25-26 Pathways: Church History

Pathways Online Course instructed by Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis: Church History

Course Description

This course is designed to provide an overview of and an appreciation for the history of Christian traditions, the broader contexts in which they are developed, and their continued significance for the life of the church. Participants will study select crucial historical moments (e.g., early Christian movements, church councils, Reformation, Christianity in America).

Meet the Instructor

Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis is Associate Professor of Church History, having been at Union Presbyterian Seminary since Fall 2013. Previously, she taught at Duke University, Lehigh University, and Moravian Theological Seminary. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship from 2010-2012.

Her teaching and research explore early Christian communities and their practices, especially those founded in Egypt, Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula. Her first book is “Death of the Desert: Monastic Memory and the Loss of Egypt’s Golden Age” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022). The book explores how memory and spatial practices were transformed by acts of violence among Egyptian ascetics. She has also co-edited and translated The History of the Great Deeds of Bishop Paul of Quentos and Priest John of Edessa: Texts from Christian Late Antiquity volume 29 (Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2010). She contributed to Melania: Early Christianity Through the Life of One Family (University of California Press, 2016). Her translation work is found in the first two volumes of More New Testament Apocrypha and on the Coptic Scriptorium webpage.

Dates: Tuesdays, 7-9pm EST, April 14 – May 19, 2026

Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on April 10, 2026, 2 business days before the first class meeting.

UPSem faculty, staff, and students can register for this class for free. If you are a UPSem faculty, staff, or student, you can register here using your UPSem email address. If you are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes, subject line “PWCH: Financial Aid.