Christian Studies

In this course, I learned a lot about the different titles and how to address someone who has a certain title. I also liked the lessons on the history of the Church. I did not realize how persecuted the early Christians were and the difficulties that they faced. I know the Saint Paul had been jailed many times for what he was doing but did not realize that being Christian could result in punishment including death. I was fascinated about Constantine and how he helped to try to spread Christianity. I know that in lesson 15, that there is some question if Constantine’s about whether or not if his conversion to Christianity was genuine which I did not know. I was also interested in the Spanish Inquisition where Ferdinand and Isabella tried to unite the country with Catholicism. I had learned before that people were persecuted for their beliefs, but did not realize how deadly the Inquisition was and also did not realize that they also persecute fellow Christians who were not Catholic. I was got a lot out of the lessons about how Saul was converted from Judaism to a Christian. 

I never knew before that Saul had persecuted Christians and then ended up having a conversion to Christianity himself. I also did not realize before the Saul had been present for the stoning of Stephen. I learned that Saul, now Paul, had traveled a lot to spread the Good News to people of the Jewish faith and to those of the non-Jewish faith (Gentiles). Paul must have spent quite a bit of time just traveling to places due to what transportation options he had at the time (e.g. boat, walking, horses, etc.). I was also surprised at the number of books that are left out of the Bible. I knew that the Catholic Church had more books in the Bible, but when I looked at the list, I was surprised at the number of books missing from the Bible and most of these books I had never even had heard of until I saw the list. This course was definitely worth taking and really got a lot out of it.

Rev. Michael Barth

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.