Units timetabled for 2013 and 2014 are provisional only, and details of semester and time will change. The official timetable for each year is released on 1 September of the prior year.

Archived unit descriptions for 2011 are available here.

Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Protestant Theology

Unit Code: 
CT377
RTI: 
United Faculty of Theology
Unit Value: 
15 points

This unit examines selected movements and themes in European Protestant theology in the period since the Enlightenment by seeing how major thinkers understood the decisive cultural and intellectual problems of their time and responded to these problems. Major features of the work of selected theologians are explored. The unit will be divided into roughly equal parts, dealing with nineteenth-century theologians and twentieth-century theologians.

Learning Outcomes: 

Upon successful completion of this unit, it is expected that students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of major developments in European Protestant theology in the ‘modern’ period.
  2. Critically discuss the new challenges posed for theology by the Enlightenment, particularly in Germany.
  3. Demonstrate an understanding of the major theological movements in European Protestant theology in the twentieth century.
  4. Critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of two of the major Protestant theological thinkers of this period.
Lecturer/s: 
Christiaan Mostert
Timetabling
Semester: 
Semester 1
Day: 
Monday
Time: 
10 - 1
Location: 
Centre for Theology and Ministry
Unit Frequency: 
Biennial
Years Offered: 
2010
Years Offered: 
2012
Years Offered: 
2014
Unit Fields
Courses: 
Graduate Diploma in Theology
Courses: 
Master of Divinity
Courses: 
Master of Theological Studies
Field: 
Field C Christian Thought and History
Disciplines: 
Systematic Theology
MDiv Field: 
Christian Thought and History
Department Name: 
Department of Christian Thought and History
Unit Level
GradDip Field: 
Elective
MDiv Type of Study: 
Specialised
Prerequisites: 

30 points of Foundational units in Theology and Church History

Mode of Teaching: 
Semester
Teaching Methods: 

3 hour seminar per week (partly student-led) for 12 weeks

Workload
Number of timetabled hours per week: 
3
Expected personal study hours per week: 
9
Total workload hours per week: 
12
Total workload hours for unit: 
144
Assessment
Assessment TypeWeightingLearning Outcomes Assessed
Assessment Type: 

1 x 6000 word essay

Weighting: 
100%
Recommended reading: 

* = set texts recommended for purchase

  • Barth, K. The Theology of the Nineteenth Century. London: SCM, 1972.
  • Berkhof, H. Two Hundred Years of Theology: Report of a Personal Journey. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.
  • Frei, H. Types of Christian Theology. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
  • Ford, D. F., ed. The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology since 1918. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
  • Grenz, S. J. and R. E. Olson. 20th Century Theology. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992.
  • Hopper, J. Understanding Modern Theology. 2 Vols. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987.
  • Livingston, J. C. Modern Christian Thought. New York: Macmillan, 1971.
  • Peerman, D. G. and M. E. Marty. A Handbook of Christian Theologians. Nashville: Abingdon, 1984.
  • Gerrish, B. A. Tradition and the Modern World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
  • Pauck, W. From Luther to Tillich. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984.
  • Reardon, B. M. G. Religious Thought in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
  • Smart, N. et al. Nineteenth century Religious Thought in the West. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
  • Welch, C. Protestant Thought in the Nineteenth Century. 2 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972, 1985. 

© United Faculty of Theology, 2008-2012.