HC 3310: THE MODERN CHURCH IN EUROPE AND AMERICA

January Interim, 2007

Instructor: Walter Sundberg

Class Hours: Room: BH 116   Day: TW   Time: 1:10PM-5:00PM

Room: GH 104   Day: Th   Time: 1:10PM-3:00PM

Description:

A survey of major events, movements, and figures that have influenced the history of the church and its mission since the French Revolution in Europe and in America since the seventeenth century with special attention to the history of Lutheranism.

Requirements:

Students are expected to complete all required reading assignments on time, attend all classes, and pass a take home mid-term due January 16^th and a final due February 1st . All examinations must be submitted as hard copy, not email attachments.

Texts:

Winthrop Hudson and John Corrigan, Religion in America, 7^th ed. (New York: Macmillan, 2004).

Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, The Churching of America, 1776-2005 ( New Brunswick: Rutgers, 2005).

Richard C. Wolf, Lutherans in North America (Philadelphia: Lutheran Church Press, 1965).*

Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983)

Internet Assignments and handouts

*Note: Ecumenical students are not required to read Wolf. They must read, however, a standard history of their own denomination in America. The choice of the text is up to the student.

Schedule:

January 3, 4: “Christianity and Democracy” Hudson, 41-83; Finke and Stark, 1-24

January 9, 10, 11: “The Great Awakening” Hudson, 84-127; “The Second Great Awakening,” “Muhlenberg and Schmucker” Hudson, 105-168, Finke and Stark, 25-116; Wolf, 1-56; “Christian Missions” William Carey, “An Inquiry. . .” (handout)

Questions #1 and #2 due January 16

January 16, 17, 18: “Romanticism and Schleiermacher” Walker, 627-639 (Desk Reserve); “Hegel and the Oxford Movement” Walker, 639-651 (Desk Reserve), Crites, “The Gospel According to Hegel,” (handout); “Liberal Theology in America” Emerson, “The Lord’s Supper,” “The Divinity School Address” (on line), Hudson, 169-297

January 23, 24, 25: “Culture Wars in 19^th Century America and After”; “The Black Church,” “Civil War” Hudson, 339-368; “Roman Catholics and Jews”: “Finke and Stark, 117-155; “Developments in Lutheranism” Wolf, 57-150

January 30, 31: “Rejection of Liberal Protestantism” Kierkegaard, 5-123; “The European Church in Crisis,” Walker, 666-709 (Desk Reserve); “Secularization, Ecumenism, Evangelical Dominance ” Hudson, 369-393, 413-461, Finke and Stark, 156-283

Questions #3, #4, and #5 and #6 due February 1