This 24-credit certificate program through Wesley Biblical Seminary will give you a solid foundation in understanding the history and development of both Christianity and Islam. You will investigate deeply the core of Christian and Muslim worldviews. You will gain practical skills in evangelism, discipleship and church planting in Muslim contexts. The core courses in this certificate program are below. Other LTC courses can be substituted, in consultation with your academic advisor, for some of the first four LTC courses.​​

​

1. Christian Engagement with Muslims

This course is an introduction to the persons, beliefs, and practices of Islam from a Christian perspective. We will get to know who Muhammad was, what the Qur’an is, and examine the origins of Islam by reading passages from the Qur’an and selected Hadith (recorded sayings or traditions of Muhammad). We also survey Islam’s expansion up through the twentieth century and addresses contemporary issues facing Muslims today, including the rise of militant Islam and Muslim immigration to the West. Special attention is given to how Christians can thoughtfully engage with the various worldviews of Islam and with our Muslim neighbors in the U.S. and around the world. Taught in cooperation with the Lilias Trotter Center. 

2. A Christian Analysis of Islam’s Source Documents
This course sets out to give Islam’s supreme prophet, Abdul Casim Muhammad, a hearing through the primary Muslim source texts. The greater part of the course will be devoted to reading through the Qur’an accompanied by classes on the life of Muhammad. Students will also be exposed to Ibn Ishaq’s early biography of Muhammad and to selections from Muslim traditions called “Hadiths.” At the end of the term, we will explore historical developments subsequent to Muhammad, and begin to wrestle with how we can most accurately interpret his life and the source documents with the help of selected secondary sources. Taught in cooperation with the Lilias Trotter Center. 

​

3. History of Islamic Theology and Movements: A Christian Investigation (The Muslim World: Then and Now)
Islam in the 21st century is an imposing narrative, a “sacred story,” deeply anchored in Muslim history and in their self-perceptions. To better understand both current events and  Muslim grievances around the world, we must first grasp the deep impact of their past victories and humiliating losses. Knowing Islamic history provides insight into Muslims’ centuries-long arguments among themselves, as well as their intuitive and intermittent violent opposition to non-Muslims. Muslims are passionate about their history, which is full of triumphs, contradictions, mystery, intrigue, poetry, fiction and competing historical interpretations. This course will enable you to understand this complicated world and give  you the tools you need to anticipate the future, both theirs and ours. 

​

4. Discipling and Planting Churches in Muslim Communities

This course studies the principles of discipleship as they apply to fruitful ministry to Muslims. As the end-result of discipleship includes Christian community, the process of planting Churches among Muslim converts is also studied.

​

​5. Discipleship and Spiritual Formation

Examines the personal means of grace necessary for a dynamic Christian walk with the Lord and enables the student to incorporate the imperative to “make disciples” into local church ministry and the nuclear family. Included in this course the student will be required to engage in a supervised “works of mercy” ministry for the duration of the term.

​

6. Inductive Bible Study I (The Gospels)

Helps students develop an accurate method of studying Scripture appropriate for use in life and ministry. One of the Gospels will serve as text for comprehensive instruction in the basic principles of inductive Bible study. Students will survey each section of the chosen Gospel and will analyze the structure and important terms of selected passages. Emphasis is also put on understanding the role of each passage within the entire Gospel.

​

7. History of Christian Thought

Focuses on the historical development of Christian doctrine. Special attention is given to the Church Fathers, to the controversies that resulted in the ecumenical creeds, the theological development of Medieval Christendom, the concerns of the Reformation and counter-Reformation, the thinking of the Revivalists, and the issues that have resulted from the Fundamentalist/Modernist conflict of the twentieth century. Emphasis will be placed on the doctrinal development of many of the major themes in Christian theology. 

​

8. Moral Theology and the Gospel

​Considers the metaphysical doctrines that are necessary for the development of an adequate moral theology regarding the essential ethical implications of Christian thought. The course looks at issues such as the relationship between the doctrines of creation and redemption to search for the best way to understand the idea that Christian morality is universal in its application without denying the uniqueness of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. The life of the local church and the challenges of specific moral questions in contemporary life are always in mind in this course.​

​

NOTE: All credits earned in the Certificate can be applied towards a Master of Arts or Master of Divinity degree at WBS. For more information, email us at info@liliastrottercenter.org