Looks like my Tuesdays would be preoccupied with facilitating this course starting next week.  If there’s anyone out there who is still interested to join us, you are most welcome 🙂 It’s open to all who are willing to embark the historical expedition … with a Malaysian flavor of course!

The Lutheran Bible Training Institute’s (LBTI) course in Church History II is now open for registration and will commence from 21 October 2008. This course can be taken as an audit course or a credit course with credits applied towards LBTI’s Certificate in Christian Studies.

Course Description

This survey course is designed to introduce you to the rich and diverse tapestry of Christianity from the dawn of the Reformation in Western Europe (early 1500s) to the close of the 20th century. While the primary focus will be on developments within Western Christianity, the course will incorporate expressions of the global history of Christianity.

Lectures, discussions, and readings are designed to introduce you to the key historical events, personages and movements that have shaped Christianity over the last five millennia. Through a lively interaction with this past, you should develop a clearer understanding of the roots and developments of your own particular tradition, to engage in ecumenical conversation with other traditions, and to historically situate your and other traditions within the global family of Christianity.

Course Objective

• Survey major events, theological trends, institutions, and movements in the church from Reformation to the present day
• Develop the faculty of reading and analyzing primary texts

Instructors

• Rev Wolfgang Grieninger

  MTh (Tubingen)

  Wolfgang is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (ELCB) and currently serves as a adjunct lecturer in Lutheranism in Seminari Theologi Malaysia. He is also seconded by the ELCB to the LCMS as a consultant in Lutheran theology. Apart from serving in various congregations in Bavaria, Wolfgang was Lutheran Chaplain of the University of Papua New Guinea from 1993 to 1996.

• Rev Sivin Kit

  BTh (STM, Malaysia); MTheo candidate (SEAGST)

  Sivin is an ordained minister of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (LCMS) and pastor of Bangsar Lutheran Church. Sivin is primarily concerned about ecclesiastical interactions with local social-political realities and desires to see the emergence of more contextual responses towards these realities. He brings with him a wealth of pastoral and missional perspectives in contribution to this conversation so as to ensure that our constructions are based on realistic observations.

Class Format & Participation

Students are required to attend and participate in all lectures. The class will begin with a short introduction to the topic followed by class discussion of the assigned primary and secondary texts. The class format requires all students to read the assigned readings and be prepared for class discussion. Class discussion will include answering questions and highlighting the main points in secondary readings.

Primary texts will be carefully analyzed since these texts are our primary window to the world of the Reformation and beyond Coming prepared to class is crucial for the success of your learning experience. Be prepared to be called on to participate in class discussion. Class discussions are a means to train students to read and analyze church texts on the historical and theological level.

Course Requirements

• An assignment of 1500 – 2000 words
• Short essay of 1000 words

Readings

Required Text

One of the following:

• Hill, Jonathan; Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity; Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Company, 2007; ISBN: 978-0-31026-270-1
• Marty, Martin E.; A Short History of Christianity; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987; ISBN: 978-0-80061-944-2
• Olson, Roger E.; The Story of Christian Theology; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999; ISBN: 978-0-83081-505-0
• Shelley, Bruce. Church History in Plain Language; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995; ISBN: 978-0-84993-861-0

Recommended Resources

• González, Justo L; The Story of Christianity: Volume Two – The Reformation to the Present Day; New York: HarperOne, 1985; ISBN: 978-0-06063-316-5
• Irvin, Dale & Sunquist, Scott; History of the World Christian Movement, Vol 1; Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2001; ISBN: 978-1-57075-396-1
• History of the World Christian Movement Companion Website; <http://www.hwcmweb.org/>

Schedule

Classes will be held weekly on Tuesday evenings from 21 October 2008:

Time

8.00pm – 10.00pm

Venue

The Father’s House

Bangsar Lutheran Church

(see location map)

Registration & Fees

LBTI Student Registration Fee

RM 10.00

(first time LBTI students only)

Credit Course Fee (3 Credit Hours)

RM 260.00

Audit Course Fee

RM 130.00

To register, download this registration form and submit the completed form according to the instructions therein.