Now that I have your attention, let me quickly affirm that this article is neither about hell nor the Age of Reason. I want to look back over nearly four decades in Christian higher education—nineteen years in Bible colleges and nineteen in seminaries—reflect on the struggle, and project toward the future. I have resisted all temptations to make these remarks academic or scholarly—no demographics, no paradigms. JAT readers share a commitment to training on at least two levels: the training we provide for our students and the training they will provide for generations to come. What do we want for our students? What do we want for our churches? What do we want for ourselves? In the next few paragraphs I would like to explore all three questions, but let me begin at the beginning.

What We Want For Our Students

I arrived as a college freshman onto a rural campus. Coming right out of Chicago, I was disoriented by the absence of noise, pollution, crime, and crooked politics. At the age of 17 I had no purpose, no motivation, and no handle on life. I will not review my testimony here, but I want to explain how God used a Christian college to transform my life. The means was a short-term mission experience after my sophomore year; the end, a long-term life commitment.

Having come to college convinced of my own stupidity as well as ignorance, I viewed classes and books as either an annoyance or a playground. The thought of life-long learning was as distant from my thoughts as the hope of mastering Chinese. But college provided an environment in which God could teach me how to learn. Just recently I read again the text of Genesis 32, where Jacob wrestles with the angel. As you recall, this event occurs immediately after he leaves Laban and just before he meets Esau. The text is dramatically clear: "So Jacob was left alone" (32:24a). After the all-night match, Jacob called that place Peniel, which means "Face of God" and said, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared" (32:30).

Jacob learned how to forsake his deceitful ways and trust God. He learned how to pray. He would soon learn how to suffer, over the apparent loss of his beloved son Joseph. Through all this he learned that all of life is a classroom. By God’s grace our students will leave college aware that their education has just begun.

And life-long learning will mean a great deal more in the next century than it has in the past nineteen. People 100 or older are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. There are now 61,000 members of the 100 plus club but by 2020 there will be an estimated 214,000.1

But learning is neither the beginning nor end of life. We also want our students to understand what I choose to call here dedicated loving.

In The Public Interest, Aaron Wildavsky writes, "Self esteem cannot be sought as an end in itself but must come as a by-product of meeting standards of excellence—taking pride in work, supporting a family, bringing up decent children, learning about life and imparting that wisdom." God demands from us all a love that transcends all the lesser things of life. The Scriptures could not be more plain on this subject. Here is a familiar text from the less familiar The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I am nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump" and it jumps, but I don’t have love, I am nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I am bankrupt without love (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

Amazing. Even a college diploma is worthless without love. Even graduating summa cum laude is worthless without love. Every award given at commencement is worthless without love. When we talk about core values and mission statements for a college campus we don’t often use the word love—but maybe we should.

But there’s a third thing I want from the graduates of our institutions and it is something we do speak of often—godly living. Though I became a Christian at the age of six, my life meant nothing for the Savior until my junior year in college. Until that time I had specialized in wasting it. And how obvious that our decadent Western culture specializes in wasted lives. In this "peaceful" nation, 50,000 people die by violence annually, which exceeds the 30,000 who die from AIDS and the 18,000 killed as a result of drunk driving.

Perhaps the best clear indicator of the shallowness of this society is the list of the top ten or twenty television shows released regularly, but particularly significant during "sweeps weeks" as networks consider what will continue and what will be cut. The sheer empty nonsense of our viewing tastes reminds us how difficult biblical discipleship has been in this decade and likely will be on into the next century. As David Frost poignantly put it, "Television is an invention whereby you can be entertained in your living room by people you would not let into your house."

But college students can graduate from campuses which serve as pockets of resistance in an alien civilization. Colleges whose alumni march under the banner of Luke 12:48—"From him to whom much has been given, much will be required." During my student years I was sustained often by the words of Philippians 1:20 and 21.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient course, so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

If you ask me how to achieve these goals with our students I might mutter something about a core curriculum which does not neglect courses on family, leadership, and contemporary theological issues, but the how questions will ultimately be addressed only by each individual institution. The twenty-first century Christian college or seminary succeeding in this kind of mission will do so because of creative and inventive approaches to its ministry. Indeed, invention is so fundamental to the national spirit that the Constitution itself contains a clause to encourage it. In the United States the first three patents were issued in 1790, and the pace of innovation so surged during the twentieth century that in 1996 the patent office released no fewer than 109,646.2

What We Want For Our Churches

For most of this century, the church of Jesus Christ has moved forward on the shoulders of our graduates. Their ministries around the world coupled with the fact that we represent a variety of denominations and doctrinal viewpoints, add up to thousands of congregations around the world. Yet what do we offer them? What do our schools and this connecting parachurch ministry provide and perhaps even insist upon in those little forts that fly the flag of Christ?

