AAR Syllabi Project: History of Christianity III (Washington)

This course offers a general introduction to the emergence of Christianity in the United States from Puritanism to Vatican II. We will consider important themes, traditions, movements and personalities in American church history, the broader American religious experience and diverse cultural perspectives (including those of Africans, African Americans, indigenous Americans, Latinos/Hispanics and Asians). We will also take a look at the complicated relationships of gender, race, class, and religion. Thus, by involving more than Christianity's institutional history since the European Reformation, this course attempts to assess the social significance and relationship of the Christian Church in North America to other faiths in different historical settings.

Relevance For Ministry

The study of Christianity as practiced in America places your particular denomination/tradition in the context of the pluralistic, cultural, scientific, and religious forces that continue to shape contemporary life and impact one's ministerial worldview. The study of your own tradition and family of denominations will supply the knowledge necessary for leadership, and it will enable you to discern both the challenges and the opportunities that face your religious community and the Church today.

Required Readings

On reserve:

Catherine Albanese, America Religions and Religion 2nd edition

Edwin Gaustad, A Religious History of America new revised edition

Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Vol. 2

Also to be on reserve:

John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive

Timothy F. Fulop and Albert J. Raboteau, eds, African-American Religion

Edwin S. Gaustad, ed, A Documentary History of Religion in America to the Civil War

Winthrop S. Hudson and John Corrigan, Religion in America 3rd Edition

Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams, eds., Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience Vol. 1.

Clyde L. Manschreck, A History of Christianity in the World

Martin E. Martin, Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America

Rosemary Radford Ruether and Rosemary Skinner Keller, eds., In Our Own Voices: Four Centuries of American Women's Religious Writing

Williston Walker and Richard a. Norris, David W. Lotz, Robert T. Handy, A History of The Christian Church 4th Edition

Other readings may be introduced as needed, particularly from supplemental readings.

Supplemental Readings

Sydney Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People

Hans A. Baer and Merrill Singer, African-American Religion in the Twentieth Century

Arturo J. Banuelas, ed., Mestizo Christianity: Theology from the Latino Perspective

R. Pierce Beaver, ed., American Missions in Bicentennial Perspective

George C. Bedell, et al, Religion In America 2nd edition

Robert N. Bellah and Frederick E.Greenspahn, eds., Uncivil Religion: Interreligious Hostility in America

Sandy Boucher, Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism

Jon Butler and Harry S. Stout, eds., Religion in American History: A Reader

Walter H. Conser Jr. and Sumner B. Twiss, eds., Religious Diversity and American Religious History: Studies in Traditions and Cultures

Allan Figueroa Deck, et al, PERSPECTIVAS: Hispanic Ministry

Jay P. Dolan and Gilberto M. Hinojosa, eds., Mexican Americans and the Catholic Church, 1900-1965

Mary Douglas and Steven Tipton, eds., Religion and America: Spiritual Life in a Secular Age

Daniel R. Rodriguez-Diaz and David Cortes-Fuentes, eds., Hidden Stories: Unveiling the History of the Latino Church

Virgilio Elizondo, Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise

Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, ed., The Muslims of America

Nancy A. Hardesty, Women Called to Witness: Evangelical Feminism in the 19th Century

Winthrop S. Hudson and John Corrigan, Religion in America 5th edition

Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa

Susan Juster and Lisa MacFarlane, eds., A Mighty Baptism: Race, Gender, and the Creation of American Protestantism

Susan Hill Lindley, "You have Stept out of your Place": A History of Women and Religion in America

Sang Hyun Lee and John V. Moore, Korean American Ministry

C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, The Black Church in the African American Experience

Martin E. Marty, Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America

R. Laurence Moore, Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans

Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada

Luis N. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism

Rosemary Radford Ruether and Rosemary Skinner Keller, eds, Women and Religion in America Vols. 1-2

W. M. Schroeder and V. Obenhaus, Religion in American Culture

H. Shelton Smith, et al, American Christianity: An Historical Interpretation With Representative Documents Vols. 1-2

William Warren Sweet, The Story of Religion in America

George E. Tinker, Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide

Richard Brent Turner, Islam in the African-American Experience

Anthony F. C. Wallace, The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca

Judith Weisenfeld and Richard Newman, This Far By Faith: Readings in African-American Women's Religious Biography

Richard E. Wentz, Religion in the New World: The Shaping of Religious Traditions in the United States

Peter Williams, America's Religions: Traditions and Cultures

Robert Wuthnow, Christianity in the 21st Century: Reflections on the Challenges Ahead

Assignments

Attendance at all class sessions, responsible leadership and participation in small group discussions. Assigned readings are to be completed prior to class.

