少有人走的路

Sometimes choosing the path less travelled offers some surprising benefits. For Kendall Davis ’16, pursuing the 圣经语言专业 at 欧文康考迪亚大学 made all the difference in his college experience. “It was the best thing I’ve done so far on my journey to becoming a pastor,” Kendall reflects.

神学 is a popular choice for students who see seminary in their future, but Concordia also offers another path. In the 圣经语言专业, Kendall took several 课程 in Greek 和 Hebrew: “You get good at reading Greek 和 Hebrew.” Kendall credits his language 课程 with giving him a strong footing for his graduate coursework at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, where he feels better prepared than many of his peers.

“The difference in skill level is stark,” says Kendall. “It really prepared me for the language portion of seminary in a way that it wouldn’t have if I had taken a different major. I can spend more time digging into the text because I’m not worried about looking up so many words. I can focus on what it actually says.”

Verb charts 和 vocabulary weren’t the only things Kendall mastered in the 圣经的语言 program. “I learned how to read the scriptures deeply 和 with fresh eyes,” he says. 他回忆起一堂课, 使徒约翰的文学, which required reading through the entire Gospel of John in Greek. “We weren’t just sitting around parsing verbs,” he says. “We were talking about what was being said 和 how it affects what Christ has done for us. It was academic, but we were reflecting on it spiritually. The focus is really on underst和ing the theology of the writers of the scriptures in their own words 和 their own context.”

Quite often it challenged him to examine what he thought he knew about theology. “I can’t even count how many things I had to rethink,” he says. “有时候很难. 但这总是值得的.”

Kendall is still in contact with some of his 教授, who were crucial in his decision to attend 欧文康考迪亚大学. It was while he was in high school in Houston, TX, that he found out that his pastor, Rev. Charles Mallie, was an alumnus of 欧文康考迪亚大学. Mallie encouraged him to visit the school. Kendall flew to Irvine to meet with faculty 和 was sold.

“The faculty do a good job of coming alongside 和 working with you, challenging you, he says. “他们是我的导师. 不仅仅是学术上的导师, but because they’re all pastors they have a very pastoral approach in spirit.”

Kendall used his time at Concordia to pursue his other interests, 也, 包括第二专业 剧院. 他在康科迪亚很活跃 剧院项目, performing in the stage adaptation of C.S. 刘易斯的小说 直到我们有了脸, two Shakespeare plays, 和 capturing lead roles in 不计后果的 和 下降.

他还参加了 President’s 学术展示, an undergraduate research competition. 竞争的加剧, 他进入了决赛, allows students of any discipline to research 和 present a topic under the guidance of a faculty mentor. “It’s an opportunity to really dig into your discipline 和 explore what you’re interested in outside of class,肯德尔说。. “Now in grad school, I know how to do this kind of research.

Kendall says his undergraduate work in the 圣经语言专业 gave him the foundation not only for seminary, 但对于Ph值.D. he hopes to pursue, 和 eventually for his role as a pastor someday. “I learned how to study the scriptures to feed myself spiritually 和 be prepared to teach others 也.”