Let me start by borrowing a word from ETA, something our movement has stood for since the beginning—evangelical theology. Quite likely more nonsense has been proffered in the name of Christianity during the last quarter of the twentieth century than in all similar periods since Simon Stylitis came down from his pole. I choose to name neither people nor events here but I am reminded of Kissinger’s line, "Ninety percent of politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation." Surely in the church those numbers are reversed, but ten percent bad theology is an unacceptable portion. Gene Edward Veith wrote in July 1997 issue of World magazine:

A free-market economy, catering to consumer desires, gives us convenience, supermarkets and shopping malls. But a marketing approach to religion requires "suiting desires" that because of the Fall are innately evasive of God. Religious consumerism involves "scratching ears" by telling customers only what they want to hear, instead of the Word of God they need to hear.3

Perhaps the greatest example of the problem occurred in both the January 124, and February 9, 19985 issues of Christianity Today, arguably the world’s most influential evangelical publication. In January, the editors found it necessary to print an extended article brilliantly written by Daniel Clendenin which emphasized the exclusiveness of the Gospel. Clendenin reaffirms orthodox theism, then calls us to "protect and promote the rights of people of other faiths while, at the same time, declaring them to be wrong and in need of conversion." Perhaps this problem is more acute among graduate scholars, but the fallout can be observed in the behavior of lay Christians everywhere. Perhaps if we infect our students with a hefty dose of theological accuracy, they just might spread the virus in wider circles.

Then in the February 9 issue (must reading for all adult educators) we discovered a forum on the future of Evangelical Theology. In a well-crafted but somewhat biblically under-nourished article, Roger Olsen opened the bidding by pondering how "traditionalists" and "reformists" can get together before civil war breaks out in the evangelical camp. Christianity Today printed three responses by Clark Pinnock, Thomas Oden, and Timothy George:

• Pinnock was delighted with Olsen’s lengthy treatise—it played right into his hand.
• Oden stepped to the table, turned Olsen’s cards over and stated, "The Babylonian captivity to novelty is the temptation of all modern reflection. It is invading evangelical leadership at an alarming rate in ways disturbing to evangelicals in the mainline who have suffered from its bewitchments for two centuries" (p. 46).
• George entered the game by "calling a spade a spade" in what I thought to be a very appropriate response—"The more important distinction is between those who see theology connected intrinsically to the life of the church, and those who see theology as an academic discipline whose basic norms and values come from the secularized academy" (p. 49).

But theological accuracy is useless without congregational unity. This fact is so obvious to this sophisticated readership that I need only remind you one more time how a careful adherence to the first five verses of Philippians 2 could bring revival to almost any church in weeks with no fanfare, no money, and no additional public meetings. In this publication, ETA has offered many helpful articles on higher education which I have used for my own benefit and also with my students. It may be worth remembering, however, that the real contribution ETA makes in the life of the church may very well be at the level of the local congregation rather than the college classroom.

Clendenin’s January article also reminds us how crucial it is for our churches to develop global vision. Here he is again:

The vast majority of people who have ever lived and are living today are not Christian. Does it makes sense, therefore, to believe that God wants to save people only through Christ? Exact figures are hard to come by, but even rough estimates are disturbing. In A.D. 100, about a half percent of the world population was Christian, in A.D. 1000 about 19 percent, and today after 2,000 years of missionary effort—only about 30 percent of the world identifies itself as Christian. What can we say about the eternal destiny of this vast horde who have never named the name of Christ? Taken together, these factors help to explain our new awareness of a very old challenge: The vast diversity of world religions pose competing claims and offer "gospels" other than that of Christ alone as Savior and Lord (p. 36).

Having invested my career in the practical disciplines, I always feel an incumbent duty toward application. How can we make this happen in our churches? Here I venture an answer: let’s get back to biblical preaching. Pastors today have been so caught up in cultural pluralism, social relevance, seeker services, paradigms for the future, and fund-raising techniques that they have no time left to prepare and to preach. Some may say fifteen years at Dallas lured me into this theme; I assure you I used it for pulpit-pounding many years before.

Nor am I convinced that colleges and seminaries can provide some curricular fix for this deficiency. Perhaps the greatest long-range solution is the modeling educational leaders provide in chapel for our students and in the many pulpits that most of us serve each year. Just as an aside, Billy Graham was asked in 1995, "What would you do differently?" His answer: "More emphasis on the cross."

