The teachers of these courses and the next set I will review are not necessarily Catholic, but give a different perspective or relate historical facts of interest and should not be relied upon for Catholic dogmatic or doctrinal accuracy. There deductions on various historical facts might point to, with regard to dogma and doctrine, do not necessarily align with what is accepted by the Catholic Church’s magisterium.
The titles of the courses are as follows, for this section, in order to see if you are interested in their content with out having to scroll though the blog to determine the subject.
- From Jesus to Constantine: A history of Early Christianity
- The Historical Jesus
- The History of the Bible, the making of the New Testament Canon
- After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers
- Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication
- The Triumph of Christianity
- The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch
- The History of Christianity in the Reformation Era
- Jesus and the Gospels
- The History of Christian Theology
- Myth in Human History
- Luther: Gospel, Law, and Reformation
The first 4 courses we will give the lecture titles to as well a quote of the scope and first section outline of at least 1 lecture from the course guidebook. They will have Professor Bart D. Ehrman as the lecturer. He is the James A. Grey Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina a Chapel Hill. He received his masters of Divinity and Ph.D from Prinston Theological Seminary. He has provided students at Chapel Hill with great insights into Christianity for more than 15 years. Among his acclaimed books is the New York Times bestseller Misquoting Jesus; God’s Problem; Jesus, Interupted; and Forged. He has written or edited at least 12 books. He has won numerous teaching awards including the Bowman and Gorden Grey award for excellence in teaching and the student undergraduate teaching award.
The first course we will give and overview of is entitled “From Jesus to Constantine: A history of Early Christianity.” They are 30 minute lectures each.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: The Birth of Christianity
Lecture 2: The religious World of Early Christians
Lecture 3: The historical Jesus
Lecture 4: Oral and Written Traditions about Jesus
Lecture 5: The Apostle Paul
Lecture 6: The Beginning of Jewish-Christian Relations
Disc 2:
Lecture 7: The Anti-Jewish Use of the Old-Testament
Lecture 8: The Rise of Christian Anti-Judaism
Lecture 9: The Early Christian Mission
Lecture 10: Christianization of the Toman Empire
Lecture 11: The Early Persecutions of the State
Lecture 12: The causes of Christian Persecution
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Christian Reaction to Persecution
Lecture 13 Scope: “In this lecture, we try to understand how Christians reacted to their persecution at the hands of pagan mobs and local authorities. We will see that many Christians recanted their faith in the face of persecution, but many others stayed faithful to what they believed to be the truth. We will use the moving tale of the passion of Perpetua and Felicitas and the letters of Ignatius of Antioch to guide our reflections. From these texts, we will see that many Christians were willing to face torture and death because they believed that doing so would ensure them an afterlife of eternal bliss, whereas those who refused to accept the faith would face eternal torment. Moreover, some Christians believed that in suffering martyrdom, they were imitating the example set for them by Christ, their Lord.”
Lecture 13 first paragraph of the Outline:
“ 1. In the previous lecture, we saw some of the reasons for the violent opposition to Christians throughout the empire.
- Christians were seen as a threat to society because they refused to worship the state gods. Disasters that struck could be seen by pagans, then, as divine retribution for cities that harbored such “atheists.”
- Moreover Christians were thought to be morally reprehensible and therefore, socially dangerous.
- Christians, of course, denied that they were dangerous, and many of them refused to recant their beliefs even in the face of violent opposition and concerted official efforts.
- D. In this lecture, we will shift from considering the persecution from the pagan prespective (Why did pagans act this way?) to the Christian perspective (how did Christians react to their opposition.”)”
