This course leads the students toward a deeper understanding of the history of the Church from the time of Christ to the twenty-first century. It includes the origins of the Church, the Age of the Church Fathers, the development of core doctrines of faith, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, the spread of the Gospel to the New World, the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, and the growth of the Church in the United States. The first semester begins with select topics in recent Church History, including Vatican II and Lumen Gentium (The Constitution on the Church). It covers the early church, doctrinal developments, and the early middle ages. The second semester covers key events in the second millennium. It especially focuses on the ways that the Church shaped and was influenced by the development of Western Civilization. This includes the development of the universities from monasteries and cathedral schools and the influence of great Catholic thinkers on the development of science and modern philosophies. We study the development of religious orders, the Great Schism, the Protestant Reformation, and relate these to current times. We study the Church’s role in the World Wars, as well as the introduction of Catholic Social Teaching, particularly Rerum Novarum (Pope Leo XIII’s response to both socialism and capitalist abuses at the time of the Industrial Revolution). We also look at examples of the Church’s development around the world.
Prerequisite: None - A semester course open to sophomores. Required for graduation.