What We Want For Ourselves

As my former boss, Chuck Swindoll, tells the story, Bruce Larson’s four-year-old grandchild was in the back of her family car as Bruce’s son and daughter-in-law drove around California. Seeing a sign labeled "Naturalist Camp," and being avid ecologists, they turned down the road to visit the camp only to be met a few hundred yards along by five nude bicyclists heading their way. As Larson tried to turn the car around, the cyclists drew closer and sure enough, finally passed directly in front of the windshield as the four-year old stared. No one spoke for just a few seconds and then the little girl said, "Look, Mom and Dad, they’re not wearing safety helmets." What we want from ourselves is largely a matter of perspective. So let me rather tell you (with my board member hat on) what I would want from you if I were the chairman of your college or seminary board.

The first expectation is one we would all choose—personal spirituality. Spiritual formation of one kind or another has been a major component of North American higher education since the earliest printed rules of Harvard prepared in 1636 at the beginning of that institution: "Everyone should consider the main end of his life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life." Tolstoy once wrote, "One can live magnificently in this life if one knows how to work and how to love, to work for the person one loves and to love one’s work." That could very well be a contemporary mandate for adult educators.

Which moves me forward to a second requirement, and one you might expect if you are familiar with my writings—biblical leadership. Between June of 1997 and June 1998 I taught leadership classes in five different graduate institutions. The deficiency among contemporary Christians in grasping a clear, distinctive New Testament model of servant leadership is so wide-spread and glaring, one wonders how the picture could have become so distorted. Too many pastors, missionaries, presidents, and professors have bought into an autocratic model of leadership that is old covenant in theology, political in style, and outdated even in the current secular literature. The fact that it sometimes works cannot overcome the reality of its incontrovertible opposition to the New Testament.

In my opinion, more people are hurt in Christian colleges and seminaries by oppressive leadership styles than by inadequate salaries. Consider these words from a secular source, the Center for Creative Leadership.

Just for the sake of exploring this idea, try to imagine that we live in a world where leadership is thought of as a set of relationships that produce a wide variety of outcomes such as meaning, values, goals, authority, structure, work process, and, last but not least, people called leaders...In such a world, leadership is developed by developing the whole community of people so that they can participate more effectively in the relationships of leadership. As Joseph Rost has imaged it, people called leaders and people called followers are understood as being two sides of the same leadership coin, and we try to develop the coin itself–the whole in the process of leadership.6

My last expectation can only become reality if the first two are addressed—institutional excellence. Somehow in this digitized, synthesized, miniaturized, and paganized society, our schools must stand as pockets of resistance against educational mediocrity. But don’t confuse excellence with perfection. As I use the term, it means doing the very best we can with whatever resources God has given us.

There is no benchmark Christian campus. Our schools are like Post-it Notes®. Available in eighteen colors, twenty-seven sizes and fifty-six shapes. Some even contain fragrances that smell like pizza, pickles, or chocolate. As we better understand that kind of diversity, we can look more effectively toward goal achievement.

Over twenty years ago I offered an appeal in Christianity Today for Bible colleges to consider a progressive rather than traditional format. If I were rewriting that article this year, I doubt it would look much different than it did then. Remember the words of Jaroslav Pelikan, "Tradition is the living faith of those now dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living."

You ask me how to achieve these personal goals and I offer you the solution of one of our great American philosophers, Mark Twain. During World War II he was asked how to solve the problem of German submarines patrolling the Atlantic just off the American coast. He recommended that we heat the Atlantic to the boiling point, thereby forcing the submarines to the surface where traditional military weapons could pick them off. Of course someone wanted to know how to heat the Atlantic to the boiling point. Whereupon Twain replied, "You just asked me what I would do; it’s up to you to work out the details."

We collectively represent an association of evangelicals committed to training—in our homes, in our churches, and on our campuses. I cherish a symbol of the association’s contribution to the life of one person. Forty-five years ago, a Swiss immigrant went forward to receive her ETTA teacher’s certificate duly signed by Clarence H. Benson and Helen Seberg. It was the only schooling she ever had in this country, but that woman led hundreds of children to Christ and taught them the Scriptures. Along the way, she also taught me most of the theology I still believe and preach. I’ve kept my mother’s certificate as a reminder of what ETA stands for and what it has accomplished for more than half a century. I salute the Association for this kind of achievement in thousands upon thousands of lives for more than half a century.

Mrs. Gangel's ETTA Teacher's Certificate

 

Dr. Gangel delivered this address at the 30th Biennial Corporation Meeting of Evangelical Training Association, February 20, 1998, in Jackson, Mississippi.

Notes

1Geoffrey Cowley, "How to Live to 100," Newsweek, June 30, 1997, 56.

2Newsweek Special Issue, Winter 1997-98, 11.

