Hello everyone,
I want to offer some reflections on the Mmin lessons on World Christian history which I found rather challenging. Lessons 1 and 2 took the broadest sweep of the interaction of Christianity with the world. This is different from the training in Christian history that I received as an ordinand in the Anglican Church of Australia. The curriculum was unashamedly Western and particularly Anglican. I don’t begrudge this because decisions must be made as to what to include and exclude. The history curriculum (the detail of which is lost to me in the mists of time ) would have run something along the lines followed by Alistair McGrath in his Christian Theology :
1. The Patristic Period. C.100-451
2. The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, c.1000- c.1500
3. The Reformation and the Post-Reformation Periods, c.1500-c.1700
4. The Modern Period, c,1700- the Present
At postgraduate level I took a course called Theology in Modern Asia. Interestingly the scope of the course restricted the view of the countries thought to constitute 'Asia'. Included were South Korea, Japan, China (with Hong Kong and Taiwan), Mainland Southeast Asia, The Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India. A substantially reduced number of countries when compared to the United Nations grouping. The course focused on contemporary theologies and so did not delve deeply into the history of Christianity in Asia. In the chapter on China for example there is little historical data mentioned before the 20th Century. I was interested to learn in our lessons and the video that China has a long and complex interaction with Christianity.
