Introduction to Christian Holiness

About This Course

Introduction to Christian Holiness is a four-session course offered by Cliff College which is taught by Rev Paul Smith. This course explores the theme of holiness, beginning with the Old Testament and the character of God, and the incarnation of Jesus in the New Testament. It also covers John Wesley's teachings on holiness, including his controversial theology of 'Christian perfection', before looking at later understandings of holiness in the 19th and 20th centuries. This course is ideal for those wanting to understand more of what it means to 'be holy as God is holy', and is suitable for those with limited previous theological study. In popular culture holiness is not very popular. It evokes images of someone who is not living in the ‘real world’ or a ‘Holy Joe’ who is always frowning on others because they do not live up to his standards. Yet every Christian is called to a life of holiness. This short course aims to help the student grasp the concept of holiness from a Biblical, historical and contemporary perspective and enable them to answer the question, “What does the life of holiness look like in the 21st century?” It begins by taking a closer look at the Bible – How did the Biblical writers regard holiness? Is there a contrast between the way holiness is see in the Old Testament and the New? What did Jesus and the early Church think about holiness? John Wesley radically changed the way Christians think about holiness. He moved it from the monastery to the market place; from the cloistered existence of those removed from society to the living experience of those deeply involved in it. But what did he really teach? Does it make any sense today? The teaching of John Wesley gave rise to a number of holiness movements and a holiness revival in the 19th century. They modified Wesley’s view and many felt that this made the life of holiness more accessible to ordinary people. What did they teach? What are the challenges facing Christians today? Do we need to amend the way holiness is presented so that more people will see it as an attractive goal rather than a daunting prospect? This course is offered to help the student answer these questions and in the hope that it will enrich the spiritual life of all those participate in it. This course can be taken at any time and complete it your own pace. You may choose to do this all in one day, or pace it across a few weeks when you have an hour. When you have completed this course you will receive a completion certificate in acknowledgement of your engagement with the course material. This course has the fee of £50.00, but with our Summer Sale giving 50% off, you can purchase the course for £25.00.

Requirements

There are no prerequisites for this course, as you enrol in the course, you can work through the material at your own pace. As you complete each session you can mark the session as complete, once you have finished the materials you will receive a certificate of completion.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I pay for this course?

TheologyX uses Stripe e-commerce to pay, you can pay for this course securely online. If this is the first time you're taking a course on TheologyX you will need to register an account as you pay and enrol for this course. The email address you use to create the account with will continue to be your log in access to TheologyX and you can then take multiple courses from different partners using the same account.

Do I have to complete this course all at once?

This is a self-paced course. You may choose to do this all at once over a couple of days, or take a session a day. However it works best for you and fits around your life commitments. We suggest you aim to complete the course within 6 weeks.