Professor: Rev. Dr. Fritz Harms
Time: November 20 – 25, 2026

Schedule:

Friday, November 20 – 18:00 – 21:00
Saturday, November 21 – 9:00-12:00
Monday, November 23 – 18:00 – 21:00
Tuesday, November 24 – 18:00 – 21:00
Wednesday, November 25 – 18:00 – 21:00

Place: Brivibas gatve 291, Riga. Registration necessary for participation.
Language: English, with simultaneous translation channel in Russian (on Zoom).

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course studies the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century with an emphasis on persons, issues and developments (historical, political, social and ecclesiastical). This sevenfold lecture course begins by offering the necessary historical context to understand the reason and character of the Reformation. From there students are introduced to a selection of four of the main representatives of the Reformation period (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and the Anabaptist Menno Simons). The course ends with a brief overview of the English and Scottish Reformation and the Catholic Counter Reformation. Other main Reformation leaders are mentioned in passing (such as Ph. Melanchton and H. Bullinger).

ABOUT PROFESSOR

Dr. Fritz Harms (1960) was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He came to the USA in 1982 for study and preparation toward ordained ministry in the local church (1994). Harms is a minister in the United Reformed Churches in North America and graduated from Kuyper College (1986), Westminster Theological Seminary-west (1989) and from the Theological University of Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, (Ph.D.-2009). Pastor Harms Currently is serving as interim pastor at Covenant United Reformed Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado (2020-2023). Currently, he is interim pastor as Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church, in Modesto, California.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course assumes that the student has prior knowledge of the history of Western civilization or European History. The course is designed to introduce the student to the (Protestant) Reformation in the sixteenth century.  Specifically, the students should be able to correctly identify persons, dates, issues and developments that influenced the trajectory of the Reformation movement. Furthermore, students should be able to discuss and evaluate the message of the Reformation and relate this to the contemporary world-and-church situation. Finally, by way of a final exam the student should be able to give a satisfactory account of his or her learning and assimilation of the presented lecture materials and reading assignments.

LEARNING OUTCOME

Students can think and write with proper discernment about the Reformation and its meaning for the life of the church today and the issues it currently faces (e.g. church and state, kingdom and culture, moral and ecclesial issues).

Students will be able to use critical analysis in order to biblically evaluate and reflect on their own faith and understanding in light of the main Reformation teachings.

Students will have gained a sense that their lives today–and the churches they affiliate with–form an organic part and are linked with the history of the entire Christian Church.

COURSE REQIREMENTS

• ATTENDANCE
• CLASS PARTICIPATION
• READING
  • John Calvin: The Institutes of the Christian Religion
    • Book I:1.1-3; I.2.1-2; I.3.1-3; I.4.1; I.5.1, 14-15; I.6.1-2; I.7.4-5; I.9.1-3; I.10.1-2; I.13.1-2, 6, 20; I.14.1-2, 4, 21-22; I.15.1, 3-4, 8; I.16.1, 4; I.17.11;
    • Book II:1.1, 3, 8; II.2.1; II.6.1; II.7.1, 6, 10, 12; II.10.2; II.12.1-3; II.16.19; II.17.1;
    • Book III:1. 1-4; III.2.6-7, 16-17, 24; III.3.1-5; III.6.3; III.7.1; III.8.11; III.9.1; III.10.6; III.11.1-2, 4, 23; III.13.1, 4; III.14.18-21; III.16.1; III.17.3-5; III.19.1-2, 4-5, 7, 15; III.20.1.4, 6, 8, 11, 52; III.21.1, 5; III.24.3-5; III.25.1, 3, 10;
    • Book IV:1.1, 4, 7-9; IV.3.1; IV.14.1; IV.15.1, 5-6, 10; IV.16.4, 9; IV.17.1-5, 11, 31-32, 44; IV.20.1-2, 9, 11, 31-32
  • Lewis W. Spitz, The Renaissance and Reformation Movements (vol.2), pp. 300-590.
  • Martin Luther: The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio). Sections 1-40.
    Deadline: November 25, 2026 (by the end of the course)
• WRITING ASIGNMENTS
  1. Final Exam
     Deadline: December 6, 2026
     
  2. Research paper.

     Write an 8–10-page research paper. Please, select a topic of your choosing that is related to the lectures guided by the syllabus. Please, confer with the instructor for topic approval.

     Use two or three sources (research) and relate your topic to the context of your own church and/or denomination
     Deadline: December 20, 2026

INFORMATION:

Andrejs Prieditis, e-mail: aprieditis@brts.edu.lv,
Phone: (371) 26177539.