Lecture 14: The Early Christian Apologists
Lecture 15: The Diversity of Ealy Christian Communities
Lecture 16: Christians of the Second Century
Lecture 17: The Role of Pseudepigrapha
Lecture 18: The Victory of the Proto-Orthodox
Disc 4
Lecture 19: The New Testament Canon
Lecture 20: The Development of Church Offices
Lecture 21: The Rise of Christian Liturgy
Lecture 22: The Beginnings of Normative Theology
Lecture 23: The Doctrine of the Trinity
Lecture 24: Christianity and the Conquest of Empire
The second course we will be giving an overview of is basically a fleshing out of the third lecture of the first course overviewed, the lecture (and this course) entitled “The Historical Jesus”. They are 30 minute lectures each.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: The Many Faces of Jesus
Lecture 2: One Remarkable Life
Lecture 3: Scholars Look at the Gospels
Lecture 4: Fact and fiction in the Gospels
Lecture 5: The Birth of the Gospels
Lecture 6: Some of the other Gospels
Disc 2
Lecture 7: The Coptic Gospel of Thomas
Lecture 8: Other Sources
Lecture 9: Historical Criteria – Getting back to Jesus
Lecture 10; More Historical Criteria
Lecture 11: The Early life of Jesus
Lecture 12: Jesus in His Context
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Jesus and Roman Rule
Lecture 14: Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet
Lecture 15: The Apocalyptic Teachings of Jesus
Lecture 16: Other Teachings of Jesus in their Apocalyptic Context
Lecture 17: The Deeds of Jesus and their Apocalyptic Context
Lecture 18: Still Other Words and Deeds of Jesus
Disc 4
Lecture 19: The Controversies of Jesus
Lecture 20: The Last Days of Jesus
Lecture 21: The Last Hours of Jesus
Lecture 22: The Death and Resurrection of Jesus
Lecture 23: The Afterlife of Jesus
Lecture 24: The Prophet of the New Millennium
The next course, also by Professor Bart D. Ehrman is entitled “The History of the Bible: The making of the New Testament Canon” the title as with most of the courses being self-explanatory. They are 30 minute lectures each.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: The New Testament – An Overview
Lecture 2: Paul – Our Earliest Christian Author
Lecture 3: The Pauline Epistles
Lecture 4: The problem of Pseudonymity
Lecture 5: The beginnings of the Gospel Traditions
Lecture 6: The Earliest Gospels
Disc 2
Lecture 7: The Other Gospels
Lecture 8: Apocalypticism and the Apocalypse of John
Lecture 9: The Copyists Who Gave Us Scripture
Lecture 10: Authority in the Early Church
Lecture 11: The importance of Interpretation
Lecture 12: When Did the Canon Get Finalized?
The next course, also by Professor Bart D. Ehrman is entitled “After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers.” In Catholic circles the subject of this course is called patrology. To give a taste of what this course is about we quote the 1st 4 paragraphs of the scope at the front of the course guidebook:
“ At the very foundation of the Christian religion sand the writings of the New Testament, a collection of 27 books that represent the earliest surviving literary productions of the burgeoning Church and that eventually came to be regarded as sacred Scripture. The writings produced by Christians after the New Testament are also important, however, a they can reveal to us how Christianity changed, developed, an grew after the first Christian Century had passed.
The writings of the Apostolic Fathers are the most important books for understanding these developments in Christianity immediately after the New Testament period. The term Apostolic Father was coined by scholars who believed that the authors of these books were companions or followers of the apostles of Jesus. Scholars today do not accept this older view, because the books in the collection appear to have been written in a later generation. But most of them do date from the early to mid-2nd century, and as such, they are among the earliest Christian writings from outside the New Testament.
There are 10 (or 11) authors who are traditionally included in the collection of the Apostolic Fathers. Some of the works are by well-known figures of the early 2nd century (such as Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna), others are anonymous. Together, they represent the early writings of Proto-orthodoxy – that is, they represent the views that eventually came to influence and inform the shape of Christianity as it was to grow into a world religion that eventually converted the Roman Empire and became the major religious (and political, social, cultural and economic) force of the Middle Ages.
