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Course Description: Students will be introduced to four essential aspects of Christianity and their interconnectedness: community, scripture, beliefs and worship. The course will survey the Christian scriptures as a faith community’s account of continuing experience of God; developing understanding and articulation of this God-experience through beliefs expressed in the Nicene creed; worship rituals for entering and deepening communion with the Christian community.

Course Objectives/Goals: As a result of this course students will be able to:
1. Describe the Biblical views of covenant community and Yahweh as God of promise and fulfillment.
2. Outline the essential faith story of the Old Testament and New Testament, including major figures of Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets and Jesus.
3. Describe three major differences in mode of interpreting the Bible used by Christians today.
4. Articulate the essential meaning of Christian beliefs expressed in the Nicene creed:
     a. God (Trinity)
     b. Jesus Christ, human and divine
     c. resurrection of the dead
     d. church

Required Texts:
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity. Vol. 1. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1984.
Hendriksen, William. Survey of the Bible. Darlington, U.K.: Evangelical Press, 1995.
Bible (preferably New American Standard, but other translations are acceptable)

Supplemental resource text: Frigge, Marielle. Introduction to Christianity: Scripture.

Course Policies:
1. Course time will be devoted to lecture and discussion. Students are expected to attend all class sessions. Tests and assignments missed due to absence may not be made up except for justifiable absences. (Whenever possible, the instructor or office should be contacted before the missed class.) Tests will be available in the office until the following class period. Other assignments may be made up one week after the absence. Each absence over two may reduce the “class participation” portion of the grade by one letter. Partial attendance may be counted as an absence.
2. Turn in all assignments by the due date.
3. Plagiarism (submitting another person's work as you own) and academic dishonesty (copying another person's lab or exam, i.e. cheating) will result in the student's failure in the course.
4. The instructor reserves the right to alter the syllabus over the course of the semester. Changes in scheduled activities will be announced in class; it is up to the individual students to keep abreast of these changes.

Grading:
Tests every other week will evaluate knowledge of information covered since previous exam. There is no comprehensive midterm or final. Most questions will be multiple-choice or short-answer. Individual research will investigate a topic from the previous or current lesson. Reports must be properly written and resources must be correctly credited. (“Textbook” or “www.yahoo.com” are not acceptable.) The textbook may not be used as a single source.

Method of evaluating students:
40% attendance and class participation
30% tests
30% papers
A = 90-100 % (test) / research: multiple sources and written and verbal report - all assignments done
B = 80-89 % (test) / research: multiple sources and written or single source and verbal
C = 70-79 % (test) / research: single source, written
D = 60-69 %
F = 59% or below / research: report not done

Class Schedule:
Week 1:     introduction: biblical criticism, exegesis
Week 2:     paper: personal background (1 page)
                        Old Testament: Pentateuch, Old Law (Hendriksen chapters 3,4,12)
Week 3:     test weeks 1 & 2
                        Old Testament: History, Prophecy (Hendriksen chapters 13-18)
Week 4:     paper: exegesis of Old Testament passage (2 pages)
                        New Testament: Gospels (Hendriksen chapters 27,28,32)
Week 5:     test weeks 3 & 4
                        New Testament: Acts (Hendriksen chapter 29)
Week 6:     paper: New or Old Testament book (2 pages)
                        New Testament: Epistles (Hendriksen chapters 22-26,30,31)
Week 7:     test weeks 5 & 6
                        New Testament: Apocalypse (Hendriksen chapter 33)
Week 8:     paper: exegesis of New Testament passage (2 pages)
                        Church History: early church (Gonzalez chapters 1-12)
Week 9:     test weeks 7 & 8
                        Church History: Imperial church (Gonzalez chapters 13-25)
Week 10:   paper: early church figure (2 pages)
                        Church History: Middle Ages to Reformation (Gonzalez chapters 26-33)
Week 11:   test weeks 9 & 10
                        Church History: from the Reformation (Gonzalez chapters 34-36)
Week 12:   paper: later church figure (2 pages)
                        Fundamental concepts
Week 13:    test weeks 11 & 12
                        Fundamental concepts
Week 14:    paper: spirituality (2 pages)
                        Spirituality
Week 15:    test weeks 13 & 14; course review

Mount Marty Mission Statement

Mount Marty College, an academic community in the Catholic Benedictine
liberal arts tradition, prepares students for a contemporary world of work,
service to the human community, and personal growth.