HY 2253 REACTION PIECE ASSIGNMENT

The main objective of this assignment is to help you learn to read critically and analyze a piece of
historical writing. Your piece should (a) summarize the author’s main points/arguments and (b) give your
opinions on those points and arguments as well as comments on the author’s bias, overall readability of the
piece, etc. A good reaction piece will allow the reader to understand and form some opinions about the piece
even if s/he has not read it. The piece should be 1300-1500 words in length, although as with the essay, you
can go up to 1650 words. It should be written in the present tense, meaning that you discuss the piece as if
you were describing a painting or picture. You do not need to use footnotes when you refer to the piece you
are critiquing—just the page number in parentheses is enough; you do need to use footnotes if you draw on
somebody else’s ideas or words and include them in your critique. Generally speaking, though, citations of
outside sources should be kept to a minimum—the most important ideas are the author’s and your own.
You should choose one of the pieces from the list below, which are organized according to period.
We have tried to select readings that have a real argument instead of just giving information so that they are
easier to critique. The selections from books (except for e-books) are all on the e-reserves; the journal
articles will need to be downloaded through LINC.

Early Christianity

Huskinson, “Pagan and Christian” in Wolffe ed., Religion in History

Ciholas, The Omphalos and the Cross, ch. 10 (“Classical Culture and Christian Faith”)
Moorhead, “Papa as Bishop of Rome”, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 36, no. 3

Medieval Christianity

Armstrong, Holy War, ch. 2 (“Before the Crusade”)

France, Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714, ch. 2 (“The Papal Monarchy and
the Invention of the Crusade”)
Whalen, “Rethinking the Schism of 1054”, Traditio, vol. 62 (2007)
Bailey, “Religious Poverty. Mendicancy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages”, in Church History, vol. 72,
no. 3 (2003)
Neel, “Origins of the Beguines” , Signs [name of journal], vol. 14 no. 2 (1989).

Protestant and Catholic Reformations

Karant-Nunn, “Reformation Society, Women & Family” in Pettegree ed., The Reformation World
Bossy, “The Counter-Reformation and the People of Catholic Europe”, in Past and Present, No. 47 (1970)
Cantoni, “Adopting a New Religion: The Case of Protestantism in 16th-Century Germany”, Economic
Journal, 122/560 (2012)
Cantor, “A Prolegomenon to Reformation”, Political Science Quarterly, vol. 81, no. 1 (1966)
Hsieh, World of Catholic Renewal, ch. 9 (“Holy Women, Beatas, Demoniacs”)
François, “The Catholic Church and Vernacular Bible Reading” (can be downloaded from
http://www.diacronia.ro/ro/indexing/details/A25807/pdf )
Wilson, “Causes of the Thirty Years’ War, 1618-48”, English Historical Review, vol, 123, no. 502 (2008)
Strauss, “Success and Failure in the German Reformation”, Past and Present, no. 67 (please note that there
is an article published several years later talking about this one but by a different author; make sure
you are reading this earlier one)

Enlightenment
Heimann, “Christianity in Western Europe from the Enlightenment”, in Hastings ed., A World History of
Christianity
Outram, The Enlightenment, ch. 4 (“Science and the Enlightenment”)
Gilley, “Christianity and Enlightenment: A Historical Survey”, History of European Ideas, Vol. 1, no. 2
(1981)

American Christianity
Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People, ch. 46 (“The Golden Age of Liberal Theology”)
Green, Inventing a Christian Nation, Introduction (available as e-book on LINC)—this chapter only
Hutchison, “The Americanness of the Social Gospel”, Church History, vol. 44, no. 3

Imperialism/Colonialism/Missions

MacCormack, “The Heart Has Its Reasons” in Luebke ed., The Counter-Reformation
Porter, Religion versus Empire?, ch. 3 (“Missions, Government and Empire”)
Roberts, The Colonial Moment in Africa, ch. 3 (“Christianity”)
Groves, “Missionary and Humanitarian Aspects of Imperialism from 1870 to 1914” in Gann and Duignan
ed., Colonialism in Africa 1870-1960, vol. 1
Porter, “Religion and Empire” in Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol. 20, no. 3
Jackson, “From Krishna Pal to Lal Behari Dey: Indian Builders of the Church in Bengal”, in Robert ed.,
Converting Colonialism
Hastings, “Clash of Nationalism and Universalism within Twentieth-Century Missionary Christianity”, in
Stanley ed., Missions, Nationalism, and the End of Empire
Predelli and Miller, ‘Piety and Patriarchy: Contested Gender Regimes in Nineteenth-Century Evangelical
Missions’, in Huber and Lutkehaus ed., Gendered Missions
Rule, K’ung-tzu or Confucius?, ch. 1 (“Matteo Ricci and the Jesuit Interpretations of Confucianism”)
Boxer, “Faith and Empire: The Cross and the Crown in Portuguese Expansion”, Terrae Incognitae, vol. 8,
no. 1
Yieh, “The Bible in China: Interpretations and Consequences” (from Handbook of Christianity in China,
available as e-book)
Giovanetti-Singh, “Rethinking the Rites Controversy”, Modern Intellectual History, vol. 19, no. 1