Personal Study Plan

FT101 Critical Reflection & Research

This course introduces students to the foundational skills of critical thinking and persuasive writing, with the aim of cultivating their ability to engage productively in the task of theological research.

Autumn term – Alistair Wilson

OT101 Old Testament Introduction

This course focusses on introductory questions relating to the study of the Old Testament. Special attention will be given to broader issues which provide a framework for the interpretation of specific passages.

Autumn term — Daniel Sladek

OT102 Pentateuch

This course focusses on the first five books of the Old Testament.

PREREQS OT101 or approval — Winter term — Daniel Sladek

OT103 Historical Books

This course focusses on the historical books of the Old Testament.

PREREQS OT102 or approval — Spring term — Daniel Sladek

HB221 Advanced Hebrew Grammar & Exegesis

Students taking this course will learn more advanced Hebrew syntax and discourse features, and they will apply these principles in the exegesis of selected Hebrew texts in a seminar-style format.

PREREQS HB233 or approval — Offered occasionally — Daniel Sladek

HB231 Hebrew 1

This course introduces students to biblical Hebrew.

Autumn term — Daniel Sladek

HB232 Hebrew 2

This course builds on the student’s knowledge of biblical Hebrew.

PREREQS HB231 or approval — Winter term — Daniel Sladek

HB233 Hebrew 3

This course extends the student’s knowledge of biblical Hebrew.

PREREQS HB232 or approval — Spring term — Daniel Sladek

OT301/311 Psalms & Wisdom Literature (Hebrew/English)

This course introduces students to the Psalms and Wisdom literature.

PREREQS OT103 and HB233 (Hebrew) or approval — Autumn term — Daniel Sladek

OT302/312 Prophets (Hebrew/English)

This course introduces students to the Psalms and Wisdom literature.

PREREQS OT103 and HB233 (Hebrew) or approval — Winter term — Daniel Sladek

OT321 Old Testament and the Doctrine of God

This elective will consider the implications of selected Old Testament passages for the Christian doctrine of God.

PREREQS OT103; HB233; GK133; and ST201 or approval — Offered occasionally — Daniel Sladek

OT322 Advanced Topics in the Old Testament Major Prophets

This module explores advanced questions related to the study of the Old Testament. Special attention will be given to the Major Prophets in their context in the Hebrew Canon and in the Ancient Near East (ANE). 

GR131 Greek 1

This course introduces students to some of the basic vocabulary and grammar of the Greek New Testament.

Autumn term — Ben Castaneda

GR132 Greek 2

This course introduces students to more of the basic vocabulary and grammar of the Greek New Testament.

PREREQS GR131 — Winter term — Ben Castaneda

GR133 Greek 3

Students in this module will read, translate, and discuss the Greek text of 1 John in a seminar-style format.

PREREQS GR132 — Spring term — Ben Castaneda

GR221 Advanced Greek Grammar & Exegesis

Students taking this elective module will learn more advanced Greek syntax and discourse features, and they will apply these principles in the exegesis of selected Greek texts in a seminar-style format.

PREREQS GR133 or approval — Offered occasionally — Ben Castaneda

NT201 New Testament Interpretation

This course introduces students to the historical context of the NT writings, hermeneutical and methodological issues arising in the interpretive process, and the practice of exegesis.

Autumn term — Ben Castaneda

NT202/212 Synoptic Gospels (Greek/English)

This course introduces students to the study of the Synoptic Gospels in their historical, literary, and theological contexts.

PREREQS NT201 and GR133 (Greek) or approval — Winter term — Ben Castaneda

NT203/213 John–Acts (Greek/English)

This course introduces students to the study of the Gospel of John and the Acts of the Apostles in their historical, literary, and theological contexts.

PREREQS NT202/212 and GR133 (Greek) or approval — Spring term — Ben Castaneda

NT301/311 Pauline Epistles (Greek/English)

This course introduces students to the study of the Pauline Epistles in their historical, literary, and theological contexts.

PREREQS NT203/213 and GR133 (Greek) or approval — Spring term — Ben Castaneda

NT302 General Epistles (Greek/English)

This course introduces students to the study of the so-called General Epistles (Hebrews–Revelation) in their historical, literary, and theological contexts.

PREREQS NT301/311 and GR133 (Greek) or approval — Winter term — Ben Castaneda

NT321 Early Christian Interpretation

This elective closely examines examples of early Christian exegesis.

