Our Curriculum
The curriculum design for the Institute is built around the organizing principle of four Learning Clusters. These clusters are natural convergences of the functional roles in ministry. Each cluster develops a set of skills and synthesizes learning for ministers to use in planning and exercising the responsibilities related to the calling and mission of the church. The four clusters collectively form a continuum of practical learning built upon the academic subjects, which are arranged as follows:
Faith and Heritage (FH)
Theology – FHBTH
Church History – FHCHS
Ethics – FHETH
Philosophy – FHPHI
View Faith and Heritage
Course Descriptions
The historic formulations and confessions of the Christian faith; the impact of philosophical and ethical traditions and Christian truth on the history of Christianity; and the distinctive role of Baptists in shaping faith and practice that lead to such competencies as:
- To develop a working knowledge of the major historical periods, movements, persons, and issues, as well as the political, social, and religious, influences in the development of Christianity and Baptist history that provide a basis for the beliefs and practices of the church in relation to the world
- To deal critically with historical evidence, sequence, generalization, and analogy with regard to the history of Christianity and Baptists, and to communicate insight from historical explanation in relating the past to the present
- To communicate the confessional development of Christianity and Baptist heritage in the context of theology, philosophy, history, and in conversation with the current human experience
- To model a working theology in one’s ministry that reflects an awareness of Christian doctrine in light of its biblical, confessional, philosophical, and historical development. To lead the whole church toward a working theology that gives attention to content, methodology, and process by which Christian theology continues to be formulated and developed within the life of the congregation
- To demonstrate how understanding of Scripture, history, philosophy, and theological foundations of Christian ethics informs the construction of one’s own beliefs and convictions, and how it expresses itself in action
- To develop within the church an awareness of how understanding of Scripture, theology, philosophy, history, and principles of Christian ethics lead to development of values, moral perspectives, ethical behavior, and sound decision making
- To develop a personal worldview relevant to Christian ministry taking into consideration other contemporary worldviews, philosophical issues, major religions, religious sects, culture, and science
- To lead a congregation to develop an adequate defense of the Christian faith against arguments from non-Christian belief systems