The Good, The Bad, and The Academic
Hey everyone,
It’s been awhile! As usual I have been very preoccupied with practicing my procrastination techniques, so this post is a bit overdue, but better late than never.
Today I am going to discuss what many would consider my speciality–academics. Or, more specifically, the academic quality and calibre of WJU’s courses and professors. First I ought to give you the ‘dirt’ on the profs. (Just in case you are curious, the following information is based on my own observations, not a script given me by the school to feed m atto you all)
Our Bible Department is full of people who know their Scripture, but we have at least two professors in this department that I know have contributed to some mainstream biblical material. Our Old Testament prof, Merilyn Copeland, is an acheologist that speaks at least four languages. I also happen to know that she was one of the consultants for the Illustrated New Testament for Kids (We have a box of them at the church I attend, and I happened to look at the copyright page.) I have had one class with Merilyn, Christian Foundations I (WJU’s O.T. survey course). I agreed with the majority of the material presented in the course. Merilyn defends the Mosaic authorship of the Torah, the singular authorship of the Book of Isaiah (and has an awesome study of Isaiah 53). These are the traditional (correct, and good) views about issues scholars sometimes fight over. However, Merylin has a lot of material she needs to cover in a short amount of time, so bring a tape recorder or be sure to take advantage of the class notes on reserve in the WJU library!
The New Testament side of the Bible department is just as distinguished. Jim Crain knows his material. He is very biblically focused; if you can find your way around a Bible decently, you will do well in his classes. Jim was also involved in Christian radio in the ’70’s and cut a couple records. Whatever you do, don’t try and play his records before class stars…he doesn’t like it. Probably happens to him a lot… Jim is an entertaining prof who loves to joke around with students (though this does tend to get the class behind schedule at times) Almost every student loves the guy. Take as many of his classes as you can.
David Nystrom is our other main New Testament Bible prof. This man is a walking encyclopedia of information on Roman history, culture, and information on the New Testament. Last I checked, he had two doctorates, one of which is in Roman history. I have only taken one of his classes (they are usually at night; he is the Dean of Academics during the day), but I thouroughly enjoyed his Johannine theology class. (He defended John’s authorship of the Gospel of John–very competently. This is a rare find in Johanniane scholarship.) With a mixture of stimulating questions that made us think, good insight, and many funny stories, Dave was able to keep our attention for most of a 3 and a half hour class that met on Monday nights. Bring a tape recorder though, because he usually doesn’t use power point when lecturing. Taking notes can be difficult. Dave wrote the commentary on the Book of James for the New International Bible Commentary Series. He as also taught at Fuller and Western Seminaries (and other places). The best part–he is humble about all this. He hardly ever mentions it. Hopefully he doesn’t mind me telling all of you these things.
Our other Bible profs are also amazing, and I have learned from them. I just don’t know much about their past accomplishments, but I am sure they have done some great things. You could come and ask for thier stories yourself.
Our Youth ministry department also has great professors. One man, Les Christie, is easily one of the leading authorities in the feild of youth ministry. The man has written tons of books in the field of youth ministry. He speaks at YS conventions all the time. Fritz Moga is also a great guy, but I haven’t had the pleasure of taking any of his classes.
WJU also has a Biblical Language department. Chris Caughty, the main language prof, knows his languages. He is currently teaching Greek, Hebrew, and English classes this semester–an insane class lineup in my opinion. Chris has just published his first book A Tale of Two Adams. The book is an introduction to a theological system known as Covenant Theology. As a Dispensationalist, I am ignorant of Covenant Theology, so I am looking forward to reading it. If you are like me, and want to aquire a basic knowledge of Covenant Theology, Chris’ book will probably be a good choice. His knowledge of Greek and Hebrew will allow him to explain Covenant Theology from the original language. Chris’ knowledge of English probably produced a readable introduction to Covenant Theology. You can buy it from Amazon.com. I wonder if I can get extra credit for that sales pitch….?
And what else shoudl I say? For time would fail me to speak of the English Department, Psych department, our business department, or our Intercultural Studies (Missionary) Department. Besides, I don’t know as much about these programs–I’m a Bible Theology and Pastoral Ministry Major. But I do know that the professors at WJU cover a wide range of theological traditons. Some professors are more Charismatic (which is not necessarily a bad thing; I don’t beleive any professor would absolutly deny the ability or possiblity of the Holy Spirit giving gifts to believers) than others, some are amillenial (but can teach the other parts of Scripture well), some are Old Earth Creationists (but respect the views of others and don’t force their views on others), we have Covenant theologians, perhaps some Dispensationalists (but both get along with the other), and everyone cares about the students and their welfare.
