C. Michael Patton and Rhome Dyke of The Theology Program teach how theology is done: what theology is, how we know what is true, the essentials of the faith, the traditions of the church, the sources of authority, and the unity of the church across its differences.
This course is the doorway to The Theology Program, a full curriculum in Christian theology taught at the classroom level for ordinary church members. C. Michael Patton and Rhome Dyke spend ten sessions on the questions that come before every doctrine: what theology is and why every Christian already has one, how Christians can know what is true in a skeptical age, which beliefs are essential and which are open, where the Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions came from, what sources theology draws on and how Scripture rules them all, whether God still speaks directly today, and how the church holds real unity together with real differences. The teaching is honest about hard questions, argues opposing positions at full strength, and keeps pressing one distinction throughout: hold the essentials with full conviction, and hold everything else with the certainty the evidence actually earns.
Each lecture below is a full class session, and each has its own page with the video, a study sheet that walks the lecture section by section, links to every Scripture passage discussed, key terms, a comprehension check, discussion questions, and a printable PDF.
Lectures by C. Michael Patton, Th.M., and Rhome Dyke, Th.M., embedded from The Theology Program's public channel.
Enrollment is free and optional, and takes a minute: let the church know you are studying.
All 10 lectures are ready.
The course begins with what theology is and why it belongs to every believer, not only to scholars. Each lecture builds on the last, so start at the beginning and work through in order.