ALEXIS SEBRING
Life Assistant
Pepperdine’s Religion division plays an important part in students’ lives. It may be one of the smallest divisions in terms of majors, but its mission is clear: to provide the entire student body with spiritual knowledge and development.
Randall Chesnutt, chair of the Religion Division since 2003, has many responsibilities he must control and balance. He considers himself a student of the Bible and a person who loves to read, study and think. Being a professor of religion was the perfect result for him, combining his main interests. He also recognizes and embraces the importance of being able to shape people’s lives. He has four years of experience as the chair of the division and knows how to keep everything in order.
“Part of my task is simply to keep the trains running on time, and by that I mean to make sure we have adequate GE classes and that they’re staffed; if we don’t have full-time faculty, adequate to offer enough sections, then I have to get quality adjunct people,” Chesnutt said. “So, by keeping the trains running I mean things like that as well as getting through the registration process smoothly and making sure we have more than adequate classes for the students.”
As well as focusing on these minor details, Chesnutt looks at the larger picture and strives to reach his main goal for the division.
“A bigger vision is to make sure that we are thinking through what it is we’re about and trying to do it well, and when we have the opportunity to hire faculty, we get the very best people we can,” Chesnutt said. “And think in terms of those longer term goals, not just getting caught up in the daily task, but keeping in mind a larger vision of what it is that we want to accomplish.”
Many processes must be worked through to achieve success and high-quality class content. All faculty at Seaver College must publish in peer-reviewed academic journals and write books. Chesnutt strongly agrees that this benefits the University as a whole and students as individuals.
“It increases the academic reputation of the university so that when one graduates, their degree is more prestigious and strong because the reputation of the institution,” Chesnutt said. “But also, more directly, it helps in that if you are doing research then what you say in the classroom is backed up by the depth of knowledge and understanding that you would not have by just reading the research that others are doing.”
Every professor must strengthen their knowledge and credibility by studying and coming up with new conclusions regarding their subject. Religion professors may work on discovering new ways to interpret old verses, visiting historical and biblical places and using that to make new connections to biblical passages.
“A person gains credibility in the classroom if they’re doing research that is reviewed and analyzed by peers in the discipline,” Chesnutt said.
This practice of increasing reliability and intelligence is a beneficial factor that helps the Religion Division thrive in success.
An issue with teaching religion at any school is keeping the information unbiased. Many opinions can derive from topics such as the Bible and God, so it is important to discuss these with the students and deliver facts. Since this is almost impossible, the professors allow students to voice their own opinions, which equalize the perspective.
“I think the professors give a totally different view,” said freshman religion major Nolan Sharkey. “Sometimes I completely disagree and I argue my point. The goal, at least as far as I know, is to let everybody agree as a whole on something but also debate their opinions.”
The professors want a debate in the class and for the students to give their point of views peacefully.
“It’s happening especially in my 102 class,” Sharkey added, “where I see it a lot more.”
Some students may believe that Genesis contains the words “Day one, day two, day three,” and so on, but in actuality they mean hundreds of days. Other students will believe that the Bible says what it means without figurative translations needed. Debates like these occur frequently.
By allowing students this freedom of opinion, the division grows and learns from who they are teaching, the students themselves. Chesnutt believes this to be one of the vital keys in teaching and learning about religion, but not the only way.
“I think there has to be some transferring of content information,” Chesnutt said.
Basically, the students need to learn the basic lesson to get the most out of the class. “Now that doesn’t have to be done in lecture format, that can be done in readings and various kinds of things, so I wouldn’t get rid of that entirely,” Chesnutt said. “But beyond that I think students need to be engaged, and not just to be recipients of information, but need to be engaged in thinking through great ideas, hearing other perspectives on those ideas, and sometimes the debate format is a good way to get various views out on the table and help students think through their own assumptions and presuppositions in lines of reasoning as well as that of others.”
Chesnutt acknowledges that debate, as well as other forms of interactions, help students learn from each other and from the professor.
“Debate format or discussion format or other forms of interaction is a useful tool,” Chesnutt said.
Debate keeps lessons interesting and more desirable for the students. The religion pupils enjoy and positively react to the way professors teach, which helps enhance or prove previous beliefs.
“They’re not just classes teaching that religion is everything, they’re much more open-minded,” said freshman religion major Courtney Bowman. “Testing us makes us build our own faith and reasons why or why not to have faith.”
The Religion Division strives to do its best at helping students succeed. It carries this out through the high-quality faculty, various teaching strategies and overall open-mindedness.
03-20-2008
Further reading: Profiles of Pepperdine religion professors
Todd Bouldin.
Ira Jolivet.
Chris Heard.
Ronald Cox.
Ron Highfield.
Daniel Rodriguez.
The newest professors: Chris Doran, Kindalee DeLong, Dyron Daughrity and Raymond Carr.