In this course, we will examine the various writings of the Apostolic Fathers, both to see what each of the surviving books has to say and to see how these books can instruct us about the emerging Christian Church of the 2nd Century.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers
Lecture 2: The Letter of 1 Clement
Lecture 3: Church Structures in Early Christianity
Lecture 4: The Letters of Ignatius
Lecture 5: Doctrinal Problems in the early Church
Lecture 6: Still Other Doctrinal Disputes
Disc 2
Lecture 7: The letter of Poly carp to the Philippians
Lecture 8: The use of Authorities in the Early Church
Lecture 9: The First Martyrology – Polycarp
Lecture 10: The Persecution of the Christians
Lecture 11: A Church Manual- the Didache of the Apostles
Lecture 12: Ritual in the Early Church
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Barnabas and the Opposition to the Jews
Lecture 14: The Rise of Christian Anti-Semitism
Lecture 15: 2 Clement – An Early Sermon
Lecture 16: The Use of Scripture in the Early Church
Lecture 17: Papias – An Early Christan Interpreter
Lecture 18: Oral Tradition in Early Christianity
Disc 4
Lecture 19: The Shepherd of Hermas – An Apocalypse
Lecture 20: Apocalypses in Early Christianity
Lecture 21: The Letter to Diognetus – An Apology
Lecture 22: Apologetics in Early Christianity
Lecture 23: The Apostolic Fathers as a Collection
Lecture 24: The Apostolic Fathers and Proto-orthodoxy
The third to last course by this professor is entitled “Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication.” At this time I think I only have a copy of the transcript and course guide book but assume they are 30 minute lectures each on the DVD.
A brief description on the back of the transcript/guidebook reads as follows:
In the first centuries after Christ, there was no “official” New Testament. Early Christians read and fervently followed many more Scriptures than we have today.
Relying on these writings, some Christians believed that there were 2, 12, or as many as 30 gods. Some thought that a malicious deity created the world. Some maintained that Christ’s resurrection had nothing to do with salvation; others insisted that Christ never died at all.
What did these “other” scriptures say? Do they exist today? How could such ideas ever be considered Christian? If such beliefs were once common, why do they no longer exist? This course by Professor Bart D. Ehrman addresses these fascinating questions with objectivity and rigor
Part 1
Lecture 1: The Diversity of Early Christianity
Lecture 2: Christians Who Would Be Jews
Lecture 3: Christians Who Refused to Be Jews
Lecture 4: Early Gnostic Christianity – Our Sources
Lecture 5: Early Christian Gnosticism – An Overview
Lecture 6: The Gnostic Gospel of Truth
Lecture 7: Gnostics Explain Themselves
Lecture 8: The Coptic Gospel of Thomas
Lecture 9: Thomas’ Gnostic Teachings
Lecture 10: Infancy Gospels
Lecture 11: The Gospel of Peter
Lecture 12: The Secret Gospel of Mark
Part 2
Lecture 13: The Acts of John
Lecture 14: The Acts of Thomas
Lecture 15: The Acts of Paul and Thecla
Lecture 16: Forgeries in the Name of Paul
Lecture 17: The Epistle of Barnabas
Lecture 18: The Apocalypse of Peter
Lecture 19: The Rise of Early Christian Orthodoxy
Lecture 20: Beginnings of the Canon
Lecture 21: Formation of the New Testament Canon
Lecture 22: Interpretation of Scripture
Lecture 23: Orthodox Corruption of Scripture
Lecture 24: Early Christian Creeds
This second to last course by Professor Ehrman is “How Jesus Became God.” Though all the Apostles, including St. Paul, as well as all good practicing Catholics today and most other Christian sects these days accept this fact, but as we see from the Arian Heresy (covered toward the end of this course), until it was settled, there was some doubt even among some within the Catholic community, at the time of Jesus and immediately after, that Jesus was divine. This course looks at the bumps along the way in both the secular and Catholic communities to accepting that Jesus’ defining property among other great religions and Jewish prophets was that He was the only “person” claiming to be God Himself that came to Earth to teach man about the actual reality He (God) created.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Jesus – The Man Who Became God
Lecture 2: Greco-Roman Gods who Became Human
Lecture 3: Humans as Gods
Lecture 4: Gods Who Were Human in Ancient Judaism
Lecture 5: Ancient Jews Who Were Gods
Lecture 6: The Life and Teachings of Jesus
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Did Jesus Think He Was God?
