Course Syllabus

BUILDING YOUR THEOLOGY

Course description

Modern evangelical theology is flooded with conflicting viewpoints. Many of these disagreements arise between denominations, while others arise within denominations and individual churches. The apparent hopelessness of reaching theological unity has even led some Christians to deny the value of theology altogether. With so many different ideas competing for our loyalty, how are followers of Jesus to determine what to believe? And how committed should we be to specific doctrines and traditions? This course is based on the lecture series, Building Your Theology, produced by Third Millennium Ministries and hosted by Dr. Vincent Bacote with contributions from a variety of professors.

Goals and Objectives

GOALS

In this course, we would like to accomplish the following:

1. We hope you will learn the proper nature and purpose of theology.

2. We hope you will develop a new love for theology, and that you will become excited about doing theology that flows from the Scriptures and changes your heart and life.

3. We hope you make changes in your life as a response to the teachings of this course. It should change the way you do theology and analyze theological expressions, taking into account the aspects of orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthopathos.

OBJECTIVES

When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:

1. Obtain satisfactory grades on the tests, demonstrating that you can do the following: a) identify key reasons to study theology, b) distinguish the significance of orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthopathos in the task of theology, c) identify the key thoughts of important theologians, d) distinguish the different kinds of revelation and their importance in doing theology, e) distinguish different views of inspiration and of the proper interpretation of Scripture, and f) identify the key distinctive emphases of reformed theology.

2. Complete the study guides and other assignments, expressing your attitude regarding theology, and showing how you have applied the teachings of the course to your own life, especially that you can do theology and analyze theological expressions, taking into account the aspects of orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthopathos.

Thematic Outline of the Course

1. What is Theology?
2. Exploring Christian Theology
3. Relying on Revelation
4. Authority and Theology

General Explanation of Assignments

1. Study the lessons by watching the video, listening to the audio, or reading the text. 
2. Complete the study guides for each lesson. These study guides will prepare you for the online quizzes and help you apply the teachings of the lesson to your own life. 
3. Take the online quizzes on each section of the lessons. You may take the quizzes as many times as you want, but you must wait five days between attempts, and your official grade will be based on your first attempt. 
4. Complete the mini-lessons for each lesson. You may repeat these lessons as many times as you want, and your official grade will be your highest score across all attempts. 
5. Take the cumulative test for each completed lesson. You may take the test again as many times as you want for review, but the official grade is from the first attempt. 
6. Take the final exam on the lectures. 

Grades

The final grade will be calculated as follows:

1) The quizzes are each worth 10 points. 
2) Each Cumulative test is worth 30 points. 
3) Each Mini-Lesson is worth 10 points. 
4) The final exam on the lectures is worth 100 points. 

The final course grade will be calculated by adding the corresponding percentages of all assignments and tests, for a total of 100%.