2009 - 2010 Academic Catalog - Westminster Theological Seminary

{Course Descriptions}
Church History
2009–2010
Topics covered include the influence of Aristotelian philosophy on
Medieval theology, Thomas Aquinas, Anselm, Abelard, the pastoral
theology of Gregory the Great, the rise of the monastic orders,
John Duns Scotus, William Ockham, Medieval mysticism, and the
rise of Islam.
Spring semester, two hours. Mr. Jue.
CH 311 The Reformation
Purpose:
• To introduce students to the major events,
personalities, and ideas which shaped the Reformation
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
• To encourage students to think historically
about the church’s past
• To enable students to read major theological
texts from the Reformation for themselves
Topics and personalities covered include the late medieval context,
Martin Luther, John Calvin, justification by faith, anabaptism, the
Catholic Reformation, the Anglican settlements, and the rise of
Puritanism.
Fall semester, three hours. Mr. Trueman.
CH 321 The Church in the Modern Age
Purpose:
• To introduce students to the major events, individuals,
and ideas that influenced the development of the church
from the late-seventeenth century to the present
• To help students examine the historical context out of which
theological distinctions within the modern church emerged
• To encourage students to reflect upon
the globalization of Christianity
Topics covered include Colonial North American Puritanism, the
First and Second Great Awakenings, the history of American
Presbyterianism, Old Princeton Theology, the Enlightenment and
German Liberal Theology, the modern missionary movement,
Fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, global Christianity, and the postmodern
church.
Fall semester, four hours. Mr. Jue.
CH 403 Asian American History and Theology
Purpose:
• To examine the historical-theological development
of the Asian church in America
• To equip students to understand the place of
the Asian American church within the broader
history of Christianity in America
• To expose students to the most recent scholarship
in ethnic studies and Asian American theology
• To encourage students to reflect upon the usefulness
of Reformed theology for an Asian American context
Topics covered include the history of the Chinese, Japanese, and
Korean American churches; theological contextualization; patterns
of assimilation; racial discourse in cross-cultural ministries; single
ethnic, multiethnic, and postethnic models of ministry; and the
exploration of a Pan-Asian Reformed theology.
Spring semester, two hours. (Not given in 2009-2010.) Mr. Jue.
CH 423 Readings in the History of
American Evangelicalism
See CH 723 below. Spring semester, two hours. Mr. Jue.
CH 432 English Puritan Thought
See CH 732 below. Winter term, two hours. (Not given in 2009-
2010.) Mr. Trueman.
CH 483 God and Scripture in the Era of Reformed
Orthodoxy (ca. 1560-ca. 1680)
See CH 783 below. Spring semester, two hours. (Not given in
2009-2010.) Mr. Trueman.
CH 531 The Doctrine of the Church
in Reformed Theology
See CH 831 below. Fall semester, two hours. (Not given in 2009-
2010.) Mr. Troxel.
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