Class 1: Introduction Ann T. Orlando 18 January 2006

Introduction to Class Introductory remarks Importance of Church History for me Review Syllabus  Requirements  Structure of course  Course Web Site Primary sources  Where are they?  How to read them

Importance of Church History (or why I love Church History) Gives me the context for the theological answers that have been developed and taught by the Church  Often, can’t appreciate the answer without knowing the question  Example: Jesus Christ whom we confess as one person with two natures Gives me an appreciation for importance of Catholic Church in Western civilization Gives the examples of holy men and women for me to follow

Requirements Class attendance and active participation. Preparation of weekly papers and class discussion Two Exams:  Midterm will cover first half of semester (closed book)  Final will cover second half of semester (closed book)  Both midterm and final will include matching quotes to primary source authors; identification of terms and people; geography identification; brief essays Grade:  1/3 papers and discussion (200 pts)  1/3 midterm (200 pts)  1/3 final (200 pts)

Texts for Class Thomas Bokenkotter. A Concise History of the Catholic Church. New York: Doubleday,2004. Carter Lindberg, Editor. The European Reformations Sourcebook. Malden: Blackwell, Francis De Sales Devout Life, Introduction to the Devout Life tran. John Ryan. New York: Image, John Courtney Murray. We Hold These Truths. New York: Sheed and Ward, Paul Hyland. The Enlightenment, A Sourcebook and Reader. London: Routledge, 2003.John Dwyer, Church History (New York: Paulist, 1998).

Structure for Each Week Each week will consist of two parts;  Reading of one page papers and discussion by class (Monday)  Lectures (Wednesday) Reading for each class will include approximately 100 pages. The 1 page paper every week; should focus on the primary source readings. The paper should start with a one sentence thesis statement, followed by supporting arguments that answers the paper topic question. One page paper will be read by class-member; followed by class discussion of readings I will lecture on what the readings cover for the coming week

Web Site for Class web.mit.edu/aorlando/www/ModernHistory/ Several files  Word file of syllabus  Web file (html) with links to web primary readings; other background resources of interest;  Basic map of key historical regions (large pdf file)  Lecture slides; posted day after each lecture, in a folder called Lectures; PowerPoint format

Primary Sources Different, multiple sources each week; should be focus of papers Read everything critically (includes secondary sources)  What is author’s perspective  What issues is author addressing; how important is the historical circumstance to those issues  Who is the audience  What is genre of the work (homily, thesis, poem, letter, Biblical commentary) Caution using Web Resources  Anybody can put anything on the web and claim that it is ‘authoritative’  Many texts are available, but in older translations  Maintenance of a web resource is still on an individual basis; no guarantee that information will be well maintained

Difficulty of Primary Source Readings I know that this is a lot of material I know that it is often very difficult to read Therefore  At the end of each class on Wednesday, I will strongly suggest what should be read carefully, and what should be skimmed  I will try to point out key themes