Understanding the Times
video course / book / abridged course

Summit Ministries
ACSI

Understanding the Times is a video-based version of one- and two-week programs offered by Summit Ministries at their Colorado headquarters and other sites. (I highly recommend these programs also. Contact Summit for the current schedule: www.summit.org.)

The purpose of UTT is to enable Christians to obey two particular Scriptural commands. The first is Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” The second is 1 Peter: 3:15, “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

Understanding the Times divides worldviews under four headings: Secular Humanism, Marxism/Leninism, New Age, and Biblical Christianity. UTT then examines ten areas or topics within each of the three worldviews. The ten areas are theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, psychology, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history. These ten areas receive varying amounts of attention in the video course.

In the video course, there are also more than thirty tapes, most having two lessons per tape. Some topics such as creation/evolution and modern history receive much more attention than others. Summit Ministries continually works to update and improve this course. The selection of videos and their quality have both improved significantly from the first “versions” of this course. Among speakers presented on the tapes are Dr. David Noebel, Dr. Jeff Myers (see the review of his Secrets of the World Changers in this chapter), Josh McDowell, Dr. J.P. Moreland, Dr. Frank Beckwith, Phyllis Schlaffly, Walter Williams, and E. Calvin Beisner.

Students each have a workbook with outlines for the videos which they fill in as they watch. The two-volume teacher’s manual (in binders) provides lesson outlines, previews of the next video lessons, project instructions, scheduling options, tests, answers for weekly “notes” sheets and tests, suggestions for using the course in church and community settings, and much more. Supplemental books and readings also come with the course. Discussion of the videos and readings is a vital and exciting part of the course (the best part according to the first group I worked with).

Understanding the Times is also the title of a 912-page book by Dr. David Noebel of Summit Ministries [$36.95 retail; $21.95 for classes]. The book is designed to be used as part of the video course, although it can be used on its own with no problem. The book addresses the same ten subject areas listed above, with an entire chapter addressing each area from Secular Humanist, Marxist, and Biblical Christian worldviews. (An appendix addresses New Age worldviews in the original book, but the abridged edition of the book [$14.95] uses a framework of four worldviews which includes New Age.) Unlike the video series, the book balances time spent in each area. The text is an essential part of the video course. However, it is written at an adult reading level, and the content is challenging. It is not a book to assign blindly for teen reading. Students do not read every chapter of the book but are given selected assignments in conjunction with videos and classroom discussions and activities.

Please not that the book was originally intended to serve as a reference tool to which we can refer when confronted in one of the topical areas. Because of this, there is repetition of content in some chapters, allowing pertinent information to be available where needed. If your teens complain about repetition, they are correct, and it is there on purpose.

The 402-page, abridged version of Understanding the Times (co-published by Association of Christian Schools International and Summit Ministries but available for $14.95 through Summit Ministries) condenses the information contained in the original. It follows the same format, although each of the ten areas is addressed in four chapters instead of three. The three chapters from the original book that discuss Biblical Christian, Marxist/Leninist, and Secular Humanist worldviews are abridged. A fourth chapter has been added addressing each topic from the Cosmic Humanist or New Age worldview. You’ll find fewer quotes in the abridged edition, but it still covers the information fully enough for a survey class or an introductory study on the topic.

Students who will be using the book for research purposes will find the unabridged edition more useful, and those headed for college will find the unabridged a better resource because of its comprehensiveness. However, the abridged edition is more readable than the original, and it also serves as the foundation for the ACSI course, which might dictate it as our choice. (See the review of the ACSI course elsewhere in this section.)

I have personally taught through this course twice. I have seen the effectiveness of the course in meeting its Scriptural goals. In fact, I am so impressed with the course that I think it or a similar course should be offered to all Christian teens and parents. I strongly recommend using the course with two or more students because of the learning that takes place through discussion and interaction.

The catch is the cost—$495 plus textbook and notebook costs, about $45-50 per student at class prices. Consider other possible solutions. Those who really want to use the entire course, videos and all, might form group classes, encourage your church or church school to invest in the videos for their library, or solicit donations. Sometimes a few groups are formed and they trade videos back and forth. Summit Ministries is trying to make the course more easily available by offering some course components separately, although there are restrictions about how they may be purchased.

A homeschool version is due out in 2006.