NOTE: This is not the place for general discussion and questions. Go to the foyer for general discussion and refer to the FAQ on the right for question. Time spent in the comments section will apply toward your one hour of community time per week. To download audio sessions, visit the course homepage on the TTP site. The next session will be posted each Wed.

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What are the key elements that have united all Christians throughout Church history? What are the core beliefs that unite Evangelical Protestants since the Reformation? Should we seek absolute unity? Or is some diversity healthy for the Church? These are all important questions that are struggled with in this session. By the end of this session, the student should have wrestled with the concepts of unity and diversity. The student should have a greater understanding of what makes up the Great Tradition of Christianity, becoming more confident in the unity of all believers in Christ.

NOTE: This is not the place for general discussion and questions. Go to the foyer for general discussion and refer to the FAQ on the right for question. Time spent in the comments section will apply toward your one hour of community time per week. To download audio sessions, visit the course homepage on the TTP site. The next session will be posted each Wed.

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 Does God still speak today through prophets, dreams, visions, and direct encounters or did He cease in the first century? If He did cease, why? Are those who claim speak on behalf of God to be tested the same way they were in biblical times? In this session, we will cover this important and divisive issue. If God still speak directly to people today, then we need to use those to whom He speaks as a primary source for truth. During this session, the student will learn and evaluate the arguments made by cessationists (those who believe that God does not speak directly or through prophets today) and continuationists (those who believe that He does), understanding that how one answers this question will greatly influence their theological methodology.

NOTE: This is not the place for general discussion and questions. Go to the foyer for general discussion and refer to the FAQ on the right for question. Time spent in the comments section will apply toward your one hour of community time per week. To download audio sessions, visit the course homepage on the TTP site. The next session will be posted each Wed._______________________________What are the sources that Christians should go to for truth? Is experience a valid source? How about emotion? Or should we only turn to the Scriptures when looking for truth? In this important session we will examine all the sources for truth that are available, evaluating them for their trustworthiness. This session rebuilds the “stage of truth” that will be used for the remainder of the program. The student should leave with a better understanding of the benefits and deficiencies of emotion, experience, reason, tradition, general revelation, and special revelation.

NOTE: This is not the place for general discussion and questions. Go to the foyer for general discussion and refer to the FAQ on the right for question. Time spent in the comments section will apply toward your one hour of community time per week. To download audio sessions, visit the course homepage on the TTP site. The next session will be posted each Wed.

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What are the essential beliefs that make a Christian a Christian? What are the core beliefs that someone must believe to be saved? Are there truths that are relative? If so, how do we know which ones? In this session the student will struggle with these difficult questions. The goal here is not that everyone comes to complete agreement, but that we begin to dialogue about such issues, understanding that failure to do so has produced legalism where people are judging others for not agreeing with them on each and every detail on non-essential issues. The student should also begin to recognize that there are different levels of certainty about all beliefs.

NOTE: This is not the place for general discussion and questions. Go to the foyer for general discussion and refer to the FAQ on the right for question. Time spent in the comments section will apply toward your one hour of community time per week. To download audio sessions, visit the course homepage on the TTP site. The next session will be posted each Wed.

_______________________________

What are the essential beliefs that make a Christian a Christian? What are the core beliefs that someone must believe to be saved? Are there truths that are relative? If so, how do we know which ones? In this session the student will struggle with these difficult questions. The goal here is not that everyone comes to complete agreement, but that we begin to dialogue about such issues, understanding that failure to do so has produced legalism where people are judging others for not agreeing with them on each and every detail on non-essential issues. The student should also begin to recognize that there are different levels of certainty about all beliefs.

NOTE: This is not the place for general discussion and questions. Go to the foyer for general discussion and refer to the FAQ on the right for question. Time spent in the comments section will apply toward your one hour of community time per week. To download audio sessions, visit the course homepage on the TTP site. The next session will be posted each Wed.

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What kind of questions are Christians to be prepared to answer today? Modernists ask questions that are rational. Did Christ really rise from the grave? Is the Bible reliable? Postmodernists ask questions that are emotional. Why does God allow evil to happen? What about those who have never heard? In this session, the student should gain a greater understanding of why Postmoderns are asking the type of questions they are. Should the Christian join the moderns or postmoderns? The student will learn what the Christian view of truth should be in response to both Modernism and Postmodernism.

NOTE: This is not the place for general discussion and questions. Go to the foyer for general discussion and refer to the FAQ on the right for question. Time spent in the comments section will apply toward your one hour of community time per week. To download audio sessions, visit the course homepage on the TTP site. The next session will be posted each Wed.

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Why is truth devalued in our culture today? What is Postmodernism? We live in a different world than we did just 20 years ago. People think differently today about the reality and nature of truth. “Your truth is your truth, my truth is my truth-they are both right” is a common belief that we encounter in our postmodern culture. Why are people thinking in such a manner? By the end of this session, the student should have a better understanding of the history of man’s search for truth, learning that the postmodern view of truth (that truth is relative) comes as a response and reaction to an overly optimistic view of man that came out of the enlightenment. We will begin to answer the question, “How should the Christian respond to a Postmodernism culture?”

NOTE: This is not the place for general discussion and questions. Go to the foyer for general discussion and refer to the FAQ on the right for question. Time spent in the comments section will apply toward your one hour of community time per week. To download audio sessions, visit the course homepage on the TTP site. The next session will be posted each Wed.

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What is systematic theology? What are the common mistake that people make with regards to “doing theology”? How important is it that one use a theological process that is testable? This session presents the different categories in which theology is done. The student should gain a greater understanding of what systematic theology is by understanding its relation to biblical, apologetic, historic, dogmatic, and philosophical theologies. A basic understanding of the theological process is introduced. The student should leave with an understanding that biblical theology must be done with great integrity, asking “what did the text mean in its original setting?” then asking “what does it mean for all time?” then finally “what does it mean for today?”

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What exactly is theology and who is a theologian? Why are there so many bad theologies out there? Are you a Tabloid theologian, believing everything you hear? Or are you a more skeptical theologian, who won’t believe anything? This session will cover the different methods and commitments, good and bad, that people bring to their theology causing them to be a good theologian or a bad theologian. During this session the student will be persuaded that everyone is a theologian because everyone has theological persuasions and convictions, even if they don’t realize it. The student will have to decide what type of theologian they want to be. One can be a sloppy theologian, by naively receiving their belief system without a constructive methodology, or one can be a theologian with integrity, by exercising critical examination.

For those of you who were unable to attend this past week’s oreintation, fear not.

I recorded it and have now loaded it here to the blog so you can listen in.

Also remember to email me with any questions at all at carrie@reclaimingthemind.org. I am more than happy to help!

Blessings,

Carrie