First Principles Ministries


Ordering the
Christian Mind

A rigorous formation in philosophical theology, apologetics,
and the Christian vision of reality — the Ordo Amoris restored.

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The Vision

Why First Principles?


The Christian tradition has long held that faith seeks understanding. Theology is not merely devotion — it is the most rigorous intellectual discipline known to man, for its object is God himself.

Aristotle first coined the term "first principles". He defined them as "the first basis from which a thing is known", encouraging the simplification of complex problems into their most fundamental, foundational truths. 

First Principles Ministries exists to form Christians who think comprehensively and Christianly about reality — to give them the categories, the vocabulary, and the philosophical grounding to live and speak with confidence in a confused age.

This is not a Bible survey or an introductory church programme. It is an study centre and informal college of philosophical theology: disciplined, demanding, and deeply rewarding for those who undertake it with seriousness of purpose.

The curriculum follows the classical philosophical stack, redeemed and reclaimed for Christian service. Seven core disciplines — the Septivium — form the irreducible foundation. Five elective courses complete the Duodecivium of twelve.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding."

— Psalm 111:10
  • Philosophical TheologyThe deepest questions about God, man, beauty, and being — answered from within the great stream of Christian thought.
  • Christian ApologeticsPresuppositional, classical, and evidential traditions — equipping Christians to give an answer to everyone who asks.
  • Ordinate AffectionShaping the loves, forming the imagination, and cultivating moral and aesthetic discernment — the ordo amoris restored.
  • The Classical TraditionPatristic, medieval, Reformation, and modern Reformed thinkers brought into conversation with contemporary questions.

The Core Curriculum

The Septivium


Seven foundational disciplines form the irreducible philosophical stack of the Christian mind. Each course bears both its classical philosophical name and its theological counterpart — for metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, logic, and ethics are not secular disciplines borrowed from without, but domains claimed and governed by the Lordship of Christ.

I Doctrine of Humanity
Theological Anthropology
The imago Dei, the fall, affections, free will, and human nature as the foundation of all ethics and culture.
Edwards · Bauder · Lewis · Augustine
II Doctrine of Knowability
Epistemology
How do we know? Lessing's Ditch, the Christian definition of truth, worldview formation, and the major epistemological traditions.
Frame · Van Til · Pascal · Polanyi
III Doctrine of Beauty
Aesthetics
Beauty as the central category of Scripture — its theology, its loss in evangelical Christianity, and its recovery.
Lewis · Edwards · Augustine · Scruton
IV Doctrine of Reality
Metaphysics
Being, existence, causation, identity — from Aristotle and Aquinas to the recovery of Christian metaphysics.
Aquinas · Aristotle · Plantinga · Feser
V Doctrine of Rationality
Logic
The laws of thought, argument forms, logical fallacies, critical thinking, and the argument from reason for Christian theism.
Bauder · Poythress · Dickinson · Lewis
VI Doctrine of Morality
Biblical Ethics
Ten modules covering bioethics, capital punishment, technology, culture, political economy, and moral epistemology.
O'Donovan · Spiegel · Gould · Schindler
VII Doctrine of Spirituality
The Christian Life
Ordinate love, the beatific vision, the disciplines, and the pursuit of God's beauty — drawn from One Thing Have I Desired.
Edwards · Augustine · Lewis · Scougal
The Elective Layer

Advanced Electives


Five courses chosen from this pool complete the Duodecivium. Each is a rigorous engagement with some of the most contested and consequential questions the Church faces.

Theology & Science
Science and Religion
Faith, Knowledge, and the Natural World. Dismantling the conflict narrative through history, philosophy of science, and theology of creation.
Kuhn · Polanyi · Bauer · Plantinga
Comparative Religion
Christianity, Other Religions and Salvation
The soteriological problem of evil, the scope of salvation, religious pluralism, and the destiny of the unevangelised — six major positions examined.
Sanders · Craig · Sproul · Pinnock · Van Til
Apologetics
Arguments, Evidences and Defences
Four movements: Transcendental · Classical · Evidential · Answering Objections. A comprehensive survey across three major apologetic traditions.
Frame · Bahnsen · Schaeffer · Lewis · Habermas
Philosophy of Religion
God, Time, Foreknowledge and Freedom
Open Theism, Simple Foreknowledge, Molinism, and Augustinian Calvinism — rigorously compared through primary sources.
Helm · Craig · Wolterstorff · Boyd · Boethius
Political Theology
Christian Political Theology
Church, State, and the Lordship of Christ. Two Kingdoms, neo-Calvinist transformationism, theonomy, Christian nationalism, and post-liberal theology.
O'Donovan · Kuyper · VanDrunen · Bahnsen · Milbank
Economic Theology
Christian Economics
Faith, Work, and the Ordering of Creation. From the creation mandate to Mosaic economic law to Christian engagement with markets, poverty, and vocation.
Sayers · Sowell · Hazlitt · Cavanaugh · Grudem
Advanced Dogmatics
Difficult Doctrines
Five intensive studies in the Church's most demanding theological questions. Each may be taken as an individual elective within the Duodecivium.
The Holy Trinity
The Incarnation
Calvinism and Arminianism
Grace and Nature
The Inspiration of Scripture
The Complete Programme

The Duodecivium

Seven core disciplines, five chosen electives — twelve courses forming a complete Christian philosophical formation.

Core Courses7
I. Theological Anthropology
II. Epistemology
III. Aesthetics
IV. Metaphysics
V. Logic
VI. Biblical Ethics
VII. The Christian Life

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Chosen From5
Elective I
Elective II
Elective III
Elective IV
Elective V
12 Duodecivium
A complete Christian intellectual formation

"The goal is not merely to know about Christian things, but to see all things through Christian eyes — with the ordinate loves, the right fears, and the well-formed imagination that the Scriptures command."

— David de Bruyn, D.Th.

The Instructor

About the Lecturer



David de Bruyn

David de Bruyn D.Th. — Pastor, Author, Theologian

David
de Bruyn

D.Th. Pastor, NCBC Johannesburg Author Classical Educator

David de Bruyn holds a doctorate in Theology and serves as Pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church, Johannesburg. His ministry spans preaching, worship leadership, congregational oversight, and theological education, reflecting a conviction that the local church is the primary locus of intellectual and spiritual formation.

His teaching and scholarship are shaped by the great streams of the Christian tradition — patristic, Reformation, and modern Reformed — with sustained engagement with Augustine, Edwards, Spurgeon, Schaeffer, O'Donovan, and Lewis.

The Septivium and all elective offerings are original courses developed by de Bruyn, drawing on his doctoral research and years of experience in Christian education at church and seminary level.

Selected Works

One Thing Have I Desired: A Christian Spirituality of Beauty
Worship With Charles Spurgeon — 31 Days
The First Principles Ministries Curriculum: Twelve Original Courses in Philosophical Theology

Begin Your Formation

Enrol in First
Principles Ministries

Register your interest and receive information about the next intake — course offerings, schedule, and requirements for the Duodecivium.

  ·  Open to serious Christians