Monasticism from St. Anthony to the Reformation
The Reformation almost entirely did away with monasticism. Yet for over 1000 years, the monastic movement was itself a powerful force in the life of the church, at times for great spiritual good, at times to the detriment—and even Reformers like Martin Luther found some spiritual value in the writings of the monks who came…
John Davenant and John Owen on the Death of Christ
Among the Reformed, the question of the extent of the atonement is an area of intense intramural disagreement. Indeed, with the “L” in TULIP (the popular acronym for the so-called Five Points of Calvinism) famously standing for “Limited Atonement”, many would argue that a certain view of the doctrine is necessary if one is to…
Maimonides and the Guide for the Perplexed
This course is a close reading of Maimonides’s famous Guide for the Perplexed, especially as it influences Christian tradition through Latin medievals in translation as Dux neutrorum. Our main focus is on Maimonides’s text itself (in English), which we will work through piece by piece. Special focus will be on divine metaphors, and issues of…
Celtic Christianity: Fact and Fiction
Far off on the edge of the world and the shores of civilization, the Irish came to faith in Jesus later than their neighbors in Roman Britain and the Mediterranean world. Yet when they caught fire for the Christian faith, they would not only launch the evangelisation of the Picts in what is now Scotland,…
Political Theology and the English Reformation
This class will focus on the political theology of English Protestants in the 16th century. We will look at the writings of Peter Martyr Vermigli, Heinrich Bullinger, John Jewel, and other influential Reformed theologians on the English Reformed Church. Special attention will be given to the role and duty of the civil magistrate regarding religion…
Augustine and Ephrem Against the Manicheans
This course will focus on two of the greatest authors of their respective traditions: Augustine of Hippo (354-430), whose writings cover over the Latin West, and Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) whose influence stretches across the Syriac Orient. Though they never met or knew of each other, they both wrote a great deal against a…
The Seven Ecumenical Councils in Historical Context
From 325 to 787, seven major church councils were convened by Roman emperors. These were attended by as many bishops as possible from the known inhabited world, the oikoumene (though most usually came from the eastern half of the Roman emperor). Seven of these were recognised as being truly representative of the universal (or at…
Reformation and the Modern World
Once upon a time, Protestants liked to take credit for the glories of the modern world: freedom, prosperity, civilization. As attitudes on modernity have soured, many have been quick to turn the narrative around and blame Protestantism for the licentiousness, greed, and exploitation that we see around us. Influential books by Catholic scholars have told…