So, I have an opportunity to teach (part of) a class for one of my summer classes, Christian History I. I can teach about anything I want to from basically 33CE to 1500CE. Any thoughts on what I should teach on?
Here are some topics I’m thinking about (I’m trying to fashion them so that they fuflfill course objectives):
- Roman, Greek, and Jewish background
- The various “heresies” that cropped up during the 2nd and 3rd centuries. (I’m thinking of groups like gnostics, montanists, adoptionism, docetics, etc.)
- The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 and Galatians 2
- Conversion of Constantine: results and reasons for the Edict of Milan
As you can see, I’d like to stay as “early” as possible, since that’s where my “expertise,” if it can be called such, can be placed.
Am I missing some other topic in the first few hundred years of Christianity that need to be addressed?
Conversion of Constantine. I actually asked Dr. Adams if she would teach a whole semester on that topic, but she said it wouldn’t work out (no her words, my estimation of her words). I would love to hear someone study it critically and report to me!
-t