I have been blessed with the opportunity to take a course (for RTS credit) from Gordon-Conwell’s SemLink program entitled “New Testament Theology.” The professor is G. K. Beale and the course looks awesome!

The way SemLink works… you sign up for the class, pay, and they send you a CD with lectures, notes, etc. You also purchase any required books for the reading portion of the course and also take part in online discussion with other students enrolled in the same course. Lastly, you take a writen exam (in this case one final essay answering several important questions) and E-mail it to SemLink for the professor to grade it.

This course is very promising! Anyone interested in learning what the New Testament teaches must take this class and try to learn the interpretive lens that Dr. Beale puts forth in his explanation of the “big picture” of the New Testament, as well as the entire Bible.

Here is the syllabuswhich includes lecture topics, a required reading list, and bibliopgraphy of works cited, etc.

Since I was growing up (starting in high school), eschatology became and has remained central to my thinking about Scripture. I always desired to understand it and I actually learned much of what I know about the Bible because I devoted myself to studying eschatology. Even though my views have changed and matured over the years, by God’s grace He has always saw fit to tell me, “If you want to understand My written word, you must understand that you are living at the end of the the ages and that everything happening now must be seen in this light.”

I cannot tell you right now how much my thinking has changes over the years. But I continue to be astounded that many of my presuppositions were correct to begin with and many of the things I was taught when I was younger still hold true, even though much of the details have changed regarding the ‘when’ and ‘where’ of Bible prophecy.

Throughout this summer, as I take this online course, I hope to blog about my thoughts and interactions with the material and how my thinking changes or how I find God’s word clarified by my studies.

Once again, if you have the chance to take this course… TAKE IT! Whether you are a regular church member, a Sunday school teacher, or a minister of several years. If you do not know what “inaugurated eschatology” is, then you better find out quickly so that the Bible becomes more clear then you ever thought before!

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,