Christianity in World History
Taken in: AY20/21 Sem 1
Expected Grade: B+
Actual Grade: B
If you’ve ever been curious about the place of Christianity in world history or interested in like olden / medieval times history, this is truly the mod that will place you at a starting point for all of that, offering you a glimpse of world history across a very broad timeline from BC to the 2000s today! Ultimately, it is a starting point because only so much content about each time period can be covered in 13 weeks but I think the Prof does a good job in sieving out the important events.
Every lecture is like an interesting and long storytelling session, I would say the Prof is pretty engaging so its easy to follow the lectures! The topics we engaged were always interesting so I dutifully attended all the lectures even though they were recorded. Although, I did feel a bit of disconnect between lecture material, tutorials and the assessments, in the sense that I did not know how to connect learning points and channel them into my assessments.
However, the problem for me came when it was time for tutorials and the continual assessments. For tutorial, there would be a reading to do and some questions you would have to prepare for. It is important to prep for the questions so that you can engage in class part! At the beginning, the tutorials were still alright and pretty fun but gradually the sources became harder and harder, and I struggled quite a bit with it in terms of understanding what it was trying to do or say (but of course it could just be me…).
As for assessments, owing to COVID-19 there were no finals but instead 3 take home assignments across the span of the semester with the very last assignment being like a final paper. The first assignment was to imagine yourself as a character from a time in history and write an essay based on the character. Different scenarios and characters were provided for you to choose from! This was fun because it was more of a creative piece of work. The second assignment was a reaction piece, like a critical review, on one of the readings from the module. As mentioned, I struggled with some of the readings so I struggled with this but word of advice is to consult the Prof or TA and try to clear your doubts with them and making sure you are on the right track. The final assignment are the typical statement argument essays and I hustled hard for this essay but finished it in confusion. I am unsure how to advice but I would say pick a statement you have strong opinions about so that it helps when you frame your argument!
At this point, if you’re intimidated, please keep in mind I am not a history major which could explain why I’m a little out of it with this mod. Resources were definitely robust and the teaching team were always enthusiastic to offer consultation sessions as well so you will not be alone in the journey. For me, content alone makes this module a good selling point (especially as a UE) if you have always been interested in religion and in particular Christianity (and you can always keep your SUs for this)!
shenaniganswpie 