3Gene Edward Veith, "Whatever Happened to Christian Publishing?," World, July 12-19, 1997.

4Daniel Clendenin, "The Only Way," Christianity Today, January 12, 1998, 34-40.

5Roger E. Olsen, "Does Evangelical Theology Have a Future?," Christianity Today, February 9, 1998, 40-50.

6Wilfred H. Drath, "Changing Our Minds About Leadership," Issues and Observations, V. 16, 1, 1,2.

The board of directors of Evangelical Training Association began such a strategic planning process in April 1997. The ETA board instructed me and our staff to thoroughly investigate where we were as an organization from the perspective of our various constituency groups. The findings were to be reported to the board at its annual meeting in April 1998. It was determined to divide ETA’s constituency into two main divisions: ETA members schools and the churches that use ETA programs and materials. This article will review the survey results from ETA member schools.1 Responses from local churches will be reviewed in the next issue of JAT.

Next, survey instruments were developed to provide the data requested by the board. In addition to demographic issues, the board wanted to gain feedback on ETA’s past effectiveness as well as insight into current needs to help guide us in program and curriculum development. We wanted to answer these main questions: What is ETA doing right? What does ETA need to improve? What new services should ETA offer? What additional subjects should be added to ETA’s adult education curriculum?

Institutional Membership Responses

ETA’s institutional membership consists of three divisions: Graduate/Seminary, Undergraduate, and Adult Education. A separate instrument was designed for each division, with about 90% of the questions identical across divisions and 10% unique. To gain the widest possible perspective, the survey instruments were sent to people in four key positions at each institution: the president, the academic dean, the chairperson of the Christian Education (or its equivalent) department, and the designated ETA contact person. The forms were mailed in November 1997 offering a free book for responding to the survey as an incentive. A total of 708 surveys were mailed to 177 member schools.

Response to the survey was strong with a total of 186 surveys returned (26.3% response rate) representing 103 of ETA’s 177 member schools—an overall response rate of 58.2%. The response rate was higher for undergraduate and graduate/seminary schools, probably due to the part-time nature of many of the adult education members.

Degrees Offered in Christian Education

Member schools in the Undergraduate and Graduate/Seminary divisions were asked to identify degrees offered in the field of Christian Education. It was not a surprise to discover more degrees in the field are offered at the graduate than the undergraduate level. The most popular degrees were the B.A. with a Major in C.E. (on the undergraduate level) and the M.A. in Christian Education (on the graduate level). Since the survey did not distinguish between specialized degrees in the field of C.E., such as youth ministries or children’s ministries, it is not possible from this data to tell what impact specialization has had on degree offerings. It does appear from the data that professional training in Christian Education is more available at the graduate than undergraduate level.

How Information About ETA is Shared

We were pleased a high percentage of member schools in each division share information about ETA with their students.

We were especially interested in how this information was being disseminated. The survey revealed different methodologies are preferred at different levels. This confirmed ETA’s commitment to distribute information about the Association, its programs and services, in as many different formats as possible in order to impact the greatest number of students. It is interesting to note the use of ETA’s web site2 is much higher at the graduate/seminary level than the other two levels. There continues to be a lag time with many schools between the introduction of new technology and its implementation in the curriculum.

Students Value ETA Awards

For over 68 years ETA has been granting certificates (to church-based and non-degree granting programs) and diplomas (to degree-granting schools). Although some have questioned the revelancy and meaningfulness of ETA awards, the survey results paint a different picture. When asked, "What are the perceived values of the ETA Certificate (Adult Ed) or Diploma (Undergraduate & Graduate/Seminary)" the ranking of the responses was the same for each division (respondents were asked to rank three responses which were listed). "Lifetime approval to teach ETA courses" was the number one answer followed by "Recognition of achievement in C.E." and "Free resources." It is encouraging that most member schools understand what ETA awards are designed to do—honor academic achievement in Christian Education. There is also a strong appreciation for the "lifetime approval to teach ETA courses for credit."

Although not part of the survey, it is important to note the overall numbers of ETA awards have risen in recent years. When comparing fiscal 1996-97 to fiscal 1997-98 (June–May), ETA Certificate distribution was up 28.8% and Diploma distribution up 10.1%. ETA textbook distribution was also up 17.8% for this same time period—the highest single-year increase since 1960!

The Value of ETA

One of the major goals of this survey project was to ascertain how ETA’s members view the organization. What are the perceived strengths and weaknesses of ETA? This question provided five answers. Respondents were asked to indicate all items which they perceived as a value of their ETA membership. In addition, a line was left for "other" responses.

