ARGOMENTI
General introduction to Church History. Beginning of Christianity (6BC- AD 395). The Church in a Pagan Empire (6BC-AD 313). The Primitive Church. The Post-apostolic Period. Encounter between Christianity and Paganism. Internal life of the Churches in the first three centuries. The Imperial Church (AD 313-395). Organization and expansion. Theological disputes. Beginning of the Golden Age of Patristic Learning. The Scattered Churches (AD 395-694). The First Church: A Church under imperial rule. Conditions of the Eastern Empire. Organization of the Eastern Church, Rise of Constantinople. Christological controversies. The Second Church: A Church in turmoil. State of Empire and Church. Controversies and intellectual personalities. Two columns of the new world in construction: Papacy; Coming of age of western monasticism.
TESTI
Textbook: Handouts given by the lecturer.
BELLITTO C.M.,The General Councils, A history of the Twentyone Church Councils from Nicaea to Vatican II. CHADWICK H.., The Early Church, London, Penguin History of the Church. COMBY J., How to read Church History. Vol. 1. From the beginning to the fifteenth century, London, 1988. CROSS F.L. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford. University Press, London, 1963. DAVIS L.D., The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787). Their History and Theology, Collegeville MN, 1990. EUSEBIUS, The History of the Church, London, 1989. FREND W.H.C., The Rise of Christianity, Fortress Press, London, 1984. JEDIN H. (ed.) History of the Church, vol.1-3, Burns &Oates, London, 1965, 1980. KELLY J.N.D., The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, University Press, London, 2005. VAN DER MEER F. – MOHRMANN C., Atlas of the Early Christian World, Nelson, London, 1959. MEYENDORFF J, Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions, The Church 450-680 ad., St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, New York, 1989. WARE Th., The Orthodox Church, London, 1984.