Hone Your Craft as a Biblical Scholar
One of our current PhD students in Humanities, Rob Sorensen, has been featured on Baylor’s “Research on Religion” podcast. The discussion mostly revolves around Rob’s reflections on and in his Martin Luther and the German Reformation (Anthem Perspectives in History, Anthem Press, 2016).
For more about Rob, see his faculty page at the Bear Creek School. For more about Faulkner University’s PhD in Humanities, see the university website.
Since September 2013, I’ve had the privilege of serving the Faulkner University community as the director of Faulkner University Online. Over that time, the effort has blossomed, and the university now enrolls about a quarter of its total student body in online degree programs, ranging from associates- to doctorate-level.
I deeply appreciate the opportunity to have been involved with Faulkner Online as we have sought, step by step, not only to serve more students but also to create for them a caring, Christian environment where every one of them matters every day. In Faulkner’s next fiscal year, plans are continuing to take shape around my transitioning into a more teaching- and research-focused role with Faulkner’s F. Furman Kearley Graduate School of Theology.
To that end, a search is now open for a qualified and conscientious individual to fill my current role, starting 1 June 2017, as director of Faulkner University Online. When identified, the new director will lead a team dedicated to making students’ experiences with Faulkner Online truly worthy of being called “Christian education”—what is worthy of Χριστός (Christ) having always within it the vocation of being χρηστός (excellent; cf. Justin Martyr, 1 Apol. 4).
Earlier today, the program director, Robert Woods, announced that the Christian Institute for the Study of Liberal Arts would begin offering a SACS-accredited, fully distance-based PhD program:
This PhD is literally one-of-a-kind in that it is fully accredited (SACS), offered fully distance with the dissertation being defended via conference call with a designated Research Fellow, and the student’s full committee having guided the research. This PhD is uniquely interdisciplinary in structure and practice. A number of the highly qualified faculty are generalists and encourage the kind of readings, research, and writing that reflects an interdisciplinary drive.
Last, but most important, this Great Books based PhD is completely informed by the Christian faith. All courses are led by people who have proven that Christianity assists in scholarship and is not a stumbling block to matters of the mind. Building on our very successful MLitt degree, we use the Great Books and select, highly interactive online tools to provide the best distance education available. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please feel free to contact us through our website.
I’ve been working with the Institute in different capacities from shortly before the initial MLitt degree kicked off. The involvement there has proven immensely enriching. One of our MLitt graduates has already had his thesis published, and we are eagerly looking forward to extending the conversation in the new doctoral program. For more information about the new PhD program, please see here, and send further inquiries to [email protected].
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Update: Since this post’s original publication, the PhD program continues strong and thriving and is now housed under the Department of Humanities.