Lecture 8: The Death of Jesus – Historical Certainties
Lecture 9: Jesus’s Death – What Historians Can’t Know
Lecture 10: The Resurrection – What Historians Can’t know
Lecture 11: What History Reveals about the Resurrection
Lecture 12: The Disciples’ visions of Jesus
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Jesus’s Exaltation _ Earliest Christian Views
Lecture 14: The Backward Movement of Christology
Lecture 15: Paul’s View – Christ’s Elevated Divinity
Lecture 16: John’s View – The Word Made Human
Lecture 17: Was Christ Human? The Docetic View
Lecture 18: The Divided Christ of the Separationists
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Christ’s Dual Nature – Proto-Orthodoxy
Lecture 20: The Birth of the Trinity
Lecture 21: The Arian Controversy
Lecture 22: The Conversion of Constantime
Lecture 23: The Council of Nicea
Lecture 24: Once Jesus Became God
The last course we will outline by Professor Ehrman is entitled “The Triumph of Christianity” starts covering the existing Pagan religions and the Jewish religion in the Roman world and ends with the beginnings of a Christian Roman Empire with the losses and gains of its triumph.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: The Christian Conquest of Rome
Lecture 2: Pagan Religions in the Roman World
Lecture 3: Judaism in the Roman World
Lecture 4: Christianity in the Roman World an Overview
Lecture 5: The Life and Teachings of Jesus
Lecture 6: The Beginning of Christianity
Disc 2
Lecture 7: The Earliest Christian Missions
Lecture 8: The Conversions of Paul
Lecture 9: Paul: The Apostle of the Gentiles
Lecture 10: The Christian Mission to the Jews
Lecture 11: Early Christianities
Lecture 12: Reasons for Christianity’s Success
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Miraculous Incentives for Conversion
Lecture 14: The Exponential Growth of the Church
Lecture 15: Early Opposition to the Christian Message
Lecture 16: Imperial Persecution of the Early Christians
Lecture 17: Early Christian Apologists
Lecture 18: Major Imperial Persecutions of Christians
Disc 4
Lecture 19: The Conversion of Constantine
Lecture 20: Did Constantine Really Convert?
Lecture 21: Constantine’s Interactions with the Church
Lecture 22: Imperial Christianity after Constantine
Lecture 23: The Beginnings of a Christian Roman Empire
Lecture 24: The Triumph of Christianity: Gains and Losses
In an earlier blog we covered the course going through the history of Christianity from Jesus and the apostles to the Reformation. The title of this course is “The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch.” This course it taught by Professor Molly Worthen. She is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her PH.D in Religious Studies from Yale University. Dr Worthen has lectured widely around the United States and Canada on evangelical history and the culture wars. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and has written numerous articles for newspapers and magazines as well as two books. Dr. Worthen teaches courses on North American intellectual history and global Christianity.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Prophets of Reform before Protestantism
Lecture 2: Luther and the Dawn of Protestantism
Lecture 3: Zwingli, Calvin, and the Reformed Tradition
Lecture 4: The Anabaptist Radicals
Lecture 5: The Catholic Reformation
Lecture 6: The Church Militant in the Spanish Empire
Disc 2
Lecture 7: War and Witchcraft in the Holy Roman Empire
Lecture 8: Puritans, Kings, and Theology in Practice
Lecture 9: Religious Dissent and the English Civil War
Lecture 10: Eastern Orthodoxy: From Byzantium to Russia
Lecture 11: Christians under Muslim Rule
Lecture 12: The Church and the Scientific Revolution
Disc 3
Lecture 13: The Enlightenment Quest for Reasonable Faith
Lecture 14: Pietist Revival in Europe
Lecture 15: The First Great Awakening
Lecture 16: Religion and Revolution in the 18th Century
Lecture 17: The Second Great Awakening
Lecture 18: The Mormons: A True American Faith
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Slave Religion in the Americas
Lecture 20: Christian Missions and Moral Reform
Lecture 21: The Church’s Encounter with Modern Learning
Lecture 22: The Social Gospel
Lecture 23: Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism
Lecture 24: Apocalyptic Faith in the 1800s and Beyond
Disc 5
Lecture 25: The Church and the Russian Revolution
Lecture 26: The Rival Gods of the Cold War
Lecture 27: Rebellion and Reform in Latin America
Lecture 28: Vatican II and Global Renewal
Lecture 29: Secularism and the Dathe of God
