It almost goes without saying that it is important to study history. Yet, for the Orthodox Christian, the study of history has become an ideological minefield. One can read book after book on world history or western civilization. These textbooks leave the young reader with the impression that Christianity is a tool of oppression, that the sacred history in the Old and New Testaments is more myth than fact.
In this class, we will approach the study of history from an Orthodox point of view. Indeed, Orthodoxy will be the foundation for all of our studies. This is not to say that we will only study Biblical and Church history. In addition to Biblical and Church history, we will study the history of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

Students will

• learn how to examine historical evidence.
• learn how history can be approached from an Orthodox worldview.
• learn how to write an historical essay.
• learn how to apply historical methods to the following units:
  Week I: The Patriarch Abraham
  Week II: Patriarchs Isaac and Jacob
  Week III: The Prophet Moses
  Week IV: From the Judges to King David
  Week V: The Holy Prophets
  Week VI: Ancient Greece I: The significance of Homer
  Week VII: Ancient Greece II: Athens, Sparta, Pericles, Plato, Aristotle
  Week VIII: Alexander the Great and Hellenism
  Week IX: Rome: The Republic
  Week X: Rome: The Empire
  Week XI: The Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ
  Week XII: The Apostolic Period
  Week XIII: The Age of the Martyrs and Apologists
  Week XIV: St. Constantine

The Law of God, Fr. Seraphim Slobodskoy
A copy of the King James Version of the Bible
The rest of the reading will be provided by the instructor.

Instructional Format: A class will be held each week in real-time, using the Zoom web conferencing system. Students will be expected to participate actively in classroom discussion. In addition, video lessons will be sent out throughout the week. Students
will be expected to watch these lessons each week, completing any reading sent out with the videos. In addition, students will be expected to write essays relating to the materials that we have read and discussed. Students will be required to have a one on
one session with the instructor every two weeks. This allows each student to ask questions about the reading, the essay he is presently working on (whether with the writing process or the material itself), or other concerns that are relevant to the class.

Office Hours: In addition to the required weekly meetings, the instructors will hold “office hours” each week. Office hours will be conducted using Zoom and will be by appointment.

Students will complete the assigned readings and watch the course videos each week.

Participation 33%
Essays, Projects 33%
Quizzes and Tests 33%