Offered occasionally — Ben Castaneda

ST101 Introduction to Theology

This course introduces students to the study of theology. It discusses the object, method, purpose, and source of theology. It engages with academic and popular philosophical debate in relation to Christian theology, including relevant questions of ontology, or what there is to know, and of epistemology, or how we know what we know. It discusses the Word of God, revelation, and the inspiration of Scripture. Significant attention is paid to the particular integrative role of covenant both in redemptive history and in theology.

Winter or Spring term — Zachary Purvis

ST201 Theology Proper

This course examines the biblical doctrine of the Trinity, the attributes, decree, existence, and providence of God in dialogue with the Reformed tradition, the catholic ecumenical creeds, and contemporary theology.

PREREQS ST101 or approval — Autumn term — Cory Brock

ST202 Anthropology

This course explores the doctrine of the origin, nature, and original state of humanity, the image of God, the covenant of works, the fall, the doctrine of sin, and free agency.

PREREQS ST101 or approval — Winter term — Lecturer TBC

ST203 Christian Ethics

This course explores the nature of the study of ethics, issues in Christianity and culture, the motive and goal of the Christian life, the law of God as the standard of the Christian life, and the Decalogue.

PREREQS ST101 or approval — Spring term — Lecturer TBC

ST301 Christology

This course explores the plan of salvation, sovereign election, the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace, the person and work of Christ, the source, necessity, nature, and extent of the atonement, the resurrection, and the ascension.

PREREQS ST101 or approval — Autumn term — Zachary Purvis

ST302 Soteriology

This course explores the work of the Holy Spirit, the ordo salutis and union with Christ, calling, regeneration, faith and assurance of salvation, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification.

PREREQS ST101 or approval — Winter term — Lecturer TBC

ST303 Ecclesiology & Eschatology

This course draws on biblical and historical theology to offer a systematic-theological study of the Christian church and of eschatology. It explores the church as the people of God, community of Christ, and fellowship of the Spirit. It addresses attributes of the church; marks of the church; office and government; and worship. Discussion is also given to the church’s relation to the kingdom of God, to the various cultural contexts in which it is found, and to parachurch organisations. Finally, the course explores the coming of Christ and the end of the age.

PREREQS ST101 or approval — Spring term — Zachary Purvis

ST321 Covenant Theology

This elective provides students an opportunity to deepen their understanding of Reformed federal theology, considering it from the perspectives of exegetical, systematic and historical theology.

PREREQS HB233; GK133; and ST201 or approval — Offered occasionally — Daniel Sladek; Zachary Purvis

ST324 Contemporary Theology Seminar

This seminar considers key thinkers and events in modern, post-modern, and contemporary theologies from the twentieth century to the present day (e.g., Barth, Bonhoeffer, Rahner, Moltmann, Gutiérrez, Cone, Schüssler Fiorenza, Milbank, Tanner, Webster, Coakley, Sonderegger). Students discuss primary texts, from a range of traditions, in their specific contexts with an emphasis on critical analysis and engaged discussion in order to understand the contemporary theological landscape.

PREREQS ST101; CH101; CH102; and CH201 or approval — Offered occasionally — Zachary Purvis

ST325 Theology of B. B. Warfield

This seminar considers the life and work of B. B. Warfield (1851–1921), a seminal theologian from the Reformed tradition. Students discuss primary texts in their specific contexts with an emphasis on critical analysis and engaged discussion in order to understand Warfield’s contribution to our wider theological studies and how his contribution can shape our formation as Christian disciples.

PREREQS ST201; ST202; and CH201 or approval — Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

CH101 Ancient Church

This course introduces major themes, events, and personalities in the early Christian church from the end of the apostolic period through late antiquity. The course examines the origins and significance of early Christian creeds, the expansion of the church, and other critical issues. Special attention is given to the development of ideas in their cultural, social, and political contexts.

Autumn or Winter term — Zachary Purvis

CH102 Medieval & Reformation Church

This course introduces major themes, events, and personalities in the Christian church in the medieval and Reformation eras. The course examines such issues as the development of monasticism, scholasticism, mysticism, debates in ecclesiastical authority, heresy and dissent, forerunners of the Reformation, connections to the Renaissance, the rise of Protestantism in the sixteenth century; the Radical Reformation; and the Catholic Reformation. Special attention is given to the development of ideas in their cultural, social, and political contexts.

Winter or Spring term — Zachary Purvis

CH201 Modern Church

This course introduces major themes, events, and personalities in the Christian church in the modern era. The course examines such issues as the Remonstrant crisis and the consolidation of Protestant orthodoxy; pietism; rationalism; the nature of the Enlightenment; revivals and revivalism; fundamentalism and modernism; the impact of revolution and liberalism; modern European theology; modern missionary movements; the World Wars; dispensationalism; and the growth of Pentecostalism. Special attention is given to the development of ideas in their cultural, social, and political contexts.

