At this year’s very enjoyable BJU Seminary retreat at the Wilds, Dr. Robert Bell kindly agreed to sit for the first interview in what I hope to make a series, the 1Marks Interview Series. (While other ministries can afford to hire multiple Marks, βλογάπη has only one, and he actually pays to work here.)
I apologize for the somewhat low audio quality; I made the mistake of adjusting the laptop (on loan from Grace & Knowledge) on two or three occasions, and loud, unpleasant sounds on the recording were the result! I have since purchased a nicer microphone to help with other work I do, so future sessions should be greatly improved!
Here are some of the questions I asked Dr. Bell:
- How far along are you in your OTT? What does your beard have to do with it?
- How would you summarize your approach to biblical theology, especially as it relates to systematic theology?
- Whose approach has been most influential for you in this area?
- What do you think of Bruce Waltke’s OTT?
- Do you think fundamentalism needs more scholars?
- Do you think Bible software has overall increased your productivity or decreased it?
- I recently read David Gordon’s Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers.* His thesis is that media have shaped incoming seminary students by vastly decreasing their ability to interpret texts. Have you personally noticed such a decrease over your decades teaching?
*The questions I asked Dr. Bell actually contained no hyperlinks.