Christian History, Electives

Piety and Paideia: Gleanings from Pre-Reformation Spirituality

Spirituality/Church History

In this class, students will examine pre-Reformation spirituality and monasticism through a historic overview and primary sources, gleaning and retrieving the best whilst discerning errors. They will then consider the Reformation response to medieval piety through studying Calvin’s Institutes, considering piety toward God formed through a Christian community.

Taught by Mr. Michael Hughes.

Runs from 9/27-12/12/2021.

Description

This Spirituality/Church History course will be taught by Davenant House Director Michael Hughes, and will run from September 27 through December 10. The syllabus can be viewed here.

For all the attention Protestants pay to practical Christian living, we often throw out the baby with the bath water when considering pre-Reformation spiritual practices, disciplines, and monastic movements. Yet many Reformers worked hard to sift the pre-Reformation wheat from the chaff, their ultimate goal being to make the means of growth in Christ, and the communities in which growth was to occur, accessible to all, not just the priestly class.

In the first half of the course, students will examine pre-Reformation spirituality and monasticism through a historic overview and primary sources. They will rediscover and retrieve some of the riches of the piety (lived-out obedience as a relational response to God) and paideia (formative education, discipleship, formation in Christlikeness) that informed the spirituality of the Reformers and their successors. They will identify errors, extremes, and abuses, but the emphasis will be on what can be positively gained. The second half will be an examination of Calvin’s Institutes, considering piety toward God formed through a Christian paideia. We will seek to recover the baby, clean off the dirt, clothe it in appropriate theological attire, and feed it with the Word so it may grow and bear the formative fruits proper to one whose life is “hidden with Christ in God.”

Michael Hughes and his wife Lynette have been Directors of our Davenant House ministry since summer 2019. He holds a B.S. in Biology, Environmental Education, and Museum Methods, an M.A. in Theological Studies, and is currently working on a ThM. He previously spent the nine years serving with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in his home state of Wisconsin, first as a campus staff minister, then a team leader, and finally as an Area Ministry Director and Regional International Student Ministry Champion. Michael and Lynette have been abundantly blessed with 5 children: Elizabeth, Isaiah, Malachi, Adoniah, and Eliakim.

Online only, runs 10 weeks, meeting 2 hr./wk. via Zoom. Students will also have the option to participate in class discussion in the Davenant Common Room Discord server. Register now to reserve your spot. The course will proceed contingent on sufficient enrollment; on rare occasions, a class has to be cancelled due to insufficient interest. Once the registration period closes, the class meeting time will be set on the basis of a poll of availability from registrants. In case of cancellation or scheduling conflicts, students will be eligible for a refund or a transfer to another course.
This is a graduate-level course. Although a BA is not a necessary pre-requisite for this course, students should come prepared to do graduate-level work.