Required Courses:

Principles of Literary Apologetics

Suitable for both Christian writers and Christian apologists, this course delves deeper into 20th century Christian authors that remain influential today because of their nonfiction and fiction. Just why do these authors have an enduring impact? What was their secret?

The course participant will grapple with what the following authors thought about ‘literary apologetics’: C. S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, G. K. Chesterton, and Flannery O’Connor. Each week will explore that particular author’s thinking and an example of their fiction where that thinking was manifested.

The course will put forward this challenge to both writers and apologists: given the effectiveness and enduring impact of these authors, shouldn’t we more deliberately consider adopting their vision, perspective, and approach?

The fiction of Sayers, and Chesterton, and Williams

This course focuses on the novels of Dorothy Sayers, GK Chesterton, and Charles Williams. The emphasis is on examining the way in which these authors used ‘realistic’ settings and characters to explore important themes and present Christian truth without explicitly Christian elements in the novels. Core texts will include Sayers’ The Nine Tailors, Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday, and Williams’ Descent into Hell.

Studies in Myth (Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald)

This course focuses on the novels of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and George MacDonald. The emphasis is on the way in which these authors used ‘myth’ and fantasy to present Christian truth. We will explore the idea of myth as truth, and examine the way that these authors used fantasy to present Christian ideas. Core texts will include Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Till We Have Faces, JRR Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle” and/or The Lord of the Rings, and George MacDonald’s Phantastes.

Studies in Poetry (Shakespeare, Marlowe’s Faustus, Donne, Herbert, Eliot)

 This course focuses on classic poetry and poetic drama, looking at earlier authors to challenge our assumptions and habits about what it means to write literary apologetics. We will look at the way William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe use poetic drama to directly confront issues of sin and damnation, in Macbeth and Faustus, respectively. We will then look at the way the poets John Donne and George Herbert explore the Christian life from within, with poetry that touches on conversion, repentance, doubt, and faith. Finally, we will conclude with a 20th century poet who moved from atheism to Christian faith as an adult, with specific attention to Four Quartets and selected other poems. The core text will be Malcolm Guite’s Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination (forthcoming in paperback).

Wordsmithing

What does it take to make a story or poem truly engaging? What makes the work of great storytellers like CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and GK Chesterton so captivating? They all had a deep mastery of language and style on top of all their other storytelling gifts. In this class, we will do hands-on work on “wordsmithing”: attending to the fine details of sentence crafting and word choice to take your work to the next level.

Participants will learn strategies for choosing exactly the right word; for trimming unnecessary verbiage to allow the beauty of the idea to shine through clearly; and for shaping sentences to create “flow” to draw the reader into a sustained reading experience. We will study the prose style of CS Lewis and others, and apply those insights to work in progress: this is a writing workshop style class and is a core requirement for the Literary Apologetics Certificate.

Writing for Publication

You’ve got a manuscript, now how do you get it published?  This course is in part a ‘cap stone’ project that will work with the participant to learn how to prepare a manuscript for publication, understand opportunities and limitations to various publishing avenues, and other practical and pragmatic aspects involved in turning theoretical cultural impact into a reality.  This course is subject to revision.

Electives:

Emulating the Greats

Description forthcoming

More Electives forthcoming

ACM’s Literary Apologetics Certificate Program is designed to ensure that our artists are theologically informed, alert to modern challenges to the faith, and understand that having a genuine Christian faith is no substitute for the need for excellence in our writing, music, etc.

At this time, ACM’s emphasis is on literature.  In due time, other artistic forms may be added.

Program Director

ACM is pleased to announce a partnership with Hieropraxis, led by Dr. Holly Ordway, who has agreed to be ACM’s Literary Apologetics Program Director.

Dr. Ordway has a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an MA in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University. Dr. Ordway’s book Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith (Moody Publishers, 2010) chronicles her intellectual and emotional journey from atheism to faith in Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Dr. Ordway understands on both a personal and academic level the power and impact of great art on the human soul and has the expertise to guide artists in their quest to hone their craft.  She understands the objections that the world has to Christ.  She is well suited to show how the arts and belief tie together, either to the benefit, or harm, of individuals in our society.  She looks forward to bringing her expertise and experiences to our academy participants, especially those who are accepted into ACM’s Literary Apologetics Certificate Program.