Family Religious History project with three parts.

(1) Develop a "Family Religious History" chart for three generations of your family, beginning with yourself. List the religious affiliations (or lack thereof) of each family member as fully as possible and briefly note other important religious/social data (e.g. the person formed part of an ethnic immigrant community; she/he was converted in a revival context; she/he became alienated from Christianity due to an acrimonious church split.)

(2) Write an 8-10-page research paper, placing some aspect of your religious family history in the context of broader themes in the history of American Christianity. For example, your thesis might be that the changing denominational affiliations of your family reflect the "free market" or "voluntary" ethos of American Christianity. Or, your family might illustrate the rise of the twentieth-century Pentecostal movement, the fundamentalist/modernist controversy, the attractiveness of Islamic discipline, conflicting views of what it means to be a Christian in America, the role of women, etc.

(3) Based on your charts and first drafts of these papers you will work in small groups to develop twenty-minute presentations on the character of Christianity in America as reflected in your communal family religious histories. These presentations may be in the form of reports, role-plays, panel discussions, interview, etc. Methods must be approved in advance by instructor.

Class participation

Mid-term and Final Exams (short answer and essay)

Grading

Class participation 10%

Family Religious History project 50%

Exams 20% each

Format for Research Paper:

1. The paper should be typed and double-spaced with 1-inch margins. Block quotations should be single-spaced. No folders or binders for the papers - staple your pages together. If you are uncertain about any of the mechanics of paper writing, see Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers. End/footnotes should follow the second form in Turabian (full citation, not parenthetical).

2. Use inclusive language. Man is not generic when referring to all human beings. When speaking about people, use terms like humanity, humankind, people, persons, individuals; use him or her, he or she for singular. When talking about God, since God is nether male nor female, but has attributes of both, you are invited to use terms like Yahweh, God, Creator, Godself, the divine, or other metaphors in lieu of Him. Since Jesus was a human male, masculine pronouns are appropriate when referring to the Christ. For assistance with inclusive language, see Casey Miller and Kate Swift, The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing for Writers, Editors, and Speakers.

Grading Criteria for Research Paper:

Is your writing coherent? Does it reveal an ability to write carefully, intelligibly, and intelligently? Is your writing informed? Does it reveal an ability to appropriate the issues and resources necessary to develop the thesis? Does it demonstrate familiarity with the content material of the course, as well as reflect on and respond to that material? Is your writing thoughtful? Does it reveal an ability to thing conceptually and critically? Is the position taken supported by cogent and valid arguments? Is your writing constructive? Does it reveal an ability to thing creatively and imaginatively? Does it analyze rather than describe? Is your writing contextual? Does it reveal an ability to offer substantive implications for your way of living and participating in the church and society? Does it explain how your attitudes, information base, and ethical/theological framework have been impacted?

Plagiarism Policy:

Plagiarism, borrowing someone else's words and ideas and claiming them as your own without proper credit, is a serious academic issue. Persons found guilty of plagiarism may fail the course. If you do not understand how to properly credit quotations and thoughts, consult the Teaching Colleague.

Outline

Course Theme: "Conquest, Conversion, Community"

WEEK 1

Introduction to American Religious History

Religious Pluralism, Part 1: The Mission Mind and the Making of "Christian" America

Tuesday, March 31

Lectures: The Goal of the Religious Historian: Enable Historical Thinking Currents that Shaped the Christianization of North America

Assigned reading: To be completed before first class meeting

Henry Warner Bowden, "The Historiography of American Religion" in Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience

Video: NIGHTLINE: "Jerusalem Stories"

Thursday, April 2

Lectures: Indigenous Americans and the Portability of Faith Puritanism and the Vision of a Pure Church

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 23-45; 113-117

Gaustad: 3-11; 51-61

Gonzalez: 217-223

Introduction to Small Groups

WEEK 2

Religious Pluralism, Part 1: The Mission Mind/Making of "Christian" America (cont.)

