I’d like to personally welcome everyone to the TR Learning Center. Today is the official launch day of this platform and I wanted to give you the vision that I have for this digital space, and give you an idea of our goals.
I have said many times that I believe the Church is in another reformation. Torah observance is taking the Church by storm and many ministries and teachers are having to address theological questions and challenges regarding the place of Torah in the life of the believer. Just like the reformation that took place in the 1500’s, the various groups and believers who have found Torah are very split theologically. What is more, many inerrant beliefs were being pushed back then just like they are in the Torah movement of today.
In the first reformation, the thing that brought about legitimate change was education. People wanted to learn the biblical languages and general apologetics to defend their new found beliefs. Tim Hegg had this same idea and decided to start an online school. Tim’s hard work to bring this vision into reality was realized in 2011 with the launch of TorahResource Institute. Through this platform many students have been able to receive biblical education from a pro-Torah perspective.
Today, TorahResource is taking that vision even further. Our hope is that the TR Learning Center would be a place where people can dive into theological teachings, enrich their Biblical knowledge, and grow their faith. We have taken the TorahResource Online Library and put it on the same platform as our online classes. We are also offering some of our classes in two different formats. One is a self-paced model where students can sign up and have access to all the materials. This is a lot like an audit where the learner is able to go at their own pace and take the given tests for self-evaluation.
The other format we are calling the “Scholar Track.” In these classes, students can interact with a teacher and get a paper graded upon completion of the course material. Students who are hoping to go further in their studies will be able to get feedback from the instructor on their academic writing skills.
Another important aspect of the TR Learning Center is the ability for Torah observant believers to connect and enter into friendly discourse. There is a discussion room for each class and for every resource in the library because we are building an online community where like minded believers can discuss theological issues and build relationships at the same time. Beyond this, there is a general discussion chat where we hope to foster more interaction and where we can talk about many different topics simply to get to know one another.
For the staff of TorahResource, the new Learning Center is the first step. We have more ideas we hope to implement over the next year. Many of these ideas have been discussed with Torah observant scholars and those who have a passion to expand and grow this reformation. In the next few months we will announce some of these ideas which we hope will advance this initial work by bringing scholarship and education to the Torah observant community. We hope you will join us.
Caleb Hegg
TorahResource
