Is Online Education Unbiblical? One Professor Thinks So

I don’t know if the following is exactly what Beeson Divinity School believes, but it does come from one of her professors, Paul House.  Here we go:

“The Bible highlights face-to-face theological education. God sent his son, not just his word. Moses, Elijah, Huldah, Jesus, Barnabas, Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla mentored future servants of God. They did so face-to-face in community settings. They did so individually and in groups. They ate together. They prayed and worshipped God together. They suffered and shared together. They did use the medium of writing to advance their mission, but always to supplement synchronous education conducted in the same location as the learners. Jesus was able to send twelve disciples and then seventy disciples through such personal means. The early church multiplied disciples and ministers in this fashion.

Granted, we follow this pattern imperfectly even at our best. On campus we offer students tutorials, seminars, lectures, mentoring groups, chapel services, cross-cultural mission opportunities, and community events. We offer respect, support, and love to colleagues. Sometimes we are not sufficiently caring, and sometimes our students and constituent churches use us as credentialing factories. But at our best we hew towards the personal pattern. We try to do what Jesus did—teach, touch, and model in person. Even in our extension work we try to have an onsite person teach, a person who can answer questions, model community communication skills, pray with students, and give a human face to an institution perhaps far away. This work is not as personal as we should be on campus in community, but it tries to hew to the personal pattern.

This ancient pattern reflects ministry and human need. Ministers deal with people face-to-face, in community, and in real time relationships. The voice of the people’s shepherd, the touch of the deaconess’s hand, and the presence of God’s servants at crisis moments will last when all hard drives are discarded. Traditional personal programs sometimes fail. They often settle for less than their potential. We must strive harder to reach the biblical pattern, not seek a lower common denominator.”  (emphasis added, Source)

I’ve emphasized several statements in the above-quote to help the reader see how professor Paul House, of Beeson Divinity School, has argued his thesis.

While professor House has mentioned nothing about the Bible authorizing schools like Beeson Divinity, he somehow, has found in the Incarnation, the ministry of Jesus, and the early church, an established biblical pattern of how we should do Christian education in our today.

But this article is utter nonsense!  Do you hear me?  Utter nonsense!  I never expected such garbage from a school I highly esteem (but it must just be this one professor).

At any rate, the article is posted on the school’s website for everyone to read.  See here.