Vision and Goals

I believe God sees this course as a fellowship. We are a team brought together for a season of growth through mutual training, challenge, equipping, and discipline. All these serve the ends that every participant gain new and lasting appreciation for the historical contours of Christian theology and new and lasting skill in the Church's practices of historical and theological reflection. More specifically, the course intends its participants:

• To gain an understanding of the historical teachings and practices of Christian traditions.
• To learn the social and ideological contexts of those teachings and practices.
• To appreciate the variety, stability, and core consistency of Christian traditions.
• To weigh the visions of various Christian communities of what constitutes the one true Church of Jesus Christ.
• To strengthen our academic discipline, particularly regarding good writing, listening, and critical reading.
• To become actively and personally engaged with the disciplines of faithful Christian historical enquiry and faithful Christian theological enquiry in the context of the life of the Church.

I describe the general goals of all my courses in my rules of the game.