by Amanda Horne
Oklahoma Baptist University’s Language and Literature Department is introducing three new professors beginning this fall semester.
Jonathan Callis, Matthew Mullin and Peter Biles said they are excited to become part of OBU’s vision of Christ-centered, academically rigorous education.
Lyda Wilbur, chair of OBU’s Language and Literature Department, spoke about the need for new instructors.
“We have been working shorthanded for quite some time, and that’s because we’ve had people who retired,” Wilbur said. “Then, you have to have the right person for the positions.”
In the creative writing program, Ben Myers has been the only instructor. He teaches Honors, creative writing, literature and Western Civilization.
Biles will now work alongside Myers as both an instructor and a mentor for aspiring young writers in the creative writing program.
Biles described his gratitude for the new role.
“I’ve taught composition in the past at other institutions,” Biles said. “This is definitely my first opportunity to mentor in such a way that it’s mainly creative writing students who are trying to become fiction writers or poets or, in some cases, even journalists or essayists.
“I think they’ll be hungering to improve. I’m really looking forward to that. I had professors who took the time to do that for me, and I think it made a big difference.”
Callis and Mullin will serve as professors of English and British literature.
Their offices are impressive libraries filled with classics, including “Paradise Lost,” “Inferno,” “Robinson Crusoe,” “Beowulf,” “Hamlet,” Augustine’s “Confessions,” “The Canterbury Tales” and “Perelandra.”
“The idea is that we use these books to reflect on what life means, what the story of the West is and how the Christian story has played out over thousands of years,” Callis said.
“I love getting to do that and trying to convince students that these things are worth reading, even if they’re scary.”
Callis displays a passion for classic literature and discovering the “deep truths” that lie within its pages.
To students bravely enduring the world of Western Civilization, Callis offered a message of hope.
“It’s a daunting task to read a bunch of books right now because people don’t read as much, and it seems like a chore,” Callis said. “I would say to just be receptive to the way the professors are teaching it and ask whether something in your life resonates with the stories being told.
“The kind of intellectual and spiritual wrestling that happens in Dante and in the ‘Aeneid,’ in Augustine and in so many things that we read — there’s a lot that people can actually find parallels for in their own lives.”
The truth of Callis’ statement was echoed only a couple of doors down in another professor’s office.
Mullin’s appreciation for OBU’s vision is evident, especially when he discusses academic excellence and the integration of faith.
“I think it’s a really neat blend of discipleship and evangelism,” Mullin said.
“Some of our students are followers of Christ and are looking to grow in their faith, and others are not. So, we’re bringing Christ into the classroom. That’s really exciting for me, especially as somebody who does early modern British literature. It is just so steeped in biblical culture, from Shakespeare to Milton and everything in between.”
Mullin further explained the relationship between the Bible and early works of British literature.
“The Bible is the one common frame of reference for all of those authors in the period,” Mullin said. “To be able to enhance a student’s biblical literacy, as well as their literacy of great works of Western literature, and hopefully help them deepen their own personal relationship with Christ — it’s really a very special thing that we have going on here.”
OBU displays a passion for transforming students from the inside out. Its faculty and staff seek to produce men and women who demonstrate excellence and virtue.
Wilbur reflected on that goal.
“I think that we need to prepare them to be successful in whatever career they end up choosing,” Wilbur said. “You become more aware of the world through what you’re reading, and then you can express the thoughts and ideas that you’re developing by putting them on a piece of paper, writing them out and telling your story.”
