Core Courses & Certificate of Christian Thought

Core Course I

Ideas That Shape Us

David Foster Wallace’s anecdote about the two young fish is by now commonplace: An older fish swims by and asks them, “Well, boys, how’s the water?” and one of the younger fish looks at the other and says, “Water? What the hell is water?”

This simple illustration has been used in a variety of ways, but perhaps James K. A. Smith has gotten the most traction from it. In Smith’s iteration, the water we breathe is code for the ideas that compose our intellectual atmosphere. We do not think in a vacuum; centuries of thought have either polluted or filtered our epistemic environment, but we breathe it all in without a conscious thought, or worse, with the thought that this is just the way it has always been. But it isn’t.

This course will trace the major thought streams that have formed the water that we breathe today. We’ll wade through centuries of philosophy, theology, literature, art, and music in order to more objectively examine and critique our presuppositions and philosophical foundations.

Core Course II

Virtuous Thinking & Ordered Loves

Spring 2023

People don’t seem to know how to have civil disagreements. To be certain, that is due, in part, to a lack of charity. But it is also due to complex fears and defense mechanisms that rise to the surface when we aren’t ourselves able to think clearly about issues that are important to us. Clear thinking allows for loving dialogue.

We are a culture, as Alisdair Macintyre has explained, that has replaced reason with emotion, and the result is fearful defensiveness, what-about-ism, and ad-hominem attacks. It would be helpful if students still learned logic in school, but alas, that is not the case.

“Logic!” said the Professor half to himself. “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools?”

Professor Digory Kirke, The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Logic, however, is only part of the equation. Drawing on Augustine, Lewis, and others, we’ll discuss the importance of ordo amoris, that is, well ordered loves or desires.

This course focuses on the virtue of thinking well and the disciplining our affections. In doing so, we will reap the benefit of compassionate dialogue that such thinking and loving engenders.

Core Course III

Seeing God’s world through God’s Word

Fall 2023

The Bible forms a single story, from the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem. This course will dig deep into that story and provide students with the tools to work through even the toughest passages of God’s Word.

“The fact that the Bible finds its meaning in the divine Word that becomes flesh, helps us to understand the nature of the Bible as a divine-human word.”

Graeme Goldsworthy

This course will also dig into the implications of the biblical story—Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration—on real-world developments. What does it mean that human beings are culture-makers? What is culture and how can it either aid in or hinder human flourishing?

Core Course IV

Institutions & Authorities

Spring 2024

The Family. The Church. The Government. These institutions form the backbone of society. What other institutions and authorities exert influence or even control over us? Algorithms? Neighborhoods? Corporations?

In our ultra-autonomous culture, many are skeptical of institutions, and yet we cannot escape them. What makes an institution or an authority legitimate? What constitutes abuse?

Using Abraham Kuyper’s concept of sphere sovereignty as a framework, we will explore the roles of various institutions and authorities in our lives and the influence they exert over our thought and actions.