foundations

DISC 103 — What Christians Believe: The Basics of the Faith

Billions of people call themselves Christians. They disagree about plenty, but they share a core set of beliefs that has remained largely stable for two thousand years. That core is captured in a few ancient statements the early church wrote down when it needed a way to teach new believers what the faith actually was. DISC 103 walks through that shared ground, covering God as Creator and Trinity, Jesus Christ fully God and fully human, the Holy Spirit and salvation, the church as a living community across two thousand years, and the historic Christian confession about death, judgment, and the new creation. The course is ecumenical by design: it presents the shared confession of historic Christianity without picking sides on the disagreements that divide Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions. Where the traditions differ, the course names the differences honestly. No faith commitment is required to take it. Only a willingness to understand a set of ideas that has shaped most of Western civilization.

3 hr 20 min
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Learning outcomes

  • Describe what a creed is, identify the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed as the ecumenical baselines of Christian doctrine, and explain why the early church developed these summaries of the faith
  • Summarize the historic Christian doctrine of God as Creator and as Trinity, and describe the development of the Trinitarian formulation through the early ecumenical councils
  • Describe the historic Christian confession of Jesus Christ as fully God and fully human (Chalcedonian Definition), and identify at least two major Christian models of how the atonement works
  • Describe the Holy Spirit's role in the Christian life, summarize the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, and identify how Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions differ on soteriological details while agreeing on the core
  • Describe the historic Christian understanding of the church, including its mission and the sacraments or ordinances, and identify the main tradition variations on the number and nature of the sacraments
  • Describe the historic Christian confession of the Last Things — the return of Christ, the resurrection of the body, final judgment, and the new creation — and identify an appropriate next step in Cathedra's catalog

The Shared Ground

Before this course examines what Christians believe about God, Christ, the Spirit, the church, and the last things, it needs to establish the shape those beliefs share. Module 1 introduces the creed: what it is, where it came from, and why a scattered, minority movement in the Roman Empire needed one.

God the Father

Module 2 is the first major doctrinal section of the course, taking up the opening line of the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth." Two lessons examine what Christians have historically meant by those words, beginning with creation and the divine attributes, then moving to the doctrine that distinguishes Christian monotheism from every other: the Trinity.

Jesus Christ

Module 3 is the Christological heart of the course: who Jesus is and what his death and resurrection accomplished. Two lessons work through the historic Christian confession of Jesus as fully God and fully human, the four views the early church rejected on its way to the Chalcedonian Definition, the three major models of how the atonement works, and the resurrection and ascension that give the cross its meaning.

The Spirit and the Christian Life

Module 4 turns to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, and to the doctrine of salvation — the area where Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions share the most essential ground and differ most on the details.

The Church

The early Christian movement was never just individuals holding private beliefs. It was a gathered community with a name, a shared practice, and four words to describe itself. Module 5 examines what those four words mean and explores the two practices every major branch of Christianity has held in common across two thousand years.

The Last Things

Every historic Christian creed ends looking forward. This module closes DISC 103 by walking through what Christians have consistently confessed about the return of Christ, the resurrection of the body, final judgment, and the new creation — and then pointing toward the undergraduate tier waiting on the other side.