My conviction deepens that God started this institution," said one of the workers after he had been in attendance at the Advanced Bible School a few weeks. Another worker of long experience said:
"We as workers are driven with a routine of detail that tends to put us into a rut. We tend to lose our perspective. We need to come apart and think and study and compare notes and sharpen our minds in discussion, having our courage renewed and our perspective restored. The school this summer is doing this for me."
It surely is in the providence of God that in these days of infidelity and unbelief, we as heralds of the advent message have such opportunity for graduate study in Bible, religious history, and allied subjects, as is offered by the Advanced Bible School.
Courses Offered
The Bible courses offered in the 1936 session are: two classes in Systematic Theology, taught by M. L. Andreasen, President of Union College; Seminar in Prophetic Fulfillments, by B. P. Hoffman, Dean of the School of Theology, Pacific Union College; The Corinthian Epistles, by F. A. Schilling, Dean of the School of Theology, Walla Walla College; Prophets of the Assyrio-Babylonian Period. by Professor Hoffman; and Bible and Science, by George McCready Price, Professor of Moral Philosophy, Walla Walla College.
In religious history there are courses in Judaism During the Second Temple and The Medieval Church, conducted by Professor Schilling, and The Catholic Church in Contemporary Europe, by H. L. Rudy, President of the Baltic Union. Elder Rudy has had exceptional opportunities as a schoolman and a conference leader in Europe to obtain firsthand knowledge of this important subject.
Work in Beginning Hebrew and New Testament Greek Translation is offered under the direction of L. L. Caviness, Professor of Biblical Languages, Pacific Union College. In order to encourage our ministers and teachers who may not have studied Greek, a beginning class will also be offered in this subject so essential to Biblical scholarship.
In Speech and Homiletics there will be classes in Persuasive Speaking and Radio Speaking, by C. E. Weniger, Professor of Speech and Journalism, Pacific Union College; and a class in Preaching by I. H. Evans, vice-president of the General Conference.
There is also offered each session a seminar in Scientific Efforts of Research, by G. F. Wolf-kill, Professor of Psychology and Education, Pacific Union College. This course is of particular benefit to those who are preparing term Papers, articles for publication, or theses for graduation. Professor Wolfkill will also have a class in Philosophy and Christian Education.
The 1936 Bulletin also gives tentative offerings for 1937 and 1938.
General Lectures
Aside from the regular curriculum, there will be a series of general lectures of public interest to the preachers and teachers of the advent message.
Elder F. D. Nichol will give six lectures on Current Religious Thinking in Relation to Seventh-day Adventist Doctrines. These lectures will show the absolute necessity of presenting our message in such a setting as will meet the particular needs of our day, and will help us to orient ourselves in the world of modern thinking.
We have a message for the entire hungry world. Two leading missionaries, Frederick Lee and J. G. Gjording, will discuss the presentation of Christianity to various types of non-Christians.
We are promised a series of six lectures on the Spirit of Prophecy, by W. C. White, veteran worker, the son of Mrs. E. G. White.
I. H. Evans will give a series of lectures on Evangelism; and the writer is scheduled for a series on Winning the Youth to Christ.
Come!
More and more we believe our progressive young ministers will take an occasional summer off to attend the Advanced Bible School. The summer session this year is divided into two terms of five weeks each. Each term is a separate unit. Some may be able to come for only one term, although it would be far better to stay through the entire session. The school begins June 15, four days after the close of the General Conference session, and closes August 21.
The "Testimonies for the Church" urge us to thorough investigation of God's word:
"I have been shown that in both the Old and the New Testament are mines of truth that have scarcely been touched. The truths revealed in the Old Testament are the truths_ of the gospel—of Christ. --Heavnly veins of truth are lying beneath the surface of Old Testament history. Precious pearls of truth are to be gathered up, which will require not only laborious effort, but spiritual enlightenment."—Mrs. E. G. White, in Review and Herald, Feb. 4, 1890.
The earnest and reverent spirit of research on the part of the students, the sound scholarship of the instructors, and the absence of unsavory and profitless debate, have characterized this work from the first. One of our college Bible teachers in attendance said:
"The instructors are men who hold the respect and confidence of us all, not only for scholarship, but for experience and spirituality. This school is providing graduate work of equal scholarship with that given in the universities, but free from the taint of such instruction, and adapted to the particular needs of this cause."
For further information, send for the Advanced Bible School Bulletin. Address, M. E. Kern, Dean, Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.
