Course Syllabus
THE BOOK OF REVELATION
Course description
The Book of Revelation can be both exciting and confusing. It's exciting because it records dramatic visions about the role of Jesus and the church in the history of the world. But it's also confusing because its imagery is so foreign to modern readers. Even so, the overall message is clear: King Jesus is returning in victory. This course introduces viewers to the background and primary message of the Book of Revelation, and it summarizes the book’s structure, content, original meaning and modern application. This course is based on the lecture series, The Book of Revelation, produced by Third Millennium Ministries and hosted by Dr. Steve Brown with contributions from a variety of professors.
Goals and Objectives
GOALS
In this course, we would like to accomplish the following:
1. We hope you will make use of all the resources of the course to learn key things about the background, structure, content, and modern application of The Book of Revelation.
2. We hope you will be encouraged and strengthened in your hope for a positive future by studying The Book of Revelation.
3. We hope you make some changes in your life as a response to the teachings of The Book of Revelation, especially that you will persevere faithfully, even if you are suffering.
OBJECTIVES
When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:
1. Obtain satisfactory grades on the automatically graded activities, demonstrating that you can identify key information about the background, structure, content and modern application of The Book of Revelation.
2. Complete the study guides and other assignments of the course, expressing your sentiments regarding the future, and showing how the study of Revelation has encouraged you to persevere in the face of suffering.
Thematic Outline of the Course
1. The Background of Revelation
2. Structure and Content
3. The King and His Kingdom
Explanation of Assignments
The Multimedia Lessons
1. Study the lessons, watching the video, listening to the audio, or reading the text.
2. Complete the study guides for each lesson. These study guides will prepare you for the online quizzes and help you apply the teachings of the lesson to your own life. (For those students associated with a particular institution wishing to track the completion of the completion of the Study Guides, a drop box has been provided at the end of the course.)
3. Take the online quizzes on each section of the lessons. The quizzes may be taken as many times as you want, but you must wait five days between each attempt, and the official grade will be from the first attempt.
4. Optional: We recommend that you look through the glossaries and use the learning games to become familiar with special names and technical terms used in the lessons.
5. Take the cumulative test for each complete lesson. You may take the test again as many times as you want for review, but you must wait five days between each attempt, and the official grade is from the first attempt.
6. When you have finished all the lessons on the multimedia lectures, take the final exam on the lectures.
Other Activities
1. Complete the supplementary lessons for each lesson. These lessons give you additional background information and provide other learning aids related to the lessons. You may repeat these lessons as many times as you want, and the official grade will be the highest score out of all the attempts.
2. Complete the questionnaires for the lessons to help assimilate the teachings and apply them to your own life. These are not quizzes. The answers are more subjective. The grade is for completing the assignment.
3. There is a final lesson based on additional readings. These are optional readings designed to supplement the main lesson materials. The student should do the reading, complete the study guides, and take the corresponding quizzes and cumulative test based on the reading. These are graded as extra credit. (For those students associated with a particular institution wishing to track the completion of the Reading Study Guides, a drop box has been provided at the end of the course.)
We recommend that you work on these reading assignments and quizzes during the entire course, instead of waiting until you finish all the lessons based on the video lectures. For each lesson, do the percentage of the work on them that corresponds to the number of lessons in the course.
Optional Activities
Some institutions may require you to do one or more of the following optional assignments. If so, read the instructions in lesson 1 and follow the specific guidelines given in the instructions for each lesson.
1. The Written project
2. Essay Questions
3. Journal Questions
4. Optional Additional Reading
Grades
The final grade will be calculated as follows:
1) The quizzes on the lectures are each worth 10 points.
2) Each cumulative test is worth 30 points.
3) Each supplementary lesson is worth 10 points.
4) Each questionnaire is worth 10 points.
5) The final exam on the lectures is worth 100 points.
6) Each quiz on the reading assignments is worth 10 points (extra credit).
7) The cumulative test on the additional reading is worth 30 points (extra credit).
The final grade of the course will be calculated by adding the corresponding percentages of all assignments and tests, making a total of 100% possible.
A total course score above 70% is considered passing.
Greek and Hebrew
Some lessons in our courses make reference to words in Greek or Hebrew. If you have not studied these languages, you might want to at least become familiar with the alphabets.
