Assessment

Essay (80%) + Engagement with prescribed readings (10%) + Source Criticism exercise (10%)

Module Aims

• Introduce students to the study of Medieval Ecclesiastical History
• Provide students with a good overview of the most up to date scholarship on the history of the Church in the Middle Ages

Learning Outcomes

• — At the end of the module students should
• — Be able to fluently discuss the principal ecclesiastical events and personalities of the Medieval, Renaissance and Reformation periods
• — Appreciate the evolution in theology, spirituality, ecclesiastical ministry and popular practice, which characterised the later Middle Ages, and how this has shaped the Church down to the present day
• — Be aware of the role of the various dissenting movements within Christianity leading up to the sixteenth-century Reformations
• — Appreciate the effects of the Avignon Papacy and Great Western Schism on the evolution of the office of the Roman Pontiff and their significance in the period leading to the age of the Reformations
• — Be familiar with the Church’s contribution to the Arts in the Renaissance period
• — Have a clear understanding of the dynamics of the sixteenth-century Reformations and the theological issues that underpinned them
• — Appreciate the complexities of the Reformation period and display an awareness and sensitivity towards the continuing work of ecumenical dialogue in the Church
• — Recognise the importance of a solid historical grasp of the theological issues of this period and an awareness of the relevance of this for other theological disciplines
• — Have gained a good historical sense of the period and display a willingness to “attentively listen to” the diverse arguments / positions of a range of individuals / groups in key historical debates, a skill which is readily transferable to a wide range of situations in ministerial practice or in the workplace.

Bibliography

• — Available on Moodle