Lecture 30: The Gospel and Global Civil Rights
Disc 6
Lecture 31: Culture Wars and the Christian Right
Lecture 32: Liberation Theologies in Latin America
Lecture 33: Prophetic Religion in Modern Africa
Lecture 34: Chinese Christianity: Missionaries to Mao
Lecture 35: Revival of Repression in Korea
Lecture 36: The Challenge of 21st Century Christianity
The next Course in this series looking at Christianity in depth is Entitled “The History of Christianity in the Reformation Era,” and once again its subject is self-explanatory. The lecturer is Professor Brad S. Gregory, formally of Stanford University. He became an Associat Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame in 2003. His five university degrees include an MA in History from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D in History from Princeton University. Professor Gregory has received several awards and fellowships, including the Walter J. Gores award, Stanford’s Highest teaching honor. His book Salvation at stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe has won six awards.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Early Modern Christianity – A Larger View
Lecture 2: The Landscape of Late Medieval Life
Lecture 3: Late medieval Christendom– Beliefs, Practices, Institutions I
Lecture 4: Late Medieval Christendom – Beliefs, Practices, Institutions II
Lecture 5: Vigorous of Corrupt? Christianity on the Eve of the Reformation
Lecture 6: Christian Humanism – Erudition, Education, Reform
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Martin Luther’s Road to Reformation
Lecture 8: The Theology of Martin Luther
Lecture 9: Huldrych Zwingli – The Early Reformation in Switzerland
Lecture 10: Profile of a Protest Movement – The Early Reformation in Germany
Lecture 11: The Peasants’ War of 1524-1525
Lecture 12: The Emergence of Early Anabaptism
Disc 3
Lecture 13: The Spread of Early Protestantism – France, the Low Countries, and England
Lecture 14: The Henrician Reformation in England
Lecture 15: Defending the Traditional Order – Early Catholic Response
Lecture 16: The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Munster
Lecture 17: John Calvin and the Reformation in Geneva
Lecture 18: Catholic Renewal and reform in Italy
Disc 4
Lecture 19: The Growth and Embattlement of Protestantism
Lecture 20: Calvinism in France and the Low Countries
Lecture 21: John Knox and the Scottish Reformation
Lecture 22: Menno Simons and the Dutch Mennonites
Lecture 23: The Council of Trent
Lecture 24: Roman Catholicism after Trent
Disc 5
Lecture 25: Going Global – Catholic Missions
Lecture 26: The French Wars of religion
Lecture 27: Religion and Politics in the Dutch Revolt
Lecture 28: Elizabethan England – Protestants, Puritans, and Catholics
Lecture 29: Confessionalization in Germany
Lecture 30: France and the Low Countries in the 1600s
Disc 6
Lecture 31: The Thirty Years’ War- Religion and Politics
Lecture 32: Revolution and Restoration in England
Lecture 33: The Impact of the Reformations – Changes in Society and Culture
Lecture 34: Were the Reformations a Success?
Lecture 35: Reflections on Religious Change and Conflict
Lecture 36: Expectations and Ironies
“Jesus and the Gospels” is the title of the next course we will outline and touches on the Synoptic Gospel problem, and Coptic and Gnostic gospels that are considered apocrapha with regard to the Catholic Bible of which Protestants consider 7 books included in the Catholic Bible as apocrypha. This course is taught by a professor mentioned in the outline of an earlier course in another blog but we will reprint his information here to give a quick review of his credentials. Professor Luke Timothy Johnson is renowned for his insight into Christianity. He is the Robert W. Woodruff professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Emory University Candler School of Theology. A former Benedictine monk and teacher at Yale Divinity School, he is the author of acclaimed books, Including The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus. Professor Johnson has twice received the prestigious On Eagle’s Wings Excellence in Teaching Award.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Why Not “The Historical Jesus?”
Lecture 2: The Starting Point – The Resurrection Experience
Lecture 3: The Matrix, Symbolic world of Greek and Jew
Lecture 4: Parallels – Stories of Greek and Jewish Heros
Lecture 5: The Context – Jesus in the Memory of the Church
Lecture 6: Earliest Stages – Paul and the Oral Tradition
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Why Compose Gospels?