For more information about Dr. Ordway’s vision for ‘literary apologetics’ please read this essay.  More information about ACM’s other literary apologetics activities, please visit their website:  www.athanatosministries.org

Use the form below to Contact Dr. Ordway.

Program Requirements

In order to successfully obtain the Lit. Apol. Certificate, one must complete four courses in four different areas for a total of sixteen courses.  What follows is subject to revision.

The four areas are:

General Theology

General Apologetics

Literary Apologetics

Writing and the Arts

General Theology:

• New Testament:  The Gospels
• New Testament:  The Epistles
• Survey of the Old Testament Part 1 (Genesis-Deuteronomy)
• Christ Promised in the Old Testament

General Apologetics:

• Accessible Apologetics (or equivalent survey course)
• Apologetics related Elective
• Apologetics related Elective
• General Theology/Apologetics related Elective

Literary Apologetics:

• Principles of Literary Apologetics
• The Fiction of Dorothy Sayers, GK Chesterton, and Charles Williams
• Studies in Myth (CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, George MacDonald)
• Studies in Poetry (Shakespeare, Marlowe, Donne, Herbert, Eliot)

Writing and the Arts:

• Writing related Elective
• Writing related Elective
• Wordsmithing
• Writing for Publication

Course Descriptions

[You can take these courses without being enrolled in our certificate program]

Click here for course descriptions related specifically to the literary apologetics program.

Cost and Payment Plan

• $2,000 if a single payment is made (must be paid prior to beginning the program).
• $2,300 if 2 payments are made (must be paid within 15 month time frame).
• $2,500 if 4 payments are made (must be paid within 24 month time frame).

Application Process

Not all applicants will be accepted.  Please fill out the contact form below to begin the process.  Your inquiry will be directed to Dr. Ordway and other academy staffers.

General requirements for applicants include:

• An orthodox Christian faith.
• A willingness to learn.
• The ability (eg, the applicant has the necessary time available) to complete the program.

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In addition to the regular academy courses, ACM also hosts an online Christian writing workshop. In conjunction with this workshop, a course on ‘literary apologetics’ is offered. See below.

Principles of Literary Apologetics – Anthony Horvath and Debbie Thompson and Dr Holly Ordway (201)

• Literary Apologetics Certificate

Wordsmithing – Debbie Thompson (201)

• Literary Apologetics Certificate

Emulating the Greats – Dr Holly Ordway and Debbie Thompson (201)

• Literary Apologetics Certificate

Online Writing Workshop – Feb 2012 – Anthony Horvath and Debbie Thompson

The Historical Jesus: A Survey of Evidence & Arguments – Anthony Horvath / Mariano Grinbank (201)

• Includes 2 lectures by Dr. Gary Habermas exclusively available to the academy.

Defending the Faith: Accessible Apologetics Training – Mikel Del Rosario (301)

• This 300 level course includes everything in the 200 level course, but adds additional reading and training to equip students to begin teaching Apologetics where ever God has placed them. This is also the required course level for those who are seeking to complete our certificate program.

Defending the Faith: Accessible Apologetics Training – Mikel Del Rosario (201)

Survey of The New Testament:  The Gospels:  Instructor TBA (201) [CORE]

Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking I – Brian Auten (201)

Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking II – Brian Auten (202)

The Truth of the Bible and Its Inerrancy – Jim Tofflemire (201)

Survey of the Old Testament I – Anthony Horvath (201) [CORE]

Survey of the Old Testament II – Anthony Horvath (202) [CORE]

Mere Christianity – Glenn Jones (101) [CORE]

Biblical Greek 1 – Glenn Jones (101) [CORE]

Biblical Greek 2 – Glenn Jones (102) [CORE]

Join the students of our academy in attending an online ‘virtual’ lecture by noted historian, Dr. Gary Habermas!

Habermas will present two lectures on back to back evenings:  Nov 1st and Nov 2nd at 6:30 p.m. EST.

Topic:  the evidence for the Jesus of history and the proposition that the Jesus of history is one and the same with the Jesus of Christianity and the evidence for the Resurrection as a historical fact.

