The Emerging Christian Church: Church History to 451

This course will examine the earliest history of Christianity and the Christian Church from the time of Christ to 451 CE, doing so especially from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Key topics will include the Apostolic period, early cultural and political transitions after the time of the Apostles, the growth and fragmentation of Christianity in the 2nd Century, the rise of monasticism and the episcopacy, the encounter of Christianity and Roman imperial culture in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries (both through persecution and cooperation), the rise of Christianity as Roman state religion through Constantine and Theodosius, and the Councils of Nicaea, I-Constantinople and Ephesus along with the lead-up to the Council of Chalcedon.