Ancient & Emerging Practices

Instructors: Eric C. Smith, PhD

Required Texts

• González, Catherine Gunsalus. Resources in the Ancient Church for Today’s Worship/Lecciones del culto antiguo para la iglesia de hoy . Nashville: Abingdon, 2014.
• Harvey, Susan Ashbrook and David G. Hunter. The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

• This resource is available for free online from the Iliff library. See the tutorial document on Canvas for instructions on how to access it.

• McGowan, Andrew B. Ancient Christian Worship: Early Church Practices in Social, Historical, and Theological Perspective . Grand Rapids: Baker, 2014.
• Brown, Peter. The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.
• Moss, Candida. The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented A Story of Martyrdom . San Francisco: HarperOne, 2013.
• Tickle, Phyllis. Emergence Christianity: What It Is, Where It Is Going, and Why It Matters. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2012.
• Burns, J. Patout and Robin M. Jensen. Christianity in Roman Africa: The Development of its Practices and Beliefs . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.

Course Objectives

• To become familiar with a variety of early church practices
• To understand and use non-textual methods of historiography
• To use textual and non-textual methods of historiography to illuminate practical, embodied, or spatial matters
• To understand the historical roots of Christian practices, and to allow those roots to feed contemporary communities

Course Outcomes:

Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to do the following:

• Describe a variety of early church practices and the sitz im leben that gave rise to them
• Understand and articulate the ways ancient practices inform contemporary ones
• Re-imagine ancient practices for contemporary communities
• Undertake original research into practices or aspects of practices not covered in the course

Course Assignments and Evaluation:

Your work in this course will be evaluated in several ways.

1) Weekly posts will account for 5 points per week (except week 5, Gathering Days, which doesn't have posts, and week 10, which will count for 4 points). This is a total of 44 points. These posts are all low-stakes writing assignments, which means that if you do a reasonable job of responding to the prompt, you will get credit. There is no need to post a dissertation; all I am after here is a contribution to the conversation the class is having.

2) An

By the time of the Gathering Days meetings, students should have identified an ancient practice (and, depending on your choice for the final project, also its emerging counterpart,) that they want to study further. These should be practices that we have not studied explicitly in the course, or else a practice we have studied that you intend to view in some new way.

An initial abstract (350 words) should be posted here for others to review and comment upon. Then, during Gathering Days, we will have opportunity for people working on similar topics to gather in small groups (“talking circles”) to share knowledge and insight, as well as resources, toward the final project. 10% of the final grade will come from the abstract and the student’s participation in the talking circles.  

No bibliography need be included. 

3) A

PERSONS HOPING TO GRADUATE IN JUNE SHOULD TURN IN THEIR PAPERS NO LATER THAN MAY 28TH! 

Building on the talking circle at Gathering Days, each student will complete a final project focusing on a single practice. These projects can take one of two forms, depending on the interests of the student:

1. The project will examine a practice not covered in the course (or a particular aspect or instantiation of a practice that was covered in the course), offering an in-depth analysis of some particular question or concern. Examples of this kind of paper might be an inquiry into the precise method of baptism in North African churches, or an examination of the way meal practices in Christian communities in China differed from those in the Mediterranean world. This project will take the form of a 10-12 page academic paper.
2. The project will examine a practice (either covered in the course or not), offering an overview of the practice in antiquity, an overview of the practice in contemporary Christian communities (if it exists). This portion of the project should take the form of a paper of approximately 8-9 pages. Then, students should produce suggestions for further development and reclamation of the practice for contemporary Christian communities, and the student should include sample liturgies, spatial models, or other tools for modern implementation. This portion of the project should be the equivalent of 3-4 pages of academic writing, but can be divided however the student prefers, so long as the work covers all of the requirements.

The final project will be worth 35% of the final grade. All external resources that contributed to the student's understanding should be properly cited in a consistent and recognizable format of the student's choosing. Please submit it here. 

3) Attendance at Gathering Days, while not linked to any points, is mandatory, and you cannot pass the course without being present.

Other Matters:

• If you have learning challenges or disabilities that impact your ability to complete assignments as they are designed, please let the instructor know, and I will work with you. In some cases, institutional documentation might be required.
• All Iliff policies on Academic Dishonesty, including plagiarism, will be vigorously enforced in this class. See the Masters Student Handbook for the full policies.
• Your instructor is he/him, and you have the right in this class to be called by whichever pronouns are correct for you. You are also obligated to respect others' choices in their pronouns.
• Students in this course will be preparing for a variety of professional contexts. While the course has been designed with some form of Christian parish ministry in mind, students preparing for other contexts are encouraged to work with the instructor to modify assignments accordingly.

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Core Values: As a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

Course Overview

Course Objectives

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Core Values: As a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community.