RLBcA007 Christianity II

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s) (plus 1 credit for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jakub Cigán, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Dr. phil. Anna Michalík Kvíčalová, MA (lecturer)
Mgr. Vít Marša, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jakub Cigán, Ph.D.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Kristýna Čižmářová
Supplier department: Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
RLBcA006 Christianity I && ! RLA07 Christianity II
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 80 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/80, only registered: 0/80, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/80
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course is a follow-up of the RLBcA006 Christianity I. It briefly surveys main Christian denominations and tracks their development under various conditions from the Modern Age to present days. The main concern lies at introducing students into the occurrence, transformations, and impacts of the Reformation in different social, cultural, and religious milieus. Considerable attention will be paid also to “Catholic response” to the Reformation in the context of the Council of Trent, Catholic anti-modernism, and aggiornamento. Relevant topics will be approached in relation to the conceptual shifts in theological understanding of salvation, sanctity, church etc.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to::
  • identify social-economic and political processes behind the Reformation
  • discern main trends in the Modern Age Christianity and analyze their development
  • define main characteristics of Protestantism
  • characterize “Tridentine Catholicism” and analyze post-Tridentine development
  • evaluate dynamic relation between the modern (secularized) society and the main Christian denominations
    • Syllabus
    • 1. Introduction to the course
    • 2. Beginnings of the Reformation – “first reformation”, humanism, social-economic and political transformations of European society in the Late Middle Ages
    • 3. Luther and Zwingli – two forms of the early Reformation. Solae concepts, sanctities and their interpretations
    • 4. Calvin and transformations of the Reformation – predestination, society, and development of Calvinist reformation
    • 5. Other trends in the Reformation – Anglicanism, Anabaptism, Antitrinitarianism.
    • 6. Catholic reformation or counter-reformation – Council of Trent and the teaching of the Tridentine Catholicism
    • 7. Cuius regio, eius religio – political consequences of the Reformation in the 17th century, religious wars, Baroque culture, Gallicanism
    • 8. Midterm test. Early modern age mysticism, Pietism, millennialism, Jansenism
    • 9. Christianity in the light of the Enlightenment – rationalism and Deism, revelation religion vs. natural religion
    • 10. Enlightenment and modernism in the light of the Christianity – Catholic anti-modernism, ultramontanism, Vatican l, social teaching of the Catholic Church, Catholic modernism
    • 11. Christianity in the Western society in the first half of the 20th century, totalitarian regimes
    • 12. Aggiornamento and Vatican II, ecumenism, globalization and the Christianity
    • 13. Final test
    Literature
      required literature
    • MCGRATH, Alister E. Dějiny křesťanství : úvod. Translated by Markéta Hofmeisterová. Vyd. 1. Praha: Volvox Globator, 2014, 599 s. ISBN 9788075110817. info
    • Judaismus, křesťanství, islám. 2. opr. a dopl. vydání. Eds. H. Pavlincová, B. Horyna. Olomouc: Nakl. Olomouc 2003, 664 s. ISBN 80-7182-165-9.
    • LANE, Tony. Dějiny křesťanského myšlení. Translated by Jiří Bartoň. Praha: Návrat domů, 1996, 286 s. ISBN 80-85495-47-3. info
      recommended literature
    • The Cambridge history of Christianity. Edited by R. Po-chia Hsia. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, xxi, 749. ISBN 9780521811620. info
    • The Cambridge history of Christianity. Edited by Stewart J. Brown - Timothy Tackett. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, xiv, 678. ISBN 052181605X. info
    • The Cambridge history of Christianity. Edited by Sheridan Gilley - Brian Stanley. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, xvi, 683. ISBN 0521814561. info
    • The Cambridge history of Christianity. Edited by Hugh McLeod. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, xviii, 717. ISBN 9780521815000. info
    • ŠMAHEL, František. Jan Hus : život a dílo. Vydání první. Praha: Argo, 2013, 312 stran. ISBN 9788025708750. info
    • BENEDICT, Philip. Christ’s churches purely reformed. A social history of Calvinism. New Haven - London: Yale University Press 2002. ISBN 978-0-300-12722-5.
    • HSIA, R. Po-chia (ed.). A Companion to the Reformation world. Malden: Blackwell Publishing 2004. ISBN 978-0-631-22017-6.
    • LINDBERG, Carter. The European Reformations. 2nd ed. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell 2010. ISBN 978-1-4051-8068-9.
    • LINDBERG, Carter (ed.). The pietist theologians. An introduction to theology in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Malden: Blackwell Publishing 2005. ISBN 978-0-631-23517-0.
    • MCGRATH, Alister E. Christian spirituality: an introduction. Oxford - Malden: Blackwell Publishing 1999. ISBN 978-0-631-21280-5.
    • MCGRATH, Alister E. The intellectual origins of the European Reformation. 2nd. Malden: Blackwell Publishing 2004. ISBN 0-631-22940-X.
    • MCGRATH, Alister E. Reformation thought: an introduction. 4th ed. Malden - Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell 2012. ISBN 978-0-470-67283-9.
    • MCGRATH, Alister E. and MARKS, Darren C. (eds.). The Blackwell companion to Protestantism. Malden: Blackwell Publishing 2004. ISBN 978-0-631-23278-0.
    • WHITFORD, David M. (ed.). Reformation and early modern Europe: a guide to research. Kirksville: Truman State University Press 2008. ISBN 978-1-931112-72-7.
    Teaching methods
    Lectures, class discussion
    Assessment methods
    Examination

    Oral exam prerequisites:
  • submission of two analytical abstracts of source texts (50 points maximally)
    • Analytical abstracts mark gives 25 % of the final evaluation.
  • midterm test (100 points maximally)
  • final test (100 points maximally)
    • Student to pass must score 120 points (60 %) on both tests together. Student can take any of tests in exam period in a morning before oral examination. Student needs to register him- or herself to examination term through IS MU. In a case of failure on tests student gains “F” and has to register to another examination term.

    Oral examination (75 % of the final evaluation) concerns on:
  • knowledge in topics from syllabus
  • interpretation skills

    • Colloquium

  • midterm test (100 points maximally)
  • final test (100 points maximally)
    • Student to succeed must score 120 points (60 %) on both tests together. Student can take any of tests in exam period in a morning before oral examination with no need to register in IS MU.


    General information: the type of completion “Examination” is compulsory for the students of the “Study of Religions” study programs.

    Language of instruction
    Czech
    Follow-Up Courses
    Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
    Information on completion of the course: Posluchači religionistiky povinně ukončují zkouškou.
    The course is taught annually.
    The course is taught: every week.
    General note: Posluchači religionistiky povinně zapisují v 2. semestru studia.
    Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
    The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
    • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
    • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/RLBcA007