Introduction to Church History: The Early Church, Middle Ages, Renaissance (CH1001C)

Undergraduate, 18.0 points

Content

A survey unit which covers the areas of the Early Church, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The unit includes a study of the major movements which shaped church and society and how they have influenced current church practices. The unit focuses particularly on the developments in the first five centuries while also considering the shaping of the church from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. In this context it also considers the significant developments in theology during this period.

Unit code: CH1001C

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 18.0

Unit level: Undergraduate Level 1

Unit discipline: Church History

Proposing College: Catholic Theological College

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Learning outcomes

1.

Situate significant people and events in chronological sequence through analysis of relevant primary sources.
2.

Articulate the historic context of some major events in the history of the Church during these ages.
3.

Analyse the ways in which the visible church has been shaped by changing political, social, cultural and economic circumstances.
4.

Identify the ways in which the church has articulated its central beliefs (doctrine/theology).
5.

Interpret a representative selection of primary and secondary sources, both written and visual, as evidence in the analysis of specific historical periods.

Pedagogy

Self-directed and mentored apprenticeship in reading primary and secondary historical documents through targeted learning activities, lectures, formative and summative assessment tasks.

Indicative Bibliography

  • Blainey, Geoffrey. A Short History of Christianity. Viking, 2011.
  • Buckley, James J., Frederick C. Bauerschmidt, and Trent Pomplu, eds. The Blackwell Companion to Catholicism. Blackwell, 2007.
  • Coakley, John W., and Andreas Sterk, eds. Readings in World Christian History. Vol. 1, Earliest Christianity to 1453. Orbis Books, 2004.
  • Comby, Jean. How to Read Church History. Vol. 1, From the Beginning to the Fifteenth Century. SCM, 1985.
  • Gerhardt, Mary, and Fabian E. Udoh, eds. The Christianity Reader. University of Chicago Press, 2007.
  • Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity. Vol. 1, The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. 2nd ed. Harper Collins, 2010.
  • Harries, Richard, and Henry Mayr-Harting, eds. Christianity: Two Thousand Years. Oxford University Press, 2001.
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Allen Lane, 2009.
  • Wilken, Robert Louis. The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity. Yale University Press, 2012.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Short Answer Tests

2 x 250-word quiz

 500 10.0
Document Study

2 x 250-word document study

 500 10.0
Essay 2000 50.0
Written Examination

1-hour document exam

 1000 30.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 25 Jun, 2026

Unit record last updated: 2026-06-25 10:14:15 +1000