Great Course - The History of Christian Theology

I've just finished all 36 lectures in The History of Christian Theology, taught by Dr. Phillip Cary, Ph.D. from Yale University, teaching at Eastern University.

As one might imagine, a single blog post will not be able to review and discuss very many aspects of a 36-lecture course.  This is especially true when the course deals in theology.  So, what should I say?

First, I highly recommend it.  That is, I recommend it, if you have any interest at all in how the theology of Christianity grew, and why different Christian traditions are, in fact, different.  I recommend it if you can do as Dr. Cary suggests in his very first lecture -- treat the knowledge you receive with "hospitality."

In a course this long, it's quite strange that I remember something from the first lecture, but this bit about "hospitality" stuck with me.  Dr. Cary said that the course would treat each of the diverse theological viewpoints with "hospitality."  The metaphor is this:  Suppose you invited someone to your home and you began to discuss their beliefs with them.  The visitor is in your house, in your familiar surroundings, but is opening up himself in very meaningful and personal ways.  A hospitable host will treat his visitor's views with respect, will listen to those views and attempt to understand them, even if the host cannot fully believe them.  That is a wonderful way to approach views on religion in general, and certainly theology in particular, I think.

Having made the claim of hospitality, Dr. Cary has quite a bit to live up to.  He does a wonderful job.  As he discusses the early church, the formation of the core theology, the branching into "denominations" (though he calls them traditions, and explains why) and even the "heresies" he does a wonderful job of explaining each viewpoint in a careful way.  It was over 20 lectures into the series before Dr. Cary even let slip which branch of Christianity was his tradition, and not until almost the final lecture did he say what his current view was.  And I think one would be hard pressed to find a slant to his lectures.  He is fair, and that makes the course worth a great deal.

Now, because the subject under study is theology, there are some very subtle ideas which must be discussed.  This meant that I had to rewind the CD more often than in most courses -- to ensure I had the full concept in one sitting, or to catch a nuance.  But this was worth it.  And, of course, since I am from a particular religious tradition, some concepts were easier for me to grasp, and others were harder.  The importance of "icons" in the Eastern church is not something I was familiar with, and I am pretty sure I still don't "get" it very well.  But I do understand that two of the "big" issues which divide Eastern (aka Eastern Orthodox) and Roman Catholicism are "icons" and -- amazingly enough -- the words "and the Son" following "proceeds from the Father" in the third article of the Nicene Creed.

A very important point in the early part of the course, which helps believers and (I hope) non-believers alike understand why these differences, which seem small, are really very big, is this: Christianity, as a religion, is primarily about one thing: Teaching people the answer to "Who is Jesus?"  The three synoptic Gospels, in fact, have as their literary theme "Who do you say I (Jesus) am?"

It is astonishing how the attempt to do the right thing -- to teach this properly -- ends up generating the branching of the church into its traditions.  As a Lutheran, I learned things about Luther's core beliefs which never resonated until this course.  Some of these, in fact, I find I cannot agree with completely.  Even our good works are mortal sin?  Hmmmmm.  But I understand how he got there, and I even understand, and better appreciate, the Catholic view against which this Reformation idea was juxtaposed.  The growth of Calvinism, Puritanism, Evangelicalism, Baptism (as in "Baptists") and so on was fascinating.

I have now started on a different Great Course, and I have made a decision.  Some of the Great Courses I have heard over the past two years deserve a second listening.  The History of Christian Theology is one of them.

But I won't do it for quite a while.  So if you want to borrow it, let me know.