“If I could give this course more than five stars,” one fan avowed, “I would.” But five is all The Great Courses allows viewers of its DVD-based studies to assign, and 45 of 56 students gave these lessons that highest mark. Yes, this is another package of DVDs, and these “trace the story of Christianity as it transformed from the end of the Middle Ages into the…religion of today,” as The Great Courses explains.

In 36 half-hour-long lectures, Molly Worthen “examines the actors and ideas that have made Christianity a global religion.” And she, associate professor of history at University of North Carolina, does it exceedingly well: “[T]he content covered is handled with aplomb, obvious expertise, and deftness,” one critic reckoned. Another makes the point that Worthen “actually teaches, instead of reading from a monitor.” “Her lectures,” enthuses a third, “are clear, well-structured, and focused….”

As The Great Courses observes, “Prof. Worthen is a marvellous storyteller.” What else she is, is a Yalie—she earned four degrees at Yale University. An author and contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, she, who once taught at University of Toronto, focuses her research on the tensions between traditional religion and modernity.

“The History of Christianity: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch”
Molly Worthen, instructor
The Great Courses, 2017