The course description:
W15 Reformation in Scotland & London. The Scottish Enlightenment (1745 to 1790) was a time of astonishing innovation when the Scots ruled the intellectual world in philosophy, economics, science, and literature. It was preceded by the Protestant Reformation in the United Kingdom (1560-1650), which led to the creation of the Westminster Confession and to the founding of Presbyterianism. These two great historical eras, separated by a century, are linked in important ways, historically and intellectually. Students visit the sites where all of these events occurred, interacting with the intellectual and religious figures whose work so profoundly influenced the Western world: philosophers Frances Hutcheson, David Hume, and Thomas Reid; poets Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott; scientists Joseph Black and James Watt; economist Adam Smith; the reformer John Knox; the Westminster Divines; and the Scottish Covenanters. In London, students study the Westminster Assembly in a visit to Westminster Abbey, while touring museums and cathedrals and attending worship services. After traveling to Edinburgh by train, students interact with Enlightenment intellectuals while visiting sites of Scottish Reformation history. Lectures given by Enlightenment and Reformation scholars are held at the University of Edinburgh and local sites. Walking tours of Reformation Edinburgh and of Enlightenment Edinburgh emphasize architecture and history. Students tour Edinburgh Castle, take a ghost walk, and visit the Highlands. Students tour the John Knox House and Museum and live within two blocks of that site. The main goal of the course is for students to understand the relationship between the Reformation in Great Britain and the Scottish Enlightenment, how both were influenced by Reformed Christian thought, and how both affect us today. Students will keep an academic journal and will bring to life one Reformation or Enlightenment event or figure in a class presentation.
The instructors:
