Church History 1: Early Church History (Online)

Lecturer: Dr Violet James
bvjames@sbc.edu.sg

Lecture Dates:
June 26
July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
Aug 7, 14, 21, 28

Course Description

This course will look at the preparation for the coming of Christ and Christianity; the birth of the early Church from AD 30 to AD 500; the growth and spread of the Church; the challenges faced by the church and how the Church resolved these challenges.

This is a 3-hour credit course. We will meet 2-hours via the Zoom weekly. The 3^rd hour will be used for class preparation, question & answer time and additional discussion.

All students must come to the class prepared to interact from the articles, readings or videos that they have read/viewed prior to the class time.

Students please also note that for every 3-credit course, students are expected to spend an additional 2 to 3 hours per week, outside the class time.

Learning Outcomes

1. That each student will have a good grasp of the birth, growth and spread of Christianity and how Christianity from a Jewish sect, became a global Gentile faith.
2. Every student will have opportunities to read some primary documents and see how Christian leaders responded to crisis such as false teachings or persecution that confronted the early Christian church.
3. That each student will have opportunity to examine the creeds of the early Church and grasp the reasons for these creedal statements.
4. That the students will be able to memorize the Apostles’ Creed because it is foundational and fundamental to our Christian faith.
5. That the students will realize there is a cost in following Jesus Christ as Lord, as persecution continues even to this day.
6. That students will understand how the NT Canon came about and thereby treasure this tremendous gift that came at a great price.
7. That students will have the largeness of Christ and be able to embrace the wider Body of Christ and its distinctives.

Course Assignments

1. Read Tertullian’s Prescription Against Heresies. There is an audio in the Youtube that you can listen to. It is 1.5 hours and you may need to listen several times in small bits as the English is old English and you will need more time to grasp the statements.
   
   Explain the main heresy Tertullian was addressing.
   He mentions the Rule that will protect us from heresies.
   What is this Rule?
   How can we recognize false teachings and false teachers? (Jesus said that we will know them by their fruit. What would some of these fruits be?)
   How can you guard yourself from false teachings today?
   List some biblical references to protect yourself and others from false teachers and their teachings. (this is 20% of your total grades)
   
   Write a 2-page response to your readings and interaction.
   
   Due Date: 4^th week – 17 July
   
   
2. Reading your textbook on The Early Church by Henry Chadwick. You need to read the following chapters: 1-5; 7-10; 12, 14, 15, 17 & 18. You can download this book for free from the website.
   
   Write 6 lessons you have learnt from the reading of this textbook.
   How has this reading enriched your understanding of your Christian roots?
   
   Take 4-5 pages for this paper.
   
   Date Due: 9^th week – 21 August
   
   
3. All:
   • Certificate, Diploma and BTh Students:
     
     Talk to a pastor or a professor at MBS. Ask him/her what he/she considers as the most important thing learnt from Early Church history. Find our his/her thoughts about the importance of St Augustine of Hippo to the Christian church.
     
     Before you talk to the individual, please read Chadwick chapter 15 to get an idea of who this Augustine is!
     
     Take 2-3 pages and write your findings/responses.
     
     Due Date: 7^th week – 7 August
     
     
   • MDiv Students:
     (Do the following assignment in place of the above assignment)
     
     Read Augustine’s Confessions, the first 10 chapters.
     Why did Augustine call this Confessions? What is he actually confessing and to who is he confessing this to?
     
     Write 3 lessons you learnt from this reading?
     
     Take about 3-4 pages to write your response.
     
     Due Date: 7^th week – 7 August
     
     
4. Choose one personality in the Early Church be it Church Fathers like Athanasius or Jerome or Ambrose (except Augustine of Hippo), or an Emperor like Constantine the Great, or Theodosius I or Nero, Decius or Diocletian, or any of the missionary monks that evangelized Europe, like Columba, Patrick, Boniface, or the Dessert Fathers like Anthony, Pachomius, Basil of Caesarea or Benedict of Nursia, or any other suitable personality you wish to present. Please consult the lecturer concerning this.
   
   Show in what way(s) these people impacted the church in particular, and history in general?|
   Each student will take 10 minutes to present this personality to the whole class.
   (This is an oral presentation so no written paper for this assignment.)
   
   Due Dates: 9^th and 10^th weeks – 21 & 28 August
   (for these 2 weeks we will have a three hour class each week so as to complete all the presentations.
   
   
5. Attendance, Class Participation & Preparation Prior to Classes – Graded
   
   At the end of the course each student will write a statement to inform the lecturer whether they have completed all readings and viewed videos for the classes and have participated in the discussions in the classes before, during and after classes.
   
   They can give themselves a grade for this segment, either  A, B, C, D, or F.