For the Greek alphabet, see:
https://www.billmounce.com/greekalphabet/greek-alphabet
For the Hebrew alphabet, see:
http://hebrew.billmounce.com/BasicsBiblicalHebrew-01.pdf
List of Contributors to The Book of Revelation
Rev. Valery Babynin is Senior Pastor of Evangelical Reformed Presbyterian Church in Odessa, Ukraine.
Rev. Ivan Bespalov is Pastor of Church of the Holy Trinity, a Presbyterian church in Kiev, Ukraine.
Dr. Steve Blakemore is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Dr. Steve Brown is the founder of Key Life Network and is a visiting professor of practical theology at Knox Theological Seminary and at Westminster Theological Seminary.
Dr. Paul Chang is Pastor of Monmouth Chinese Christian Church in Middleton, New Jersey.
Dr. David Chapman is Associate Professor of New Testament and Archaeology at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Dr. Robert B. Chisholm, Jr. is Department Chair and Professor of Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Rev. Larry Cockrell is Senior Pastor of Household of Faith Church and faculty member of Birmingham Theological Seminary in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Steve Cowan is Associate Director of the Apologetics Resource Center and Associate Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics at Birmingham Theological Seminary in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Brandon D. Crowe is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary.
Dr. Daniel Doriani is Vice President of Strategic Academic Initiatives and Professor of Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Dr. Stephen Douglass serves as the president and chairman of the board of Cru and Campus Crusade for Christ International.
Dr. William Edgar is Professor of Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary.
Dr. Matt Friedeman is Professor of Evangelism and Discipleship at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Dr. David Garner is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Ben Gladd is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary.
Rev. Michael J. Glodo is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary's Orlando Campus.
Dr. Jim Hamilton is Associate Professor of Biblical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Preaching Pastor of Kenwood Baptist Church.
Mr. Bradley T. Johnson is Adjunct Professor at Asbury Theological Seminary and Pastor of Wesley Chapel UMC in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Dr. Dennis E. Johnson is Academic Dean and Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary California.
Dr. Craig Keener is the F.M. and Ada Thompson Chair of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Dr. Simon Kistemaker is Professor Emeritus at Reformed Theological Seminary.
Dr. Rob Lister is Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at the Talbot School of Theology.
Dr. Robert K. MacEwan is Department of Chinese Theology Director and Biblical Studies resident faculty member at the East Asia School of Theology in Singapore.
Dr. Todd Mangum is Professor of Theology and Academic Dean at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, PA.
Dr. John McKinley is Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University.
Dr. Thomas J. Nettles is Professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. John Oswalt is the Visiting Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Dr. Jonathan Pennington is Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Gregory R. Perry is Associate Professor of New Testament and Director of City Ministry Initiative at Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Vern S. Poythress is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Westminster Theological Seminary and Editor of the Westminster Theological Journal.
Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr. is President of Third Millennium Ministries and Adjunct Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary's Orlando Campus.
Dr. J. Scott Redd is Campus President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. and Assistant Professor of Old Testament.
Dr. Thomas Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Associate Dean of Scripture and Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Glen Scorgie is Professor of Theology at Bethel Seminary's San Diego Campus.
Dr. James D. Smith III is Associate Professor of Church History at Bethel Seminary's San Diego Campus, as well an adjunct professor of religion at the University of San Diego.
Dr. Mark Strauss is Professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary's San Diego Campus.
Dr. K. Erik Thoennes is Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Tong is the founder of the Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International and the Reformed Institute for Christianity and the 21st Century.
Dr. Carl R. Trueman is Professor of Historical Theology and Church History and the Paul Woolley Chair of History at Westminster Theological Seminary.
Dr. Stephen Um is pastor of Citylife Presbyterian Church in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Bill Ury is Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Dr. Miles Van Pelt is the Alan Belcher Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, and the Academic Dean at Reformed Theological Seminary.
Rev. Dr. Simon Vibert is the former Vicar of St. Luke's Church, Wimbledon Park, UK, and is presently the Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and Director of the School of Preaching.
Rev. Dr. Peter Walker is Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity School for Ministry.
Dr. Ben Witherington III is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary.