Course Description

What are the essentials of the Christian faith?  How do you understand the realm of God, salvation, and the message of Jesus?  What is Christianity’s role in the pluralistic role? These are foundational questions for Christian life and theological formation.  Over the next six weeks, you will explore, reflect on, and discuss these aspects of Christian theology from a progressive perspective.  You will be asked to trace how your theological understandings have evolved as a result of church experience, study, and growth. You will also consider these topics and integrate them with the course work already completed in the PATHWAYS program.

Learning Objectives

• To demonstrate how knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament support Progressive Christian theology.
• To summarize threads of Progressive Christian theology evident throughout church history.
• To express a Progressive Christian theological understanding that is accessible to others.
• To identify and illustrate the different theological perspectives that have been part of one’s own growth.
• To summarize aspects of one’s own study of theology that have provided a foundational understanding of what it means to be Christian

Required Texts

• Borg, Marcus J. (2003). The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering the Life of Faith. HarperOne/Haper-Collins.