Tuesday, April 7

Lectures:

Alternatives to the Puritans: Anglicans, Quakers, and Other Protestants

The Baptists of Rhode Island

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 150-160

Gaustad: 134-151

Gonzalez: 196-216; 224-226

Thursday, April 9

NO CLASS: Easter Recess

WEEK 3

Religious Pluralism, Part 2: Drawing Battle Lines

Tuesday, April 14

Lecture: Civil Religion and the Public Tradition

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 432-461

Anthony in Douglas: 230-246

Field trip to Baha'i Worship Center (tentatively scheduled)

Thursday, April 16

Lecture: Slavery and the Civil War

Assigned readings:

Gaustad: 164-177

Gonzalez: 250-253

Harding in Fulop: 107-126

Small Groups Meet

WEEK 4

Religious Pluralism, Part 3: Christianity and Islam Among African Americans

Tuesday, April 21

Lecture: African Americans in "Control" of Their Destinies: The "Invisible Institution" and the Visible Black Church

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 193-217

Garvely, in Fulop: 133-153

Video: NIGHTLINE: "The Hajj"

Thursday, April 23

Guest Lecturer: Imam W. D. Mohammed, American Muslim Spokesman

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 292-299

Turner: 11-47

WEEK 5

Awakenings & Revivals

Tuesday, April 28

Lectures: The Stirrings of Revival: The Work of God or the Work of "Man"? The Second Great Awakening, Camp Meetings and the New Measures

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 153-160

Hudson: 60-84

Wentz: 171-182

Mid-term Exam

Thursday, April 30

Lecture: Church and State

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 402

Hudson: 110-116

Thomas Jefferson, "Religious Freedom"

John Leland, "The Rights of Conscience"

Small Groups Meet

WEEK 6

"God" vs. Gender: Women, Resistance & Rebellion

Tuesday, May 5

Lecture: Feminism and Social Reform

Assigned readings:

Brown in Ruether (2): 247-291

Thursday, May 7

Lecture: Vocational Calling: A Shaker, A Healer, and A Methodist

Assigned readings:

Lindley: 117-128

Madden in Juster: 210-225

Talamantez in Ruether (2): 383-398

Small Groups Meet

WEEK 7

The Shifting Religious Configuration

Tuesday, May 12

Lecture: Judaism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 50-72; 281-292

Gaustad: 157-158; 249-255

Gonzalez: 338-344

Thursday, May 14

Lectures: Korean Churches in the U.S.

Assigned readings:

Hurh and Kim, "Religious Participation of Korean Immigrants in the United States"

Kawano, "The Church in the 90s: Trends and Developments"

Tweed in Conser: 199-207

Small Groups Meet

WEEK 8

Roman Catholic Christianity

Tuesday, May 19

Lecture: Catholicism: From the Colonies to Maturity

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 74-100

Gaustad: 151-156

Gonzalez: 226-227; 345-359

Group A: Communal Religious History Presentation

Thursday, May 21

Lecture: Ethnicity and the Catholic Church

Assigned readings:

Hinojosa in Doland and Hinojosa: 84-125

Group C: Communal Religious History Presentation

WEEK 9

A Different America

Tuesday, May 26

Lecture: Religion, Culture, and Race

Assigned readings:

Gaustad: 178-188; 198-207; 344-351

Launius in Weisenfeld: 158-177

Video: Michael Eric Dyson at Calvin College

Group B: Communal Religious History Presentation

Thursday, May 28

Lecture: Protestant Liberalism and Fundamentalism

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 120-148; 350-392

Gaustad: 255-263

Gonzalez: 253-261; 372-387

Group D: Communal Religious History Presentation

Family Religious History Research Paper DUE

WEEK 10

What Now, What Next?

Tuesday, June 2

Lecture: Other Religions and the Non-Christian Challenge to the Church

Assigned readings:

Albanese: 219-240; 292-321

Video: 20th Century With Mike Wallace: "Cults"

Thursday, June 4

Final Exam

http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwaar/syllabi/history_of_christianity_iii-washington.html

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