As with several items, responses varied by membership category. For example, the Adult Education respondents valued the 40% discount they receive on ETA materials. Since many of these schools use ETA materials as a primary source for most or all courses, it is understandable why the discount would be valued. Since Undergraduate and Graduate/Seminary member schools use ETA textbooks primarily as supplemental texts the 40% discount would not be as highly valued.

It is significant to note that members from all three divisions placed a high value on identifying with other schools and being part of a "bridge" organization between their school and local churches (each division ranked these two items in their top three choices). Since ETA has endeavored to stress the "bridge" aspect as a key benefit of membership, it was gratifying to learn it has struck a responsive chord in our membership.

Although "other" responses were varied and only one response had more than a single person who listed it, these responses did indicate the positive nature of ETA’s influence among its members.

A similar question was asked about the strengths of ETA, but in this item no answers were supplied; all of the responses were written in by the respondents. The number one response from each division related to ETA curriculum. Since this is a chief focus of our ministry and where the bulk of our resources are distributed, it was encouraging to discover our consituency values our investment. Again, our curriculum appears to be more highly valued by our Adult Education members but this is to be expected.

ETA Needs to Improve Curriculum

In order to gain a balanced perspective, respondents were asked to list ETA weaknesses. This was another open-ended question with respondents listing their answers. The most obvious weakness listed was ironically listed as a strength, ETA’s curriculum. Although ETA has made some dramatic advances in curriculum development as new courses have been added and old ones have been updated, there is still much room for improvement. ETA is, at present, investing heavily in curriculum updates and additions.

Many of the other weaknesses listed are items that were already being addressed by ETA. However, ETA has not effectively communicated theses changes to its constituency. For example, Adult Education schools want more services, especially the foreign members. The upgrade of the Journal of Adult Training, provision of on-site intensive courses around the country, and a subsidy program for foreign member schools are all designed to meet these needs.

One of the criticisms often leveled at ETA is that ETA curriculum materials are "not college level" or "graduate level." This criticism is true. However, it is also true ETA textbooks have never been designed as college or graduate level textbooks nor promoted as such. ETA textbooks are designed to be adult education textbooks and are written and edited on about the 12th grade level. Primarily written by professors in member schools, ETA textbooks are designed to be theologically conservative, academically sound, culturally adaptable, and foundationally contributory for further studies in the subject.

Other areas raised as weaknesses, although complex to solve, are begin progressively addressed. For example–

• 10 of our 19 English courses have been translated into Spanish, with Spanish instructor’s guides (long neglected) re-introduced.
• A video production division was added in June of 1997, primarily to develop an appropriate use of video in the classroom.
• Strong interest for a course in ethics has stepped up the release date to July 1999.
• Visibility needs to be increased even more as we are expanding our ministry and marketing efforts across the broad spectrum of our constituency.

We desire your continued feedback, constructive criticism, and willingness to partner with us in the area of adult Christian Education.

What New Services Should ETA Develop?

Another significant purpose of this survey was to help ETA determine what new services to provide for its membership. Five specific ideas were presented for the respondents to rank. The speaker bureau idea was the lowest ranked across the board. Scholarships are attractive at the Adult Education and Graduate/Seminary levels. The best received ideas, both of which are currently in development, are an annotated bibliography of books in the field of Christian Education and a video series consisting of interviews with the living "masters" of Christian Education (available for use by professors in member schools only). It is interesting to note the higher the education level, the more the job search database is favored.

Other Comments About ETA

At the end of the survey, space was provided for the respondents to list any comment about ETA. For the most part, these comments were very positive, supportive, and confirming. As has been noted, each division has slightly different needs, thus confirming the wisdom of multiple divisions. Again, each open response was mentioned only once.

Overall, the survey of ETA member schools was insightful and instructive. While ETA continues to be a viable ministry in the opinion of its member schools, new programs and materials for the 21st century must continue to be developed.

Special thanks to Yvonne Thigpen and Marilyn Ditore who compiled the survey responses for this project.  A copy of the complete survey with all unedited responses is available, free of charge, to all who request it.  Call 800-369-8291, extension 2, and ask for the "1998 ETA Member School Survey Results."

While this may be an unnecessary admonition to hurl at biblically-informed teachers who are ever-conscious of the language of Christianity, it is imperative that prime consideration be given to clarity and comprehensibility in teaching. Often, the teaching of a difficult word is contrived by assembling proof-texts, quoting a favorite thinker, or offering a "general idea" to suffice as a quick definition. Seldom is memorization pointedly attached to these tools. Teachers should ask themselves what they are doing to equip their students to comprehend a definition over a period of time. Can the student define the word a month from now? Scripture verses, quotes, and paraphrases certainly prove themselves useful at the time of interaction, but there is a more fruitful technique, one securely married to comprehension and memorization, to impart a definition. This method will involve etymologically dissecting an English word into its most fundamental components so that an elementary meaning unfolds that is easily comprehended and memorized by the student.

