26 courses with the subject CH, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
CH 5010The Christian Tradition - An orientation to basic issues and
themes in the interpretation and appropriation of Christianity as a historical and a missionary faith: the formation of Christian identity in various historical and cultural settings; the dynamics of unity, diversity, and authority in the Church; shaping of doctrinal consensus, models of ecclesial reformation; and variant understandings of the Christian mission in the world. The course serves also as a panoramic overview of the global expansion of the Christian faith over twenty centuries and of the attempts to shape a Christian worldview as reflected in representative lives, texts, and traditions. Offered fall term each year. Three semester hours.
CH 5020The Stone-Campbell Movement - An investigation of the
reform movement that began in nineteenth-century America under the leadership of Barton Stone, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, and others who aspired to pursue Christian unity for the sake of the Church’s world mission. Critical discussion of differing articulations of the Movement’s plan for ecclesial, doctrinal, and practical reforms; challenges to the Movement in its social and political context; controversies that led to division in its ranks; and the hopes of reinterpreting its core principles for the twenty-first century. Prerequisite: CH 5010. Offered spring term each year. Three semester hours.
CH 5027The Church and the Stone Campbell Movement (online)
This course will first survey different models and images of the nature of the church through the centuries in terms of abiding issues of authority, organization, ministry, and communal life before turning to the unique contributions of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Attention will be given to the four historic markers of the church (“one,” “holy,” “catholic” [universal], and “apostolic”) and to the different ways that the church has been configured (episcopal, “free church,” etc.) among the various Christian traditions. The course will also focus on how the Stone-Campbell Movement has developed its own interpretations of the character of the church and addressed the historic challenges posed by divisions in the historical and contemporary church. Three semester hours. emmanuel christian seminary | course descriptions 247
CH 6010Studies in the History of the Early Church - An examination
of key issues in the study of early Christianity up through the fifth century: the process of normative self-definition; missionary expansion; the lives and works of significant patristic theologians such as Irenaeus, Origen, Cappadocian Fathers, and Augustine; development of ecclesial organization and life; tensions with the Roman Empire and the legacies of persecution and martyrdom; theological and confessional formulations; and spirituality and asceticism. Three semester hours.
CH 6050Traditions of Christian Spirituality and the Virtuous Life
This course will provide an introduction and orientation to certain classical, pre-Reformation traditions of Christian spiritual devotion and models of the virtuous life. Rather than a straightforward history of Christian spirituality or history of Christian ethics, the course will take a “case study” approach that highlights the historical and contextual framework of distinctive paradigms of “conversion” and adherence to Christ (and to the triune God) and of the spiritual and moral disciplines attending that commitment. “Spirituality” is an ambiguous concept but, for better or worse, has been taken over in Christian usage as a standard term to denote the dynamics whereby believers are transformed, within and without, individually and ecclesially, to the image of Christ, through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Three semester hours.
CH 6310History of Biblical Interpretation - Analysis of the
metamorphoses in biblical exegesis and theological interpretation of Scripture from the patristic period to the burgeoning of critical biblical studies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course focuses on distinctive hermeneutical models, notions of divine “accommodation” in Scripture, historic attempts to discern multiple senses (literal, allegorical, etc.), and the changes in exegetical method in the transitions from pre- critical, to critical, to post-critical approaches to the Bible. Students examine various representative interpreters and certain exemplary scriptural texts as they have been construed in different historical contexts. Three semester hours.
CH 6320Historic Christian Thinkers - This elective course gives
concentrated attention to a variety of celebrated thinkers East and West who have had a profound influence and legacy in the history of Christian thought. The course will take one of two forms: (1) a focus on one or more individual theologians from a certain period or context; or (2) a focus on a particular theme elaborated by representative thinkers over the course of Christian history. Students will be encouraged to research not only these theologians’ contributions to doctrinal theology but also their role in shaping worship, spirituality, ministry, ethics, and other aspects of the life of the church in their own contexts and beyond. Three semester hours.
CH 6340Historic Christian Thinkers: Women Theologians - Gives
concentrated attention to celebrated women theologians and writers who have had a profound influence on the history of Christian thought. Particular attention is given to important themes of feminist theology: the role of experience, understandings of the triune God, Christian authority, biblical interpretation, and patterns of exclusion/inclusion within the church. Writers and theologians covered in this course include the Desert Mothers, Marguerite Porete, Julian of Norwich, Elizabeth Johnson, M. Shawn Copeland, Wendy Farley, and Serene Jones among others.
TH 5150. Cross-listed as TH 6340. Three semester hours.
