Welcome to my Home Page
Please explore my
virtual office. In doing so, I hope that you will discover answers to
your questions, whether about me, my roles in Baylor University’s Institute for Faith and Learning and Honors College, my
aims as a philosopher, or my desires for my students. I welcome your
email messages to me at Douglas_Henry@baylor.edu.
Of course, you are always welcome to visit my real office on the campus of Baylor University as well. Come by and
see me soon!
Contents
Biographical
Information
I am a native Oklahoman with an
abiding love for the wide-open spaces of the
I met my wife, Michele, in college,
and we committed our lives in marriage to one another before God in 1991.
We are expecting our first child, Zachary Christian, in January 2006, and look
forward to the deepening of wisdom prompted by parenthood. We have a cat, Lucy,
whose mischief and occasional affection are sources of continual commentary in
our home.
Among my personal interests, I
especially enjoy most any kind of outdoor activity, entertaining, travel,
reading, and playing the piano. You may also be interested in my personal
faith journey, mission, and philosophy of teaching. Please use the links above to learn more.
Faith Journey
I entered the world the first-born
child of Christian parents who faithfully fulfilled their responsibilities to
bring me up in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph 6:4). Though childhood mischief would not have seemed to carry me far
from God, I early in life experienced anxiety about my inadequacies before God,
compounded by worry that I might not awake from each night’s sleep.
Through the counsel of my parents and pastor, I freely accepted Jesus as my
Savior and Lord as a seven-year-old boy. To this day, I remember the
cleanness I felt within, the joy of a new beginning unmarred by the errors of
the past, and the comfort of knowing God’s unfailing love for me. I also
remember the horror and grief resulting from my first lapse into sin following
my profession of faith and baptism, doubtless deriving from some long-forgotten
sibling rivalry. Such experiences brought me eventually to the conviction
that Christian faithfulness is a lifelong endeavor rather than a single-day
experience.
In response to a sense of calling
from God, I prepared for the ministry at a Christian liberal arts
college. While there, I encountered professors whose vision of God,
understanding of human nature, and commitment to spiritual discipline far
surpassed my own in breadth and depth. It did not take long for my vision
of Christian ministry to be reshaped by my admiration of their small community,
where an uncommon commitment to truth sustained a Christian discipleship to
which I aspired.
I now find my Christian calling
fulfilled through service as an academician.
Like my professors, I seek to inspire my students with larger visions of
Christian understanding and commitment, as well as to realize in community with
others the elusive, whole-hearted faithfulness to Christ toward which I strive.
Mission
My life's mission is to understand,
practice, and teach Christ's call to “love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”
(Matthew
Through teaching, I acquaint myself and my students with texts and ideas of enduring significance, fostering deeper reflection about the nature of God, humanity, and the world. My aim is cultivate a passion for knowing as well as ordering life by the truth, be it aesthetic, moral, philosophical, theological, or any other. This aim has long been fundamental to the academy, historically committed to seek truth through the free and open exchange of ideas. This aim is a fortiori fundamental to any Christians committed to the belief that “all truth is God’s truth.”
Through scholarship, I contribute
to my own resources for teaching, the intellectual vitality of my colleagues,
and the responsible deepening of understanding within my discipline. My
own positive experiences convince me that scholarship ought to take place in a
supportive, collegial environment. I therefore take seriously my role as
a constructive critic, collaborative contributor, and productive participant in
the serious life of the mind to which I commend my students.
Through service to
Philosophy of Teaching
Because Christian views of reality,
truth, and value are distinctive, Christian liberal education must be
distinctive. The church’s doctrine regarding the nature of God, creation,
the fall of humanity, the incarnation and redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and
the imminent return of Jesus endow Christian educators with a view of reality
consequential for their teaching. Thus, challenging students to think
about themselves and their world in light of these ideas constitutes one
dimension of my responsibilities as a Christian teacher.
Scripture’s place among Christians’
sources of knowledge also shapes the responsibilities of Christian
educators. The Bible holds a unique place in Christian epistemology as a
divinely inspired standard by which we must judge truth claims.
Consequently, I seek to teach with an awareness of and sensitivity to the
authority of the Bible.
Christian values spring out of
Christian views of reality and knowledge, and Christian values influence
Christian educators very practically. In particular, I seek to understand
my students’ limitations and possibilities, regard them as persons of infinite
value for whom Jesus died, meet their needs sacrificially, and provide them a
positive, character-building example.
In short, my philosophy of teaching
commits me to guide my students toward their own well-founded Christian frame
of reference. This does not entail that I merely communicate my own ideas
to them. Rather, I work hard to stimulate their own penetrating questions
and profound thinking about the relation of Christian beliefs and principles to
the substantive issues of their field of preparation and the larger world
around them. In so doing, I hope to enrich the lives of my students, the
vitality of my institution, and the work of the Church around the world.
Last revised: December
17, 2005