A History of Christianity in America
Part III: From the Civil War To the Scopes Monkey Trial

A History of Christianity in America, Part III is the third course in a four-part study that highlights the major people, issues and events related to American Christianity from colonial times to the present.

NOTE: Since each course is a self-contained study, there is no problem enrolling in this course even if you missed Parts I and II.

Course registration: $50 or $90 per couple

Text: Mark Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (Eerdmans, 1992).

In addition to being an in-depth survey of Christianity in America, this series also focuses on the ongoing controversies over the proper relationship between church and state, and the challenges and opportunities of living in a society that is increasingly pluralistic, secularistic, and hostile toward Christian beliefs and values. Part III is an interactive study based on directed readings and focused discussions centered around topics including…

• The origins of American Protestant theological liberalism;
• The origins of Unitarianism, Universalism, and Transcendentalism;
• Joseph Smith and the history of early Mormonism;
• The 19th century communal movement;
• The Christian influence and involvement in abolitionism and other social reform movements of the early 19th century;
• The Christian influence and involvement in the American Civil War;
• The emergence of the Unholy Trinity: Darwinism, Marxism, and Freudianism;
• The Progressive Movement and the Social Gospel;
• Dwight L. Moody and mainstream evangelicalism in the late 1800s;
• The Fundamentalist/Modernist controversy;
• The late-19th century holiness movement;
• The origins of Dispensationalism;