Christianity in Early Modern Europe WT

In this course we will examine the theological ideas and social conditions that transformed European life and thought in the 16th and 17th centuries. Particular attention will be paid to the Protestant Reformation in Germany and England, as well as the Catholic Counter-Reformation and changes within the Roman Catholic Church. We will study major theologians like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ignatius of Loyola, but we also will consider popular religious practices of the period. Finally, we will ask how cultural evolution and religious revolution influenced one another, especially in the rise of vernacular translations of the Bible and in the European colonization of the New World. 3 hrs lect.