Semester 1: Overview

This semester considers Biblical doctrine in detail. It is essential for any Christian to be fully persuaded of and conversant with what she or he believes. The Bible College does not seek to present simply the personal convictions of the tutors nor the view of any one Christian denomination. Instead, we seek to empower the student to analyze each basic doctrine of the Gospel in depth, considering the wide varieties of Christian interpretation both today and in history... and come to a reasoned, personal conviction of where one stands. Assessment of essays will not depend upon what conclusion the student comes to, but rather upon how it is reached, articulated, and understood in a practical context.

We feel this is important not only on a personal level. In all missionary and pastoral work, you will encounter Christians of widely differing doctrinal backgrounds. The untrained Christian worker will generally not know how to deal with this; indeed, this is a major weakness of untrained workers. If you find yourself dealing with a Christian who doesn't believe in the trinity, how are you going to react? By being aware of the arguments both ways, by being aware of the history of the Christian church and how the matter has been dealt with earlier, you'll be in a far more powerful position to relevantly deal with the issue. If you find yourself working with a team or pastoring a group where some believe the miraculous Holy Spirit gifts have been withdrawn, whilst others practice them... you need to not only be sure where you yourself stand. You need to be able to see the issue in its Biblical and historical perspective in order to bring wisdom and understanding to bear upon the situation.

The Anglican Bishop John Robinson once wrote [and often said], "truth is two eyed". In other words, we perceive the full picture by looking at an issue from more than one viewpoint. The approach adopted by the Bible College, bearing in mind our inter-denominational student population and staff, is that students should be made aware of the various perspectives which there are upon basic Christian doctrines, and be empowered and trained in Biblical exposition to come to purely and genuinely their own conclusions. So for example, when considering the question of the Holy Spirit gifts. We firstly train you in sound principles of hermeneutics [i.e. how to study Scripture]. And then we present you with various viewpoints upon the Holy Spirit gifts, with the purpose of the written examination being for you to express the understanding which you have come to. You won't be marked down [or up!] for the actual conclusion you come to- we're not a denominational training centre. You'll be marked for how you Biblically reason, and for the practical relevance which you give to your understanding.

The units of study are as follows:

1,2. Hermeneutics- approaches to Bible study and research methods

3. Assessment: Independent research project

4. The meaning of Biblical inspiration

5,6. The nature of God

7,8. The nature of man - the conditional immortality debate

9-11. The Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit gifts

12,13. The nature of the Lord Jesus

14. The pre-existence of the Lord Jesus

15,16. Atonement theory

17. The Kingdom of God

18-20. The devil, satan and demons

21. Baptism

22. History of Christian doctrine

Semester two

Semester three