Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1996 The American Bible College: An Eye to the Future Larry J. Davidhizar Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Davidhizar, Larry J., "The American Bible College: An Eye to the Future" (1996). Dissertations. 3615. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3615 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1996 Larry J. Davidhizar LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO THE AMERICAN BIBLE COLLEGE: AN EYE TO THE FUTURE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES BY LARRY J. DAVIDHIZAR CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MAY 1996 Copyright by Larry James Davidhizar, 1996 All rights reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was made possible by the loving encouragement of Dona, Jamie, Brian and Ben-my wife and children. The financial commitment by the administration of the Moody Bible Institute was greatly appreciated as was the professional and pastoral support provided by F. Michael Perko, S.J. Thanks must also be expressed to the many Bible college administrators and faculty members who provided time, information, and even food and lodging for this study. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. THE CHRONICLES OF A MOVEMENT .. ....... .. ........... .... ......... .. ... .. ..... .. ..... ... ...... 9 The Calm Before the Storm, 1870-1919 The Fundamentalist Crusade, 1919-1926 A Search For Direction, 1926-1945 Cooperation Without Compromise, 1945-1995 3. THE CRISIS OF MISSION 71 An Historical Analysis of the Bible College Mission The Historical Analysis of Specific Bible College Mission Statements An Analysis of Mission-Current Trends The Current Status of the Mission of the Bible College 4. THE CHALLENGE OF CREDIBILITY ................................................................. 111 General Education Regional Accreditation The Acceptance of the Challenge 5. THE CURRENT OF CHANGE . 165 Ideological Secularization Methodological Secularization The Bible College and Secularization 6. THE CHARTER FOR THE FUTURE 200 The Future of the American Bible College: An Analysis The Future of the American Bible College: The Challenge An Eye to the Future iv 7. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 223 APPENDIX . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. .. ... .. .. ........ .. ... .. .. .. .. .... .. 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 231 VITA ........................................................................................................................... 248 v INTRODUCTION The American Bible college has embarked on its second century of existence and as a movement within evangelical Protestantism, it faces great challenges in the days and years ahead. The early Bible training institutes were founded in the last quarter of the nineteenth century in an effort to bridge the gap between the seminary-trained cleric and the layperson. These infant training schools were established in many urban centers and were responsible for educating practitioners who functioned as Sunday school teachers, rescue mission workers, YMCA leaders, evangelistic preachers, and overseas missionaries. For many years these "invisible colleges" maintained a vocational focus in fulfilling their mission. The flame of the movement was further fanned by the Fundamentalist/modernist debates of the 1920s. In the aftermath of the Scopes' trial, twenty-nine Bible institutes began in the decade of the Depression. These training schools were non-degree granting and for the most part offered two and three year diploma programs in areas of specific church-related ministry. With the cessation of World War II, the United States government afforded a great many servicemen and some women the opportunity of education beyond high school. This policy provided the momentum for the Bible institutes, now called Bible colleges, to begin association with the higher education establishment. This great influx of students also allowed the Bible colleges to move securely into the 1970s without having faced many of the philosophical issues which had confronted most church-related colleges in the earlier part of the century. Institutional mission and identity, regional accreditation, general education, and secularization were just some of the issues with which Bible colleges had to wrestle as they joined the mainstream of American higher education. As to whether or not these concerns have been sufficiently addressed, only 2 time will tell. Needless to say, to maintain a distinctive niche in American higher education and to insure a healthier future, such questions must be aggressively rejoined by each Bible college. This study will assist in that challenge. Purpose and Scope The purpose of this study is to analyze, within an historical framework, the major stumbling blocks impeding the Bible college as it seeks to participate fully in the community of American higher education. Survival as an evangelical Protestant educational institution is dependent on the solutions attained in the areas of mission, regional accreditation, general education, and secularization. Survival as a Bible college will require even more strategic and philosophically coherent answers. For instance, an evangelical institution of higher education is charged with strategically formulating and implementing an integrated general education curriculum which is consistent with its mission and purpose. Likewise, the more focused Bible college faces the same responsibility but is charged with the task of balancing the general education core with the Bible major and ministry courses required of all students. The distinct mission and singular focus of the Bible college necessitates an intentional, deliberative philosophy of education and resultant strategic plan which not only preserves the mission but positions the Bible college to respond congruently to that mission. Any confusion on this point is certain to endanger the Bible college. While there are hundreds of unaccredited Bible colleges and training institutions in the United States, many housed in church basements, the focus of this study is the Bible colleges accredited by the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges, known for many years as the American Association of Bible Colleges (AABC). This organization, founded in 1947, is officially recognized by the US Department of Education as the accreditation agency for undergraduate Bible-college education. As of November 1994, AABC had 3 seventy-three full members from the United States with an average full-time enrollment of 317.1 There are three curricular characteristics which set the Bible college apart from other church-related, higher education institutions. The first distinctive is that each student must complete a major in Bible consisting of at least thirty credit hours. Secondly, in order to graduate, a Bible college requires each student to participate in some form of weekly Christian service or ministry. Depending on the institution, this ministry could be assigned or the student is allowed to choose a ministry which parallels his or her vocational major. The third feature of a Bible college is the professional ministry major or emphasis. Besides the Bible major, all students take a second major in a specialized field of Christian ministry which will prepare that student for full-time vocational service. As the twentieth century is drawing to a close, the Bible college has developed some very specific ministry majors. Applied linguistics, which supports Bible translation in cultures with previously unwritten languages, youth ministry, family ministry, urban ministry, sports ministry, missionary aviation, electronic music are just some of the creative majors added to the traditional trademarks such as pastoral ministry, church music, church education, and world missions. A cousin of the Bible college is the Christian liberal arts college. The purpose of the Christian liberal arts college is to help build the church and improve society worldwide by educating men and women in the context of a strong liberal arts curriculum. History, literature, science, mathematics, fine arts, languages, pre- medicine, pre-law and pre-seminary are just some of the majors offered at a Christian liberal arts college. A thirty-hour Bible major is not required but is available. Christian service opportunities are encouraged, but not required of the students. Most of 1 American Association of Bible Colleges, "Program and Annual Reports of the Forty-Eighth Annual Meeting," (Fayetteville, AR.: American Association of Bible Colleges, 1995), 24-25. 4 the doctrinal distinctives of the two types of institutions are the same. In short, the mission of the Bible college is narrow and focused on practical ministry, while the mission of such Christian liberal arts colleges as Wheaton, Calvin,