The following are the subjects of each of the 30-minute lectures
Disc 1
1. The Historical Study of Christianity
2. The First Cultural context – Greece and Rome
3. The First Cultural context – Judaism
4. The Jesus Movement and the birth of Christianity
5. Paul and Christianity’s first Expansion
5. The Diversity of Early Christianity.
Disc 2
7. The Unpopular Cult – Persecution
8. forms of Witness – Martyrdom and Apologetic
9. Extreme Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries
10. The Shaping Of Orthodoxy
11. Institutional Development before Constantine
12. The Beginnings of Christian Philosophy
Disc 3
13. Imperial Politics and Religion
14. Constantine and the Established Church
15. The Extension of Christian Culture
16. Monasticism as Radical Christianity
17. The Emergence of Patriarchal Centers
18. Theological Crisis and Council – The Trinity
Disc 4
19. Theological Crisis and Council – Christology
20. The Distinctive Issues of the Latin West
21. Expansion beyond the Boundaries of Empire
22. The Court of Justinian and Byzantine Christianity
23. The Rise of Islam and the Threat of Iconoclasm
24. Eastern Orthodoxy – Holy Tradition
Disc 5
25. From Roman Empire to Holy Roman Empire
26. Benedictine Monasticism and its Influence
27, Evangelization of Western Europe
28. The Great Divorce between East and West
29. Monastic Reform
30. Cathedrals and Chapters
Disc 6
31. The Crusades
32. Papal Revolution
33. Universities and Theology
34. The Great Plague
35. Corruption and the Beginnings of Reform
36. The Ever-Adapting Religion
The Lecturer (Following as with all other notes in the future on the lecturer are quoted from the write up on the back of the DVD cases.
“Professor Luke Timothey Johnson is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology . A Former Benedictine monk and teacher at Yale Divinity School, he is the author of numerous acclaimed books including The Real Jesus, The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels and, most recently, Among the Gentiles: Greco-Roman Religion and Christianity. Professor Johnson has twice received Emory University’s prestigious On Eagle’s Wings Excellence in Teaching Award.”
The course book has the standard Suggested Reading and questions to consider after each lecture section as well as the bibliography at the end and blank pages except for the heading of notes.
An example of the Questions to consider and a quote of a possible answer from the text is as follows:
“Why are doctrine and disputes over doctrine so prominent in Christianity in comparison to other world religions?”
“It would be a mistake to regard the controversies as quibbling over words: Genuine convictions concerning the nature of salvation were at stake.
- Those on the Arian side thought that they were protecting the “Oneness” of God by making Christ a creature.
- For Athanasius and his friends, however, it was a a question of whether humans were saved by God or by themselves; the divinity of Christ was critical to God alone being given the glory.”