Bible

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

How do we live out this essential commandment? Who is this God we are called to love? What is true and false, good and evil, right and wrong? The answers to these questions frame our picture of the world — our “worldview.”

We believe that God is very necessary and very relevant, that the differences between religions and worldviews are both real and significant, and that Christianity best satisfies the criteria for a livable worldview. The choice of a worldview is both personal and of far-reaching eternal significance. In that manner, the Bible program exposes students to the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the life and redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and the historic Christian faith and its relationship to the major worldviews of our time. The learning and dialogue encompasses the great breadth of perspectives in the Christian faith.

Students are asked to carefully examine their own beliefs as well as the argumentation and beliefs that disagree with a Christian worldview. The purpose of all critical thinking is not to create skepticism in students, but to equip them to be conversant with most of the ideas they encounter in the university and society, so that we follow Paul’s advice: “Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Course Offerings

Bible 9 - Old Testament (semester)

This course presents the story of Christianity with an emphasis on the content of the Old Testament centered around the following five key questions:

What is up with the Bible?
Here we look at what the Bible is and where it came from, focusing on its trustworthiness and reliability.

Who is Jesus Christ?
Here we focus on the redemptive Mission of God that is revealed in scripture in the person of Jesus Christ.

What does Jesus Christ offer?
Here we will focus on the so called “I AM” statements of Jesus Christ found in the gospel of John. The themes of hope, relationship, identity, salvation and truth will be emphasized.

Where did Jesus Christ come from?
Here we will take the bulk of the class to explore the overall narrative of the Old Testament that points us toward the arrival of Jesus Christ in the 1st century. Among the main content and historical and cultural background of the Old Testament the following themes will be emphasized: God as Creator (creation is ‘good’, humanity made in God’s image, stewardship of creation, God’s sovereignty, the covenant community, etc.); humanity as fallen from grace (the effects of sin in the world, the human struggle toward a relationship with God, the human tendency toward idolatry, sin and death, etc.); God as deliverer (the Exodus, social justice, etc.); God as judge (the exile, the nations, etc.); redemptive history (the coming Savior) and future hope.

How do we respond to Jesus Christ?
Here we will focus on the themes of invitation, trust, and yieldedness.

Bible 9 - Discipleship (semester)

A one semester biblical theology tour through the Old Testament, with focus on the Pentateuch. The course will trace the narrative of the Pentateuch while students will begin identifying their own personal narrative and God’s involvement in their life. Themes to be focused on include: Imago Dei, creation, holiness of God, law and covenants, sin, redemption, the Messiah, and identity.

Bible 10 - New Testament (semester)

This survey course provides theological and thematic discussion on the nature of God and the Trinity; the formation and reliability of the New Testament canon; fulfillment of messianic prophecies in Christ; Christ's divine and human nature; the doctrine of salvation; how Christ's message spread through the Roman world; the role of the Holy Spirit and the Church; and the future return of the Messiah. Students examine cultures, language, history, theology, and literary context of the New Testament.

Bible 10 - Ministry Leadership (semester)

Bible 12 - Christian Worldview Seminar

This course encourages students to think seriously about and construct their own personal philosophy of life, and to learn how to articulate it and live by it. Students learn the beliefs of essential historic Christianity and understand orthodoxy. They become familiar and conversant with the major ideas and worldviews of our time, such as relativism, nihilism, monoism, naturalism, materialism, atheistic existentialism, cults, and post-modernism. Students learn how these interact with Christianity. As they encounter the ideas of the critics first hand, they learn how to articulate a well-reasoned defense for the Christian faith, Christian Theism, and basic Christian beliefs. At the end of the course, students learn how to articulate their own worldview. Major projects include issues papers in which students must present two sides of an issue, class presentations and a final worldview paper.

Bible 11 - Discipleship (semester)

A semester course focusing on the simple question: What does it mean to follow Jesus? Students will use the masterful work of Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy and study the ideas of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a few of the other well-known disciples of the past hundred years. Students will also have the opportunity to learn about and practice several spiritual disciplines, all toward the goal of helping the student’s life to more-closely resemble the life of Christ. (Is there an application? Teacher rec required?)

Bible 11 - Living the Story (semester)

The purpose of this class is to help integrate a student's knowledge of Old & New Testament Bible in order to form a working and meaningful theology for everyday life. We study questions like "Who or What is God", and "Who or What am I". We also ask the "so what" questions as we explore biblical relationships with both ourselves and others. Sprinkled throughout the course are opportunities to learn and practice the art and science of interpreting the Bible well in our 21st century culture.

Bible 12 - Christian Worldview Seminar (year-long)

The aim of Christian Worldview Seminar is to encourage students to think seriously about their own personal philosophy of life and to learn how to articulate it and live by it. The course is organized around three central questions: Who am I? Who is God? Who is my neighbor? Students will encounter the essential beliefs of the Christian faith as presented in Scripture. They will become familiar and conversant with other major religious and non-religious worldviews. At the end of the course, students will formulate a statement of their own worldview.