As a preface, it needs to be said that these "difficult" words are not always difficult in the sense that they are hard to pronounce. Surely, a teacher might have to teach the pronunciation of a word before launching into its definition (take perspicuity as an example). For this article, however, a difficult word is not a matter of syllables. Rather, a difficult word is one which has been held in high regard by the Church, but so rarely used in everyday conversation that their meanings tend to, like bygone fashions, have no measurable merit for the present and grow disused. As an example, we can admit the likeliness that even a particularly non-computer literate evangelical would more accurately define virtual reality than sanctification. Teaching the vocabulary of the Church for comprehension seeks to avoid this.

While Reverend Eric J. Alexander of St. George’s-Tron Parish Church of Glasgow spoke on the topic of worship, it was quite natural for him to open his discussion by introducing the Germanic root for the word, that is, worth-ship.1 The audience realized immediately that this etymological application was fitting, for the act of worship is indeed an act wherein we proclaim the worth of our Creator. Rev. Alexander is practicing a technique that holds obvious merit; if analysis of a Scriptural topic demands that we closely examine distinct passages and then verses, it is only natural that we continue this schema to examine even smaller ingredients, the words themselves. This makes so much sense that no teacher of the Bible would deny that reading from the original languages offers many advantages. However, Rev. Alexander’s study is unique in that he is not probing the original language, but the English translation of the original (hence, worship).

Using this one simple formula, he communicates a clear idea of his topic in a way that aids comprehension and memory, for he relies not upon Greek or Hebrew, but the Church’s own translation of the Greek and Hebrew. There is remarkable value in the fact that worth-ship, a word that poignantly captures an elementary understanding of worship, sounds very much like the word worship. Furthermore, because English is an accumulative language, both worth and the inflection -ship persist in our language and have easily definable qualities.

This method can impact the ministry of Bible teaching by focusing teachers on ingredients typically overlooked, namely, the English words. Rather than attempting to develop ancient language scholars through linguistic analysis in the Greek, teachers should consider inherent diversities within the English language and use these basic elements to crystallize complex definitions in the minds of students. While there is no doubt that parsing from the Greek helps to approach linguistically pure definitions, there is considerable side-stepping of the obvious if the teacher ignores richness contained within the very word one is trying to communicate in the first place. Rev. Alexander highlights this splendidly by taking his audience to a proper consideration of worth-ship before sending them into the Hebrew realm of shaha or the Greek realm of proskyneo.

Before fully utilizing a method of explication from the English root, there is a certain matter that needs to be introduced, namely, an assessment of the linguistic history of English. The following is an attempt to graft this method into the various strata that make up our language: Germanic origins and Latin borrowings. Likewise, here will emerge a number of examples of self-evident, easily reconstructed, stories behind the words.

While an elaborate account of the English tongue is inappropriate here, there are a couple of crucial historical constructs that should come into play when teaching a definition. Within the English language are a myriad of other languages that, in essence, form a mode of communication deeply stratified and rich. In fact, it is interesting to note that our own Declaration of Independence contains a vocabulary that is 48% native, 42% French, and 9% Latin.2 Mining this diverse history is precisely the kind of work necessary to teach difficult words with profound clarity, as illustrated by Rev. Alexander.

Regardless of the disbelief this statement produces, English is a Germanic language.3 The tribes that ultimately invaded and settled Britain after the withdrawal of Rome’s legions in the fifth century were Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians from Denmark and the Low Countries. These tribes brought across the channel a fundamental vocabulary and structure that gradually became distinct from its Continental flavor and now pervades Modern English at every turn. Their vocabulary survives today as the most elemental words of our lexicon: tree, hill, house, the, it, red, we, you, I, talk, do. When children first begin speaking, their vocabulary inevitably owes a great deal to this Anglo-Saxon tongue, for here are the building blocks of English.

