Prof. Jeff Jensen has been a faculty member at The Master’s University since 2000. In addition to teaching TMU’s general education world history courses each semester, he also assists the Provost’s Office administrative team. Recently, we sat down with him to ask about his philosophy of teaching and some of the moments that have shaped his spiritual and professional life.
In 1986, I needed a roommate to share a house I was living in. I came from a Catholic background. I advertised, “Wanted: Male Christian Roommate,” and a born-again believer answered the ad.
God orchestrated a series of situations where the gentleman shared the truth with me. He walked the walk. He wasn’t perfect, but he was legitimate. He bought me a Bible and said, “Hey, wanna read the Bible with me?”
I was open to reading the Bible, I just hadn’t done it. I was biblically illiterate. So I started reading, particularly the New Testament, and that’s how I eventually came to know the Lord.
Then I heard about this place that taught Old Testament, New Testament, and how to study the Bible. And I thought, “I need to go there. I don’t know anything about Bible interpretation. I just know I love Jesus and want to learn.” So I came to TMU (at that time TMC).
What moved me to pursue history as a discipline was this: Thanksgiving Eve, 1990. I was a college student living in an off-campus apartment. At that point, I had sold my car because I couldn’t afford it. I was not able to find a ride to the Thanksgiving Eve service because my friends had left for break. The people I knew didn’t live in the area, so they had all gone home. I thought, “Well, I have a night. All my friends are gone. What am I going to do? You know what, let’s watch a program.”
So I bike to the Blockbuster store just up the street, walk to the documentary section, and boom, it’s staring me in the face: “45/85: America and the World Since World War II.” It had Ted Koppel and Peter Jennings, who were well-respected journalists.
There was nobody in my apartment, just me and my VCR. I popped the first volume in the VHS machine. A few minutes in, I remember saying to myself, “Where have I been? This is awesome. What in the world?” And that really reignited a passion for history in me that had been there as a boy. In about 10 minutes on a Wednesday night in 1990, it just exploded back onto my horizon. And in a sense, that event altered my life.
To this day, I still have those four programs, and I treasure them. I watch them about every year, and it brings back all the good memories.
I think I’m more passionate today than I was when I started. I think I’m way more jazzed about what I’m doing now, if that’s possible. And the reason is this: I’m not teaching history. I’m not teaching dates and dead people. The reality is, I’m teaching God’s sovereign plan for humanity.
God has a reason for everything. On this side of heaven, I will not be able to understand “why” everything has happened. But I can tell you this: God is in control. And so everything that’s happened is under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty. This is not man’s history. This is truly HIS-story. That’s not a cliche, that’s the truth. Ephesians 1:11: “God works all things” — comprehensive all — “after the counsel of His will.”
People might tend to think there is biblical history and there is secular history. And I think, no, it’s all God’s sovereign plan for humanity. There is no such thing as “secular history.” A biblical view of all history is the only true history there is.
I always like to say that studying history is about as biblical as it gets. People sometimes don’t make the connection. This isn’t about history – man’s actions apart from God’s sovereignty – this is about God’s unfolding lessons for life. We need to be humble and wise and learn them.
Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” That’s a related verse to Ephesians 1:11. We’re not told that we’ll be able to understand everything that happens here on Earth. We know from Scripture the true character of God, and we are told to believe and walk in that. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully.”
Being able to impart a biblical worldview to students. That’s just an awesome opportunity. And secondly, to extrapolate the events and lessons of history and apply it to their lives. It’s the, “Okay, what’s today’s takeaway? What does this event mean for my life?” That’s the beauty of a biblical worldview. I get to say, “Here is this event. What lessons can we learn from it? Essentially, how does this make me a better follower of Jesus Christ?” That’s priceless.
I find all of history fascinating, but if I had to pick one, I’d say the 20th century. And the reason is that it really forms the world we live in today to an unbelievable degree. Two world wars, the Great Depression, a 50-year ideological struggle in the Cold War, and the unbelievable advances in technology.
Just one example to bring that point home: In 1903, the Wright brothers first flight was 120 feet in 12 seconds. In 1969, we put a man on the moon. Those kinds of major developments form the world we live in and the world my students will inherit.
If I had to boil historical understanding down, the takeaway would be a phrase: The past informs the present. If you want to understand the world today, you need to understand what happened before today. There is always a context.
Learn more about how TMU’s history program is helping students develop biblical philosophies of history and politics here.
Josephine Lee graduated in May as a double major in communications and interdisciplinary studies.
