Being Christian and a Leader in an Election Year

Americans will be electing a President again soon, and we’re more divided than ever. We all know that in 2016, friendships, families, neighborhoods, bridge clubs, churches, and almost every other community came apart at the seams over politics. So, how can Christian community survive political polarization? And how can we disrupt it together in the name of the one who prayed that those who believe in him “may all be one”? (John 17.20)

Join Dr. Allen Hilton, MDiv '89, leader of the House United Movement, as he helps us retrain divisive habits and seek the transformation that will help us become robustly “Christ’s body" and "a more perfect union.” The coursework identifies our American Christian predicament and then builds for us new ways of engaging constructively across our differences.

Any curious Christian seeking deeper theological understanding and personal enrichment may take part in this online course. People with a desire to bridge the divides in our communities and churches will find this course helpful. We encourage groups from congregations and communities to take the course together.

Learning Community: You will be immersed with a community of learners. Just as you would in a traditional classroom, you will engage the course material with your peers, faculty, and teaching assistants.

Course Platform: The inviting environment of the online course platform engages students in active learning. The weekly modules guide you, step by step, through videos, readings, written reflections, and peer discussions.

Live Sessions: A one-hour live online session with Hilton occurs at the end of each weekly module, for a total of three sessions. Participation is encouraged but optional. The three live sessions with Hilton will take place 8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. eastern time on Tuesdays, February 11, 18, and 25, 2020.

Time Commitment: Complete course material on your own schedule while meeting weekly deadlines. Teaching assistants follow your progress and respond weekly to your work in the learning path. You will exchange ideas with peers in the discussion board. Expect to spend six to eight hours per week on course modules and the live sessions.

Instruction and Review: Written course work is reviewed by the instructor and teaching assistant. Hilton will engage with students in the online discussions.

Successful Completion and CEUs

Those who satisfactorily complete all steps of the three modules will receive a notice of completion and earn 2.5 continuing education units (CEUs).

Rev. Allen R. Hilton, PhD, makes political and theological difference an asset to people's lives rather than a threat. He grew up and went to college in a conservative village in Oregon, did graduate work in the more progressive Ivy East (PTS and Yale University PhD ‘97), taught on strong faculties at St. Mary's College of California and Yale Divinity School, and then served big-tent churches in the east, west, and middle of the U.S. These experiences incubated the convictions that hatched House United, Hilton's nonprofit attempt to bust polarization. His book, House United: How the Church Can Save the World (Fortress, 2018), captures that vision; his book, Illiterate Apostles: Uneducated Early Christians and the Literates Who Loved Them (T&T Clark, 2018) grounds it in Scripture. Hilton lives in Austin, Texas with his beloved, Liz, and their two sons, Sam and Isaac.

The fee for the course is $110 per person.

Please read our Registration and Cancellation Policies

Interested in taking the course with a group at your church? Contact us, at the email below, for information on group rates for congregations.