Hopefully this post has been helpful. If you are annoyed about the length of this post, come to WJU next year and evaluate my evaluation of the profs before you track me down and beat me up. I’ll be honest, it won’t be to difficult. I don’t move that fast. :}
Peace Out,
Mike
Uncategorized | Comment (1)Greatest Slackers in the World
Hey Reader,
Hope your Thanksgiving went well. I enjoyed the day. I watched football and ate a bunch of food. I also went out this morning and bought a bunch of clothes. Quite a nice Black Friday if you ask me.
This, however, isn’t what I wanted to talk about…the title of “The Biggest Slackers in the World” would make no sense. I wanted to talk about something I noticed about dorm life during the past couple of weeks. I have noticed that the closer a paper is to being due, the more people seem to want to do other activites besides homework.
An example of what I called “The World’s Greatest Slacking” can be seen in the lives of some dormmates and myself during the past couple of weeks. During the couple weeks before Thanksgiving Break, we have been binging for hours on Halo 2–in my case, I definitely should have been doing homework.
This is an important factor to remember about dorm life: when things are due, either you don’t want to do your work or other people are trying to distract you. I know this from personal experience. Now, I am not saying WJU is a horrible place because you never get work done. Quite the opposite; the community is great. Guys like to play games. WJU has a decent campus-wide wifi and hardwire network.
My purpose in writing this is to say that discipline is needed in college life–no matter what college you attend. Work needs to be focused on. Unfortunetly, I know people who have flunked out of college in part because they spent too much time playing games and not enough time doing their homework. I don’t want to see anyone end up flunking out of college because of games. I just want to issue a warning and give some advice that you can use wherever you attend college. But of course, we’d love to have you at Jessup if that’s where the Lord wants you to go to college.
Grace, mercy and peace,
Mike Kares
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Random events throughout the semester
Hey reader,
I’ve been busy playing catch-up a lot this semester, but I have taken some time to shut the books and leave the campus.
My brother was home from Army Boot Camp for a month recently, so I took a couple days to hang out with him. We decided to go bowling with some of Justin’s (my brother’s) friends. Bowling was fun. I bowled as I usually do…badly, but I enjoyed being able to hang out with the guy. I won’t get the chance to for awhile.
Our school library also just finished up their annual book sale. We had thousands of books on sale at ridiculously low price. I spent fifty dollars and got a ton of books. I bought a bunch of books I’d love to read…..but may never get the chance to.
I also celebrated a friend’s birthday two last week, and my mom’s birthday yesterday. I bought two large and good tasting lunches……it was awesome! Have a great day!
MIke Kares
Some Advice for College: Time Management
Hey reader,
I haven’t done anything exciting since my last post except watch football. However, I have spent a lot of time procrastinating….including this blog post. Therefore, I figured I’d give you advice that you could take with you to any college–why to not procrastinate.
1. Procrastinating often results in forgeting to do assignments at all. I have missed quite a bit of class credit over my two previous years by forgeting about work I have put off until later.
2. Procrastinating makes life more stressful and contian less sleeping time…quite a bit less sleeping time. Case and point: last night I spent 3 hours working on conquering the world on my computer. I haven’t quite succeeded, but the excitment/annoyance with the fact I wasted 3 hours playing a game caused a restless night. This fact, coupled with the fact I got almost no homework done forced me to get up at 3 in the morning to do work.
My advice…which I probably won’t follow…is this: Do your homework before playing games and such. Also, hanging out with people is a lot better than playing videogames! I’ve spent many hours playing games; hanging out with others has usually been more entertaining and less anti-social. Remember, friends are good, and most people at Jessup are friendly, so if you are looking for community Jessup could be the place for you! And yes, I know that is a cheezy plug… Thanks for reading y’all!
Mike Kares
Uncategorized | Comment (1)Junior year so far…
Hey everyone,
First, I want to thank you for visiting my blog and taking a look at William Jessup University’s student life. We do our best to stay entertained around here…apart from sin no less, a quality every parent probably looks for in a college.
William Jessup University’s week of welcome went well. The one event I was able to attend was Super Hero Bowling. I dressed up as Ness from Earthbound. Pretty good work in my opinion…especially since I thought up the costume in five minutes.
I bowled well, but unfortunetly I don’t have any pictures to post. I had a good bowling tactic…I acted as if I were batting and hitting home runs. Dorky, but funny.
Another event that has happened recently was the first Inside Out Worship Night on Friday. The music was good and a lot of people seemed to receive a blessing from the Lord. I wasn’t in the best mood during Inside Out, so I didn’t get much out of it. I am glad other people did though. In case you don’t know, Inside Out is a worship event put on by musicians at the University. They play a mix of upbeat and slower worship music. The goal is not only to provide an atmosphere of worship for on-campus students, but for local youth groups as well. We invite and encourage youth groups to attend.
Thanks for reading. And remember: Uncle Jessup wants you…unless Jesus sends you somewhere else.
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