Center for Christian Studies

Mission: Courses in church history are designed to provide an understanding of God’s faithful working through the church since the apostolic age, and how the Presbyterian Church, as part of the Reformed Tradition, fits into the overall course of church history. Students will be able to see the many ways in which Christian communities have responded to God’s call in their lives and the world, and how that can stimulate our response today.

Core: Courses address the lineage of the church from the apostles through to modern day, marking the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the modern Church.

200 level: Courses focus on specific movements or eras in history.

300 level: Courses offer more scholarly study on specific themes.

Theme Courses marked with this symbol (at left) are directly related to the theme for the 2007 - 2008 year Changing Times...Changing Seasons, which focuses on Daniel 2:21.

Church History Courses: 2007 - 2008
100 Level
History of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church

200 Level
Mainline on the Sideline
Religion in the City: Exploring New York
Revivals and Awakenings in America: From the Puritans to the Second Great Awakening
Revivals and Awakenings in America: From the Prayer Meeting Revival of 1857 to Billy Graham
The Marriage of Faith and Power
The Making of America: How the Bible Shaped American Practices and Ideals
The Church’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement: Help or Hindrance

TERM 2
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CH218 • Mainline on the Sideline?
Mary E. McNamara
Tuesdays, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
November 6 to December 4

Many have called the 20th century the “Christian Century.” Long before that century ended, mainline denominations were losing a significant number of members and watching their national and regional staff numbers and mission capabilities erode. This course will look at the question of how these trends are continuing and changing for congregations, for missions in the U.S. and abroad, and for seminary education. Our discussion will reference changes in evangelical and secular perspectives and voices and the religious role of the United States as a “Christian nation.” We will conclude by developing shared predictions for future.

TERM 3
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CH106 • History of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church
Eric C. Daniels, Charles Dougherty, Dale W. Hansen, Mary Rose Main
Wednesdays, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm (January 23, 30, February 13, 20)
Sunday, 1:00 pm (February 17)

This class will encompass the history of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (FAPC) from its founding in 1808 until this year, its bicentennial year, and will be taught by various individuals with expertise in different aspects of this history: the history of the church itself; the architecture of the Cedar, Duane, and 5th at 19th Street churches; the senior pastors; the history of music at FAPC; and the architecture of our current church at 5th Avenue and 55th Street, viewed from both the interior and exterior of the church.

Handouts will be provided.

CH219 • Religion in the City: Exploring New York
Dale T. Irvin
Sundays, 11:15 am - 12:30 pm
January 13 to February 10

One of the most remarkable aspects of New York City is its vibrant religious life. This course will open up some fresh windows upon this urban religious experience. We will explore how religion is integrated into the overall fabric of the City through its diverse peoples and cultures, look at some of the diverse forms Christianity in particular is taking today, and seek to discern what the future of religion might be in New York. Come prepared to learn about the City in new ways.

Selected readings will be provided at the first class.

CH220 • Revivals and Awakenings in America: From the Puritans to the Second Great Awakening
James H. Moorhead
Mondays, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
January 14 to February 11 (4 weeks)

Throughout American history, periodic revivals have both reinvigorated churches and created controversies within them. Awakenings have also played a major role in addressing the social and cultural issues of their times. This course traces these themes from Puritanism through the Great Awakening of the 1740s. The course concludes with an examination of the Second Great Awakening, a collection of diverse revivals usually dated from around 1800 to the 1830s when raucous camp meetings flourished and evangelists inspired some and infuriated others by employing controversial techniques and by associating revivalism with the antislavery cause.

Book: William G. McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform, University of Chicago Press. 1978, $19.

CH222 • The Marriage of Faith and Power
Nancy Gibbs
Tuesday, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
February 12

We will discuss the opportunities and risks that arise when religious figures are drawn into political life, with a focus on the unprecedented presidential ministry of the Rev. Billy Graham. What do the powerful need from a pastor? What are the challenges of a ministry that provides both public blessing and private witness? What temptations do both politicians and pastors face when they form an alliance? What has changed over the last fifty years in the way faith and politics are knit together in American life?

Book: Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House, Center Street, 2007

TERM 4
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CH221 • Revivals and Awakenings in America: From the Prayer Meeting Revival of 1857 to Billy Graham
James H. Moorhead
Mondays, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
February 25 to March 31

Throughout American history, periodic revivals have both reinvigorated churches and created controversies within them. Awakenings have also played a major role in addressing the social and cultural issues of their times. This course traces these themes from the Prayer Meeting Revival of 1857-58 (started here in New York City) to the late twentieth century. Along the way, we will examine the ministries of such famous evangelists as Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham. One of the underlying issues explored by the course is the transformation of revivalism from a once disruptive force into something less controversial and more conservative.

Class Size: 30

Book: William G. McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform, University of Chicago Press, 1978, $19.

*CH223 • The Making of America: How the Bible Shaped American Practices and Ideals
Edward Ekermeyer
Mondays, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
February 25 to March 31

Christians shaped the development of political and social attitudes and activities of the United States from the Colonial Period to the present time. As European Christians arrived in the British North American colonies, they would create a nation of religious diversity and unity; furthermore, African Americans would build their own Christian traditions that would become part of American religious pluralism. Students of this course will explore how American Christians affected separation of church and state, religious toleration, social ministry and the Social Gospel, abolition and civil rights, and representative government. In our study, we will learn how the many Christian traditions worked together to implement new ideas of freedom and toleration of one another and to improve the quality of life for all Americans.

Class size: 20

Written resources will be provided by the teacher.

TERM 5
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CH244 • The Church’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement: Help or Hindrance?
J. Oscar McCloud
Mondays, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
April 21 to May 19

While some perceive religious institutions as hindrances to social change, one of the largest factors in the successes of the civil rights movement was the participation of Christian churches and synagogues. This course will explore the involvement of churches in the struggle to achieve political and social justice for African Americans and poor people in the 1960s, and how that involvement impacted the churches’ own ministries. The class will examine how the civil rights movement helped unite various Christian churches and people of other faiths in organizing a collective movement. The course will explore theological themes that motivated and formed the strategy of nonviolence and the lessons for the churches’ future involvement in social change.

Books: James F. Findlay, Church People in the Struggle, The National Council of Churches, Oxford University Press, $30.