Winter or Spring term — Zachary Purvis

CH232 Church in Scotland

This course introduces major themes, events, and personalities in the history of the Christian church in Reformation and early modern Scotland, ca.1500–1750. The course examines such issues as the origins of Scottish Reformation; the 1560 Scots Confession; the First and Second Book of Discipline; the Union of Crowns and of Parliaments; Scottish involvement in the Westminster Assembly; the Revolution Settlement; and the Marrow Controversy. Special attention is given to the development of ideas in their cultural, social, and political contexts.

PREREQS CH101;  CH102; and CH201 or approval — Autumn term — Iver Martin; Zachary Purvis

CH233 18^th Century and Disruption Church in Scotland

This course examines the history and distinctive principles of the Scottish Presbyterian Church from the eighteenth century to the present time. Students engage with a range of foundational ecclesiastical issues in their historical and theological contexts, such as Presbyterianism, establishment, spiritual independence, the regulative principle of worship, and confessional subscription. Students also examine major events and figures in the development of the modern church in Scotland, including the rise of the Moderate Party, missionary movements, revivals, heresy trials, the Ten-Year Conflict, the Disruption of 1843, and the experience of the Free Church of Scotland into and beyond the twentieth century.

PREREQS CH101; CH102; CH201; and CH232 or approval — Winter term — Iver Martin; Zachary Purvis

CH221 Reformed Confessions: Theology, Piety & Practice

This seminar course examines the major Presbyterian and Reformed confessions and catechisms of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with an emphasis on either the Westminster Standards (Confession of Faith; Larger Catechism; Shorter Catechism; and other documents, 1645–47) or Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, 1561; Heidelberg Catechism, 1563; Canons of Dort, 1619).

PREREQS CH101; CH102; and CH201 or approval — Offered occasionally — Zachary Purvis

CH222 Early Modern Theology Seminar

This seminar course examines the development of Christian theology in the early modern period, ca. 1500–1750. It explores in detail the theology and methods of major theologians through the study of primary sources (in English translation). It situates important theologians and theological texts in their various historical contexts (institutional, political, social, cultural, intellectual). Special attention will be given to the Reformed tradition (e.g., Ursinus, Beza, Junius, Perkins, Owen, Turretin, Heidegger, Wollebius, van Mastricht) and to specific issues, such as method/prolegomena, soteriology, and covenant theology.

PREREQS CH101 and CH102 or approval — Offered occasionally — Zachary Purvis

CH223 Modern Theology Seminar

This seminar course considers key thinkers and events in the making of modern theology from the long nineteenth century in particular (e.g., Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Strauss, Nietzsche, Cunningham, Smeaton, Martin, Bavinck, Warfield, Harnack). Students discuss primary texts in their specific contexts with an emphasis on critical analysis and engaged discussion in order to understand the formative religious transformations of modernity.

PREREQS CH101; CH102; and CH201 or approval — Offered occasionally — Zachary Purvis

PT121 Christian Spirituality

This elective introduces a variety of Christian approaches to cultivating the spiritual life. Students reflect rigorously but reverently on their own Christian devotion, practice, and tradition. Students engage with seminal thinkers such as Augustine, Calvin, and Schaeffer.

Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT122 Reformed Spirituality

Students will interact with key figures in Reformed Spirituality from Calvin to Owen to Edwards and to Packer. Students will engage personally with the material to facilitate their own spiritual formation to consider how Reformed Spirituality could inform and enrich their Christian life.

Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT123 World Religions

Students will understand the history, scriptures, beliefs, practices, worldviews, and cultures of major world religions with an emphasis on Islam. Students will consider how different religions intersect and interface with Christianity so that they might better convey the key tenets of Christianity with clarity, sensitivity, and respect.

Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT124 Religion, Morality & Philosophy

Students will gain greater insight into the religious, moral, and philosophical issues that affect our world. Students will be introduced to major world religions, major thinkers, and schools of philosophical thought from theistic and non-theistic perspectives and will explore the foundations for morality and the framework for making moral decisions. Students pursuing a career in teaching Religious Education or Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies will note that the elective course follows the contours of the Scottish Higher Curriculum.

Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT125 Christian Witness Worldwide

This course introduces students to key issues relating to the theology and history of the expansion of Christianity with a deliberately global perspective.

