with

Dr. Michael Hollerich

FALL, 2005

Thursday Mornings

9:30 -11:30 a.m.

September 8 - November 10, 2005

O'Shaughnessy Educational Center Auditorium
University of St. Thomas
St. Paul Campus

This program will examine Christianity’s evolution from a Jewish sect to the state religion of an empire of 60 million people, all in less than 400 years. Each session will address a serious theological question for which knowledge of history is indispensable. In the course of seeking answers, we will look at several key stages and developments in the movement from sect to state church. Stages: Jewish sect, the era of persecution and conversion and identity formation, transition to patronage and establishment. Developments: Christianity and its relation to Judaism, persecution and martyrdom, the formation of the biblical canon and of the church’s structure, theological development, the conversion of the empire to Christianity (and the conversion of Christianity to the empire?).

1. Sept. 8     So why aren’t we still Jews? Or: Do you keep kosher in your kitchen? The parting of
        the ways between Judaism and Christianity: gradual separation from Jewish roots and
        transformation into a Gentile religion; the legacy of Christian anti-Judaism.

2. Sept. 15   What does it mean to say, “There is no name under heaven by which we are saved
                    but this one”? Or: Can’t we all just get along, and why would someone join a religion
                    like this anyway? The spread of Christianity: encounter with the Roman Empire,
                    varieties of religion in the empire, Roman law and Christianity, the persecutions and the
                    theology and practice of martyrdom, motives for conversion.

3. Sept. 22   Why books and bishops? Or: Why didn’t they keep it simple and just do what Jesus
        did? Christianity becomes a religion: formation of Christian identity, measured
        especially by the formation of the biblical canon, the challenges of movements such as
        Gnosticism, the growth of the church’s institutional structure.

4. Sept. 29 What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? Or: Why didn't they just say what Jesus said?
                    Christian theology before Nicaea: biblical interpretation, preaching, apologetics, creedal
                    formation, the role of philosophy, the relation of theology to scripture and to church authority,
                    career and accomplishments of Origen of Alexandria.

Oct. 6 No Session

Oct. 13 No Session

Oct. 20 No Session

5. Oct. 27   How did a kingdom not of this world become a kingdom in this world? Or: How did
                    that guy with the sword get through the metal detector? From persecution to toleration
                    to patronage to establishment: the career, conversion, emperorship and legacy of
                   Constantine, first Christian emperor, the later history of the Christian empire.

6. Nov. 3    Why do we say the Creed, and who decides what’s in it? Or: How are we different from
        Jews and Muslims? Creeds, councils, and controversies: the fourth and fifth century
        ecumenical councils, the dogmas of the Trinity and the Incarnation, councils as “political” events
        and institutions, unifying and divisive effects.

7. Nov. 10 Does Christianity depend on buildings and places? Or: What would Jesus say if He saw
St. Peter's? Christianity as a territorial religion: evolution of church buildings, concept of a holy
land and holy places.

Recommended books:
W.H.C. Frend, The Early Church, 4^th ed. Fortress.
Eusebius, The History of the Church, trans. G.A. Williamson, rev. and ed. Andrew Louth. Penguin.

Dr. Michael Hollerich is a member of St. Thomas’ Department of Theology. He earned his M.T.S. at Harvard Divinity School and his Ph.D. in the history of Christianity, with a specialization in the early church, at the University of Chicago. He teaches sections of the required university introductory course in theology as well as a range of historical courses, such as Early Christian Theology, Religion and Politics, Augustine, the Papacy, Catholicism and Orthodoxy in Ukraine, and German Churches and the Third Reich. His research interests include the history of biblical interpretation and relations between Christianity and the political order. He is working on a book on the German patristics scholar Erik Peterson.

For more information call 651-962-5188 or e-mail mhseiter@stthomas.edu.

The Birth of Christianity: From Jewish Sect to State Church
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