Cotner University - Croaker Yearbook (Bethany, NE)

Page 24 text:

THE BULL DOG Department of Sacred Literature A chair in Sacred Literature was one of the first to be established and endowed in Cotner College. Before the opening of its first session, a chair, known as the Briscoe Bible Chair, re- ceived a gift of S25,000.00, made by J. Z. Briscoe, then president of the board of trustees. The present head of the Department was chosen and has continued to fill the position until the present time. A number of the ablest Bible scholars in the Christian Church have been associated with the work since its beginning. Its faculty was never stronger, than at the present. While Cotner was designed to sus- tain the highest standards as a College of Liberal Arts and to offer the best training in Music and Art, it was a primary purpose of its founders to furnish an atmosphere of Christian Cul- ture. For graduation in any college course, studies in New Testament His- DR- WILLIAM PRINCE tory and Christian Evidences are re- AYLSWORTH quired. Other Biblical studies are of- fered as electives for which full credit is given for work thoroughly done. Not only as a basis of character build- ing, but as contributing to both ethical and literary culture, the study of the Great Text Book is of primary value. For those who plan to enter ministerial and missionary work, special opportunities are ofered. Strong courses in all parts of both the Old and New Testaments are offered as the essential foundation of Christian work. Training in the art of preaching, pastoral problems and missionary prep- aration is given, both in class work and lectures. Church History, Ethics, and Philosophy are carefully taught. The Young Men's and Young Women's Associations contribute to general moral and religious culture. The Student Volunteers and Ayls- worth Club give encouragement and inspiration to those preparing for missionary and ministerial service. The attendance from the beginning, has been uniformly good. More than three hundred have gone from Cotner Halls into the Christian Min- istry. They have not only iilled a large per cent of pulpits of the Christian Church in Nebraska and adjoining territory, but are found in many of the most important pastorates in all parts of the United States. Three of the National Secretaries are graduates of Cotner. Forty-six missionaries have gone into all parts of the world, home and abroad. A goodly num- ber are now preparing to enter missionary service. mmm IQZZ Page Eighteen

Page 23 text:

THE BULL DOG DR. ANDREW DAVIDSON HARMON President of Cotner College The function of a college is variously estimated according to the life view point of the individual. If the view point of life is materialistic, the individual regards the function of a college to prepare the student to mass dollars. If the view point is pose and social position, the individual esti- mates a college in the light of its ability to produce urbanities and social finish. The promoters of Cotner hold that the function of a college is to pre- pare youth for service, and that the one who is prepared to serve, will in the long run secure all other things as a by product. ' Those who are devoting themselves to this view of life, and are spend- ing themselves without stint upon the men and women in their class rooms, are presented in their likenesses upon the following pages. 1922 Page Seventeen

Page 25 text:

i' H ' ' ' ' C Wu lf THE BULL DOG Philosophy Philosophy! The bubble before the intellect. Ravishingly beautifulg tan- talizingly elusive, oppressively real, and flittingly phantasmagoric. Philoso- phy! The stimulant and the narcotic of nations, the maker and breaker of peoples. Somewhiles God inclusive, otherwhiles God exclusive. Gnostic and agnostic. Optimistic one period, pessi- mistic the next. Reverent in one life, arrogantly bhasphemous in another Yet all the while arbiter of men's des- tinies. For as men think so they act. For more than two millenniums In- dia has wailed and waited because she has thought tears and fatalism. Greece thought harmony. That thought is re- flected today in the world's poetry, music, sculpture, and architecture. Rome's conception of power gave to the world her bloody militarism. Lock's denial of innate ideas led to the French Revolution, the Prussian Empire, American Independence, and the religious movement known as the Disciples of Christ. The revival of the Vedanta philosophy and Zoroastrianism in Schopenhauer and Nietzsche turned the world backwards, drenched uncounted millions in blood and sorrow, and plunged nations into a grave of pessimism. Yes. As a few men have thought the multitudes have acted. Jesus Christ offers Himself as the world's saviour. To become such He must change men's thinking. It is rational then that Repentance should be the basic element in all his work. To act differently one must think dif- ferently. Philosophy thus becomes the handmaid of religion, and con- tributes vitally to the world's life. Right thinking is fundamental to right acting. Cotner's idea of teaching philosophy is not only to trace the thinking of ages past, but to relate the thought of Jesus Christ to the life of today. For when the last word has been said, Freedom- salvation still remains philosophy's biggest and ever perennial problem. J. K. SHELLENBERGER 1922 'A 'ff MM' - ' . . ' 1 - gi N' -1 - 'aw :ni 1