The Eschatology (Understanding the End Times)

Course Start Date: 07 May 2020
Course End Date: 01 July 2020
Course Duration : 8 weeks

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The topic of eschatology, or the end times, has fascinated people for centuries, but what does the Bible say about this extraordinary subject? What future has God planned for his creation and his people? In this course, we examine what the Scriptures teach about the last days, including a variety of challenging topics, such as the afterlife, the general resurrection, and the consummation of Christ’s messianic kingdom in the new heavens and new earth.

This course is based on the lecture series, Your Kingdom Come: The Doctrine of Eschatology, produced by Third Millennium Ministries and hosted by Dr. Matt Friedeman with contributions from a variety of professors. THEOn (Theology Online) delivers the course content to you through its e-learning platform and facilitates a cohort for this course.

COURSE GOALS
In this course, we hope the following goals will be achieved
1. You will be able to trace God’s goal for creation throughout history.
2. You will know how to describe the present, intermediate and final states of human beings.
3. You will explore the final events of history from Christ’s return and the millennium to the new creation.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES
The course has the following Learning Activities
1. Watch all the Video lectures of each lesson (or listen to the audio, or read the text version). These lectures are the main content of the course.
2. Complete the Study guide for each section of the videos. These study guides help you discover what is important in the videos, and they prepare you for the quizzes. If you answer all the questions in the study guide, you should do well on the quizzes.
3. Take the Quiz on each section of the videos. Each lesson may have multiple quizzes. All quizzes should be attempted (You will have up to three attempts at each quiz. The score of the final attempt will be taken into consideration regardless of whether you may have scored higher in earlier attempts).
4. Complete all the required Reading material and attempt the Reading Quiz. The Reading Quizzes test your knowledge on the reading material.
5. Participate actively in the Discussion Forum by posting a direct response to the question in at least 200 words. You should then respond to two other peer posts in at least 100 words each. Further discussion beyond these three posts is welcome.
6. Respond to the Reflection Question in 500 words or more and submit that before the stipulated deadline [typically this is before the last day of each lesson]. The Reflection Summary should include a response to the question posed and seek to reflect on key lessons learnt from the lesson as well as real-life applications to work, life, family and ministry. The student could cite other resources and references to supporting material provided those sources are duly acknowledged within the essay.

THEMATIC OUTLINE OF THE COURSE
The Goal of Creation
The Living and the Dead
The Coming of The King
The End of the Age

REQUIRED COURSE READING
(Note: Relevant sections of these textbooks will be provided as downloadable pdfs)
G.I. Williamson, A Study of Biblical Eschatology
Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology
Geerhardus Vos, “The Eschatological Aspect of the Pauline Conception of the Spirit”
D.A. Carson, “The Three Witnesses and the Eschatology of 1 John”
Douglas Moo, “Nature in the New Creation”
Richard Pratt, “Hyper-Preterism and Unfolding Biblical Eschatology”

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

Learning in this course is evaluated through the following methods
1. Lesson Quizzes: Take the Quiz on each section of the videos. You will have up to three attempts at each quiz. The score of the last attempt will be taken into consideration regardless of whether you may have scored higher in earlier attempts.
2. Reading Quizzes: Complete all the required Reading material and attempt the Reading Quiz for each lesson.
3. Discussion Forum: Respond to the given question in each forum in at least 200 words. You should then respond to two other peer posts in at least 100 words each. A minimum of three posts per forum is required. More than 3 posts are welcome.
4. Reflection Exercise: Respond to the Reflection Question in 500 words or more and submit that before the stipulated deadline for each lesson.

COURSE FACILITATORS

Dr. Joshua Iyadurai, PhD
Dr Joshua is a Theological Educator and a Specialist in Religious Conversion and Spiritual/Religious Experience. He is an expert in Research Methodology, especially Qualitative research. He is a sought after Teacher, Writer, Editor and Researcher. He oversees many research projects and guides students with their research proposals. He enjoys expository preaching and can communicate well in both spoken and written forms. He has a Bachelor of Divinity from UBS, Pune and a PhD from University of Madras. He has done his post doctoral work from Global Research Institute, Fuller Theological Seminary, USA. Dr Joshua can be contacted via email on joshuai@theon.in

Mr. Julian Charles
Julian is involved in Pastoral Ministry and Theological training. He serves as an online faculty for SAIACS, Bangalore and the e-learning coordinator for THEOn. Julian has a Master of Technology (I.T) degree from RMIT University, Melbourne, a Graduate Diploma of Divinity from Melbourne School of Divinity and a Master of Divinity (Missiology) from SAIACS. Julian can be contacted via email on julianp@theon.in

COURSE GRADING
1. Quizzes are graded out of the total number of questions in each quiz where each correct answer is one point. You can have upto 3 attempts per quiz. The score of the last attempt on each quiz will be considered as the score for that quiz, even though you may have scored higher in earlier attempts. An average score of 50% in any quiz is considered as a Pass.
     For Example:
Quiz 1.1 (1st attempt) – 10/12
Quiz 1.1 (2nd attempt) – 8/12.
Quiz 1.1 (3rd attempt) – Did not attempt.
     Outcome: Your final grade on Quiz 1.1 will be 8/12 (67%) since that was the last attempt for this quiz and the 3rd attempt was not used. This quiz is  considered an overall pass since the average score is over 50%.
2. Reflection exercises are evaluated and facilitators comments and feedback will be provided. A timely submission with the student’s response covering all aspects of the question satisfactorily is considered a Pass.
3. Discussion Forum posts are graded as a pass if a minimum of 3 posts are given against the question posed in each lesson forum.

COURSE COMPLETION CERTIFICATE
To qualify for the course completion certificate jointly awarded by THEOn and Third Millennium, you must
1. Attempt all quizzes (including reading quizzes) and score atleast an average of 50% in each quiz.
2. Submit at least 3 posts (1 direct response, 2 peer postings) for each forum in each lesson.
3. Submit a reflection assignment of 500 words for each lesson before the stipulated deadline.