Dallas Morning News on DTS Courses in Chinese
November 25, 2007
Dallas Theological Seminary offering online class to
students in China
Online class may be a 1st for nation wary of Christianity's spread
08:39 AM CST on Saturday, November 24, 2007
By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
samhodges@dallasnews.com
On the first day of fall classes, Mark Bailey, dressed in a sleeveless
sweater, white shirt and no tie, sat behind a desk in a Dallas
Theological Seminary lecture hall and told students what to expect from
his Bible study methods course.
Some students were inches away. Others were, literally, in China, and
watched via Internet as he delivered the happy news of no pop quizzes,
his words translated into Chinese across the screen like movie
subtitles.
"We pray for those around the world that will be viewing and
participating," said Dr. Bailey, president of the seminary as well as
one of its professors, in beginning the class a few minutes earlier.
There are many frontiers in the brave new world of online education,
and Dallas Theological Seminary has opened one of them, gaining the
approval of Chinese government officials for a program to train pastors
and other church workers in that fast-changing but still
communist-controlled country.
"We're not aware of another member school that is doing online learning
in Chinese for students in China," said Nancy Merrill, director of
communications and external relations for the Association of
Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, which has more
than 250 members.
DTS quietly experimented with online courses in Chinese last spring,
and officially began the program this fall. Sessions of Dr. Bailey's
course and one other are videotaped and translated into Chinese
subtitles.
Thirty students in China, as well as Chinese-speaking students in
Taiwan, Malaysia and the Ukraine, are enrolled. They access the video
by logging on to the seminary's Web site. They can choose to read the
subtitles in either traditional or simplified forms of Chinese, or in
English.
Chinese-speaking teaching assistants grade the students and supervise
online discussions groups.
"Students have to get used to studying online, both technically and
psychologically. But it is quite smooth," said Samuel Chia, a DTS
graduate who teaches in a Taiwan university.
A nation in transition
Today's China has embraced industrialization and capitalism and is
preparing to showcase itself as host of the 2008 Olympics. While
estimates of the prevalence of Christianity in China vary widely,
experts agree that it's growing fast there, as in much of Asia.
But the government of China remains under communist control, and
"continues to engage in systematic and egregious violations of freedom
of religion or belief," according to the most recent report of the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom.
For example, the Chinese government sanctions certain churches, but has
periodically cracked down on the unofficial Protestant house-church
movement.
Robert P. Weller, a China specialist at Boston University, said the
government wants to make sure that political unrest and "Christian-like
sects" don't come with the growth of Christianity.
"There is definitely a need for trained clergy, and one of China's
motivations to look to the U.S. may be that they worry most about
poorly trained pastors who may take their flocks in worrisome
directions," he said.
DTS, urged on by some of its graduates in Asia, began about four years
ago to make the case that it could train Chinese pastors who want a
conservative, evangelical theology.
"Their culture is very much built around invitation, and we in essence
said that, without compromising our biblical convictions or our
doctrinal statement, we would welcome an invitation to China to
contribute to theological education," Dr. Bailey said.
DTS might seem at first blush a particularly odd seminary partner for
China. It's a rigorous seminary (requiring four years, instead of the
usual three, for a master's degree) but also very conservative,
stressing biblical inerrancy and definite views about the end times.
But Dr. Weller said the test would be less about theological issues
than about whether Chinese officials felt DTS had some secret agenda to
foment political trouble.
"Aligning with a conservative school is not a strange choice for China,
which is perfectly at home with a rather conservative take on social
values," he said.
Touring the U.S.
Dr. Bailey and other DTS officials made three trips to China, and in
2006 hosted a Religious Affairs Bureau of Beijing delegation on the DTS
campus, for consultation about the online program and theological
education in general. While here, Dr. Bailey said, the officials
visited the homeless shelter run by First Baptist Church of Dallas, as
an example of charity work done by congregations. At a California stop
earlier on their U.S. tour, they attended worship services around July
Fourth, and heard churchgoers singing patriotic songs.
"That blew their minds," Dr. Bailey said.
DTS plans to add three more courses in Chinese this spring, and
eventually to translate 20 courses, at a development cost of about
$500,000. As many as 400 students at one time may eventually be
enrolled, said Mark Yarbrough, executive director of communications for
DTS.
Students who complete the program will get a Certificate of Graduate
Studies, and can apply to pursue a master's degree, though that would
require coming to the main DTS campus or one of its extension sites
around the country.
Online education has become a big deal at DTS, with 600 students
enrolled, from five continents. But the Chinese courses are the first
in a foreign language. Courses translated into Spanish will probably be
next, followed by Arabic.
Dr. Bailey said he's aware that the winds could change in China, and
that approval for the online program could be withdrawn. But he said
that he and other DTS officials decided that even a few years of
teaching there would be worthwhile.
For now, he said, the Chinese want the online courses, and just as
they're taught at DTS.
"All the government officials have told us, 'Don't water this down,' "
Dr. Bailey said.
For more information on Chinese online education classes, please visit http://www.dts.edu/chinese
