JJ STARR
Staff Writer
“For The Love of The Game” is a movie based on a major league baseball player who continues to play baseball purely for the joy he gets through playing.
“For The Love of Teaching” could be a movie based on the same principles, except it would follow a professor named Raymond Carr.
You won’t hear Carr complain about his job hours or any of the students he teaches. It is evident that his teaching comes solely from the joy of sharing knowledge with the younger generations.
Growing up in the small Virginia town of Petersburg, Carr says that he had to deal with a lot of “street” activity.
Like it was yesterday, Carr remembers the drug use, theft and gang activity that took place in Petersburg.
“Across the street from my house was the first all-black asylum, which attracted some weird people walking around the city,” said Carr. “People used to walk around and steal everything— even the underwear kids were wearing.”
However, “my childhood really helped shape who I am today,” said Carr. “I learned some of the most important lessons of life in my years as a child growing up in Virginia.”
Carr grew up without a dad, forcing his mom to raise him and his four brothers.
Carr says that his mom is the greatest influence in his life because of the way she lived by exemplifying the Christian values that she believed. This became intriguing to Carr in his teen years where he saw a lot of friends get involved with drinking and drugs.
In Carr’s junior year of high school his mom died from a heart attack, forcing him to live with his grandparents for the rest of high school.
“That was the saddest time of my life,” said Carr. “To have an amazing loving mom one day and for her to be dead the next day is the hardest thing for any kid to deal with.”
As Carr grieved for much of his junior year, he made an impulsive decision and joined the Air Force.
“The Air Force was a weird experience for me because I had never really been outside of my all-black town and now I was in Florida with a very diverse group of guys.”
During his four years in service, the Air Force gave Carr the opportunity to attend South Florida Community College.
“My time spent at SFCC was the first time I became amazed at the college level of learning and I knew right away that I wanted to teach some day,” said Carr. “As soon as I finished my first class I called my brothers back home because I had become the first person in my extended family to ever get an education beyond high school.”
During his studies at SFCC, Carr began to gain a greater understanding for knowledge, which lead him into reading his Bible something that his mom used to do for him every night.
During Carr’s third semester at SFCC he made the decision to become a Christian because of what he remembers seeing in his mom.
“I learned more about love and true joy from my mom then everything else in the world combined,” said Carr. “After some time at SFCC I became interested in Christianity and I started to focus on how I could better follow the life of Christ and the answer was simple for me, it was by looking at the way my mom had lived her life.”
Carr, new visiting professor at Pepperdine University, goes to work every day with this love and joy for teaching that he learned through the example of his mom while growing up in Virginia.
By definition “visiting professor” is an opportunity to teach while finishing up a Ph. D. But to Carr “visiting professor” is nothing more than an opportunity to continue to inject knowledge into the lives of college students.
After the Air Force and his classes at SFCC, Carr attended Lubbock Christian University where he received bachelors’ degrees in both Bible & ministry and in liberal arts.
Carr’s time at LCU was great but he will always remember his time there because of a girl he met one night named Joi.
“My friends took me out one night and set me up with her (Joi) and a little more then two years later we were married,” said Carr, whose wife Joi is also a professor at Pepperdine.
After his undergraduate studies at LCU, he continued his education there and received a masters’ in Biblical studies.
Following his studies in Texas, Carr made the move to California where he received his masters’ of divinity from Pepperdine University, in 2000.
Carr has spent the last six years as an adjunct professor in the Religion Division, before becoming a visiting professor this year.
Carr is thankful for the opportunity Pepperdine has given him because it enables him to continue teaching, something that he is passionate about.
“When I attended SFCC it was a big deal because I was the first in my family to go to college but now when I look back at the schooling I’ve done, I think I’ve taken enough classes for them all,” Carr said jokingly.
Amid Carr’s passion for teaching, he also enjoys listening to rap, playing basketball and reading theology.
However Carr’s favorite hobby is break-dancing. “During my high school and early college years I used to get out there in the clubs and get into some heated break dancing competitions,” said Carr. “I’ve even been able to get into some dancing classes with students here at Pepperdine.”
In the last six years of teaching at Pepperdine, Carr has had a wonderful experience with many ups-and-downs along the way.
“I’ve really learned to appreciate students,” said Carr, “Initially teaching was just a way for me to continue learning but in-turn I learned that for me teaching is all about the students and getting the opportunity to invest in young lives.”
Carr believes that the offer by Pepperdine to become a visiting professor is a great step in his young teaching career. He sees it as a stepping stone that will one day help him to become full-time.
Carr is working on his Ph. D. in systematic and philosophical theology from the Graduate Theological Union at California State University, Berkeley.
“It has been extremely tough for me to balance teaching, taking classes and finding time for my wife and I to get away,” said Carr, who is looking forward to finishing his Ph. D.
The heart of Carr’s life is his faith in Jesus Christ, which is his driving force.
Carr compared his love for teaching to Proverbs 27:17, which reads ‘As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another.’
“I love that verse because that is why I feel so strongly about teaching. Being able to teach students new information but in-turn students often teach me a thing or two,” said Carr.
After receiving his Ph. D. Carr would like to become a full-time teacher at Pepperdine and also write about the Christian religion.
“I would like to write a few books about Christians being able to explore their solidarity and realize that the Christian message is meant for everyone,” says Carr.
In fact, this view of being inclusive in the context of Christianity is what makes Carr’s classes so exciting.
Because of Carr’s background he makes sure that his students understand that the message of Jesus Christ was meant for everybody.
“Most of the students here at Pepperdine have grown up around Christians their entire lives but I really want them all to understand, as much as it may be tough to hear, that the message of Jesus is just as much for homeless people or gang members as it is for them,” said Carr.
Students agree.
“I think the most important lesson I learned from Professor Carr all last semester was that the story of Christ is meant for even the darkest of ‘sinners’,” said sophomore Carter Sapp. “I always knew that it wasn’t just meant for Christians but he (Carr) really challenged me to believe it and make it part of my theology.”
Carr’s one goal would be to continue to grow in his faith through his teaching ability. It is so obvious when witnessing Carr teach that at the heart of his lectures lies a deep faith and love for spreading that message to college students.
“When I first met Professor Carr early this semester I was blown away at how he lives his faith in Christ out in every aspect of his life, especially his teaching,” said Cindy DeLong, professor at Pepperdine.
This passion and joy will be a great addition to the Pepperdine Religion Division as Carr moves into a more prominent role within teaching.
12-06-2007