A Sundoulos Interview with Dr. Barry Corey

Sundoulos: Having come from a stand-alone seminary, what are some
ways you see that being a part of Biola University contributes to Talbot's
strengths? And the flip side: How does having a School of Theology
impact the University in unique ways? What role does Talbot play in the
ongoing mission of Biola?

Corey: That’s a great question. Biola University does contribute to Talbot’s
strengths. For example, it offers rich opportunities for collaboration
with other disciplines—and that actually happens. There’s a wonderful
community of richness here that all weaves together.

Being a part of a larger university, there are additional resources available
here, whether it’s the library, or interactions between faculty of the various
schools, or the learning resources that are available. I just think there’s a
richness in a university life which makes Talbot stronger.

There are, in my mind, three different models of seminary-university
relationships (I won’t name names): There are those where the university
hovers under the shadow of the seminary; there are those where the
seminary is just a remote outpost, connected in name only; and there are
those where there is a rich symbiotic relationship. Talbot at Biola has
increasingly found itself in that third category. That’s not always without
bumps in the road, but I truly believe that’s a healthy place to be.

On the flip side of that question, what does Talbot bring to the University?
I’m so glad to be part of a place like Talbot, because it reinforces my
own convictions, and I feel like I have an ally in what we’re trying to do
to maintain the ideological core of this institution. Talbot is a “biblical
conscience” of this institution. What I said in my installation address
is that I truly believe in the role that Talbot plays at Biola, this sense of
conscience. It’s not that no one else on campus thinks biblically, but
Talbot challenges us to cherish and nourish that. [Editor’s note: You
can watch video of Dr. Corey’s inaugural address, or download a PDF
transcript, at http://offices.biola.edu/president/inauguration/.]

Certainly there’s also the whole area of integration of faith and learning—
Talbot is in the crucible of it right here. It’s not just a theory about
theology being the queen of the disciplines—it actually happens here at
Biola. As I look out there and see Rosemead School of Psychology, or
the Crowell School of Business, or what’s happening in music or art—
whatever the field is, integration really happens here in this real laboratory
of learning.

Talbot faculty teach 30 hours of undergraduate Biblical Studies in that core part of the curriculum and that to me is absolutely central to what Biola is. I’ve been part of a seminary faculty for a long time, and then coming here, I don’t have to try to bridge a strained or disconnected relationship between seminary and undergraduate studies, just to continue to foster what’s already happening.

And, of course, Talbot has a key role in faculty hiring.

Sundoulos: When you stepped into the President’s office, you said you planned to “hit the ground listening,” to learn as much as you could not only about the University’s present, but also about its heritage. How do you see Talbot today as different than the Talbot of 20 or 30 years ago? How are we the same?

Corey: Unfortunately the facility’s still the same [laughter]—but we’re working on that! A couple years from now I hope I’ll be able to say that we have new facilities for Talbot. That’s very high on my list of priorities.

I imagine the diversity of the student body has changed—the mix of men and women, the diversity of denominational backgrounds, diverse ethnicity, especially Asian students. I think probably now more than before there are students coming here thinking in terms of different contexts of ministry than a traditional pastoral role in a local church.

The faculty has obviously changed in terms of its members, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the strong conviction by the faculty that the academic life that they live and their own commitment to the vitality of the local church ministry matter. When I was in Boston, I interacted some with folks at a renowned liberal seminary there. Once the interim dean told me, “It’s been years since we hired anyone on faculty who’s ordained to the ministry.” I think that’s a peculiar problem. Can you imagine saying that if you were dean of a medical school—it’s been years since we hired a physician, or a law school—we haven’t had a lawyer here for a while. But we really are about the ministry here. Our faculty are not only immersed in scholarship, but they’re pastoring churches, and they’re leading seminars, and they’re publishing, and they’re actively engaged in the crucible of ministry.

There’s more accessibility to a Talbot education than before, in the way we’re setting up sites in different parts of the country and the world, for example New York City and Kyiv.

When we think about accessibility of education, though, we need to be careful that we not become so spread out that we undermine the core of what we’re about—the role of interaction and spiritual development by the faculty in the life of the student. The rush to offer on-line courses—there are those who just say that’s the wave of the future, you’ve just got to go there—but I think maybe we need to think carefully about that. You can wind up undermining who you really are.

What hasn’t changed are some of the things I talked about earlier—the biblical bedrock, the love for the church, academic rigor, faculty who invest in their students, the scholar-practitioner role of the faculty—those things have not changed, and those should not change.

Sundoulos: What will you and your administration do to hold us firmly to our moorings?

Corey: That really is something I try to do very intentionally—thinking about it and talking about it regularly. Recently I had lunch here with Duane Litfin [President of Wheaton College], and he mentioned that it’s usually when you stop talking about something, when you realize that certain language has left your vocabulary after a number of years, you don’t have the conviction even to revisit those issues anymore. You say, “Oh yeah, we used to think that way, we used to talk about that.”

So what are we doing? We need to keep our conversation centered on those core convictions. We need to talk about spiritual formation, about biblical fidelity, about our role as part of the Great Commission. Let’s keep that part of our vocabulary so we don’t say after a time, “Hey, remember when we used to talk about that?”

Certainly on the functional side—the role of hiring faculty, selection of leadership of the institution, and the role of the Board. I mean, students come and go, but those three bodies—the Board, the Office of the President and the administration, and the faculty—that’s where erosion can occur if you’re not attending to it.