This introductory course examines the history of Christianity from the Peace of Westphalia (1648) to the end of the twentieth century. As will be demonstrated throughout the course, the major catalyst for change has been, and continues to be, the constant tension between the inherently static nature of the historic Church and the forces of modernity. Throughout the course we will see how modern culture, which includes but is not limited to, contemporary politics, philosophy, literature, and painting, exercised an overwhelming influence on the development of eighteenth-century, nineteenth-century, and twentieth-century Christianity.