CH 6350Historic Christian Thinkers: Karl Barth - Gives concentrated
attention to Karl Barth, a Swiss Reformed theologian known for his commentary, The Epistle to the Romans, his involvement in the milligan university academic catalog | 2026-27 | www.milligan.edu
CH 6410Medieval Christianity - Studies in the missionary expansion of
Christianity in Europe, Britain, and Ireland, and the reconfiguration of the Western Church under the papal supremacy during the Middle Ages. Special attention is given to the diverse manifestations of the “Christendom” ideal, and the flowering of ascetic and monastic traditions that modeled the “apostolic” life and helped shape the culture of religious devotion in the Western Church. Examination also of the significant currents of medieval theology, spirituality, liturgical and sacramental life. Three semester hours.
CH 6418God Breathed and Useful: History of the Theology of
Revelation – Studies in the nature and authority of the Christian canon, examining how Christians have articulated the Bible’s identity as divine revelation. Special attention is given to theological understandings of the Scripture as the Word of God alongside Christ as the incarnate Word, and the implications for Christian thought and practice. Consideration of historical approaches to biblical authority across traditions, engagement with doctrines of revelation, and exploration of how the Bible functions as a medium for divine self-disclosure. The course addresses the theological foundations for claiming that in Scripture we encounter the living God of the Christian faith. Three semester hours.
CH 6420Reformations of the Sixteenth Century - Consideration of the
emergent models of ecclesial and doctrinal reform, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, in the era of the Renaissance and Reformation: initiatives of the Catholic humanists and conciliarists; the growth and diversification of the Protestant revolt; the achievement of the Magisterial Reformers (Luther, Calvin, et al.); the Anabaptist movement; and later currents and countercurrents up to 1650. Three semester hours.
CH 6510Christian Ministry in Historical Perspective - Investigations
of the theology, patterns, and practices of Christian ministry, especially pastoral care, as they have developed in different historical and ecumenical contexts, with a view to enriching theological reflection on ministry in the contemporary church worldwide. Attention as well to the structural configuration of ministry (and doctrine of ordination) in historic Christian traditions. Cross-listed as CMC 6510. Three semester hours.
CH 6520Worship and Sacraments in Historical Perspective - Studies
in the formation of the major Eastern and Western traditions of Christian worship and liturgy, with reference to the service of the Lord’s Day, the disciplines of the daily office, and the broader celebrations of the Christian Year. Baptismal and Eucharistic practices considered in terms of their historical and theological development. Cross-listed as CMW 6520. Three semester hours.
CH 6610History of Global Christianity 1792 – present
The Course will introduce students to contemporary Christianity in the Global South (Africa, Asia, and Latin America). The course will highlight the specific processes through which Christianity has been communicated, received, and reinvented through cross-cultural contacts. The principal aim is to help students understand; (1) Modern missionary efforts and how Christianity shifted from the western to the non- western world; (2) The moral ambiguities of western missionary efforts and their relationship with colonial enterprise; (3) The manner in which missionaries communicated and how their message was received and interpreted by their hosts; (4) The role of local agents in promoting indigenous forms of Christianity; and (5) The rise of Global Pentecostalism and the role of Christian Non- governmental Organizations in development. The variety of analytical perspectives used in the course should help the student have a better historical understanding of Christianity in the contemporary world. Cross- listed as CMM 6610. Three semester hours.
CH 6810Survey of American Christianity (I) - Studies in the diverse
Christian traditions of the colonies; the role of the churches in the American Revolution and shaping of the American Republic; and the Great emmanuel christian seminary | course descriptions 248 Awakenings and the rise of evangelical culture in the antebellum period. Three semester hours.
CH 6820Survey of American Christianity (II) - Studies in the
broadening denominational landscape and the dynamics of cultural transformation and accommodation; Christian activism during and after the Civil War era; the growth of African American Christian traditions; modernism and fundamentalism; the rise and decline of the “Protestant Establishment” in America; contemporary evangelicalism; and church/state tensions. Three semester hours.
CH 8000History of Pastoral Care - This course sets out to identify and
evaluate (in context) some of the distinctive models, patterns, and symbols of pastoral care emerging historically within the ecumenical Christian tradition, and to utilize those findings in the development of a “hermeneutic” of pastoral ministry, a conscientious interpretation of the task(s) of ministry that is grounded at once in Scripture, in the historical tradition of the Church, in sound theological reasoning, and in experience. Using primary sources and some important secondary studies, attention will be focused on three interconnected dimensions of pastoral care analyzed historically: (1) ecclesiological and sacramental foundations of pastoral care; (2) the developmental history of pastoral theology; and (3) the actual practices of pastoral ministry in historical perspective. Three semester hours.
CH 8100History of Worship and Sacraments - This course surveys
how the church has worshipped through the ages to aid the student in developing insights which can help in the planning and leadership of Christian corporate worship. Three semester hours.
CH 8200History of Biblical Interpretation and Preaching - This
course examines both secondary and primary texts in the history of preaching and hermeneutics with a view to enhancing the contemporary student’s appreciation for and ability to perform the tasks of biblical interpretation and preaching. Three semester hours.
