Bible, Theology, or Religious Studies?

- By Nathan Cameron 

When I was a child, Nashville was known as the “buckle of the Bible Belt.”  because of all of the Christian schools (or schools offering Christian programs) in the city, not to mention the surrounding state. While the title for the “buckle” is disputed these days, someone looking to learn the Bible will still find several options within Tennessee. A quick Google search will give you 9, niche.com will give you 33, and other lists, I’m sure, would produce different numbers. What you’ll find in all these lists, however, is the commonality that will exist in the top 5-10. This review will consider the Bible programs of 5 of the schools boasting a Bible program in Tennessee in comparison to the program at the Institute for G.O.D. Obviously, this won’t be a full treatment of all schools, but the rubric used in evaluation will be something you as a reader can use to evaluate the Bible programs at schools not treated here.

Here’s a concession, this review is about Bible programs. The numbers listed below represent what can be objectively seen from school websites and/or catalogs related to credit hours dedicated to Biblical education. As a quick note I will say that it can be very difficult to pull back the curtain on certain course titles to know whether they incorporate a lot of Bible or not. It can also be objectively difficult to understand online catalogs and program pages, particularly when they cross reference other program pages and lack clear unit distribution for a particular degree path. Based on this author’s experience at two of the below schools and a third one not listed here (because it’s not in Tennessee) courses that contain the word “doctrine” or “history” rarely deal much with scripture (and courses with “philosophy” in the title rarely deal with the Bible unless “biblical” is explicitly tied to it), but to keep this clean they will be counted in overall unit totals for this review. 

To add a bit of fun I’ll also be adding what I’ll call the “Clear Count” for each school, which will represent how many of the course titles explicitly betray what Biblical text (or texts) will be touched within the courses. The way this went: I identified the program that best fits the idea of a Biblical Studies program. From that point I looked at both the major requirements and the general education requirements that would fit under the banner of Biblical or theological content. 

Lipscomb University

Lipscomb’s “Theology and Ministry” program is the closest thing to a Bible program they offer. In addition to the general education requirement, it’s a 45-hour commit covering church history, interpretive methods, spiritual formation and philosophy of religion, with an introduction to a Biblical language and a supervised internship. It should also be noted that there are 15 units of the general education requirement which are also Bible courses, bringing the program total Bible/Theology units to 60 out of the minimum required 126 (48%).  

The “Clear Count” - 12 units

Reference: http://catalog.lipscomb.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=20&poid=6085&returnto=1499

Lee University

Lee University has 4 courses in what it calls its “Religion Core.” These consist of courses on the message of both testaments and introductory courses to theology and ethics. Their most Bible heavy program is the BA in Biblical and Theological Studies program, a 120-unit program that contains 47 units related to Bible, Bible History, or Theology, and an additional 12 dedicated to Biblical languages, bringing their total to 71 out of their required 120 (59%).

The “Clear Count” - 16 units (though a student is only required to take 13 of them)

Reference: http://catalog.leeuniversity.edu/mime/media/view/13/12162/BTSTS_BA%2020-21.pdf

Trevecca Nazarene University

Trevecca’s BA in “Religious Studies” requires 50 units in Biblical theology, history, and language in addition to 15 that would fall under the category of this review’s consideration. Trevecca does have an additional 18 courses coded as biblical literature though only 12 units of those are required for the Religious Studies degree. Out of all schools in this review, their catalog is also the most difficult to navigate and understand so these numbers may be slightly off.

The “Clear Count” - 18 units

Reference: http://trevecca.smartcatalogiq.com/2020-2021/University-Catalog/Programs-by-Schools-and-Departments/Millard-Reed-School-of-Theology-and-Christian-Ministry/Religious-Studies-BA

Union University

Union only offers a Biblical Studies minor, so I’ll be looking at their Theological Studies major for this review. 40 major units in Christian, philosophical, and theological studies are required for this degree, in addition to the 6 required units in their general education core under the humanities heading. A unique thing you’ll find in Union’s catalog, however, is the requirement that all majors, regardless of field, address Christian thought and action in a capstone experience before graduation.

The “Clear Count” - 9

Reference: http://www.uu.edu/programs/stm/academics/undergraduate/theological-studies/

Welch University

Welch’s “Biblical Studies” program is in view here. It’s a 127-unit program and those units are broken down with 37 devoted to a theological studies core, 20 devoted to a Biblical studies core, and 15 devoted to a ministry core. 9 units in the general education core would also count in this review. That would be 81 units touching scripture based on their catalog. That’s 64 percent of their program total which places the at the top of the list in this review. 

The “Clear Count” - 15

Reference: https://issuu.com/welchcollege/docs/combined_catalog_2020-21_issuu

The Institute for G.O.D.

The Institute differs from the other schools above in one crucial way that must be noted up front. We only offer 2 undergraduate programs - Biblical Studies and Community Development. The former of these is the one that will be put in comparison to the programs above. 

One of the first things to note is that here at the Institute we’ve made it a bit simpler to know what “Bible” you’re getting when you look through our catalog. If you take “Jeremiah” you can know you’re going to study Jeremiah. If you take The Gospel of Mark, you’ll study Mark - every line of it. 

There’s little mysterious language in our curriculum, though you might not know, for example, that Reading the Tanakh covers every line of Leviticus, Numbers, Ezrah, Nehemiah, Esther, Ruth, and Lamentations, or that Intro to Biblical Interpretation covers every line of Hosea and Amos.

Now to the numbers. If you look at the Institute catalog, you’ll see that 85 of our 127 units in the Biblical Studies program are of the Biblical or Theological nature. However, if I apply the same counting criteria to the Institute’s Biblical Studies degree that I applied to the others, the number jumps to 100 of 127 courses that use the Bible as their primary source (that’s 79%). This includes courses that don’t explicitly have Bible books listed in the name (like Analytical Approaches to Literature, which uses Biblical texts to highlight literary principles), though I think it’s fair to count that since I gave courses like “Systematic Theology 1-4” credit as Bible courses for the other schools. It also includes Biblical language requirements, which is also reflected in the numbers above.

This isn’t just about numbers for us though. We firmly believe that conclusions about Biblical studies and theology should come from the Biblical text itself. Sure, systematic theologies contain insights from Scripture, but our students walk away knowing so much of it that they could fact check or find holes in a systematic theology because of their knowledge of scripture. It is knowing Scripture that allows us to creatively appropriate it’s values in the world as we encounter new situations. Further, students are allowed to practice that very reality, as our program puts them in front of people in ministry, both through volunteerism here as part of our student volunteer program and in ministry opportunities abroad as Biblical Studies majors spend a minimum of 20 weeks abroad in the scope of their time at the Institute.

These opportunities make Biblical Studies at the Institute something that extends beyond a mental exercise and into the realm of real-world applicability. This reality is something that, along with the sheer number of contact hours students here get with the Bible, sets the Institute apart. 

The “Clear Count” – 100

Reference: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb599783dc3e94b9e0a0a20/t/5ed7b716e7e4254b9c29779b/1591195414874/Biblical+Studies+Degree+Completion+Plan.pdf

I encourage you to look at the program listings linked in this blog and to consider the following question: Is learning ABOUT the Bible the same as learning the Bible? If you think it is, any of the schools above will suffice. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that these programs aren’t good ones, but there is a clear benefit to the program here at the Institute for G.O.D. for someone who wants to increase their understanding of the actual books of the Bible. To achieve that result, there is no better college in Tennessee than the Institute for G.O.D.