Lecture 8: The Synoptic Problem and its Solutions
Lecture 9: Gospel of Mark – Apocalyptic and Irony
Lecture 10: Gospel of Mark – Good News in Mystery
Lecture 11: Gospel of Mark – Teacher and Disciples
Lecture 12: Gospel of Mark – Passion and Death
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Gospel of Matthew – Synagogue Down the Street
Lecture 14: Gospel of Matthew – The Messiah of Isreal
Lecture 15: Gospel of Matthew – Jesus and the Torah
Lecture 16: Gospel of Matthew – Teacher and Lord
Lecture 17: Luke-Acts – The Prophetic Gospel
Lecture 18: Gospel of Luke God’s Prophet
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Gospel of Luke – The Prophet and the People
Lecture 20: Acts of the Apostles – The Prophet’s Movement
Lecture 21: Gospel of John – Context of Conflict
Lecture 22: Gospel of John – Jesus as the Man from Heaven
Lecture 23: Gospel of John – Jesus as Obedient Son
Lecture 24: Gospel of John – Witness to the Truth
Disc 5
Lecture 25: In and Out – Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels
Lecture 26: Young Jesus – The Infancy Gospel of James
Lecture 27: Young Jesus – The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Lecture 28: Jewish Christian Narrative Gospels
Lecture 29: Fragments of Narrative Gospels – Gospel of Peter
Lecture 30: New Revelations – Gnostic Witnesses
Disc 6
Lecture 31: Jesus in Word – The Coptic Gospel of Thomas
Lecture 32: Jesus in Word – Two Gnostic Gospels
Lecture 33: The Gnostic Good News – The Gospel of Truth
Lecture 34: The Gnostic Good News – The Gospel of Philip
Lecture 35: Jesus in and through the Gospels
Lecture 36: Learning Jesus in Past and Present
The next course outlined this is “The History of Christian Theology,” a subject of which again is self-explanatory. The Lecturer is Professor Phillip Cary. He is Professor of Philosophy at Eastern University and Scholar-in-Residence at the Templeton Honors College. He holds a Ph.D in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Yale University. A former teacher at Yale, The University of Connecticut, and other prestigious universities. Professor Carey won Eastern University’s prestigious Lindback Award for his excellence in undergraduate teaching.
Lecture 1: What is Theology?
Lecture 2: Early Christian Proclamation
Lecture 3: Pauline Eschatology
Lecture 4: The Synoptic Gospels
Lecture 5: The Gospels of John
Lecture 6: Varieties of Early Christianities
Disc 2
Lecture 7: The Emergence of Christian Doctrine
Lecture 8: Christian Reading
Lecture 9: The Uses of Philosophy
Lecture 10: The Doctrine of the Trinity
Lecture 11: The Doctrine of the incarnation
Lecture 12: The Doctrine of Grace
Disc 3
Lecture 13: The Incomprehensible and the Supernatural
Lecture 14: Eastern Orthodox Theology
Lecture 15: Atonement and the Procession of the Spirit
Lecture 16: Scholastic Theology
Lecture 17: The Sacraments
Lecture 18: Souls after Death
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Luther and Protestant Theology
Lecture 20: Calvin and Reformed Theology
Lecture 21: Protestants on Predestination
Lecture 22: Protestant Disagreements
Lecture 23: Anabaptists and the Radical Reformation
Lecture 24: Anglicans and Puritans
Disc 5
Lecture 25: Baptists and Quakers
Lecture 26: Pietists and the Turn to Experience
Lecture 27: From Puritans to Revivalists
Lecture 28: Perfection, Holiness, and Pentecostalism
Lecture 29: Deism and Liberal Protestantism
Lecture 30: Neo-Orthodoxy – From Kierkegaard to Barth
Disc 6
Lecture 31: Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism
Lecture 32: Protestantism after Modernity
Lecture 33: Catholic Theologies of Grace
Lecture 34: Catholic Mystical Theology
Lecture 35: From Vatican I to Vatican II
Lecture 36: Vatican II and Ecumenical Prospects
“Myth in Human History” is the next course we will cover. The lecturer is Professor Grant L. Voth, a Professor Emeritus in English and interdisciplinary Studies at Monterey Peninsula College and expert in literature from around the world. A former professor at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech. Professor Voth is the author of more than 30 books and articles on subjects ranging from Shakespear to modern American fiction. His distinguished awards include the Alien Griffin Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Myth and Meaning
Lecture 2: The Continuing Importance of Myth
Lecture 3: Creation Myths
Lecture 4: Mesopotamian Creation – Enuma Elish
Lecture 5: Hebrew Creation Myths
Lecture 6: Emergence and World-Parent Creation Myths
Disc 2
Lecture 7: Cosmic Egg and Ex-Nihilo Creation Myths
Lecture 8: Earth-Diver and Dismembered God Creation Myths
Lecture 9: Mesopotamian and Hebrew Flood Myths
Lecture 10: Other Flood Myths
Lecture 11: Myths of Cosmic Destruction
Lecture 12: Greek and Norse Pantheons
Disc 3
Lecture 13: The Great Goddess Remembered?
