Course Details

Course Content

Your opportunity to engage in the intellectual, spiritual and creative expression of Christian faith in a secular age!

Course Duration: 2 Semesters
Course Dates:  1st Teaching Day: Saturday 10th October

The Course
This course is an introduction to Christian Apologetics.  Its approach is broader than simply revisiting arguments for the existence of God.  Christian Apologetics includes the creative reimagining of reality as seen in the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.  Christian Apologetics also steps into the public square, addressing the main issues facing society and people today.  What is the relationship between faith and science, for example?  The course also offers an opportunity to consider the art of communication: how to write and deliver an effective apologetics talk.

Who is this course for?
Christians who have an interest in developing their understanding of the world we live in and how to effectively communicative, articulate and describe the reality of the kingdom of God to unchurched people.

Why is apologetics necessary?
The re-enchantment of the world. From an enchanted world to a disenchanted world.

The ancient cosmos was perceived to be alive and deeply integrated with the supernatural. In late antiquity and the medieval period Christianity explained this cosmos with a metaphysical framework that recognized God as the creator of a morally ordered, participatory, intelligible and purposive (teleological) world. Truth, goodness, and beauty were intrinsic to the cosmic order and gave guidance to living the good life. This Christian framework shaped personal and social ethics, politics, education, law, science and the concept of a good life (with human dignity, human rights, justice, freedom as paramount) throughout the Western world, providing a general and unified vision of humanity and life for a diverse variety of cultures.  Nevertheless, modern intellectual history (the history of ideas), particularly since the Enlightenment, chronicles a vigorous and challenging dismantling of this enchanted cosmos and its unifying framework. As a result of this secularization project, disenchanting the cosmos, the historic and traditional values of the West are increasingly under threat and the building blocks of what has been regarded as the good life are crumbling.

Belfast School of Theology recognizes that this challenge must be addressed and answered, and that Christianity must be defended.  This apologia will involve a hermeneutical practice in which the cosmos undergoes a re-enchantment through an exposition of the historic Christian faith.

On the concept of enchantment and re-enchantment, see:

1964. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image. Cambridge University Press 1964.

Richard Harries, The Re-enchantment of Morality. SPCK 2008.

Course Design
The course begins with a teaching day on Saturday 10th October.  The first semester has additional evening lectures, including a session on communication.  Assignments are based on core subjects, participants will also write a communication piece.  The course also offers free Public Lectures.

Public Lectures
A series of public lectures on Christian Apologetics is part of the course.

FAITH AND SCIENCE – Saturday 21st November
With: Dr Pablo de Felipe

Topics

•  War and peace in the history of science and Christianity
• The history of the ‘conflict thesis’ and the origins of the ‘flat error’
• Beyond concordism: Lemaître and Hooykaas

Dr Pablo de Felipe is a former Senior Honorary Fellow of Bristol University and currently coordinator of the Centre for Science and Faith, SEUT, Fundacion Federico Fliedner, Madrid.  Dr Pablo advises the Spanish Government as its Head of Service of Virology, as well as the European Medicines Agency (EMA).  Dr Pablo will present three talks on the relationship between Faith and Science.

Certificate
Participants who finish the course shall receive a BST certificate and are invited to the School’s annual Graduation and Celebration of Studies event in September 2027.

Information
Course Coordinator: BST & Guests
Cost: £250
More Info: catalyst@bst.ac.uk