COURSE DESCRIPTIONS -
Spring Semester 10'
• "What Is Real, and Who Says So?" Understanding Worldviews
• "What Is Truth?" Are There Any Absolutes?
• "Can I Trust the Bible?"
• "Who Was Jesus?"
• "Ravi On..."
Prerequisite Reading Prior to the Fall Semester: Walking From East to West By Ravi Zacharias and Meditating on the Word By Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
"Can I Trust the Bible"
Mike Rust
Course Description:
Reading a book from the past is like taking a journey to another land. For all its timeliness, the Bible also has a distant feel to it. After all, it was written over two millennia ago, and its roots do go back to another time and place. All that distance and time raise chronic questions about the historicity of Scripture. Does the Bible only reflect what the world was like then? Is the Bible pertinent for our day and world today? Is the Bible really trustworthy in its content?
If there is a possibility that God has spoken through the Bible and has participated in the history that the Bible records, then the answers to these and other questions are not a mere academic exercise. Our journey back into these seemingly foreign, ancient times may be a true opportunity to see more clearly who we are and who we were created to be.
This course is predicated on the belief that the Bible is indeed trustworthy and bears surprising relevance to this generation. Students will thus look at the internal and external evidence for its historicity and authenticity, along with Jesus' own words on the matter. Given that knowing implies understanding, students will also consider the messages they encounter in each of the passages in order to act on what they have discovered therein and better understand the Bible and the world it inhabits today.
Course Materials:
Books
• Is the Bible Intolerant? - By Amy Orr-Ewing
• The Old Testament Documents Are They Reliable & Relevant? - By Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.
• The New Testament Documents Are They Reliable? - By F.F. Bruce
• Misquoting Truth - By Timothy Paul Jones
• Meditating on the Word - By Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Booklet
• Can I Trust the Bible? (RZIM Critical Questions Booklet Series) - By Darrell L. Bock
CDs
• Biblical Authority and Our Cultural Crisis (CD 203) - By Ravi Zacharias
• Attacks on the Bible (CD 01) - By Amy Orr-Ewing
Suggested Reading:
• Mere Christianity - By C.S. Lewis
• Scripture and Truth - By D.A. Carson and John A. Woodbridge
• Is the New Testament Reliable? - By Paul Barnett
"What Is Truth?" Are There Any Absolutes?
Tim Day
Course Description:
This class will investigate the nature of truth and determine if there are any absolutes. A working definition of truth will be developed and thereafter the student will learn how to defend the concept of absolute truth by studying the various counter perspectives of relativism, pluralism, post-modernism, skepticism and more. The inherent inconsistencies and logical fallacies of each perspective will be exposed and the student will learn to defend absolute truth claims using logic, reason and rationale. The ultimate goal is to enable the student to clear a pathway to the cross and to empower them to more effectively present the gospel message.
Course Materials:
Books
• True for You, But Not for Me - By Paul Copan
• Telling the Truth - By D.A. Carson
• Problem of Pain - By C.S. Lewis
Booklets
• What Is Truth? (RZIM Critical Questions Series) - By Paul Copan and Dr. Mark Linville
• Why Bother with Truth? - By James Beilby and David K. Clark
• Is Everything Relative? - By Paul Copan
• Is Everything Permitted? - By Dr. Mark Linville
• True for You, But Not for Me (Participant's Guide) - By Paul Copan
CDs
• In the Pursuit of Truth (CD 307) - By Ravi Zacharias
• Absolute Truth in Relative Terms (CD 120) - By Ravi Zacharias
• Does God Exist? (CD) - By Ravi Zacharias
"What Is Real, and Who Says So?" Understanding Worldviews
Eric Purtic
Course Description:
This course will seek to investigate various worldviews. What is a worldview? How do we know what our worldview is? What difference does it make which worldview we hold? Students will examine a Christian worldview and what the Bible has to say about Jesus of Nazareth in comparison to Christianity's most vocal opponents.
Course Materials:
Books
• Jesus Among Other Gods - By Ravi Zacharias
• God's Undertaker - By John Lennox
• Naming the Elephant - By James W. Sire
• Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross - By Norman Geisler and Abdul Saleeb
• Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave - By Dave Breese
• Why Isn't God More Obvious? - By Dr. Paul K. Moser
Booklet
• Is God Real? (RZIM Critical Questions Series) - By William Lane Craig and Charles Taliaferro
CDs
• Why I Am Not an Atheist (CD 131) - By Ravi Zacharias
• Establishment of a Worldview (CD) - By Stuart McAllister
Reprinted Articles
• The Real Face of Atheism (Appendix 2 only) - By Ravi Zacharias
• Beyond Opinion (Chapter 4) - By Sam Solomon
Reference
• The Compact Guide to World Religions - By Dean Halverson
Suggested Reading:
• Who Made God? And Answers to 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith - By Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler
• God, Are You There? - By William Lane Craig
• Why I Still Believe - By Joe Boot
• The Case for a Creator - By Lee Strobel
• Does the Idea of God Make Sense? - By Charles Taliaferro
"Who Was Jesus?"
Pastor Charlie Halleran
Course Description:
The best way to learn something about a significant historical figure is to ask the person himself and those who knew that person best. In this course, students will investigate what Jesus had to say about Himself; what the disciples, His closest followers, wrote; what the crowds who witnessed Him have to tell us, and what His opponents also proffered. Students will exam the thorny issues that arise in debate and dialogue such as the deity of Jesus, the virgin birth, his death and resurrection, as well as other hot topics related to the Savior of the world.
Class study will also focus on the identity of Jesus according to Historical Christianity compared to the view and opinion of other major religions of the world and popular scholarly understandings of Jesus today. Students need to thoroughly understand how others view Jesus in order to effectively communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Coming to know Jesus historically will vitally shape our understanding of Jesus and help us determine what it means to be a follower of Christ in the 21st century.
Course Materials:
Books
• The Case for the Real Jesus - By Lee Strobel
• The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions - By Marcus J. Borg and N.T. Wright
• Jesus' Resurrection: Fact or Figment? - Edited by Paul Copan
• Putting Jesus in His Place - By Robert M. Bowman, Jr.
Booklet
• Who Was Jesus? (RZIM Critical Questions Series)- By Scot McKnight
CD
• Jesus As They Saw Him (CD 133) - By Ravi Zacharias
Suggested Reading:
• God's Rivals - By Gerald R. McDermott
• The Case for Christ - By Lee Strobel
• Can Man Live Without God? - By Ravi Zacharias
• The Challenge of Jesus - By N.T. Wright
• Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? - Edited by Paul Copan
• The Lotus and the Cross - By Ravi Zacharias
• Jesus and the Eyewitnesses - By Richard Bauckham
• Putting Jesus in His Place - By J.Ed Komoszewski
• What Have They Done with Jesus? - By Ben Witherington III
"Ravi On…"
Various Instructors
Course Description:
This course will: (1) familiarize students with the apologetics teaching ministry of Ravi Zacharias; (2) introduce students to the fundamental issues and topics of a study of Christian apologetics; (3) prepare students to successfully grapple with these issues and the counter-arguments that arise to challenge them; (4) address the relationship between apologetics and evangelism; (5) equip students to defend truth in the work of evangelism. Students will become thoroughly familiar with 24 podcasts and eight DVD's by Ravi Zacharias. These teachings are distinctive in their evangelistic and apologetic foundation and are intended to touch both the heart and the intellect of the thinkers and opinion makers of society with the truth of the gospel.
Course Materials:
Multimedia instruction, including DVDs and CDs of core Ravi Zacharias teachings, such as Apologetics Then and Now.
