Early Christian Thought

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

This a graduate course that investigates the history of Christian thought and practice during the first millennium of Christianity. We will start with earliest post-Apostolic writings and end with theological debates at the Carolingian court (9th century) and Christianity at the turn of the new millennium. We will devote special attention to Augustine’s thought. Focus will be on primary texts and on the development of certain key Christian doctrines (e.g., Christology, the Trinity, grace and freedom, sacraments, and ecclesiology) in relation to the historical and cultural context. Attention will also be religious pluralism, as fact and as theory, in the early centuries of the common era. Primary sources will be supplemented with readings from secondary sources, both historical and theoretical.