In 1936 J. R. R. Tolkien gave the annual Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture to the British Academy. This talk was later published as the essay “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” The primary point of this lecture and later essay was the offering of a defense for studying the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf as a poetic work. It sounds obvious but Tolkien was convinced that this needed to be emphasized. He memorably characterizes the “whole industry” of Beowulf scholarship in his day with the following allegory:
A man inherited a field in which was an accumulation of old stone, part of an older hall. Of the old stone some had already been used in building the house in which he actually lived, not far from the old house of his fathers. Of the rest he took some and built a tower. But his friends perceived at once (without troubling to climb the steps) that these stones had formerly belonged to a more ancient building. So they pushed the tower over, with no little labour, in order to look for hidden carvings and inscriptions, or to discover whence the man’s distant forefathers had obtained their building material. Some suspecting a deposit of coal under the soil began to dig for it, and forgot even the stones. They all said: ‘This tower is most interesting.’ And even the man’s own descendants, who might have been expected to consider what he had been about, were heard to murmur: ‘He is such an odd fellow! Imagine his using these old stones just to build a nonsensical tower! Why did not he restore the old house? He had no sense of proportion.’ But from the top of that tower the man had been able to look out upon the sea.[1]
This allegorical depiction captures Tolkien’s frustration that scholarly critics could seemingly neither analyze nor enjoy the tower (i.e., the poem Beowulf) simply as a tower (i.e., as a story). Rather, from Tolkien’s perspective, their scholarly endeavors had allegorically “pushed the tower over.” And in doing so, as Tolkien’s metaphor seeks to explain, they were thus unable to appreciate what the original Beowulf poet had appreciated and still invites all readers to enjoy, to “look out upon the sea,”—that is, to have the ability to appreciate a vista or viewpoint that can only be seen when one reads the story as the original poet had intended, i.e., as a poem, as a story.
Bethlehem College and Seminary is the kind of school that teaches students to look out upon reality, both in the Bible and in the world, and see the amazing glory of Christ in all things. In the Bible, that makes sense. See the glory of Christ in the world? Why think we can do that?
The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:16–17, for “by Christ all things were created” and “all things were created through him and for him” and Christ “is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” As John Piper, the Chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary notes, this biblical passage “is the deepest foundation stone of Bethlehem College and Seminary. All things not only belong to Christ, but all things display Christ.”[2] All things testify to the glory of Christ.
It’s with this foundational claim in mind that we uphold the following mission statement: “Under the authority of God’s inerrant word, Bethlehem College and Seminary exists to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ by equipping men and women to treasure Christ above all things, to grow in wisdom and knowledge over a lifetime, and to glorify God in every sphere of life.”
We summarize this mission statement with our slogan an “Education in Serious Joy”! Our education seeks to shape students into being joyful lovers of God in all things for a lifetime, not merely offering technical, professional, or career training. Bethlehem College and Seminary seeks to educate the whole person. Jesus’ greatest command was for us to“love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37), and that doesn’t just apply at one’s place of employment. We should seek to love and glorify God in every area of life, and we believe a good Christian education should help students to do that. In other words, we want every student at Bethlehem to graduate as a mature adult ready to witness for Christ with wisdom and wonder for the rest of their lives.
Interested in learning how to see the glory of Christ in everything, especially the Bible? Then join us this Sept. 24–27 for our “Experience Bethlehem” weekend at Godward Life 2026! Godward Life is the best opportunity each year to get a taste for the “Education in Serious Joy” we offer at Bethlehem College and Seminary. Throughout the weekend, you will get to experience the Bethlehem community, sit in on live classes, tour campus, meet the faculty, and worship and learn alongside believers from across the globe at Godward Life 2026.
This year, we have crafted a few days of intentional opportunities for you to experience each facet of life at Bethlehem as you make one of the biggest decisions of your life. Additionally, registrants for “Experience Bethlehem” and their families will receive complimentary registration to Godward Life.
Thursday | Preview Afternoon
Includes a live class session, program overviews, campus tour, dinner, and a bonfire.
Friday | Godward Life
Recommended Morning Workshops
Dr. Mark Dickson
Jonathan Edwards on God’s Ultimate Purpose for the World
Dr. Brian Hanson
Reflecting on 250 Years: The Struggle for Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience and Worship in Early America
Recommended Afternoon Workshops
Dr. Zach Howard
Good and Fast: Athletics, Virtue, and the Liberal Arts
Dr. Betsy Howard
Letters and Literary Repentance
Saturday | Godward life
Recommended Morning Workshops
Dr. James McGlothlin
Jonathan Edwards on the Beauty of Holiness
Jake Thompson
Theology and the True Purpose of the Liberal Arts
Admissions Lunch and Faculty Panel
Sunday
Focus Sunday Services feat. Bethlehem Alumni and Faculty
Bethlehem Baptist Church | 9 or 11am
Sunday Services
The North Church | 9 or 11am
So come experience Bethlehem this September! Registration link here.
James C. McGlothlin, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of College Programs &
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Theology
[1] J. R. R. Tolkien, “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, ed. Christopher Tolkien (HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 7–8.
[2] John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (Crossway, 2010), 188.