When you start online courses in interfaith studies at Sancta Sophia Seminary online, you will have to sign up for an account. Once you have an account, you can sign up for a course and pay electronically. The online program has some free sample lessons, but you have to have an account to sign up for these also. According to the Sophia Online site, the free sample lessons cover universal laws and learning to play the game of life, knowing yourself through science and numerology and esoteric Christianity. Regular courses include "Conversations with Carol," a teleconference course that is an introduction to the wisdom teachings of the spiritual path. After this course, you can take courses in the same topics that were covered in the free lessons (esoteric Christianity, universal laws, and numerology), but these paid courses are more in-depth. For example, there are three courses in esoteric Christianity, and each one builds on the material from the one before. You can also have a mentor for the course, but this involves an extra fee. Mentors communicate with you over the phone or online, depending on the course.
The Interfaith Seminary is an online program only. There is no physical campus. The purpose of this seminary, as stated on its website, is to provide coursework to develop "the necessary skills needed by clergy and/or laity in their chosen field of study and work." Some courses may require textbooks, but a majority of the coursework is online, and students communicate with instructors via email or instant messaging. Partial scholarships are available, and credits are given for life experience. This is called "Extra-Institutional Learning." The Interfaith Seminary offers master's and doctorate degrees in a variety of studies, such as metaphysics or women's spiritual studies, under the Interfaith Studies (non-Christian) category. In order to earn a degree, students must have a "C" grade point average or higher. A list of courses and degree programs can be found on the seminary's website, along with information about how to be accepted into the program.
Calamus International University, based in the UK, has distance learning programs in religious or interfaith studies. Earning a bachelor's degree in interfaith studies takes approximately 18 months in this program, and you can enroll at any time. Before you can enter the BA program, you have to have completed 50 percent of your general education requirements. You can also get life experience credits, and you can send your CV to the university to see whether you have enough "credits" to enter the B. A. program. You can also earn a master's of theology degree in interfaith studies. Again, students can start the program at any time, and it takes approximately 18 months to complete it. Most of the courses do require you to purchase a textbook. These degrees do not have any fixed courses, but programs are designed from a list of courses Calamus offers, which can be viewed in its brochure. Examples of these courses include comparative religion, psychology of religion, hypnotherapy, parapsychology, and holistic studies.