Azusa Pacific Online University

An overview of the Old Testament focusing on the biblical writers, book outlines, major themes, key individuals, and events in biblical history, along with personal application for students today. Subject matter includes creation, revelation, sin, redemption, and the Messianic promises.

An overview of the New Testament focusing on the political, cultural, religious, literary, and historical perspectives during the life of Jesus and during the early Church. Authorship, book outlines, key themes, persons, and events in pre- and early church history are examined, along with personal applications for students today.

This course lays a strong foundation for a successful transition to college by increasing critical thinking, curiosity, goal orientation, and motivation skills. It provides an orientation to Azusa Pacific Online University, the Moodle online learning system, digital library services, and other support services. Students will be introduced to the idea of a Christian Liberal Arts education, a strengths approach to learning, and opportunities to develop practical skills and strategies for addressing the challenges of college. This course is a prerequisite for all other APOU courses.

 This course introduces Old Testament biblical literature, hermeneutics, and literary critical methodologies with a primary focus on the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. Students learn to observe the overall structure of these books, their historical settings, and modern approaches to their literary analysis. Students learn to interpret individual texts within each book. Students study how Deuteronomy uses the material of Exodus to communicate God’s Word to a new generation.

This course introduces New Testament biblical literature, hermeneutics, and literary critical methodologies with a primary focus on the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Special attention is given to the meaning of the texts with regard to their political, cultural, religious, and geographical settings; the literary structures and genres employed; and how those texts are relevant for faithful Christian living. Prerequisite: BIBL 100.

This course offers practical instruction in how to speak effectively and introduces the basic principles underlying effective communication. Topics range from the study of theoretical models of interpersonal and public communication to the fundamental skills of research, organization, and delivery of informative and persuasive discourse.

This course focuses on the literacy skills essential to effective writing, including reading comprehension, audience awareness, genre knowledge, grammatical efficacy, syntactic fluency, and rhetorical sufficiency.

This course promotes the intellectual and rhetorical skills necessary to write persuasive and argumentative prose. Specific areas addressed include logic, grammar, and rhetoric. Clarity of purpose and perspicuity of argument are examined through attention to critical thinking, logical fallacies, and textual analysis. Prerequisite: ENG 101.

The theological, educational, and social bases for ministry and service are examined. An analysis of the church’s responsibility and methods for carrying out the ministry mandate of Jesus is emphasized. Field experience is required.

Students study principles of deductive and non-deductive logic. Principles are used to evaluate arguments in a variety of contexts, including the popular media and the professional practices of philosophy, theology, science or law. Students are also expected to assess and improve the logical rigor and clarity of their own reasoning.

This general survey course explores the field of psychology. It includes human development, social psychology, learning, perception, cognition, motivation, personality, psychological testing, and nervous system functioning. Students enrolled in this course may be required to share information regarding their personal life, family, or relationships.

This course offers a study of global religious traditions in their cultural and historical contexts. Students will critically examine various definitions and methodologies of global religious studies from a confessional Christian perspective. Traditions examined will include Judaism, Islam, Eastern Christianity, East Asian, African, South American, and other Indigenous traditions.

This two-course sequence emphasizes practical Spanish communication in real-life situations for beginners. The course addresses the pronunciation, intonation, and structure of Spanish within an online framework designed to develop basic listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Special cultural presentations supplement language study.