Lecture 14: The Goddess – Inanna and Dumuzi
Lecture 15: The Goddess – Isis and Osiris
Lecture 16: The Eclipse of the Goddess
Lecture 17: Shamans and Vegetation Gods
Lecture 18: Sky Gods and Earth Goddesses
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Creator Gods
Lecture 20: Gods and Goddesses of India
Lecture 21: Hero Myths
Lecture 22: Mythic Heroes – Gilgamesh
Lecture 23: Mythic Heroes – King Arthur
Lecture 24: Mythic Heroes – Jason and the Argonauts
Disc 5
Lecture 25: The Monomyths of Rank and Campbell
Lecture 26: Mythic Heroes – Mwindo
Lecture 27: Female Heroes – Demeter and Hester Prynne
Lecture 28: Female Heroes – Psyche and Beauty
Lecture 29: The Trickster in Mythology
Lecture 30: Tricksters from Around the World
Disc 6
Lecture 31: Native American Tricksters
Lecture 32: African Tricksters
Lecture 33: Mythic Tricksters – Eshu and Legba
Lecture 34: The Places of Myth – Rocks and Lakes
Lecture 35: The Places of Myth – Mountains
Lecture 36: The Places of Myth – Sacred Trees
The final course we will cover is entitled “Luther: Gospel, Law, and Reformation” and is taught by Professor Philip Cary, the Director of the Philosophy Program at Easten University (formerly Eastern College) in St. David Pennsylvania, where he is also Assistant Professor in the Templeton Honors College. He received his M.A. in Philosophy and Ph.D in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Yale University. He has published several papers on St. Augustine and other topics. He is author of Augustine’s Invention of the Inner Self: The legacy of a Christian Platonist.
Disc 1
Lecture 1: Luther’s Gospel
Lecture 2: The Medieval Church – Abuses and Reform
Lecture 3: The Augustinian Paradigm of Spirituality
Lecture 4: Young Luther Against Himself
Lecture 5: Hearing the Gospels
Lecture 6: Faith and Works
Disc 2
Lecture 7: The Meaning of the Sacraments
Lecture 8: The Indulgence Controversy
Lecture 9: The Reformation Goes Public
Lecture 10: The Captivity of the Sacraments
Lecture 11: Reformation in Wittenberg
Lecture 12: The Work of the Reformer
Disc 3
Lecture 13: Against the Spirit of Rebellion
Lecture 14: Controversy Over the Lord’s Supper
Lecture 15: Controversy Over Infant Baptism
Lecture 16: Grace and Justification
Lecture 17: Luther and the Bible
Lecture 18: Luther and Erasmus
Disc 4
Lecture 19: Luther and Predestination
Lecture 20: Luther and Protestantism
Lecture 21: Luther and Politics
Lecture 22: Luther and His Enemies
Lecture 23: Luther and the Jews
Lecture 24: Luther and Modernity
This concludes this set of Great Course outlines on Christian reflections. There are some overlaps giving more varied views among the courses above concerning things like the synoptic gospels, the different gospels approach etc. These additional insights can help one see Catholicism, and why Catholics do certain thing from a different perspective.