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.

Reformation

Unit Code: 
CH375
RTI: 
United Faculty of Theology
Unit Value: 
15 points

This unit examines the religious revolutions in sixteenth-century Europe. It explores the extraordinary development of European religious cultures, tracing the influence of Lutherans, Anglicans, Calvinists, and radical Protestants, as well as Catholic reforms and responses. The theologies and practices of these groups will be considered in relation to contemporary politics and popular culture. The unit begins with an examination of late medieval theology and piety and ends with the impact of reform in times and places beyond sixteenth-century Europe. 

Learning Outcomes: 

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

  1. demonstrate basic knowledge of the major theological issues of sixteenth-century reform movements
  2. evaluate and interpret a range of early modern historical sources, including written, material and visual evidence
  3. engage with historiographical debate on the causes, nature and extent of ‘Reformation’
  4. identify the causes of division in the sixteenth-century western Church and their contemporary resonances in the life of Australian Christian communities 
Lecturer/s: 
Richard Blandford
Timetabling
Semester: 
Semester 1
Day: 
Tuesday
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: 
Church History
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 study in Christian Thought and History

Mode of Teaching: 
Semester
Teaching Methods: 

 3 hours of lectures and seminars weekly 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 2000 word weekly seminar journal

Weighting: 
30%
Assessment Type: 

1 x 1000 document exercise

Weighting: 
20%
Assessment Type: 

1 x 3000 word research essay

Weighting: 
50%
Recommended reading: 

* = set texts recommended for purchase

  • Cameron, Euan. The European Reformation. Oxford: Clarendon, 1991.
  • De Mollen, R. Religious Orders of the Catholic Reformation. New York: Fordham University Press, 1994.
  • Jones, M. D. W. The Counter-Reformation: Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
  • Lindberg, Carter, ed. The European Reformations Sourcebook. Oxford: Blackwell,  
  •   2000.
  • Lindberg, Carter. The European Reformations. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. The Reformation. London: Penguin, 2003.
  • Matheson, Peter. The Imaginative World of the Reformation. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000.
  • McGrath, Alister. Reformation Thought: An Introduction. Rev. ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999.
  • Ozment, S. Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution. New York: Image, 1993.
  • Po Chia Hsia, R. The World of Catholic Renewal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  • Scribner, Robert. The Reformation in National Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.  

© United Faculty of Theology, 2008-2012.