Start Here find your path through the site
This site has grown into a substantial theological library — from new-believer discipleship to seminary-level systematic theology to detailed apologetic engagement with skeptical, Muslim, Jewish, and atheist objections. That depth is a gift, but it can be overwhelming if you don't know where to start. This page is a wayfinding tool. Read for two minutes, identify which of the four tracks below fits where you are right now, and follow the path. You can always switch tracks, peek at other material, or come back later. The goal is not to gate access; it is to help each visitor find a sensible next step.
Four short questions
Read the four questions below. The first one you answer "yes" to points to your track. (If you're not sure, the brief paragraphs after each question will help — and you can always start one track and switch later.)
1. Are you investigating Christianity from outside, or wrestling with serious doubts as a Christian?
You want to know whether Christianity is historically defensible, philosophically coherent, and morally credible — before any question of personal faith arises. You're an Investigator.
2. Did you become a Christian recently — within the last year or two?
You believe the gospel but are still finding your feet. You need foundational discipleship — assurance, identity in Christ, how to read the Bible, how to pray, what a local church is for. The deep doctrinal pages can wait. You're a New Believer.
3. Have you been a Christian for years, attend church faithfully, but never had formal theological training?
You want to grow in your understanding — to know systematic theology, to handle the Bible better, to engage hard questions — but you don't know what order to read in. You're a Mature Layman.
4. Do you already read serious theology — Schreiner, Carson, Bavinck, the Puritans, the Reformed scholastics — and want to go deeper still?
You don't need handholding. You want the deep dives, the bibliographies, the engagement with critical scholarship and contemporary debates. You're a Serious Student.
The New Believer's Path
- You believe the gospel and want to grow, but feel uncertain whether you're "really saved"
- You've been told the Bible matters but reading it feels confusing or dry
- You don't yet have a settled understanding of who Jesus is, what the cross accomplished, or how the Spirit works
- You want practical help on prayer, church, temptation, and Christian community
- The New Believers Curriculum — work through the Foundation movement (assurance, identity, the great exchange). Take it slowly; don't rush.
- How to Read the Bible — short orientation to what Scripture is and how to read it as a Christian.
- Begin Memorizing Scripture — start with the foundational verses on the gospel and assurance.
After 6–12 months: you have settled assurance of salvation, a daily habit of Bible reading and prayer, an integrated life in a local church, and the foundational doctrines (gospel, Trinity in outline, the cross, justification, the new birth) clearly understood. At that point you'll be ready for the Mature Layman track — but there's no rush.
The Mature Layman's Path
- You've been a Christian for years and want a real theological education, not seminary, but more than Sunday-school depth
- You want to know systematic theology in a Reformed Baptist frame — what the major loci are and how they fit together
- You want to handle Scripture better and engage hard questions thoughtfully
- You're comfortable with serious reading but need a clear sequence rather than a 50-link table of contents
- New Testament Survey — book-by-book introduction to all 27 NT writings. Get the map of the territory before going deep.
- Systematic Theology Overview — the twelve loci of Christian doctrine in their classical Reformed Baptist articulation. Read straight through; don't worry about every footnote on the first pass.
- Hermeneutics & Method — how to read the New Testament responsibly: the already / not yet, Synoptic criticism, Pauline theology, and the Christocentric question.
After the foundational three: enter the in-depth doctrinal pages one locus at a time — Trinity, Christology, Soteriology, Pneumatology, Hamartiology — at roughly one per month. Pair the doctrinal pages with Christian Living, which applies the doctrine to actual life — marriage, family, work, suffering, community. Add the 12-week reading plan if you want structured pacing. By the end of a year you'll have a genuine theological education at lay level — and one that has traveled the eighteen inches from head to heart.
The Serious Student's Path
- You already read serious theology — Schreiner, Carson, Moo, Bavinck, the Puritans, Reformed scholastics
- You want the in-depth pages with full bibliographies and engagement with contemporary scholarship
- You want to engage Bart Ehrman, Larry Hurtado, the EFS debate, the Two Powers tradition, the pactum salutis
- You're studying Greek or want to
- Systematic Theology Overview — start here for the architecture, then dive into individual in-depth pages: Trinity (1,500 lines), Christology, Soteriology, Pneumatology, Hamartiology.
