Posts Tagged 'christian studies'
For those of you who have been following the development of the Certificate of Christian Studies at UNBC the last couple of years, you may be interested in knowing about the future. No, not the whole “future”, just the future of Christian Studies.  The course offering will be expanding from six courses to seven, which will reflect a modification to the Church History course(s) and the Old/New Testament courses, and the addition of a new course called
 Have you ever wanted to look at a 1,600 year old manuscript of the Bible? If so, you can now go to Codex Sinaiticus and view digital images of the actual pages of the ancient codex. It is pretty impressive, especially since the actual pages themselves are stored in various locations around the world and are not easily accessible.
The hand-written Greek text contains both the Septuagint and the New Testament, and you can zoom in/out, and view both transcriptions and translations of the codex. Check it out!
A few of you have been inquiring about the reading requirements for the Christian Spirituality course at UNBC this September. Well it is your lucky day – the course textbooks are listed here, and the weekly readings are listed below.
 For those of you who like to plan in advance … the University of Northern British Columbia has recently announced the next two classes in the Certificate in Christian Studies program: Christian Spirituality, starting in September 2009, and Life and Teachings of Jesus, starting in January 2010 (I will be teaching both).
More information and details about how to register for either class can be found here, and any questions about the course content can be directed to me. Thanks!
For those of you who are taking the second four-week Foundations course at Westwood, a pdf of yesterday’s PowerPoint presentation is available here (just in case you weren’t able to write the notes down fast enough!).
I have had a number of conversations lately with people who have been thinking about “going to Bible school”, but doing it online rather than moving to a new town to attend a traditional school.
One resource that I consistently recommend is Baker’s Guide to Christian Distance Education. The site “features over 500 online degrees, schools, colleges, universities, and seminary listings ranging from homeschooling programs and virtual high schools through accredited bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees and numerous theology degree programs offered by international universities.” One of the strengths of this particular guide is that is lists only accredited institutions (but there are varying types of accreditation, so do your research before you enroll!).
If you are exploring Christian distance education in 2009, this is a great place to start!
Have you have wondered what exactly it is that people are talking about, when they use the phrase “Christian spirituality”? The word “spirituality” pops up all over the place (for example, if you search for “spirituality” on Amazon.com, it returns over 174,000 books!) and it is certainly one of the current buzz words in North American Christianity. But what does it really mean? Let me offer an answer to the question in two ways.
First, I think we can contrast “spirituality” with “theology”. Perhaps we can do it like this: The primary goal of good Christian theology is to fully and accurately understand biblical truth, whereas the primary goal of good Christian spirituality is to effectively and sustainably integrate theology into everyday life. Do you see how they fit together? They complement, not contradict, each other.
Another way to “wrap our heads” around what Christian spirituality is, is to use the model of seven metaphors suggested by
Last week, I had the great experience of working with some of the staff and faculty at Columbia Bible College, as they work through a process of exploring online education, from an institutional perspective. I have attached a copy of my presentation, called “A cloud is rising: exploring web-based learning as an opportunity for Christian community and discipleship“, and you can download it here.
Also, the 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement report has been released, and these are two of their key findings:
- Students taking most of their classes online report more deep approaches to learning in their classes, relative to classroom based learners. Furthermore, a larger share of online learners reported very often participating in intellectually challenging course activities.
- Critics of distance education assume that face to face classes have inherent advantages as learning environments. But these results indicate that those who teach classes online may be making special efforts to engage their students. It may also be the case that online classes appeal to students who are more academically motivated and self directed.
For those of you who are taking the first four-week Foundations course at Westwood, here are some resources you can refer to if you want to study the topics some more:
Have fun!
For those of you who are interested in the current state of religion and spirituality in Canada, check out these statistics and commentaries:
It takes a while to read through the numbers and analysis, but it seems that the general Canadian “shift” is not away from religion per se, but rather is a change in how religious beliefs and values are expressed (via personal participation).
Also, in general, experience seems to indicate that
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