[Taylor]

As the ancient through early Reformation church historian at Colby, I cover the period from Judaism at the time of Jesus to just beyond Luther. My goal is to help students understand religion during the period not only from an institutional perspective but also from the point of view of the average believer. Since historians have made great strides in recent decades in understanding beliefs through behaviors, surveys, inquisition records, criminal trials, preaching and so forth, there is now a wealth of books and articles on the beliefs and practices of the ordinary woman and man in ancient and medieval Christendom.

I'm interested in starting a thread asking how we teach this kind of history. What challenges do we face in communicating ideas that often seem humorous or even ridiculous to the modern mind? How do we overcome such challenges? What kinds of assignments work best? What books do you assign?

I also think it would be helpful if some of us could share syllabi that demonstrate our different approaches to teaching Catholic history in whatever period.
Larissa Taylor

[Clifford, Christian]

I teach Church History to juniors. The Theology Department presently uses "Why Study History?" by Peter N. Stearns -- as well as our colleagues in the History Department. Does anyone have a good source, either article or presentation, on the topic of why we study Church history (preferrably that highlights the theological element)?
Sincerely,
Christian Clifford
cclifford@serrahs.com