Worldview Curriculum

• Explanation of the Worldview Curriculum at Belhaven University
• The Curriculum
  • First Year, Fall and Spring Semesters
  • Second Year, Fall and Spring Semesters

Belhaven College, now Belhaven University, took a bold step in 1999 to revolutionize its required general core curriculum by requiring a two-year course of study focused around thematic topics and arranged on an historical timeline, which helps students understand and contrast a Christian worldview with the marketplace of history’s ideas. 

Belhaven’s "Worldview Curriculum," required of all entering freshmen and sophomores, offers an integrated study (structured chronologically) of the great movements and ideas in history, literature, the fine arts, Bible, philosophy and theology. Using history and the study of civilizations as a foundation, this unique approach to the traditional core curriculum enables students to learn the necessity of a Christian worldview in their personal spiritual growth, the shaping of culture’s moral values, and in building prosperous communities and a healthy society.

The traditional approach of general education has always been disjointed, as students are likely to be studying Reformation theology, 20th century British literature, Roman history, and the art and music of the Middle Ages in four different courses. Rather, Belhaven offers these topics in an integrated study as faculty work together to assure the curriculum is harmonized across disciplines week by week in each class segment — students studying the theology of the Reformation are also studying at the same time the history, art and literature of the period. Through this presentation of history’s major themes, students understand how ideas and events fit together, how conflicting worldviews have developed and how a Christ-centered understanding of our world has remained consistent throughout the ages. Anchoring the entire worldview curriculum is Belhaven’s traditional requirement of a full-year study of the Old Testament and New Testament.

In keeping with its vision and mission, Belhaven University believes that high academic and scholarly goals are first realized through a foundation in general education that affirms the Lordship of Christ over all aspects of learning — scholarly and personal. While some colleges have offered a "great ideas" or "great books" curriculum for honors students, we believe that every student must have this understanding of the development of our worldviews. And thus, we have taken this bold step to offer a uniquely structured general core curriculum for all students.

The Curriculum

The first year of the two-year course of study integrates the topics of history, culture, literature, Christian perspectives and our unique Master Learner Seminar topics into a whole that offers students the conceptual and practical foundations for successful college-level study. The second year builds upon the groundwork of the freshman year and culminates in a capstone course bringing a Christian worldview to bear upon today’s culture.

Worldview Curriculum: The Intersection of Topics
First Year – Fall and Spring Semesters

Second Year – Fall and Spring Semesters