Core

The Reformation and the Modern World

Core

Once upon a time, Protestants liked to take credit for the glories of the modern world, but as attitudes on modernity have soured, many have been quick to turn the narrative around and blame Protestantism for its cultural decline. Was the Reformation to blame? What is the true story? This course will offer students a fuller perspective on why the Reformation was necessary, what aspects of Christendom it did and did not seek to change, and the lasting legacy it left, both good and ill, for the world we live in today.

Taught by Dr. Bradford Littlejohn.

NOTE: this is a Year 1 Core Course for degree students

Runs 4/11-6/17/22.

Note: due to the late date of Easter this year, the first week of Trinity Term falls in Holy Week. Classes that are scheduled to meet on Thursdays, Fridays, or Saturdays will not meet for the first time until the week of 4/18; professors will schedule a make-up class somewhere during the term to cover the missed class time.

Auditing: participate in readings and live class sessions, but no graded assignments and no course credit
Full course part-time: individual classes on a for-credit basis; you can later apply them toward a Certificate or Degree
Full course full-time: for-credit courses (at least four per term) toward our Certificate or M.Litt in Classical Protestantism

Description

This Core course will be taught by Dr. Bradford Littlejohn, and will run from April 11th through June 17th, 2022. The syllabus is available here.

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 a tale of a Reformation that disenchanted the cosmos, banished beauty and sacraments, and opened the door for rampant individualism. What is the true story? This course will offer students a fuller perspective on why the Reformation was necessary, what aspects of Christendom it did and did not seek to change, and the lasting legacy it left, both good and ill, for the world we live in today.

The course will be divided into two main sections. Part I, comprising the first six weeks, will focus chiefly on the Reformation itself, its protest against Rome, and the debate over seminal doctrines—with particular emphasis on developments often seen as having harmful unintended consequences in the modern world. Part II, comprising the last four weeks, will look more closely at certain downstream effects of the Reformation that are generally (though not unambiguously) recognized as positive achievements of modernity. The key texts for this course will be the Davenant Institute’s anthology, Reformation Theology, Paul Avis’s The Church in the Theology of the Reformers, and Alister McGrath’s history of Protestantism and the modern world, Christianity’s Dangerous Idea, supplemented with other excerpts.

NOTE: this is a Year 1 Core Course for degree students

Dr. Bradford Littlejohn (Ph.D, University of Edinburgh) is a scholar and writer in the fields of political theology, Christian ethics, and Reformation history. He is the author of several books, including The Peril and Promise of Christian Liberty: Richard Hooker, the Puritans, and Protestant Political Theology (Eerdmans, 2017).

Online only, runs 10 weeks, meeting 2 hr./wk. via Zoom. Students will also have the option to participate in class discussion on the Davenant Common Room Discord server. Register to reserve your spot and schedule will be set after a poll of participating students; if the class time does not fit your schedule, you will be eligible for a full refund.

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.