30 April
Watch the video below and comment on one of the excesses or errors that became evident in the Second Great Awakening and also one positive thing that came from this period.
30 April
Open the Student Guide and fill in the blanks as you watch the lesson. Answer one of the discussion questions on page 8 of the Student guide in the comments below.
29 April
Open the Student Guide and fill in the blanks as you watch the lesson. Which of the five purposes of the church listed on page 7 of your packet seems the most important to you? Are these our eternal purposes? What will change when we get to heaven?
28 April
Open the Student Guide and fill in the blanks as you watch the lesson. Looking at the seven characteristics of the koinonia fellowship, which of these is most important to you personally? Leave your comments below.
27 April
How did we get from a Protestantism based upon theology and confession like traditional Lutheranism and Calvinism to the modern idea of Christianity with a focus on personal devotion and individual sanctification that we see in the preaching of Whitefield. This shift towards Pietism is the missing link. Watch the…
24 April
Please read Story of Christianity, “Eastern Orthodoxy in the Early Modern Period” pages 299-305. Answer the questions below that correspond with your reading. Important to Know: The Orthodox Church in the United States is relatively small in comparison with other religious groups perhaps numbering in the range of one million…
24 April
If you need more time to finish the video and the student guide, please use part of today’s class to do that. Download the student guide here. Please note the Quiz at the bottom of this page. You may use your study guides from this week to complete it. No…
23 April
Please download the student guide found here. Fill in the blanks as you watch the video below. Note: There is a list of answers to the fill in the blanks on the last page of the PDF. Today, I would like you to put your answer to Discussion Question 3,…
22 April
If you were unable to get through the video yesterday, then please take today’s class to complete the study guide. Download the student guide here. Fill in the blanks as you watch the video below. Please note: There is a different discussion question for the comment today. Note: There is…
22 April
[responsivevoice_button] The Great Awakening also had a powerful political dimension, particularly in the southern colonies. The Anglican faith had long nurtured the old ties between the colonies and the Mother Country. Baptists and Methodists, however, felt no such connection. Moreover, as the new sects emphasized personal belief and action over…
21 April
Please download the student guide found here. Fill in the blanks as you watch the video below. Note: There is a list of answers to the fill in the blanks on the last page of the PDF. If you run out of time during this class period, don’t worry, I’ll…
21 April
[responsivevoice_button] The traditional religions of Great Britain’s North American colonies—Puritanism in New England and Anglicanism farther south—had difficulty maintaining their holds over the growing population. The main reason for this was that the frontier kept pushing further west, and the building of churches almost never kept up with this westward…
20 April
Please read Story of Christianity, “Deism, Enlightenment, and Revolution” pages 294-298. Answer the questions below that correspond with your reading. Important to Know: The words atheism and agnosticism are forms of Greek words and the prefix a, which means “no” or “none.” Theos is the Greek word for “God,” and…
17 April
<== Previous Lesson Don’t forget to complete your problem of evil fictional conversations and submit them to homework drop or send them to my email. We’ve discussed some heavy topics this week and I want to leave you on a positive note. When we talk about the problem of evil,…
16 April
<== Previous Lesson Some of you may have rolled your eyes yesterday as we were talking about spiritual beings. After all, we live in an age of particle accelerators, microchips, and organ transplants. Aren’t the Devil and demons just medieval superstitions created to scare naughty children and illiterate peasants? This…
16 April
<== Previous Lesson [responsivevoice_button] Many in the next generation, the first of the eighteenth century, felt fewer obligations to the Christian past, so instead of trying to harmonize nature and Scripture, they simply set aside revelation. Many intellectuals claimed that the parts of the Bible that agree with reason are…
15 April
<== Previous Lesson I want you to throw out any pictures that you have in your head of angels, demons, and Satan. These popular images are based on big misunderstandings for the most part. You will need to learn some new words that you don’t use very often, and you…
13 April
<== Previous Lesson [responsivevoice_button] Back when we were talking about Augustine’s City of God, we tackled the problem of evil. This is a difficult philosophical argument that may have roots all the way back to around the year 300 BC. The Greek philosopher Epicurus summed up the argument in the…
09 April
<== Previous Lesson [responsivevoice_button] In the early American colonies from the earliest days of the Jamestown colony until 1700, colonists from Britain settled along the east coast in areas now known as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Virginia. While we think of these colonists as coming to find religious freedom.…
08 April
<== Previous Lesson [responsivevoice_button] Hopefully in our discussion on Sanctification yesterday, you came away with something of a definition and process. Here are the basics: Sanctification is being set apart to be holy (1 Corinthians 6:11) by growing in Christ-likeness. (1 Thessalonians 5:23). In other words, as a Christian, you…
06 April
<== Previous Lesson [responsivevoice_button] Your assignment is to do some research on sanctification online. I’d like you to research and write out an answer to the following questions: What is Sanctification? What is a saint? What does it mean that a believer is a new creation? What is the process…
06 April
<== Previous Lesson [responsivevoice_button] The ability to seek the truth about God and live according to our beliefs has been an essential part of American order from the beginning. No other nation has such robust protection of religious freedom. It didn’t start perfectly, nor is it perfect today, but James…
02 April
<== Previous Lesson Zoom Call today at 11:15 am [responsivevoice_button] While Jesus’ death accomplished everything that it was intended to, we have not yet experienced all that there is to experience of salvation. We are in the middle of it. Past – Justified Present – Sanctified Future – Glorified In…
02 April
<== Previous Lesson [responsivevoice_button] I think the Puritans get a bad rap. In our modern times, which are marked with a quest for individual rights and sexual freedom, Puritan has come to mean a religious snob who does his best to keep people from having fun. H.L. Mencken was an…
01 April
<== Previous Lesson [responsivevoice_button] In Story of Christianity by David Bentley Hart, read the chapter “Colonies and Missions” on pages 281-287. Converted by Love or Force Columbus gave the island that he landed on a proper Spanish name as he claimed it for Ferdinand and Isabella. He called it San…