Handbook

This foundation subject introduces students to skills appropriate to studying church history, including the use and analysis of early sources, both written and non-written, and later historical interpretations. It encompasses the contributions of the Apostolic Fathers and early Christian Apologists, and explores early challenges to the Christian movement from within and without. Close attention is given to church-state relations and the formulation of Christian theology by prominent theologians and significant councils, especially those convened at Nicaea and Chalcedon. The subject also examines early Christian monasticism, issues of ethnicity and gender, mission and the claims of the Bishop of Rome to supremacy. Consistent attention is given to understanding the broader context of the Graeco-Roman world in which Christianity developed.