
    59. Scholasticism and the Reformation. Was the Reformation a repudiation of medieval scholasticism or are its relations more nuanced than that? Continuities? Discontinuities?
    60. The Spanish Reformation and Counter Reformation. Why did the Reformation succeed some places and not others? What were the local circumstances in Spain which led to the extermination of the Reformation? You might contrast Spain with the Netherlands.
    61. Theodore Beza and Jacob Arminius. Was Beza faithful to Calvin? How did Beza modify Calvin's theology? Why? Why not? How did Beza's circumstances differ from Calvin's? Compare Beza with his pupil Arminius? Did the latter move back to semi-Pelagianism? Why? What were Arminius' relations to Thomas Aquinas?
    62. What effect did theocratic assumptions have on the Protestant view of church-state relations? What was Calvin's two-kingdom view and how consistent with his principles was he?
    63. Thomas AquinasÂ’ exegesis. How did Thomas use Scripture? Why? Where? For whom?
    64. Thomas AquinasÂ’ exposition of the Creed. Why? To whom? When?
    65. Thomas AquinasÂ’ theology (pick a locus). Why did he formulate his theology thus? To whom was he writing? Who were his influences?
    66. Was Thomas really a "rationalist"? Why or why not?
    67. Tridentine theology. What did Trent say about justification? The nature of grace? Compare/contrast Trent with Vatican I and II.
    68. What were the relations between the Medieval cathedral schools and the universities? Why did the latter develop?
      Universities. What role did the Universities of Europe and England play in the Reformation? Were they hindrances or helps or both? How did they view the Reformation?
    69. Was Luther a failure? Certain scholars have advanced the thesis that Luther failed to accomplish his goals and
    70. Lutheranism was imposed upon an unwilling populace devoted to the Old Religion on the Continent and England. Do you agree? Why? Why not? Can we really tell which was most popular? Does it matter?
    71. What were the relations of Cranmer and Anglicanism to Luther? Calvin? Did they change? How? Why?
    72. William of Ockham. His commentary on the Sentences. How did Ockham relate to Thomas?
    73. Worship. How did the Reformers (pick one) reform, restructure worship? Why? How did they do it? What principles did the use? How did they differ in their principles and in their application of those principles?
    74. Wycliffe. Was he a precursor of the Reformation? In what was he not? Where did he teach? How did the Church respond to his teaching? What sort of exegete was he? How did he relate philosophy and theology?
    75. ZwingliÂ’s Christology. Was he a Nestorian? Why or why not?
    76. ZwingliÂ’'s theology of worship. Was it Platonist or not?
    77. ZwingiliÂ’'s humanism. Did it overwhelm his Protestantism (e.g., his doctrine of justification)? Why or why not?
    78. ZwingliÂ’'s doctrine of God and providence. How did he relate providence to the divine decrees?
    79. What was the nature of early Reformed/Lutheran scholasticism (1540-1650)?
    80. What were TyndaleÂ’s relations to Luther?
    81. What were TyndaleÂ’s relations to Reformed theology?
    82. BullingerÂ’s doctrine of the church. Was it Reformed? Relations to Geneva (Presbyterianism) and London (Episcopacy)?
    83. John Knox. Describe his theological development.
    84. How did Knox come to be regarded in Scottish confessional theology 1560-1650?
    85. The Scots Confession. Its background, history and development.

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