Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne
Elective Courses HIT H504
EARLY CHRISTIAN POPULAR LITERATURE
3 credits
HIT H506
FATHERS AND HERETICS
3 credits
HIT H507
EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH
3 credits
HIT H509
CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS
3 credits
HIT H510
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN LATIN AMERICA
3 credits
HIT H511
HISTORY OF MISSIONS
3 credits
A study of select writings from the New Testament Apocrypha, the Acts of the Martyrs and the early hagiographical writings. Consideration will be given to these writings as testimonies to the faith and life of the “common Christian” in the early centuries of the Church. A seminar in early Christian theology and history. Each offering is dedicated to detailed study of a particular Father (e.g., Apostolic Fathers, Irenaeus, Cyril of Alexandria) or of a particular issue (e.g., Arianism, Nestorianism, Sacraments). Can receive Systematic of Historical credit.
A study of the history, theology and spirituality of Eastern Orthodoxy. Special attention is paid to questions of liturgical piety, tradition, theological interest and method, and iconography. Reformation and modern attempts at ecumenical discussion are also studied. This course examines the nature and role of Christian apologetics. Theological and methodological issues associated with the discipline are addressed in light of historical and contemporary writings. Particular attention is devoted to developing a repertoire of apologetic arguments capable of answering the challenges modern science, philosophy, and history pose to the Christian faith. A survey of the history of the Catholic Church and of Protestantism in Latin America from the time of Columbus up to the present. After examining the formative elements of Latin American Christianity—the church in 15th-century Spain and Portugal, the religious beliefs and practices of Amerindian civilizations such as the Incas and the Aztecs, and the religiosity brought by slaves from Africa—the course will focus on the missionary approaches of Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits in South and Central America during the colonial period. Then there will be an analysis of how royal control of the church, colonial culture, the Enlightenment, the independence movement, political upheavals, economic change and urbanization, and the growing influence of England and the United States in Latin America shaped Latin American Catholicism over the centuries and in some cases favored the inception and growth of Protestantism in the area. Attention will also be given to recent trends in Latin American Christianity, such as liberation theology, new approaches to popular religiosity and the growth of Pentecostalism. This course is one part of a four-course emphasis on missions. This course offers a survey of missions from the apostolic era to the present age. Major concentration will be placed on the unique mission phenomena of the Reformation Era, formation of organized Lutheran mission outreach in the 19th century, and the beginning stages of mission in the Missouri Synod.
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