Year One
Living in the Story
Old & New Testament Survey. Students learn the shape, movement, major themes, and theological storyline of Scripture while developing foundational habits of reading, reflection, discussion, and faithful response.
Formation & Education
Achten Häus Institute
A four-year theological education designed to help students inhabit the story of Scripture, think with theological clarity, grow in wisdom and character, and faithfully bring the biblical story into their lives and communities.
What the Institute Is
A theological foundation for life.
The Achten Häus Institute is the theological and formation core of the larger Achten Häus work. It is not simply a Bible survey and it is not intended to imitate a full conventional academy. Its purpose is to give students a substantial Christian theological education—deep enough to become a foundation beneath the rest of their learning, work, family life, ministry, and service to the Church.
Students study the major categories normally encountered in serious theological education while learning them at an age-appropriate level through Scripture, guided discussion, reading, writing, practice, and spiritual formation.
The high-school pathway is the primary form of the Institute. The same architecture is also being adapted for adult discipleship cohorts.
The Four-Year Pathway
Learning to live, navigate, trace, and lead within the story.
Each year adds another layer of theological understanding while the seven formation threads continue across the whole program.
Year Two
Navigating the Story
Hermeneutics + introductory Greek. Students learn how to interpret Scripture carefully, recognize literary and canonical context, evaluate interpretations, and begin engaging the language of the New Testament.
Year Three
Tracing the Story Through History
Church History + Systematic Theology. Students trace the Church's theological development, encounter important primary sources, and learn to organize Christian doctrine in conversation with Scripture and history.
Year Four
Leading in the Story
Worldview, Apologetics, Leadership, Care, Missions & Rhetoric. Students learn to think faithfully about the world, care for people, communicate truth, engage culture, and serve with wisdom and courage.
Curriculum Architecture
Seven formation threads through every year.
The Institute intentionally returns to the same seven areas of formation across all eight semesters. Students do not encounter leadership, care, spiritual life, communication, critical thinking, mission, or ethics as isolated electives; each is repeatedly developed alongside biblical and theological study.
How Learning Works
Study ordered toward formation.
Every course combines serious content with a recurring rhythm of reading, observation, discussion, reflection, and application. Students learn not merely to remember information but to locate ideas within the larger biblical story, explain what Scripture means, connect truth across disciplines, and respond faithfully.
Scripture First
Courses remain grounded in the biblical text. Theology, history, leadership, ethics, care, and mission are taught within the world Scripture gives us.
Guided Discussion
The weekly gathering is designed for explanation, demonstration, dialogue, recap, and eventually students teaching and articulating what they have learned.
Formation, Not Information Alone
Journals, formation threads, prayerful reflection, and practical assignments help move learning from the head into faithful life.
For Students, Parents & Teachers
The Curriculum Portal
The portal is the working classroom environment for the Institute: semester courses, weekly lessons, formation threads, vocabulary, private journals, teacher resources, progress, and final projects.