The Bridge Year at Trinity College

Academics

“God’s honor requires the human spirit to probe the entire complexity of what has been created, in order to discover God’s majesty and wisdom and to express those in human thoughts and language. Since the unbelieving world can do nothing but obscure God’s majesty and wisdom, Christian thinkers are called to put their shoulders to that grand task that they alone can perform.”
— Abraham Kuyper

Trinity College offers four learning tracks:

Trinity College is building a four-year bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts and sciences. The curriculum is designed to equip students to synthesize ideas from diverse disciplines in order to revel in God’s design in creation and redemption; in other words, to delight in a Christian worldview.

Classes at Trinity College are Socratic dialogues, based around highly participatory discussions on theology, history, philosophy, literature, music, and more. Students will engage with professors and fellow students in lively conversations on the ideas and worldviews of prominent historical authors and movements.

Coursework will entail reading, writing, oral presentations, and hands-on practical experience. Students will also present and defend their own original work.

For a guide to Bachelor of Arts curriculum, see the Four-Year Course Map and Freshman Year course descriptions below.

Our two-year Associates degree program helps students receive a well-rounded introduction to Christian worldview, equipping them with the leadership and discernment needed to proceed into other academic settings and careers.

Students who plan to enter fields requiring specialized training, such as engineering or nursing, may prepare for their academic future with a one-year Bridge Year Certificate in Liberal Arts and Culture. Students in the Bridge Year program participate in the full freshman year curriculum of Trinity College and will be equipped with a foundational discernment, conviction, and courage to sustain them in their future studies.


For a guide to Bridge Year curriculum, see the Bridge Year/Freshman course descriptions below

This program offers the opportunity for high school students to finish their final year of high school while simultaneously receiving college credit.

4-Year Curriculum Map

Freshman Sophomore
Biblical Theology Systematic Theology
Biblical Anthropology Ancient & Medieval History and Literature
Church History Philosophy and Theology of Mathematics
Rhetoric & Writing Advanced Writing Elective
New Testament Greek Center for Christian Vocation Elective
Junior Senior
Person and Work of Christ Advanced Theology
Renaissance & Reformation History and Literature Modern History and Literature
Philosophy and Theology of Science Senior Thesis
Theology & Theory of Music Church Life Internship
Center for Christian Vocation Elective Center for Christian Vocation Elective
Leadership, Business, and Domestic Arts Practica and Internships
Bridge Year (Freshman) Sophomore Junior Senior
Biblical Theology Systematic Theology Person & Work of Christ Advanced Theology
Biblical Anthropology Ancient & Medieval History and Literature Renaissance & Reformation History and Literature Modern History and Literature
Church History Philosophy and Theology of Mathematics Philosophy and Theology of Science Senior Thesis
Rhetoric & Writing Advanced Writing Elective Theology & Theory of Music Church Life Internship
New Testament Greek Center for Christian Vocation Elective Center for Christian Vocation Elective Center for Christian Vocation Elective
Leadership, Business, and Domestic Arts Practica and Internships

Bridge Year (Freshman) Course Descriptions

“What does the Scripture say?” In Biblical Theology, students will learn to ask and answer this question in every circumstance. Students will learn how every book of the Bible contributes to the single grand storyline of redemption in Christ and how Biblical Theology shapes the Christian’s interpretation of Scripture and application for life.

John Calvin famously begins The Institutes of the Christian Religion, “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists in two parts: the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves.” Applied Theology: Biblical Anthropology provides students an introduction to the biblical knowledge of the self. Students will study the imago Dei, hamartiology (doctrine of sin), sanctification, spiritual disciplines and habits, and will give special attention to gender, biblical sexuality and marriage, as well as race and ethnicity.

For students in the classical tradition, knowledge is not a one-way affair. Knowledge serves a purpose, stocking the mind of the student with wisdom in order to live well in the world while leading and serving others with persuasive communication. In Rhetoric, students will master the tools of communication: reading, logic, writing, and speech, in order to gain “the tongue of those who are taught that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary” (Isa. 50:4).

Literature tells history. And history spawns literature. By studying history and literature together, students have the opportunity to explore peoples’ understanding of the history they lived through. Students will also study the development of literature through different periods of history and what that development reveals about changes in culture.

Where many undergraduate programs claim to prepare students for a career, Trinity College equips students to pursue a vocation: a calling to faithful Christian living in the family, the community, the church, and the workplace. In Introduction to Vocation, students gain a biblical foundation for vocation, study historical understandings of vocation, particularly in the Puritans, and explore their own sense of calling to purpose, people, and place. Special attention will be given to preparing students to select a Program of Emphasis.

Studying New Testament Greek introduces students to the joy of reading the New Testament in the language it was written. Students will gain a deeper appreciation for God’s Word as learn to read God’s Word carefully, interpret it precisely, and apply it faithfully.

A Christian approach to learning equips students for learning, being, and doing. Our Leadership, Business, and Domestic Arts Practica and Internship are short-term, hands-on, immersive experiences designed to equip men and women to fulfill their callings in the church, the home, the marketplace, and the community.

"Education has to do with the making of persons, Christian education with the making of Christian persons."

The Center for Christian Vocation

Every students’ coursework includes classes within the Center for Christian Vocation. Students select a Program of Emphasis and focus attention on preparation for vocation within that emphasis

Programs of Emphasis

After Introduction to Christian Vocation in the Bridge Year, students will select a Program of Emphasis in their sophomore year as part of the Center for Christian Vocation. These Programs build on the biblical and theological foundations of other coursework to prepare students for their various callings: as Christians, spouses, church members, leaders, neighbors, employers and employees, and more.
Trinity’s Programs of Emphasis create a long-forgotten synthesis that used to be the hallmark of Christian higher education: fusing a traditional Christian liberal arts curriculum with practical preparation for future life and ministry.

Modern American education is a failed experiment at every level and is opposed to Christian faith at every turn, so this Program equips students to go forth and train the next generation of Christians in homeschools, co-ops, and private Christian schools. Students will be equipped with theologies of learning and education: seeing that education is a whole-person enterprise. This Program also provides significant in classroom observation and student-teaching experience through partnership with a local classical Christian school.

As the workplace becomes a new battlefield in the ideological culture wars, convictional and courageous Christian leaders are needed now more than ever. The EBL Program prepares students to work out the Christian faith as they work out in the world. Students will be equipped with theologies of wealth and work as well as practical skills in entrepreneurship, business, and leadership through hands-on internships with successful Christian leaders in the workplace.

Many of the best-known historic American colleges and universities were founded with the express purpose of training Christian ministers (think: Harvard). While in most cases that pedigree has been squandered, it can be recovered. Students in the Ministry, Counseling, and Missions Program will apply their foundation in Christian vocation to the unique demands of full-time or bivocational Christian ministry. Curricula in this program will highlight character and qualifications as well as capabilities and will receive practical tutelage in the context of a vibrant local church.

Music has long been considered essential for the development of a well-rounded person, and music is a vital part of our church life together. In the Music Program, students will prepare for a future in music education and music ministry. Emphasis will be placed on the theology of music, careful consideration of liturgical principles, and development of musical and worship leading skills.

A liberal arts curriculum is at its best when equipping students to read well, think well, and write and speak well. For students who desire a writing life, the Writing Program prepares students for creative, journalistic, and technical writing as well as for careers as publishers and editors. Students will focus on skills of logic, rhetoric, creativity, and expression.