Medieval Ecclesiology

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course explores medieval thinking about the church: its unity, its boundaries, the diversity of cultural traditions within it, its place in the world, and the ways in which the church is organized and governed. Students will be introduced to the major texts, authors, and ideas of medieval ecclesiology from St. Augustine through the period of the Gregorian reform in the eleventh century to the age of conciliarism and the early reformers in the fifteenth century. Special attention will be given to the role of the Roman Pope on the one hand, and the Church Councils on the other. The significance of medieval ecclesiology for the modern discourse on the Church will also be addressed.