COU139 Understanding People
Modern humanistic approaches feel thin when measured against the complexity of human design and experience. Scripture alone offers a comprehensive, holistic account of who we are. This course helps students develop a biblical framework for understanding people, built on the conviction that every Christian is at once a saint, a sufferer, and a sinner. Students will also learn to cultivate a deeper, biblical fear of the Lord — for when God is central, people are restored to their proper place: loved and served, rather than feared and used.
Credits: 3
Student learning outcomes
- Explain how Scripture simultaneously identifies believers as saints, sufferers, and sinners, and describe the distinct contribution each category makes to a full understanding of a person.
- Recognize the effects of external trials, grief, and hardship on individuals, and describe how those effects surface in a person's thinking, emotions, and behavior.
- Match appropriate forms of biblical care to each aspect of a believer's identity, distinguishing comfort for the sufferer, confrontation for the sinner, and affirmation for the saint.
- Formulate a biblical definition of 'the fear of the Lord' that is rooted in Christ and marked by gratitude, holy awe, and devotion rather than dread.
- Distinguish legitimate human desires from desires that have been inflated into perceived needs, and explain why that distinction matters for both self-understanding and the care of others.
- Describe what it means to love others as people to be served rather than as sources of personal validation, and apply that posture to representative case studies.