Whatever the case may be, if you want sound evangelical biblical education at no cost, it's available now.
How sound? Well, you can, for instance, be taught by Bill Mounce ... Douglas Stuart ... Gordon Fee ... Ward Gasque ... or many, many others of that same caliber.
And again, the cost is zip ... zero ... nada ... gratis.
Now, I want to say up front --- so as to not waste your time --- you are not going to get a bible college degree for free from any of the sources I am going to present (a couple of the sources do offer certificates of completion, however).
What you will get is high-quality evangelical biblical education, pitched at the bible-college level (and, in some cases, higher) and you will not have to pay a cent. The audio lectures are on the internet, and a couple of providers have syllabi and/or notes that can be downloaded, as well. To show you how all of this is possible, let's go back to the professors I mentioned:
BILL MOUNCE ... Bill is probably best known for his textbook, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar (3rd edition, Zondervan), and his commentary on the pastoral epistles in the Word Biblical Commentary series (Thomas Nelson). Bill is an evangelical pioneer in the concept of open source education. He founded the website, Biblical Training, and is seen talking about the site in a video at the bottom of this blog entry. Mounce has rounded up an impressive array of his peers to provide a broad and interesting curriculum; for example, Craig Blomberg teaches a New Testament Survey class, Paul House teaches an Old Testament Theology class, John Piper teaches a Pastoral Theology class, and Bruce Ware teaches systematic theology. Currently, there are 17 other top-flite professors offering courses through Biblical Training. A certificate of completion is awarded by Western Seminary, where Mounce teaches. Getting started is as easy as 1-2-3. Simply link here to register. (You can listen to lectures without registering, though. Go to the speakers page, select a lecture series --- Christian Apologetics, for instance --- select a lecture --- perhaps, Cosmological Argument --- then click the "PLAY" button). A sample lecture is provided below (Robert Stein speaking on, An Introduction to Hermeneutics. Allow a few seconds for the lecture to load).
DOUGLAS STUART .... Stuart collaborated with Gordon Fee on the bestselling book, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (3rd edition, Zondervan) and writes scholarly commentaries, the most recent being the volume on Exodus in the New American Commentary series (B & H Publishing Group). He is one of the lecturers in the Dimensions of the Faith curriculum offered by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His lecture on the book of Exodus and the study guide for it are available to sample here (allow about 17 seconds lead time; the lecture is slow to start. For Dimensions of the Faith you need RealPlayer installed. The other three sources presented have software that allows them to play the lectures directly from their sites). Dimensions of the Faith offers a well-rounded curriculum of 10 courses that cover both testaments, biblical interpretation, church history, systematic theology, and evangelism and missions. Stuart (who teaches two of the courses) is joined by David Wells and other current and former GCTS professors. Like Biblical Training, Dimensions of the Faith offers a certificate of completion to those that successfully pass a brief test at the end of each course. Registering will take you about 60 seconds. Simply click here to get started.
GORDON FEE ... Fee needs little introduction to those interested in serious study of the New Testament. He is a first-class textual critic and commentator. He is editor of the venerable New International Commentary on the New Testament series (Eerdmans), and wrote the commentaries on 1 Corinthians, Philippians, and the Thessalonian letters in that series. He is one of the many outstanding biblical scholars featured on Regent Radio, the internet broadcasting arm of Regent College in Vancouver. N. T. Wright, Alister McGrath, J. I. Packer, Bruce Waltke and others also have lecture series played on Regent Radio. Regent's format is at once the easiest to access and the least flexible. You can start listening just by clicking here, then clicking on the "PLAY" button in the middle of the page. However, unlike the other sources I am presenting, you do not have a choice as to what lecturer or lecture you will listen to. One lecture is played daily, all day long. No certificate is available.
WARD GASQUE ... Gasque has edited two series of commentaries on the New Testament: the scholarly New International Greek Testament Commentary (Eerdmans), and the less-technical, New International Biblical Commentary's New Testament volumes (Hendrickson Publishers). He is an instructor and dean for the Koinos Seminars, a program developed by the Pacific Association for Theological Studies. While Koinos Seminars offers a certificate when classes are taken in person in Canada, the lectures are also available online for free (without a certificate offered). Gasque is joined by Carl Armerding and others in the curriculum that currently provides 18 courses. Gasque teaches Bible 101 and New Testament 101, while Armerding teaches Old Testament 101 and Old Testament Theology 201. All the courses and the other instructors can be seen and linked to here. (Simply click on the course listed that interests you --- the Doctrine of the Trinity, for instance. The course lectures will then be displayed and you can play them immediately).
A final note --- if the certificates are of no interest to you, you have the most flexibility possible. In other words, you can pick-and-choose the courses and professors you prefer from the four sources, and in so doing, create your own all-star faculty and/or ideal curriculum.
As they say when you are about to partake of a fine meal, "Enjoy!" (and for this 'meal', there won't be a check).
Introduction to BiblicalTraining.org from Bill Mounce on Vimeo.
