On-line Continuing Education Course: “Exploring the Heidelberg Catechism”
January 8, 2020
Note: Thanks to a generous donor, we are very happy to report that we have a limited amount of scholarship aid available. If you’re interested, please contact James Brumm at jbrumm@nbts.edu for more information.
The Heidelberg Catechism is, for Reformed Christians, arguably one of the most important documents from the era of the sixteenth-century Reformation. It has remained familiar to generation after generation of Reformed Christians, as it has been used at the afternoon/evening catechetical service, and used as a tool for catechism classes. Yet, despite its age and its familiarity, the Heidelberg Catechism has many unexplored treasures within it.
The Reformed Church Center is offering an on-line continuing education course that will take an extended look at the Heidelberg Catechism, examining the text itself, its composition and history, as well as traditional and contemporary readings and analyses for the Catechism. While the Catechism is old, and while it remains a document from a very different context, it remains a valuable document for understanding and teaching the faith today.
This course is open to ministers and others who have done some deep reading in Reformed theology. It assumes a familiarity with the Catechism equivalent to A Place to Stand by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. Participants will be expected to purchase a few books and do weekly reading. The course will meet two hours a week for fifteen weeks, with one hour of face-to-face on-line lectures via Zoom or a similar program on Monday evenings, 7:00-8:00 ET, and one hour in an asynchronous guided discussion forum. The instructor is Matthew van Maastricht, pastor of the Altamont (NY) Reformed Church and Ph.D. candidate at the Free University of Amsterdam, is a Fellow of the Reformed Church Center, and teaches RCA Polity and Standards for New Brunswick Theological Seminary as well as teaching polity in the distance-learning program at Western Theological Seminary.
Course sessions will begin on Monday, January 27, 2020, and continue until Monday, May 18; there will not be sessions the weeks of April 6 and 13 because of Holy Week and Easter. The cost of the course will be $250.00. Three Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available to those who complete the course for an extra $25.00 fee.