Courses

Canada is sometimes regarded as a more secular version of its American neighbour. Henry Alline, the late eighteenth century Nova Scotian revivalist, would not have agreed, for he believed that while Old and New England were engaged in a most inhuman war, a great redeemer nation was emerging in his corner of British North America. This course examines Canada's rich Christian heritage from the first European encounters with aboriginal peoples to contemporary times, with particular emphasis on the relationship between Christianity and the broad socio-political and intellectual history of the nation.

A study of the history of the Christian Church from the turn of the first century to the eve of the sixteenth century Reformation with attention to the persons, events, and issues involved in the major developments of Christianity.

Surveys the development of the Christian Church from the late medieval period through to the early twenty-first century. Key topics include: the Protestant and Catholic Reformations; the Great Awakenings and the rise of modern Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, and the growth of modern missionary movements, along with a consideration of significant individuals, changes in theology, institutions, devotional practices, gender roles, and attempts to engage and shape culture.

This course examines some of the major themes in the history of the Arab Middle East since the breakup of the Ottoman Empire following World War I. Primary emphasis is on the role played by issues of identity in the development of national structures in the Arab East (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States). Major themes include the nature of Islamic community, the structure and legacy of Ottoman rule, the post- Ottoman settlement and the impact of colonial rule, the emergence of nationalist politics and the growth of the contemporary Arab state system, oil and the politics of family rule in the Gulf States, and the relationship between religion and politics

Topics may vary. Courses offered to date include: Canada and War in the Twentieth Century.

Examines the Atlantic world during an era of immense global change. Since the navigations of the fifteenth century, the Atlantic has been a corridor for fundamental exchanges of peoples, crops, technology and ideas. Topics include early maritime explorations, the destruction and reconfiguration of indigenous societies, the labour migrations of Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans, slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the establishment of an Atlantic economy, and the maturation of Euro-American colonial societies and their struggles for autonomy and national independence.

Designed to explore history as a discipline and a form of knowledge. It examines the process and the structure of how human societies have interpreted, ordered and used historical inquiry. Major theoretical/philosophical traditions and their historians are analyzed. Special attention is paid to modern rational history with its focus on the notion of progress and the challenges brought about by the claims of postmodern interpretationbased history with its emphasis on language, race, ethnicity, gender, and environment. Furthermore, it explores history's impact on other disciplines including philosophy, literary criticism, biology, physics, and religious studies. Combines weekly readings with selected guest lectures that explore the ways in which history is understood in History and in other disciplines.

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.