Our online lectures allow for a high level of interaction, allowing participants to ask Dr. Habermas their questions and get answers in real time.  The sessions will be recorded for future viewing.

The cost to attend these two lectures as a guest is just $10! 

In order to sign up, please fill out the form below and then submit your payment.  Then, watch your email for login information beginning around Oct. 28th, 2011.

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Fall 2011 Facilitators: Anthony Horvath and Mariano Grinbank

• With guest lecturer Dr. Gary Habermas (all academy participants in the session can attend!  Not participating?  Purchase/request guest access for just $10) (He presents on Nov 1 and 2)

Direct Link to the Course

Go here if you need help enrolling.

Wherever one turns, one finds people who believe that Jesus exists as a person of faith, rather than a real person of history.  Even Christians can be found with that view.   The ‘Christ as known by the Church’ is safe from scrutiny, criticism, and abuse.  Atheists and secular humanists are more than content to allow people to believe whatever they want about Jesus, so long as they admit that those beliefs are their private fantasies- which of course, they must be, because it is ‘known’ that the Jesus of Christianity is a person of mythology.

But if Jesus was a real person, and the miracles he performed real events in history, and made real claims of divinity which were authenticated by his real death and real resurrection… then the atheist is rocked back on his heels and the Christian is left wondering why he is not boldly proclaiming the news that God came once to save man, as promised, and has likewise promised to return…

It is important to understand that the early Christians themselves saw Jesus as a real man of history.  The New Testament is set in a real place in real time among real people.  They did not take comfort in the ‘myth’ of the resurrection, but the fact of it.

This course will set forth the ‘positive’ evidence for the existence of Jesus as Christians have understood him to be throughout the centuries.    As most objections to the ‘historical Jesus’ boil down to the same issues, it is useful to have a good grasp of just what the evidences are.  Counterfeits are infinite, but there is always just one genuine article.  This course will not give an in depth examination of every criticism that has ever been leveled, but will focus on the straight forward presentation of the available evidence.

This course is 4 weeks long and begins on Oct. 10th, 2011.   Registrations Accepted through Oct. 15th.  The cost is $49.95.  Dr. Habermas presents at 6:30 p.m. for 90 minutes on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

Direct Link to the Course

Go here if you need help enrolling.

Required Reading

Mere Christianity [CORE]:

• Mere Christianity

Defending the Faith: Accessible Apologetics Workshops (301):

• On Guard: Defending Your Faith

Introduction to Logic & Critical Thinking (Part 1 of 2):

• A Rulebook for Arguments

Recommended Reading:

Basic New Testament Greek (Part 1 of 2) [CORE]:

• Basic Greek in 30 Minutes a Day

The Historical Jesus: A Survey of the Evidence:

• The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ [Due to the price of this on Amazon and the late delivery date by the publisher, this resource is strongly encouraged but will be replaced with a text more readily accessible.]
• The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede
• Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus

Defending the Faith: Accessible Apologetics Workshops (201) & (301):

• Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

Introduction to Logic & Critical Thinking (Part 1 of 2):

• Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking, 9th Edition

The Truth of the Bible and Its Inerrancy:

• The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism: Responding to New Challenges to Biblical Authority
• Demolishing Contradictions
• The New Answers Book, Volume II (Answers Book Series)

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Ok, this could also be called ‘send an atheist, agnostic, seeker, or international student, to school.’ 

Every session Athanatos Christian Ministries gets requests for free or discounted courses, especially from those residing overseas who do not have access to Christian instruction in their areas. ACM is also aware of that fact that there is an interest  within the nonChristian community, but for a variety of reasons are reluctant to pay the tuition fees.  We would like to accommodate these diverse scenarios but we need your help.

Here at ACM, we obey the Scriptures that say “the worker is worth his wages” so asking our facilitators to simply donate their time and expertise just isn’t an option.  (For what they are paid, they practically are donating them anyway).

With all these things in mind, I’d like to encourage my fellow Christians to consider donating to to this academy so that we can have funds to use for offering free or discounted courses.  If you wish to do so, please use the form below.  After you fill it out and submit it,  you will be automatically redirected to the donate link at Athanatos Christian Ministries.

Thanks so much for your interest and consideration!

Yours in Christ,

Anthony Horvath

Executive Director

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