Christian Life and Biblical Worldview – RLGN 104

Course Description

Rationale

RLGN 104 is designed to deepen and broaden the student’s understanding of the core fundamentals of the biblical worldview and to equip the student to present that view in relation to competing worldviews. The goal is to enable the student to think more clearly and critically about Christianity and truth. It is intended to equip the student to become a more effective witness and to participate more constructively in the larger socio-cultural debate. In order to accomplish this goal, the student must (1) understand the essentials of Christian truth, (2) be familiar with the historical opponents to Christianity and truth, and (3) present a biblical, logical, and reasonable defense of Christianity. Through studying worldviews, the student can better understand the nature of humanity and individual conduct so that he or she is prepared to address relevant questions in a culture of relativism. As the apostle Paul states: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:6, NIV). By understanding worldviews, the student will acquire a powerful form of wisdom that characterized the sons of Issachar: “men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do…” (1 Chronicles 12:32, NASB).

Course Assignment

Textbook Readings and Lecture Presentations

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Threads

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to create a thread in response to the provided topic for each Discussion. Discussion: Beliefs requires the student to create a thread that must be a minimum of 75 words for each question (150 words total). Discussion: Gospel Message Perceptions and Discussion: Gospel Message Friendships and Barriers require the student to create a thread that must be 300–500 words. The student is required to add and cite content from two sources (scripture, course materials, and or research) in each thread using current APA, MLA, or Turabian formatting (whichever corresponds to the student’s degree program). (CLOs: C, D and E). This assignment aligns with the following FSLOs: CT 5, CGE3, CGE4, CGE 5.

Replies

In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to at least 2 other classmates’ threads. For Discussion: Beliefs, each reply must be a minimum of 100 words. For Discussion: Gospel Message Perceptions and Discussion: Gospel Message Friendships and Barriers, each reply must be a minimum of 150–200 words. The student is required to add and cite content from two sources (scripture, course materials, and or research) in each reply using current APA, MLA, or Turabian formatting (whichever corresponds to the student’s degree program). (CLOs: A, C, D) This assignment aligns with the following FSLOs: CT4.

Research Paper Assignments (4)

This assignment will be completed in four parts:

Research Paper: Worldview Definition Assignment: The student will define the term “worldview” in 75 – 100 words.

Research Paper: Biblical Worldview Assignment: The student will add to the worldview definition the answers to the five worldview questions of Origin, Identity, Meaning/Purpose, Morality, and Destiny from a Biblical Worldview in 400 – 500 words. The student will review chapter four of Finding Your Worldview: Thinking Christianly about the World for content and clarity to these questions.  

Research Paper: Non-Christian Worldview Assignment: The student will add to the first two assignments the answers to the five worldview questions from one of the four worldviews (Secular Humanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Islam) in 400-500 words. The student will review chapter five of Finding Your Worldview: Thinking Christianly about the World for content and clarity to these questions.

Research Paper: Critical Thinking Assignment: The student will compile all content comparing and contrasting the Biblical Worldview and the worldview they chose in the Non-Christian Worldview responses to the five worldview questions in 500 words.

(CLOs: A, B, E) This assignment aligns with the following FSLOs: CT2, CT3, CT 4, CT5, CGE1, CGE 3, CGE4, and CGE5.

For this assignment, the student is to research and articulate two different approaches to sharing the gospel message with a non-Christian (250-400 words). In addition, the student will interview a non-Christian. They will ask them the assignment questions and type out their responses to the questions. The student is encouraged to record the session with the interviewee’s permission to help complete the assignment after the interview. The word count for this assignment will be 300-500 words based on the interviewee’s responses. The student will submit the Gospel Interview Assignment using the Template provided. (CLO’s D, E). This assignment aligns with the following FSLO’s: CT2, CT4, CGE3, CGE4 & CGE5.

Quizzes (8)

Each Quiz will cover the Learn material for the assigned Module: Week. Each Quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 20 multiple-choice and true/false questions, and have a 30-minute time limit. (CLOs: A, B, C) This assignment aligns with the following FSLOs: CT3, CT4, CT5, CGE1, CGE 3 , CGE 4.