Theoria: Introduction to Christian Theology
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Think Theologically. Believe with Confidence.

A graduate-level survey of the core doctrines of the Christian faith — from the nature of God and Scripture to salvation, the Church, and the last things — taught with biblical depth, historical breadth, and the rigor your questions deserve.

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Theoria: Introduction to Christian Theology

"The doctrines of the Christian faith are not walls that fence faith in — they are load-bearing pillars that hold the whole house up, and learning to see them clearly changes everything."Carla Paton

What you'll learn

What you'll be able to do

  • Articulate the major doctrines of Christian theology — including God, Scripture, humanity, Christ, salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and eschatology — with clarity and precision.
  • Trace how key Christian doctrines developed across church history, from the early councils through the Reformation and into the modern era.
  • Read and interpret Scripture with greater depth by understanding the theological framework that unifies the biblical narrative.
  • Explain how the core doctrines of the faith interconnect and mutually reinforce one another as a coherent system of belief.
  • Engage confidently with theological questions, creeds, confessions, and classic Christian texts encountered in study or community life.
  • Establish a solid academic and spiritual foundation for continuing theological education at the graduate or seminary level.

How it works

A school that adapts to you

This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.

We learn your level

A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.

Lessons adapt as you go

Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.

Your AI coach keeps you moving

Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.

The curriculum

What's inside your school

7 modules · 23 lessons

1

Foundations: What Is Theology and How Do We Do It?

Before engaging any specific doctrine, students must understand what theology is, why it matters, and how it is properly done. This foundational module establishes the discipline of Christian theology — its nature, sources, methods, and relationship to the biblical story — equipping students with the intellectual and hermeneutical tools they will use throughout the entire course. Placing prolegomena first ensures every subsequent doctrine is approached with methodological clarity.

  • 1.1The Nature and Task of Christian TheologyIncluded
  • 1.2Sources and Norms: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and ExperienceIncluded
  • 1.3Reading the Story: Theology and the Biblical NarrativeIncluded
  • 1.4ResourcesIncluded
2

The Doctrine of Scripture: Revelation, Inspiration, and Authority

REVIEWER NOTE — SEQUENCING FIX: In the draft, Scripture appears mid-course (Module 3) after God and Trinity. This is a critical sequencing error for a course that grounds all theology in Scripture and targets outcome 3 (reading Scripture with theological depth). Students need a robust theology of Scripture before they begin using it as a source for subsequent doctrines. This module is therefore moved to second position, immediately after prolegomena and before any substantive doctrinal content. The doctrine of Creation and Providence (originally in Module 2) is preserved and relocated to Module 3 where it belongs, adjacent to Humanity and Sin.

  • 2.1General and Special RevelationIncluded
  • 2.2Inspiration and Inerrancy: The Character of ScriptureIncluded
  • 2.3The Canon, Authority, and Interpretation of ScriptureIncluded
3

The Doctrine of God: Being, Attributes, and Trinity

With prolegomena and the doctrine of Scripture in place, students now turn to theology proper — the study of God's nature, perfections, and triune being. This is the most fundamental of all doctrines: who God is determines everything else theology says. The module moves from God's knowability and attributes, to the doctrine of the Trinity, and concludes with God's acts in creation and providence — establishing the theological context for the doctrines of humanity and sin that follow. Church-historical development of Trinitarian doctrine (targeting outcome 2) is woven throughout.

  • 3.1The Attributes of God: Who God IsIncluded
  • 3.2The Trinity: One God in Three PersonsIncluded
  • 3.3Creation and Providence: God's Relationship to the WorldIncluded
4

Humanity, Sin, and the Need for Redemption

Having established who God is and what he has made, the course now turns to the creature at the center of the redemptive drama: the human person. This module examines what humans are by God's design (image, purpose, constitution), what went wrong (the Fall, original sin, total depravity), and the consequences that make redemption necessary. The Fall narrative is treated with care for both its historical and theological dimensions. This module creates the essential dramatic tension — the problem that Christology and soteriology must resolve — and directly sets up Module 5.

  • 4.1The Doctrine of Humanity: Image, Purpose, and ConstitutionIncluded
  • 4.2The Doctrine of Sin: Fall, Corruption, and Original SinIncluded
  • 4.3The Consequences of Sin and the Promise of RedemptionIncluded
5

Christology and Soteriology: The Person and Work of Christ

This module stands at the heart of Christian theology. Having established who God is, who humans are, and what sin has done, students now encounter Jesus Christ — the eternal Son incarnate — as the answer to humanity's deepest need. The module examines Christ's person (his divine-human nature as defined at Chalcedon) before his work (atonement), and then traces how salvation is applied to the individual believer. The historical development of Christological doctrine through the councils is a primary focus, directly advancing outcome 2. The module also advances outcome 4 by showing how Christology connects to every other doctrine.