Representing a key factor in the formation of English, the ascension of William the Conqueror of Normandy brought an influence upon the Anglo-Saxon lexicon unprecedented in scope. Previous to the Normans, there had been influences upon the vocabulary. So many Norse coastal attacks from Scandinavia struck Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries that the vocabulary enlarged due to those attackers who did not return home, but settled. Many of these Scandinavian words are so connected to our language that they do not strike us as being unique: root, snare, outlaw, bait, kindle, and many other everyday words.4 Despite the results of Scandinavian influence, they pale in comparison to William purging the highest political offices of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and replacing them with French-speakers. From the nobility downward, Anglo-Saxon civilization would come to notice a growing French vocabulary5 in the areas of administration, government, law, medicine, and culture and fashion. Though many new religious words were ultimately of Latin origin, they entered English through Norman French and gained special importance to the Church like punishment, judgment, crown, majesty, rebel, minister, servant, ransom, and the more obvious, religion, theology, sermon, baptism, prayer, clergy, communion, confession, pastor, creator, etc.6 It is this event that scholars look back on as the clear shift from Old English to Middle English, and it is this Anglo-Norman heritage that provides a treasure house of Christian words.

Referring to Rev. Alexander’s example, the word worth-ship actually signified worship to Anglo-Saxon speakers and has been preserved to such a degree that it has direct application for us today. Other examples of words from this same period include atone, holy, Holy Ghost, gospel, and blessed. Each of these words, when investigated etymologically, yield clear and insightful helps to teach their definitions for comprehension. A possible exception might be church which is so complex as to warrant the longest etymology in the colossal Oxford English Dictionary.7 The word atone presents a clear example. When teaching this word, rather than pulling every verse from Scripture that touches the atonement, rather than quoting a Stott or Packer, and rather than attempting an artfully abridged paraphrase, it would be better to begin etymologically. The Germanic word, atone, is really a compound of the words at and one. Hence, whatever the word may mean, at the very least its etymology indicates that it refers to two things being made at one. We are not yet concerned about the two things that are being made as one (mankind’s sin and God’s righteousness), but we are concerned with the core elements that help us impart quality definitions that are preserved in the minds of our students.

It is important to notice that Britain converted to Christianity early enough that Anglo-Norman vocabulary was permeated with words of the Church. The conversion of Britain took place through stages beginning with pre-450 Roman occupation that seems not to have influenced the vocabulary of the Germanic invaders at all.8 These invaders, however, witnessed a far greater conversion begun by the missionary work of St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. Benedictine Reform in the late tenth century and William's Normanization of the Church nurtured a steadfast Germanic religious lexicon that is still with us today.

It is upon these Germanic building blocks that English begins the magnificent habit of accepting other languages with open arms. Despite the fact that "Brittania" was a northern domain of the Roman Empire, Latin never became a national language and, instead, Latin borrowings came later as the Christianization of Britain began to take liturgical shape. While the common inhabitant of Roman Britain had no real use for Latin, the later Anglo-Norman Christian could not live without it and imported Latin words at a feverish pace.

As was illustrated above, the English did not borrow from Latin to such a degree that it replaced its own Germanic vocabulary entirely, but rather supplemented it. Though Latin had a perfectly good word for the Creator, deus, yet the English maintained their own word, god. Likewise, the English preserved heaven, hell, pray, and godspell (rather than evangelium) over the Latin equivalents.9 Be this as it may, nearly 500 Latin words filtered into English solely through the establishment of the Church including abbot, cleric, nun, disciple, organ, hymn, priest, psalm, canon, ark, demon, apostle, and baptism. Shear volume alone indicates that we should become adept at etymologically unpacking words derived from Latin.

It is no mystery why these Latinate words offer the largest challenges to our students. We have already noted how convenient it is that worship can be described by using another English word, worth, and atone can be described by relying upon two other English words, at and one. This is not as simple with Latin because the Latinate words are derived from another language, not the Germanic base from which our language originates. When we attempt to teach the word creed, for example, we are lead to refer to credere, which is no easier to remember than creed. The real key to utilizing Latin etymologies is by recognizing that not just the Church, but the English population as a whole borrowed from Latin and the result is that English is presently inundated with Latin words. Though we cannot rightly expect our students to memorize that credere means "to believe or trust," we can point them to the other words that were formed by English borrowings of this Latin word like credulous, credential, and credit. In attempting to teach a word like creed, we can impart the elementary meaning by noting the similarities with other English words. A creed is what we believe in, that which is credible or, using the word credit, a creed is what we trust in like a bank trusts in us (to pay back what we purchase on credit). Hence, a characteristically difficult word, on a foundational level, can be made strangely simple in order to aid comprehension.

Latin will often present us with a circuitous route to follow before attaining an etymological device for teaching. Many Latinate words come from Latin compound words and require double the amount of work to explicate. As an example, adoption is a compound of the Latin ad, "to," and optare, "desire or choose." Investigating both words leads us to rely on other applications of the ad- prefix in English like advance, admonish, and admire (most better dictionaries will have entries for non-words like ad-). With optare, we need to cause our students to reflect about the meanings behind opt and option so that, while they may not know it, they see optare for what it really is, a deliberate choice amongst a number of options. The fundamental definition that emerges is that adoption is God making a choice to choose us. A similar process will aid us in teaching advent, absolution, and redemption.

