p. 6 | College Men Studying the Bible by Byron E. Tefft

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 29, 1912

“College Men Studying the Bible”

By Byron E. Tefft

BYRON E. TEFFT

For 1260 years God’s two witnesses prophesied, clothed in sackcloth. Since the close of that period, the Bible, in whole or in part, has been translated into 450 languages and dialects. In the year 1907-08, one Bible society (the British and Foreign) circulated 5,688,381 Bibles or parts of it. From 1875 to 1900 the American Bible Society sent out to the world 9,126,515 complete Bibles.

Time and again men have said the Bible would become obsolete; that advanced thought and civilization would outgrow it. To-day the copies of the Scriptures published and sold are far greater in number than those of any other book, and the demand is increasing. Some time ago the country was startled by the revelation of the amount of infidel sentiment among leading college presidents and professors. Their position and statements as published in the Cosmopolitan led to the conclusion that as far as the universities were concerned, the Bible was a repudiated book. But as it has been in the past, so it is now; when its enemies suppose it has expired, it arises with fresh life and vigor.

In Farm and Fireside, Sept. 25, 1911, John E. Bradley, ex-president of Illinois College, says:—

“Nowhere has the new interest in Bible study been more marked than among college students. Ten years ago President Thwing, of Western Reserve University, published facts and figures in a magazine article which indicated the astonishing and wide-spread ignorance of the Bible among students. No doubt such ignorance still remains among large numbers of them. But a wave of enthusiasm for Biblical study has been started which is spreading among higher institutions of every class.

“‘In September, 1904, a company of young men was gathered in one of the fraternity houses in Michigan University. A student who was then captain of both the football and baseball teams of the university said that, as they knew, he had been active in college life, and now that he had come to his last year in the university, he wanted to say to them that he realized that students face some pretty serious problems and temptations in college. He thought these problems could best be considered in connection with the study of the Bible.

“‘I confess,’ he said, ‘that I know little of the book myself, but I am determined

to begin its study myself, and if there is no one else to do it, I will lead a group of athletic men in my own fraternity house.’ A surprising number of the company immediately expressed a desire to join in the study, and the result was the formation at once of numerous groups for Bible study in fourteen fraternities in Michigan University.

“The movement, thus begun, spread like the dawn of a new day. Last year there were 4,939 fraternity men studying the Bible in voluntary groups in their own society houses in this country. Schools and colleges having no fraternities responded no less freely. All sections and all classes of institutions have been reached. In the United States and Canada, 539 colleges reported large numbers last year pursuing Bible study in some form, more than 32,000 being in self-taught, voluntary groups. These figures are merely suggestive, straws that show which way the wind blows. . . .

“It must be a source of great satisfaction to the parents of tens of thousands of these youths, whose homes are on the farms of the Middle West, to know that students are thus turning of their own accord, and in such numbers, to the study of the Bible,—to know that their sons and daughters are in an atmosphere which honors the Word of God and studies it for guidance in the midst of conflict and temptations.

“Parents will also be glad to know that these were not weak or ‘goody-goody’ students, but that they included the leading men in their various colleges, as is shown by the fact that 795 of them were class presidents, 885 were prize winners, 696 were editors of college papers, 1,383 were members of college glee clubs, and 1,445 were members of university football teams.

“The college faculties have not been slow to recognize the educational value of this amount of Bible study. They also testify to its moral value. It is one thing to commit to memory a certain number of Bible verses; it is quite another thing to study Bible characters and Bible principles, and make them practical in our own lives. This study is already bearing fruit in more thoughtful habits among students, greater appreciation of personal responsibility, and higher aims as these young men and young women look forward into life.”

In the Homiletic Review, Mr. Clayton S. Cooper speaks of the “mighty and growing stream of Biblical interest that is rising in the colleges, with a similar interest springing up in the church itself.” He gives the names of twenty-five representative universities and colleges, with their total attendance and the number enrolled in Bible study classes. These include Yale, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Stanford, and Columbia.

“This movement,” he says, “appears to be largely in the hands of the brightest and ablest undergraduates, and to have reached ‘students of all classes of opinion, of all races, of all vocations.’”

There are in these Bible classes: “1,522 members of varsity football teams; 1,454 members of college glee clubs; 633 editors of college papers; 1,402 members of varsity baseball teams; 755 class presidents; 712 members of varsity basket-ball teams; 1,053 members of varsity track teams. It was reported that 28,562 men in 409 institutions have attended Bible classes for two months or more; 9,089 men in 338 institutions follow habits of daily Bible study; 6,156 non-Christian men in 302 institutions were in Bible classes; 1,252 men were led into the Christian life through the Bible classes in 101 institutions; 33,657 student Bible-study textbooks were purchased.”

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” Acts 2:17. The mightiest movements of earth’s history will be the closing conflicts between good and evil. The third angel’s message is founded wholly on the Bible. We are glad to see men turn to the study of the Word; it will do them good. Some through this means will become wise unto salvation.

National City, Cal.