  • 5.1Christology: The Person of Jesus ChristIncluded
  • 5.2Soteriology: Atonement and the Work of ChristIncluded
  • 5.3Salvation Applied: Grace, Faith, Justification, and Union with ChristIncluded
6

The Holy Spirit, the Church, and the Christian Life

With the person and work of Christ established, the course turns to how Christ's benefits are mediated and embodied in the world through the Spirit and the church. This module covers pneumatology (the person and work of the Holy Spirit), ecclesiology (the nature, marks, sacraments, and mission of the church), and sanctification (the ongoing moral and spiritual transformation of the believer). Together these three doctrines describe the present age of redemption — the period between Christ's first and second comings — and directly set up the eschatological module that follows.

  • 6.1Pneumatology: The Person and Work of the Holy SpiritIncluded
  • 6.2Ecclesiology: The Nature, Marks, and Mission of the ChurchIncluded
  • 6.3Sanctification and the Christian LifeIncluded
7

Eschatology, Creeds, and Theological Integration

The final module brings the course to its conclusion by examining the 'last things' — individual eschatology (death, intermediate state, resurrection, judgment) and cosmic eschatology (the return of Christ, millennial views, the new creation) — and then stepping back to integrate everything studied into a coherent theological system. A dedicated lesson on creeds, confessions, and theological method — absent from the draft but essential for outcome 5 (engaging creeds and confessions confidently) and outcome 6 (seminary readiness) — is added. The module closes with student-led theological synthesis, equipping learners to continue their studies with confidence.

  • 7.1Individual and Cosmic Eschatology: Death, Resurrection, and the Life to ComeIncluded
  • 7.2Millennial Views and the Kingdom of GodIncluded
  • 7.3Creeds, Confessions, and the Great TraditionIncluded
  • 7.4Theological Integration: The System of Doctrine as a Unified WholeIncluded

Who it's for

Is this you?

The Committed Layperson

You've attended church for years and hold your faith deeply, but you want to move beyond Sunday-morning summaries and finally understand the doctrines you profess with real precision and confidence.

The Seminary Aspirant

You're planning to apply to seminary or graduate theological studies and want to arrive with the foundational vocabulary, doctrinal framework, and historical awareness that will set you apart from day one.

The Small Group Leader

You lead Bible studies or discipleship groups and feel the weight of theological questions you're not yet equipped to answer — this school gives you the grounding to shepherd others with greater depth and care.

The Thoughtful Seeker

You're drawn to Christianity and take its truth claims seriously, and you want to understand what orthodox Christian theology actually teaches — rigorously and fairly — before you decide what you believe.

The Lifelong Learner

Decades of faith have given you wisdom and experience, but you've always wanted a structured, intellectually serious encounter with the great doctrines — and now is the time to pursue it.

The Faith-and-Mind Integrator

You work in academia, law, science, or another intellectual field and want your theological convictions to be as carefully reasoned as your professional thinking — this school builds exactly that kind of rigor.

Questions

Frequently asked

Your teacher

A note from your teacher

Carla Paton

Carla Paton

Perhaps you have sat in a church pew for years — decades, even — and found yourself deeply committed to a faith you could not quite explain. You believe in the Trinity, but if someone pressed you on what that actually means, or why it matters, the words came slowly. You trust that the Bible is authoritative, but the questions of how it came to us, why those books and not others, and what it means to interpret it faithfully have always lingered just below the surface. You are not a skeptic. You are a believer who hungers for something more than slogans — someone who suspects that Christian doctrine, understood well, is not an obstacle to faith but the very architecture that gives it shape and strength.

That suspicion is correct. And this school is for you.

I built Christian Theology Foundations because I believe the great doctrines of the Christian faith are the intellectual birthright of every believer — not the private property of seminary professors or the clergy. The church has spent two thousand years carefully defining what it believes about God, Scripture, humanity, Christ, salvation, the Spirit, and the age to come. It has done so through councils and creeds, through controversy and correction, through the patient labor of thinkers who staked everything on getting this right. That tradition deserves to be taken seriously — studied, not merely sloganned — and that is precisely what we do here.

What you will find in this school is not a survey of opinions or a buffet of perspectives from which you pick what feels right. It is a rigorous, historically grounded, doctrinally serious introduction to the system of Christian theology — moving from the doctrine of Scripture through the doctrine of God, through humanity and sin, through Christ and his saving work, through the Holy Spirit and the Church, and out to the horizon of eschatology. Each doctrine is built carefully from its biblical foundations, placed in its historical development, and shown in its relationship to the whole. By the final unit, you will not just know more — you will think differently. You will think theologically.

I also want to be honest about what this school asks of you. It will not be effortless. Good theology never is. You will encounter vocabulary that is precise for a reason — because sloppy language has historically produced sloppy doctrine and real spiritual harm. You will be asked to think carefully, to hold complexity without collapsing it prematurely, and to let the great tradition speak before you render your verdict. But I promise that the effort is worth it. There are few intellectual and spiritual rewards comparable to the moment when the doctrines of the faith stop being a checklist and begin to function as a lens — a way of seeing God, the world, yourself, and the Scriptures with new clarity.

Whether you are preparing for seminary, leading a small group, or simply pursuing the ancient command to love God with all your mind, I am glad you are here. The door to the great tradition is open. Come in and think well.

Carla Paton

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  • 7 modules, 23 lessons
  • AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
  • Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
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