Module THEO2621: Theology and Culture in Atlantic History

Department: Theology and Religion

THEO2621: Theology and Culture in Atlantic History

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To develop detailed knowledge and critical understanding of theology and culture in the Atlantic world from c. 1500 to the present
• To engage with and apply key concepts and historiographical debates surrounding the role of theology in the Americas and Africa, focusing on colonial migration and expansion; settler cultures and societies; encounters with indigenous peoples; race, gender and the body.
• To investigate the ways in which indigenous communities and enslaved peoples in the Americas shaped and responded to European belief systems.
• To assess a range of methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks within which scholars interpret Atlantic history.

Content

• This module explores the experiences of Catholics and Protestants in the early modern Atlantic world. It examines the ways in which religious ideas shaped as well as reflected migration, colonisation, and interactions between Europeans, the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and African peoples. Four study units comprise this module. The first explores the history of the 'pre-contact' Atlantic world and establishes the intellectual background of key European figures who advocated religious expansion overseas. The second examines the ways in which theology guided the trajectories of colonisation, informed the development of settler societies, and intersected with the trade in enslaved peoples. The third focuses on cultural encounters between Christianity and non-Christianity, uncovering the consequences of these engagements for notions of religious identity, community, and conversion. The fourth situates these ideas in the broader context of global history, examining theology in relation to economic, scientific, and political change.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will develop specific knowledge of key social, political, and economic developments in Atlantic history, as well as a critical understanding of the relationship between theology and culture in the Atlantic world.
• Students will develop knowledge and understanding of selected primary source materials in analytical depth and will be able to situate these in the wider context of the period.

• Students will acquire practical skills in the evaluation of primary source material by engaging with both manuscript and printed sources.
• Students will develop skills in the consultation and use of secondary works.
• Students will apply and respond to a range of methodological approaches, historiographical problems, and theological concepts.

• Students will develop skills in producing a clear and convincing central thesis supported by selected evidence and scholarship.
• Students will develop skills in the close and critical reading of qualitative and quantitative evidence in order to develop analysis and develop arguments.
• Students will develop skills in the organisation and presentation of independent research, both individually and collaboratively.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Each of the four study units includes four lectures and three seminars. Three of the lectures will provide content-based overviews of the key themes, concepts, debates and developments associated with the study unit. The fourth lecture in each study unit will take the form of a workshop focusing on skills and assessment. These workshops will provide students with the opportunity to consider a series of model essay questions, explore approaches to assessment, and discuss scholarly practice.
• Each of the three content-based lectures will be followed by a seminar that will investigate particular topics and case studies in more detail. Essential reading in preparation for these seminars will include selected primary materials and secondary works. These seminars will facilitate collaborative group discussion and scholarly debate.
• Formative Assessment: At the end of each study unit, all students will submit two pieces of work. The first will be a detailed one-page essay plan that responds to one of the model essays questions associated with the study unit. This essay plan should indicate a clear central thesis, a logical structure, the evidence to be deployed, the relevant areas of scholarship consulted, and the concluding interpretative judgement reached. The second piece of work will take the form of a 250-word comment on a primary source extract previously studied in the unit. This exercise will enhance skills in the development of clear arguments as well as the concise and focused application of knowledge in line with the stated learning outcomes.
• Summative assessment: The module is assessed by one unseen examination and one 3,000-word essay. In the exam, students will respond to extracts from primary source materials discussed in the course of the module. Meanwhile, the essay will respond to one of twelve questions pertaining to particular module topics and should draw primary sources together with secondary works and original analysis in order to sustain a clear central thesis. Students will be assessed on their ability to organise knowledge, understand evidence and engage with historical contexts, as well as to develop and sustain a convincing argument that draws upon independent reading in line with the stated learning outcomes.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Four essay plans and four gobbet answers, one of each per study unit.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University