Early Church History

1. The First Christians and their Churches.
2. The Apostolic Fathers and Apologists in their cultural and intellectual world.
3. Key Early Theological Issues and Figures: 2nd & 3rd Centuries.
4. Church and Empire to Constantine and the persecution of Christians.
5. The Interaction of Church and Society after Constantine.
6. The Trinitarian and Christological Controversies in their social and political context.
7. Augustine, his context and his theology.
8. The Bible in early Christianity: canon, exegesis, and preaching.
9. The Christian life in early Christianity and selected ethical issues.
10. Composition of and contributors to early Christianity: women, Roman class groupings and the churches, urban and rural churches.
11. The development of ascetic and monastic movements, the cult of saints and the Virgin Mary, and the Papacy to Gregory "the Great".

This unit expects 150 hours of work from you in total, or around 10-12 hours each week over the semester. This volume of learning includes working through the learning materials and required learning tasks, additional reading and self-directed study, and working on assessment items, and for online units this includes participation in any online forums.