Apologetics Online CLASS - STATUS – This class is no longer OPEN.
Go here to register: http://www.ethosdebate.com/instruction/register/
Mastering the Fundamentals of Apologetics with Mrs. Betsy McPeak
The heart behind this class:
My faith was nearly shipwrecked after I showed up to college without apologetics training. My belief in God was strong ~ I just couldn’t connect it with my studies at university. This created a terrible tension of confusion and doubt. The whole point to the apologetics event in NCFCA/Stoa is to get your questions answered while you are still in high school….and to prepare you to give an answer to your professors, to your classmates, to your textbooks, to yourself! Even if you don’t go to college, you will find your faith challenged just living in our culture.
This course is a way of me sharing what I learned in my own journey of struggle and doubt ~ that the Christian worldview really does have the best answers to the deepest questions about who we are and why we are here. ~ Mrs. Betsy McPeak
This course will cover the basics and beyond! Students will learn apologetics, while also working on their card files for competition.
Mrs. Betsy McPeak has a degree in Philosophy and is a C.S. Lewis Institute Fellow. She has taken advanced Apologetics instruction from the greats, including a graduate class in apologetics at Cambridge and has studied with Ellis Potter and Francis Schaeffer. This course offers an exploration of the methods and facts that establish the Christian faith. Mastery comes from learning to examine and communicate these truths in an intellectually honest and respectful way.
Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. – 12 noon Eastern Standard Time
September 7, 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26, November 2, 9, 16, 30.
Students will watch a segment of a teaching DVD prior to class each week. (See a trailer of the video series here: Trailer.) This DVD series will sell for $45, but it will be included in the price of your course, and yours to keep.
The focus will be on using/finding lots and lots of examples to reinforce the understanding of the concepts and methods of apologetics. Weekly assignments will involve answering typical apologetics questions with an essay, or by writing a speech or essay if the student is a competitor in NCFCA or Stoa Apologetics. Students will spend approximately 5 hours per week on this course. There will also be an final (essay test) at the end of the semester. A final grade will be given.
Students will be encouraged to face their own doubts about the Christian faith, strengthening their own faith. Students will also learn how to give a defense of the hope within them as Christ’s ambassadors.
Topics covered:
1. Intro to Apologetics and Worldviews
2. Gentle and Respectful Ways to Interact
3. Classical Apologetics: Ontological/Cosmological/Teleological Proofs
4. Presuppositional Apologetics
5. Evidential Apologetics
6. Epistemology
7. The Trinity and God’s Attributes
8. Reliability of the Old and New Testaments
9. Christ: His Deity and His Resurrection
10. Tolerance and Exclusivity
11. Modern and Postmodern Thought
12. The Problem of Evil
More Info:
Tuition: $300 for the 12-week course. This will include a weekly 2 hour online class (with both teaching and discussion), personal feedback from your instructor on your weekly assignments, personal evaluation of your final essay test, and email access to your instructor (Betsy McPeak) as you have questions about the course. There are no refunds after the beginning of the course.
Go here to register or ask questions: http://www.ethosdebate.com/instruction/register/
Even More Info:
1. Age – This course is designed for the rhetoric stage of learning. For most students this will mean high school. But if a student is ready to deal with the topics of the courses, is showing desire/ability to analyze the relationship between subjects, and express their own views in speaking and writing, they should be able to handle the coursework. Please email the instructor (betsy.mcpeak@gmail.com) if you have more questions.
2. Grading – Grades will be assigned at the end of the semester. Course grade will be computed as follows: 1/2 from grades on papers/projects; 1/4 from class participation; 1/4 from final essay exam.
3. Credit - Each course (Apologetics and Worldview) is equal to one semester of high school credit (1/2 of a Carnegie credit).
4. Card swapping – Students who are NCFCA or Stoa competitors will be encouraged to join an online card swap with other class members. Students will use the information from their weekly writing assignment and put it onto a a card listing 6 items: 1. Hook 2. Copy question 3. Thesis 4. Support for non-Christian view 5. Support for Christian view 6. Stated reason to prefer the Christian view. Each student will contribute 12 cards during the course, and will receive 12 cards from each other student swapping. This will enable students to fill their card files for competition.