\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYour job, Enns, should you choose to accept it, is to face 35 18-year-olds twice a week and say something meaningful and not boring about the Bible, challenging them while and the same time not destroying them. As always, should you blow it, we will make believe we do not know you. Good luck. This tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n
After teaching seminary and doctoral\u00a0students\u00a0for 18\u00a0years, I\u2019ve been teaching Bible courses to college students for the last 6. So, of course, this makes me an expert: I know enough to know it\u2019s a tough gig. I love it, but it\u2019s tough.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had to do a lot of thinking about how to pull this off\u2014usually on the fly.\u00a0Teaching Bible in a Christian college can be tricky, especially introductory courses (I teach both OT and NT Intro<\/a>), because the students are in so many different places.<\/p>\n Some arrive with little or\u00a0no knowledge at all of the Bible. Others have been around the biblical block a few times and walk in bored silly\u2013little do they know, but still, they\u2019ve heard the Bible stories.<\/p>\n Others are eagerly awaiting the chance to study the Bible on a deeper level.\u00a0A few are\u00a0already conversant with some aspects of the academic study of the Bible (authorship issues, historical problems, etc.) and are\u00a0now looking to explore these issues more deeply.<\/p>\n Add to this the psychological\/spiritual factor. Some students are in\u00a0searching\u00a0mode\u00a0concerning\u00a0their faith, while\u00a0others have thus far in their lives not been encouraged to make the faith of their parents their own.<\/p>\n Some are a bit nervous about leaving familiar territory, which causes stress, while others are on autopilot and just want to pass the course and get on with things. And I don\u2019t need to mention all the other\u00a0predictable\u00a0factors\u00a0of college life that pull and stretch first year students beyond what they thought was possible.<\/p>\n All this diversity in the same class of about 35\u00a0students.<\/p>\n I have the privilege and responsibility of being in on the ground level, trying to bridge the gap between where they are now (collectively and individually) and where I think they need to be at the end of the semester\u2014not to mention modeling a path of lifelong study of Scripture and walking with God.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had to think very intentionally about what I am trying to do in these intro classes, and it boils down to this:\u00a0respect the students where they are<\/em> while at the same time embracing my responsibility to not leave them there<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n My ultimate goal is\u00a0spiritual formation, <\/strong>which\u00a0means finding a\u00a0regular, rhythmic, balance between affirming\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0challenging\u00a0the students in their present state of biblical understanding and spiritual development<\/strong>\u2014don\u2019t blow them away with concepts they are not ready for but don\u2019t baby them either.<\/p>\n In other words, treat them like adults in the process of becoming\u201435 students from different backgrounds, emotional states, and spiritual experiences.<\/p>\n It also means being available\u2014in class and out of class\u2014to help them work through\u00a0potential crises of faith<\/strong>\u00a0that invariably come up when intellectual and spiritual growth happens<\/strong>, as well as\u00a0leading further onward those who are more ready and so inclined\u00a0to proceed into the unfamiliar.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a good thing for parents to remember, too.<\/p>\n Let it be at a Christian college that gets it.<\/p>\n Perhaps as important as anything, I try to give students permission to sit with their questions<\/strong>, that their faith doesn\u2019t depend on arriving quickly at firm conclusions about matters that have captured the imagination and energy of brilliant minds for two and a half millennia.<\/p>\n Rather, I want to\u00a0model for my students what most have already experienced on some level, that a maturing faith never free of questions<\/a>, uncertainty, and doubt\u2014and\u00a0God understands and loves them just as they are<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This, as much as anything, is a huge relief to young men and women<\/a> trying to figure out the big questions of meaning and faith\u00a0that come up at this stage in their lives.<\/p>\n Pulling this off is tricky and I am by no means successful day in and day out. And it certainly can\u2019t be scripted. You have to wing it and just sort of know when it is happening, and if you ask the students they will tell you, believe me.<\/p>\n Sometimes they don\u2019t even need to be asked. Which leads me to my last point:<\/p>\n Intellectual and spiritual growth at a Christian college means creating a culture of\u00a0transparency, vulnerability, and commitment to community<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still working on all this.<\/p>\n ***I explore in more detail the nature of the Bible and what it means to understand it in Inspiration\u00a0and Incarnation<\/a><\/em> <\/strong>(Baker, 2005\/2015) and The Bible Tells Me So<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (HarperOne, 2014). I look at the spiritually formative role of uncertainty in The Sin of Certainty<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, (HarperOne, 2016).***<\/p>\n<\/div>\nTeaching these students is the most challenging teaching experience I have ever had\u2014but also abundantly rewarding.<\/h2>\n
A deeply challenged faith is inevitable in life, and regardless of where your children go to college, it is likely to happen there.<\/h2>\n