What experience have you had outside the U.S. and China?
I was a university professor in Nagoya, Japan (3 yrs), and then in Hong Kong (5 yrs).
Tell me a little bit about your wife. How did the two of you meet?
My wife is Chinese. She was born in China and lived through the Cultural Revolution. We met by chance in Canton, where I was teaching and where she was majoring in English.
What is it that fuels your passion for teaching American students about China and the Chinese people?
China is a huge hole in American consciousness. For millennia, it has usually had more wealth, power, and knowledge than any other nation. Yet Americans know almost nothing about China. As they realize the tremendous gulf between the world as they thought it was and the reality of China, students begin to reexamine other aspects of previous assumptions about themselves and their faith.
Are there any particular sites during the Trek that seem to impact the students more than others?
The city of Xi’an—with its magnificent wall as well as the Muslim Quarter—is probably everyone’s favorite part of the Trek. Perhaps the most thought-provoking site we visit is the Temple of Heaven, the largest temple complex in the world, dedicated not to Buddhist or Taoist deities, but to “the Heavenly Lord, the Emperor above.”
Can you think of any moments during the semester that you always look forward to, no matter how many years go by?
When we’ve finished the Trek, the students have had the opportunity to see how vast and varied China is. They’ve also had the experience of rubbing shoulders with “foreign” tourists; this usually helps them to see how far they themselves have come in their China experience.
How do you hope students will be changed by their CSP experience?
Primarily, I hope that they will be able to realize what is core to their faith, and what are cultural accretions and assumptions. This is not to say that those accretions ought to be jettisoned, but that the students will see them as non-essentials of true faith.
One alumna of the program mentioned to me that you encourage the students to get out in the community and establish relationships with the Chinese. Why is this an important aspect of the program, in your eyes?
I believe that a person doesn’t begin to really like a culture until they’ve made a friend from that culture. That friend becomes the one who helps the visitor see and appreciate things from the way the ones who have grown up in it do.
What kind of student would you consider to be a perfect candidate for this program?
One who is spiritually motivated and who is open to understanding different perspectives.
The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities is a higher education association of more than 180 intentionally Christ-centered institutions around the world. There are now 105 member campuses in North America and all are fully-accredited, comprehensive colleges and universities with curricula rooted in the arts and sciences. In addition, 76 affiliate campuses from 24 countries are part of the CCCU. The Council’s mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help its institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.