- Modern Apologetics — engagement with critical scholarship: Ehrman, Islam, New Atheism.
- The Greek Lessons — if you don't already read Greek, this is the most important investment you can make. Twenty lessons take you from the alphabet to reading the Greek New Testament.
Each in-depth page has an extensive bibliography organized by topic — pull the primary sources (Athanasius, Augustine, Calvin, Owen, Bavinck) and the major contemporary works (Letham, Frame, Schreiner, Hurtado, Bauckham). The Major Scholars page is the map of the modern conversation. The tiered bibliography on the Study Guide page lays out a multi-year reading program for anyone who wants to work toward genuine seminary-level competence.
The Investigator's Path
- You're not a Christian and want to know whether the case for Christianity is honest and intellectually defensible
- You're a Christian wrestling with serious doubt — about the resurrection, the reliability of Scripture, the problem of evil, or whether faith and reason can coexist
- You've encountered Bart Ehrman, Muslim apologetics, atheist arguments, or post-evangelical "deconstruction" content and want to hear the other side fairly presented
- You want the historical, philosophical, and evidential case — not devotional language assuming you already believe
- Jesus Is God — the central historical question. Did Jesus exist? Did he claim to be God? Is the New Testament reliable? How early was the confession of his deity? Did he rise from the dead? This is the foundational case worked through in twelve sections.
- Engaging Bart Ehrman — sustained engagement with the most influential scholarly skeptic of the deity-of-Christ tradition. The "How Jesus Became God" thesis, fairly presented and rigorously answered.
- Modern Apologetics — the broader landscape: the resurrection, the manuscript evidence, the problem of evil, the moral argument, the historical Jesus, alternative explanations of Christian origins.
Direct engagement with the major comparative-religion and worldview challenges: Islam (the Quran, Muhammad, the Trinity as shirk), New Atheism (Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, Harris), and the broader Apologetics Q&A on contradictions, the canon, and historical objections. The case is presented evidentially, not pressuringly. Honest engagement is what you'll find — and what we hope you'll bring.
If you're a Christian wrestling with doubt rather than a non-Christian investigating from outside, this path is for you too. Many of the most faithful Christians in history have walked through serious doubt and emerged with deeper conviction — Augustine, Luther, John Bunyan, C. S. Lewis, and many others. Doubt is not the opposite of faith; permanent intellectual disengagement is. Working through real questions seriously is itself an act of faith. You're welcome here.
The four tracks are guides, not gates. Real readers don't always fit one box, and that's fine. A new believer who came to Christ out of years of skepticism may want to alternate between the New Believer track and the Investigator track for a while. A mature layman with a specific question on the Trinity can jump directly to the Trinity page without working through the survey first. A serious student may want to revisit the New Believers material as a refresher on what the gospel really is. Use the tracks as defaults, not as cages.
Two general rules: start where you are, not where you wish you were. If you're new to faith, the seminary-level Trinity page is not where you should spend your first hour — you'll bounce off it and feel discouraged, when what you actually need is the assurance and identity material. Don't rush past the foundations. Even the serious student benefits from periodically returning to the basics — gospel, cross, resurrection, Trinity in outline — because depth without devotion goes cold quickly. The Reformed tradition has always insisted that the gospel is for the mature as well as for new believers, and that the cross does not become passé just because we've understood it once.
What's on This Site
A brief map of the major content clusters, in case you want to browse rather than follow a track. Each cluster links to its primary entry point.
Discipleship & Foundations
New Believers Curriculum · Reading the Bible · Memory Verses · Foundations II · Christian Living — for new and growing Christians.
New Testament Studies
NT Survey · Canon & Structure · Major Themes · Hermeneutics · Text Criticism · Historical Context.
Systematic Theology
Twelve Loci Overview, with in-depth pages on Trinity, Christology, Soteriology, Pneumatology, Hamartiology.
Apologetics
Jesus Is God · Modern Apologetics · Engaging Ehrman · Engaging Islam · New Atheism · Q&A Compendium.
Greek & Language
Greek Lessons (twenty lessons from alphabet to reading the GNT) · Greek Theological Glossary · Vocabulary · Paradigms.
Reference & Study
12-Week Reading Plan · Theology Glossary · Major Scholars · Interactive Timeline.