Offered occasionally — Alistair Wilson

PT126 Principles and Practice of Women’s Ministry

This module aims to combine study of the biblical principles related to women’s ministry with the current challenges and live issues experienced by practitioners in the local church today.

PT131 Preaching & Bible Teaching

This course introduces students to the theology and theory of preaching (often called ‘homiletics’), offering an entry point into the Reformed tradition’s rich and robust reflections on the significance, content, and methodology of preaching and teaching God’s Word.

Winter or Spring term — Cory Brock

PT132 Evangelism and Discipleship

The gospel is both the entry-point to the Christian life (‘evangelism’) and the source of ongoing growth and maturity throughout the Christian life (‘discipleship’). This course introduces students to the theology and practice of the communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ to non-Christians and Christians alike. Students will learn how to communicate the gospel clearly and winsomely and how to foster spiritual development and habits of Christian maturity in both interpersonal and group settings in the context of the local church.

Autumn or Spring term — Lecturer TBC

PT221 Communication

Communication is essential to all forms of Christian ministry. This elective highlights biblical principles of communication and elements of good public speaking. Students can improve their verbal and written communication skills which will serve them well in their spheres of service.

Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT222 Leadership

Leadership exercised well and wisely enhances any organisation. Leadership exercised poorly is a serious threat and liability. This elective highlights biblical principles of leadership and gleans relevant insights from leadership in a variety of settings from church and business to sports and politics. Students work together to capture good practice based upon character, competence, and skill.

Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT223 Studies in Practical Theology

Studies in Practical Theology introduces students to ministry in general or to a particular area of Practical Theology in a local church or Christian organisation. In consultation with the student, the Seminary will liaise with organisations which can host a suitable placement.

Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT224 Continuing Studies in Practical Theology

Continuing Studies in Practical Theology enables students to focus on an aspect of practical theology such as pastoral care, mercy ministry, counselling, or discipleship. In consultation with the student, the Seminary will liaise with organisations which can host a suitable placement.

PREREQS PT223 — Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT225 Studies in Practical Theology: Mission

Studies in Practical Theology: Mission introduces students to Christian mission in either a local, international, or cross-cultural setting. This setting can include church planting. In consultation with the student, the Seminary will liaise with organisations which can host a suitable placement.

Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT226 Continuing Studies in Practical Theology: Mission

Continuing Studies in Practical Theology: Mission enables students to focus on an area of mission such as cross-cultural mission, international Mission, or revitalisation. In consultation with the student, the Seminary will liaise with organisations which can host a suitable placement.

PREREQS PT225 — Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT227 Reading Scripture Missionally

This course introduces students to the developing approach to biblical interpretation known as ‘missional reading’ of Scripture. Students will reflect on the theoretical basis of this approach and evaluate several examples of the method being put into practice.

Offered occasionally — Alistair Wilson

PT231 Pastoral Care & Biblical Counselling

This course offers an overview of the pastor’s office within the local church. In particular, as counsellors in the local church, pastors bring God’s Word to bear upon the stresses and challenges of the Christian life. This course will provide a biblical foundation and theology of counselling as well as introduce a methodology for Christ-centered counselling of individuals and families.

Autumn term — Lecturer TBC

PT232 Apologetics & Worldview

This course explores the dominant perspectives, individuals, ideologies, and cultural transformations that have contributed to the current religious landscape, with specific focus on understanding how to communicate the gospel clearly and effectively in a sceptical, pluralistic environment.

Winter or Spring term — Cory Brock

PT322 Healthy Relationships

The Fall has impacted all of our relationships – vertical with God and horizontal with each other. Thankfully, the incarnation and atonement have restored these relationships. As we experience regeneration (what God does in us) and justification (what God does for us), heart change – deep change – becomes possible. As we understand all our relationships in light of our new and dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ, healthy relationships can be developed and fostered.

PREREQS PT231 or approval — Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT323 Dynamics of Spiritual Life

This seminar considers the key themes surrounding the formation of Christian character. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students will reflect upon seminal texts and key authors who contributed to the study of evangelical spirituality with reference to Systematic Theology and Church History. Students discuss primary texts in their specific contexts with an emphasis on critical analysis and engaged discussion in order to understand the formative impact on their Christian discipleship and personal spirituality.

PREREQS CH101; CH102; and CH201 or approval — Offered occasionally — Lecturer TBC

PT324 Reformed Missiology

This course offers an opportunity to reflect critically on central concepts of a distinctively Reformed Missiology and to engage closely with the writings of selected Reformed missiologists.

Offered occasionally — Alistair Wilson