Power, Politics, and Christendom
Sunday, 17 November 2019 – Sat, 23 November 2019
How should Christians treat the secular powers?
The course presents a critical history of the interaction between Christianity and secular power, examining how economics, politics, war, and theology all contributed to the place of Christianity in the world today. As Christianity, for so long associated with the secular state of the west, begins to understand its role in the whole, post-colonial, world today, what can we learn from the traditions of prophetic witness and accommodation in Christian teaching?
We are pleased that the Revd Canon Professor Oliver O’Donovan (Emeritus Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology, University of Edinburgh and Honorary Professor, School of Divinity, University of St Andrews) will be joining us for part of the course, and lecturing on the role and importance of St Augustine for understanding the relationship between church and state.
Studying in Rome and Ravenna, students will explore:
- the earliest house churches in Rome, as they developed from being hidden to being large public monuments and the theological impact of this transformation;
- the relationship between Roman and Byzantine Emperors and the major theological controversies of their day;
- the development of the Papal States in medieval Europe, and the claims to secular power of the papacy over the kingdoms and republics of Europe, and the “New World”
- the Vatican Secret Archives to examine the the original documents related to the Church of England’s split with Rome and all the ecclesiological and theological consequences of that event;
- the Sant’Egidio community and hear how they, born out of the events of 1968, relate to modern politics, most importantly how they brokered peace in Mozambique.
(Please note the change of date from when the course was first announced.)