Courses

Examines the historical development of the family beginning with the ancient world up to 1600. A central inquiry is the formation of families and households, as well the impact of religion on gender and family roles. Also explores the use of power and coercion in the organization of family, and an inquiry into contemporary gender theory, but concentrates on the lives and ideas of actual persons insofar as the historical record reveals them.

Topics may vary. Courses offered to date include: Decolonizing Gender in African History, First Nations-Canadians in B.C., History of Arian Theology, History of the Celtic Church, History of the Metis in Canada, Introduction to Patristics Study, Medieval Warfare, Arian Theology, Sacred Women in the Ancient World, War, Peace, and International Law, Gender and the Charter, Transatlantic British Empire, Christian Perspective on Israel.

Under the direction of the student's approved thesis advisor, a course of reading and study which leads to the development of both a significant bibliographical essay (or annotated bibliography) and a thesis proposal. The latter includes at least the following: major question(s) to be addressed; significance of the issue(s); methodologies to be used; theories to be addressed and primary sources to be examined.

Under the direction of a supervisor, students who do not do a thesis, research and write a major paper of approximately 10,000-15,000 words in length.

Students examine, through readings, discussion, and student presentations, the way that men and women in Europe circa 1300 to 1700 embraced alternative religious beliefs, some of which were accepted and domesticated by the Catholic or protestant institutional churches, while others were rejected and persecuted as heresy and/ or witchcraft by both. Students also evaluate different historiographical and methodological approaches to the study of heterodoxy.

This course examines the period of transition and turmoil in European history, from approximately 1360 to 1550, known as the Renaissance. As the cultural synthesis of the high middle ages was crumbling, poets, philosophers, artists, architects, theologians, and statesmen in search of a fresh model for society rejected the late medieval scholastic worldview and embraced a new educational program, the studia humanitatis, based on a re-evaluation and revival of classical culture. This transition affected not only literature, the arts, the sciences, religion, and government, but virtually every other sphere of human activity. Therefore, this course, while providing an indepth, interdisciplinary introduction to the key topics of humanism, religion, political theory, and changes in high culture, also investigates the issues of gender, economic development, and social history during this period. It also assesses different methodological approaches to the study of the Renaissance.

This course examines in detail the background and development of Christian thought and life in the period spanning the Apostolic Fathers through to the Council of Nicaea (325). Particular attention is paid to how the early Christians understood themselves, how they interpreted their religious tradition and related it to their religious experience, and how they defined their own purposes. This course seeks to contextualize pre-Christianity in its diverse expressions. Thus, the course analyzes the complex formulation of Pre-Nicene Christianity through the writings of some of its most influential thinkers, leaders, and movements (both orthodox and heretical) with an eye toward identifying major developments in early Christian theology and practice.