Course Prep: What's on Deck in July

Medellín from a mall on the east side of the city. If you look at the little green hill in the middle of the picture, then go right to the next little green hill, then go behind that and up the mountain a bit, you get to where I live at the seminary.

Classes start in three and a half weeks, and I have been busy working on course prep over the past couple of weeks. My first course I'm teaching is bimestral, meaning it is three semester credits, but only goes for eight weeks. That comes out to one and a half hours a day of class, four days a week, starting July 15. Which means I need to be very on top of things before I start. 

The class is called "Religious Systems," though the name may not give a totally accurate picture of what we're covering. Basically, the course will cover the following areas:

• Introductory topics (2 classes) - reality of religious diversity today and challenges it poses
• Major world religions (11 classes) - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, modern Judaism
• Sects (5 classes) - Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, probably a day on other minor groups
• Philosophical viewpoints challenging Christianity (5 classes) - atheism, deism, naturalistic Darwinism, existentialism
• New Age and postmodern approaches to religion (2 classes)
• Responding to pluralism in theology and ministry (5 classes) - critique of pluralist theologies, biblical approaches to theology of religions, dealing with pastoral challenges

Basically my overarching goal for the course can be summed up in the threefold pattern I'm building into how I approach each religion and worldview:

• Understand: Help students understand the viewpoints of those who hold to other religious or philosophical worldviews. I think far too many Christians try to give a response before even trying to really understand where the other person is coming from, so I'm designing assignments forcing students to interact with assigned readings (or videos) and explain these other viewpoints objectively. Many of my thoughts here have been inspired by how my philosophy professors taught at Wheaton.
• Evaluate: This is not merely a comparative religion class; the point is to equip pastors to evaluate different religious and philosophical ideas from a Christian viewpoint. In this regard, there is a component of apologetics and engagement with biblical and systematic theology that will be built in throughout the whole class. 
• Engage: Give students some basic tools and ideas for how to pastorally and evangelistically relate with people coming from these backgrounds. This is the area I know I am weakest in, but hopefully I can stimulate some creative thought in students.

Why this kind of course? Latin America is not exactly a bastion of religious diversity in the way that much of Asia is. But it's not a Catholic monolith either. For example, there is a group of about 200 Hare Krishna devotees in Medellín, there are significant pockets of Muslim immigration in parts of the country, and the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons have made substantial inroads here. While doing some research on Mormonism, for instance, I found that there are nearly 6 million Mormons in Latin America, not far below the 6.6 million in the U.S. and Canada. While Colombia is actually the least Mormon Latin American country at only 0.4% of the population, Chile tops the list at 3.4%. Most Latin American countries are in the 1-2% range. By comparison, the U.S. rate is about 1.4% Mormon outside of Utah (58%) and Idaho (23%).

Regardless of whether students ever have significant ministries reaching out to those of other viewpoints or protecting those in their churches from false doctrine, one of the best things about studying other religions and worldviews it that it can help give a deeper grasp of the truth of the gospel. Instead of wondering why there are so many intelligent people who think otherwise or, on the flip side, writing people off as stupid for not being Christian, we can see why others might hold another view, but why Jesus really does provide the answers that all of humanity needs. Interacting with Islam, JWs, and Mormonism can also help us see the absolutely foundational importance of doctrines we often assume, but don't bother knowing how to defend, like the doctrine of the Trinity.

I'm excited for the course--a little overwhelmed still with how much I have left to prepare, but glad I can give tools to students who will be making a substantial impact in the culture and direction of Colombian churches!

City street in Medellín near where I often go shopping.

P.S. For those interested, the current president, Juan Manuel Santos, won re-election on Sunday. I don't know enough to make any real judgment on whether this was the best choice, but from my limited knowledge I am glad he won. This ensures more continuity and the continuation of peace talks with the FARC guerrillas. There are huge challenges with those talks: namely, whether the cost of peace is impunity for past crimes. I won't write more on that topic for now, but just know that this is a live, burning issue for most Colombians. (Eight percent of the country's population has been uprooted from their homes and internally displaced due to the violence over the past 50+ years.)