BiolaCatalog2014-2015NA

General Information

Biola’s community can make a difference in their families, churches, communities and vocations for Christ’s Kingdom. We believe that service is an act of worship to God. As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we desire to worship God by living in a way that is worthy of the calling we have received. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ intends His Church to be a multi- ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-national body of believers. We have been called to respect, and when appropriate, reflect the diversity of God’s kingdom throughout the world. As believers, we have a responsibility to spread the Gospel through evangelism, missions and outreach. We believe that we have been blessed with kingdom resources and purposes and desire to steward them in a God-honoring way. Our desire is to manage our time, money and gifts and to care for the students, whose lives have been entrusted to us, in a way that models a commitment to excellence and a total-life attitude of stewardship. University Learning Outcomes Speaking in the broadest language, the “outcomes” of Biola University are graduates equipped in mind and character to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. This, indeed, is the mission of the University. The values of the University are Truth, Transformation, and Testimony, and we carry out our mission in alignment with these values. Our mission and values lead to three University Learning Outcomes for students in all degree programs. University Learning Outcome 1: (Mind/Truth/Patterns of Thought) All students will be equipped in patterns of thought enveloped in truth. University Learning Outcome 2: (Character/Transformation/ Patterns of Heart) All students will be equipped in patterns of heart rooted in the image of Jesus. University Learning Outcome 3: (Impact/Testimony/Patterns of Action) All students will be equipped in patterns of action to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. All undergraduate and graduate degree programs are designed around Program Learning Outcomes that support these University Learning Outcomes. Accreditation and Affiliations Biola University holds institutional accreditation by the Senior College and University Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges * (1961). In addition, the institution and certain of its programs are accredited by the American Psychological Association (1980), the Association of Theological Schools (1977), the National Association of Schools of Music (1970), the State of California Board of Registered Nursing (1966), the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (2007), the California Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing (1960), the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (1997) and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (1998). Note: Dates in ( ) reflect the initial approval date. Biola University is authorized to train students under the Veteran’s Bill of Rights. In addition, the University is affiliated with a number of professional organizations, of which the following are representative: American Anthropological Association; American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers; American Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation; American Council on Education; American Guild of Organists; American Intercollegiate Athletic Women; American Library Association; American Psychological Association; Associated Collegiate Press; Association of Christian Schools, International; Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs; Association of College Unions International; American Association of Higher Education; Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities; California Association of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation; California Council on the Education of Teachers; Choral Conductors’ Guild (California); Council for Christian Colleges and Universities; Christian Scholar’s

Review; College Entrance Examination Board; Council on Post- secondary Accreditation; Evangelical Teacher Training Association; Intercollegiate Press; Music Educator’s National Conference; National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics; Western Association of Graduate Schools; Western Council on Higher Education for Nursing; and Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. * If you wish to contact the Western Association of Schools and Colleges for any concerns, please contact them at: 985 Atlantic Ave., Suite 100; Alameda, CA 94501; (510) 748-9001; or online at: wascsenior.org/contact. Doctrinal Statement Inasmuch as the University is interdenominational and yet theologically conservative, the Articles of Incorporation contain the doctrinal statement noted below: The Bible, consisting of all the books of the Old and New Testaments, is the Word of God, a supernaturally given revelation from God Himself, concerning Himself, His being, nature, character, will and purposes; and concerning man, his nature, need and duty and destiny. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are without error or misstatement in their moral and spiritual teaching and record of historical facts. They are without error or defect of any kind. There is one God, eternally existing and manifesting Himself to us in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus was supernaturally conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin—Mary, a lineal descendant of David. He lived and taught and wrought mighty works and wonders and signs exactly as is recorded in the four Gospels. He was put to death by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate. God raised from the dead the body that had been nailed to the cross. The Lord Jesus after His crucifixion showed Himself to be alive to His disciples, appearing unto them by the space of 40 days. After this, the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, and the Father caused Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church.” The Lord Jesus, before His incarnation, existed in the form of God and of His own choice laid aside His divine glory and took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. In His pre- existent state, He was with God and was God. He is a divine person possessed of all the attributes of Deity, and should be worshiped as God by angels and man. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” All the words that He spoke during His earthly life were the words of God. There is absolutely no error of any kind in them, and by the words of Jesus Christ the words of all other teachers must be tested. The Lord Jesus became in every respect a real man, possessed of all the essential characteristics of human nature. By His death on the cross, the Lord Jesus made a perfect atonement for sin, by which the wrath of God against sinners is appeased and a ground furnished upon which God can deal in mercy with sinners. He redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse in our place. He who Himself was absolutely without sin was made to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The Lord Jesus is coming again to his earth, personally, bodily, and visibly. The return of our Lord is the blessed hope of the believer, and in it God’s purposes of grace toward mankind will find their consummation. The Holy Spirit is a person, and is possessed of all the distinctively divine attributes. He is God. Man was created in the image of God, after His likeness, but the whole human race fell in the fall of the first Adam. All men, until they accept the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior, are lost, darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, hardened in heart, morally and spiritually dead through their trespasses and sins. They cannot see, nor enter the Kingdom of God until they are born again of the Holy Spirit. Men are justified on the simple and single ground of the shed blood of Christ and upon the simple and single condition of faith in Him

3

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker