Azusa Pacific University is known for its integration of Christian faith into all of its offered disciplines of study, and perhaps no area more so than the Department of Theology, which prepares students interested in actively pursuing their faith in their vocations after graduation. Program director Paul Boles ’99 earned his BA at APU where he realized that he could combine his callings of teaching and ministry to help others, and he hopes to inspire his students by sharing what he knows.
Going to church was a central part of Boles’ upbringing. His father was a minister at a Presbyterian church in Covina, allowing Boles to grow in his faith early in life. He also decided early on that he was called to teach. Boles attended Mount San Antonio College where he intended to earn his associates degree to become a kindergarten teacher. His time at Mount SAC helped to bring faith back to the forefront of his life. Boles joined a group of friends that were all interested in renewing their faith. “That friendship provided a community for me to share what God was doing in my life, and as I became more invested in my faith I had a desire to read and learn more about it.”
In his sophomore year, Boles felt called to pursue ministry. His dream to teach kindergarten shifted to becoming a college professor. He also decided that he would become an ordained minister so that he could teach under the authority and in service of the church. After earning his Associate’s Degree at Mount SAC, Boles enrolled at APU for his junior and senior years. Having grown up so close to APU, he knew that the university offered a biblical studies program that would help him achieve his goals.
Boles instantly knew that APU was where God wanted him to be. “Attending APU was an enriching time in my life,” he said. “It was an extension of who I was and who I was becoming. Watching my dad faithfully preach on Sundays and care for others was central to my development as a kid. At APU, I was able to come into my own sense of faith with my friends and studies which felt very natural.” Boles also said that he loved the community aspect of his time at APU. The university’s commitment to the community of people and the church was an important context to his academic studies.
After graduating from APU, Boles attended seminary to become a chaplain and pastor. He didn’t immediately apply for graduate school and had limited job options. “I was preparing to teach but I felt called in a different direction,” he said. Boles pastored a small congregation which he said was a beautiful and formative experience. He was also a children’s hospital chaplain for two years.
Boles shared a memory from his time as a chaplain that solidified his desire to further his education and eventually teach theology. “At the children’s hospital, there was a two year old boy dying of cancer,” he said. “That boy was my first baptism and my first funeral.” When he saw the boy’s mother after he had died, she said that ‘God needed him more than me.’ While Boles knew it was no time to talk to her about theology, he realized how important it is to study theology. “Those are things that people say because they want to be comforted, but it’s not a long-term working statement,” he said. “Studying theology is crucial because we will all do theological thinking at some point in our lives. When times of crisis come, we will reach into our pockets and pull out whatever theological ideas somehow got in there. If we haven’t thought carefully about things beforehand, we don’t know what we will pull out when the time comes, and we don’t know if what we pull out will be true and ultimately helpful. Studying theology helps us pull out more careful, thoughtful, and healthy ways of thinking and being.”
Eventually, Boles applied for graduate school and earned his doctorate in Christian history specializing in historical preaching at Claremont Graduate University. During his time in graduate school, Boles continued to contact one of his philosophy professors from APU. The professor asked him to come back and teach as an adjunct professor in 2010. In 2012, a full-time church history professor position opened, and Boles landed the job.
Boles hopes his teaching helps his students grow in their faith. “Theology allows us to ask deep questions about the fundamental aspects of life,” he said. “We can ask who God might be and what our relationship with Him is. Everyday relationships aren’t reciprocal when someone doesn’t ask about you. Asking about God is an expression of relationship with him.” Boles also said that studying theology teaches practical skills such as critical thinking, social development, and high reading comprehension through the curriculum of texts written by deep thinkers. “For me, theology is ultimately satisfying theoretically, faithfully, and practically because asking the big questions of life informs how I preach, teach, and speak to my students, colleagues, and family.”
Having studied church history in graduate school, Boles has a passion for teaching his students about the bigger picture of Christianity. “Looking through a historical lens helps us to step outside of ourselves,” he said. “We tend to experience faith as if we are the first ones to believe. When we see how Christians lived throughout history in different times and places, we come into contact with the long-standing reality of God’s history with the world and humanity that stretched beyond us.”
Boles believes that through history we can also see that diversity in the Christian tradition is vital. He noted that John Wesley believed that Christians should hold firmly to their particular opinions and positions and commit to love each other in those differences.” Boles says that this implication is helpful because if we were all the same, we would only be loving ourselves, and that is not what God calls us to do. “History leads to a deeper understanding of faith, and from that I can become part of the church community,” he said. “But the church is not a community of people that I chose. God has chosen to bring us together and that is what makes us belong. The church, then, becomes a place where we are uniquely formed in love.”
As Boles continues on his faith journey, he keeps in mind the students that he interacts with. “Teaching at APU has been a wonderful coming together of pieces of me, my upbringing, and my call to ministry that has allowed me to continuously grow in my faith and care for others,” he said. “Being a chaplain and pastor was so life-giving because I love being with people at all stages of life, but to be with my students at pivotal times to speak and think about things of ultimate importance is extremely satisfying and rewarding.”