237 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT DESIGNED BY OLIVIA DUNN JUNIOR MICAH GILL proposed a discussion-based ethics class to assistant professor of Bible and ministry Mac Sandin for an in-depth study on goodness, knowledge and virtue. Sandlin and the deans accepted Gill’s idea, and together they created Aristotelian Ethics, a study of Aristotle, Niche and MacIntyre for the fall 2021 semester. Gill helped build the syllabus and discussed which philosophers to study throughout the semester. When the 2021-22 school year began, Gill’s leadership role shifted to a student, and Sandlin led and facilitated the discussions. “The class has taught and is teaching us how to be better people,” Gill said. “What more do you want out of a class than that?” Aristotelian Ethics was Sandlin’s sixth course to teach in fall 2021. Students were in the class because they chose to be and were motivated to do the work, such as 1,000 pages of reading and a research paper. “It changes the nature of my role as the professor because I have to do a lot less work trying to inspire the students to want to value the information,” Sandlin said. “Instead, I’m fanning the flames that are already there.” Gill invited his peers to take part in the seminar, handpicking every member of the class including two sophomores, four juniors and eight seniors. Senior Elly John wanted to take a class that allowed her to complete an Honors contract and that appealed to her love of reading. This class was a perfect fit. “I liked the idea of taking a more discussion-based class, a smaller class and getting to read more,” John said. “That’s why I chose this class.” She said other Bible classes she had taken were textualbased, but this class was different because of the study on different outlooks using human narrative and resources to look at God and his people. It was unique to have many different departments such as business, social work and Bible represented in the upper-level Bible course. “It’s enveloping so many things from theology and philosophy and ethics and a lot of that is tied together,” senior Grant Countess said. “It can reach into business. It can reach into practical traditions. That is what I love about a class like this. It is interdisciplinary, and you can see the threads of this everywhere.” Sandlin saw the value of this course in the course content as well as the community creation and relationship building. “This is the work, this is the vocation, this is the thing that God has called and equipped and placed me to do, so there’s a joy and a sense of responsibility,” Sandlin said. “I want students to know this is a possibility, and I think the curriculum increasingly will make room for courses like this in various departments.” WRITTEN BY EMILY STINNETT BIG MAC little micah Junior Micah Gill creates a Bible course with Bible and ministry faculty member Mac Sandlin. STUDENT PROFESSOR Junior Micah Gill teams up with assistant professor of Bible and ministry Mac Sandlin in his office. Gill proposed a study on Aristotelian ethics for fall 2021. Photo by: Julianne Baker
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