A Note on Resources

It would be irresponsible to not address the tools necessary for the kind of "verbal discovery" recommended here, but the resources are quite plain. There are currently a number of very poor dictionaries on the market that do no justice whatsoever to the English language and even cloud intrinsic diversity hidden therein. On the other hand, there are a few good dictionaries that will provide the necessary features. What is most important is that the dictionary provide relative detail in the etymology. This detail must not only pinpoint derivatives from other languages, but must define them as well. Without the definition of the derivative, we are left with the Latin demere and no way of defining demere to unlock a teaching tool for the word redeem without investing in a Latin dictionary.

Beyond compare, the Oxford English Dictionary is the superlative example of etymological precision, but is really too complex (and expensive) for our immediate goal. We are more interested in limiting the study of a word’s history to occupy no more than fifteen minutes of preparation time. The best current tools are The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, the Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, and the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. All of these are very large, provide all the necessary features, and are relatively inexpensive (Webster’s Third is the most expensive).

Challenges to this method abound. The English language is so intricate that it has occupied scholars long before Johnson’s eighteenth century dictionary and still perplexes to this day. There are complexities in the fact that meanings change. The use of words like manner, nature, and wretch may legitimately have slightly different meanings now than during Shakespeare’s England. Occasionally the study of a word’s history will take us to words that, while perfectly understood by Chaucer, have little meaning to us now like sleeth, bokeler bar, and patente. At other times, we may probe a word to find it leading us nowhere, like the Germanic synn for sin. It may be likely that we stumble upon unintended meanings, as is the case with church, a word that was in use long before Christianity attached a meaning to it. Likewise, what kinds of trouble might we get ourselves into if we tried to define Easter by referring to the Anglo-Saxon feast of the pagan dawn-goddess, Eostre? Finally, perhaps there will be occasions when we attach a meaning to a word that may very well have a number of nuanced meanings that we may not be sensitive to.

Regardless of these and many other possible flaws, the technique functions well in principle because we are seeking elementary meaning. We are not looking for a definition in its purest sense, but a tool that allows the student to comprehend and memorize the fuller definition. This method may never outline for our students an ironclad definition, but it certainly can make the difficult fundamentally attainable. In fact, Tim Riter offers this method as a corrective to what we might otherwise "guess" is the definition when he points his readers away from an emotive definition of passion to a more severe and correct definition by reminding us that the word really implies suffering (from the Latin, passus).10

As teachers, we ought to understand the unique place we have as teachers in such a glorious stream of tradition. The Church has maintained a lexicon for centuries because the words are worth holding on to. As we communicate this lexicon to our students we should be uniquely concerned with not only the valuable and unchangeable content of the words, but the longevity of these words as they are carried in their hearts and applied in devotion to the One to whom these words refer.

1. How might the etymology of blessed as it relates to Old English, blood (i.e. blood of consecration), produce interesting ways to teach what exactly it means to be blessed by God?
2. Investigate some -logy words like eschatology, anthropology, ecclesiology, angelology, pneumatology, etc. and consider the similarities of the endings. Do all of the -logy inflections signify the same thing?
3. Make a list of several re- words like recant, return, and replay and research their derivatives. Why is it that refugee does not fit this schema? What kinds of problems might this cause in the future?
4. The word disciple comes from the Latin discipulus, "a learner" or discipere, "to learn." Imagining the common definition you might receive from an unsuspecting student, how can this knowledge of the Latin derivative function as a corrective?

Notes

1 Eric J. Alexander, "Worship: The Old Testament Pattern," April 18, 1998, The Philadelphia Conference on Reformation Theology, Chicago, IL.

2 W. Nelson Francis, "The English Language and Its History," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, MA: G & C Merriam, 1976, 27a.

3 Although Jespersen prefers the term, Gothonic. Otto Jespersen, Growth and Structure of the English Language, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982, 17.

4 Albert C. Baugh and Thomas Cable, A History of the English Language, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993, 99-100.

5 This was a very gradual process, outlined best in Jespersen, 86-88.

6 Mary S. Serjeantson, A History of Foreign Words in English, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1961, 104ff; Baugh and Cable, 163-70; cf. Jespersen, 101-102.

7 Donna Lee Berg, A User's Guide to the Oxford English Dictionary,Oxford: Oxford UP, 1991, 19.

8 Jespersen, 33ff and Baugh and Cable, 77-82.

9 Baugh and Cable, 88.

10 Tim Riter, "Perplexed by Passion," Moody Magazine, May/June 1998, 45.