As You Look Toward Your Senior Year

Conference Interviews

Early in the senior year (fall quarter) the department prepares a dossier on each theology senior for distribution to the Michigan Conference and the Conferences within the Pacific Union, prior to the interview process which takes place in the fall and winter quarters. The dossier will contain the following information and documents:

1. A picture of the senior (and his/her spouse, children, or fiancé/fiancée where applicable);
2. Biographical information supplied by the senior;
3. Information on personal and church goals, work and employment experiences, leadership and evangelism experiences supplied by the senior;
4. Three letters of recommendation;
5. Evaluation from your supervising extern pastor;
6. Evaluations from the Religion Department faculty;
7. An unofficial copy of your transcript.

Interviews with officers of the Michigan Conference take place in November each year, and with Conferences in the Pacific Union usually late January or early February. Check with the department chair for the specific interview dates.

After the interview process the department chairman keeps in touch with the Conferences regarding the placement of seniors. Any questions, suggestions, or concerns can be discussed with the chair.

Senior Consecration Service

In the spring of each year a special consecration service is held. All Religion Department seniors are expected to attend and encouraged to invite their family and friends. A special speaker is chosen for the occasion, and a reception is held following the ceremony.

Senior Comprehensive Examination

A senior comprehensive examination covering the senior's major field of study is required to be taken by all graduating seniors earning a bachelor's degree at Pacific Union College, and is necessary in order to graduate. There will be approximately 200 objective-type questions and some essay questions covering basic knowledge in the following areas:

• Church History
• Church History
• Old Testament
• New Testament--Gospels
• New Testament--Acts and Epistles
• Theology
• SDA Studies
• Ethics and Philosophy
• Church History

Students are expected to use Scriptural references and additional sources in presenting their theological positions in their essay responses.

This examination is administered in the spring of the senior year, and will require about two hours. Students will be notified by the department chairman, and will be required to call the department secretary to schedule a time to take the exam.

A list of sample comprehensive examination questions is on the next page. A list of primary sources and reference works that could help you prepare for this exam is available from the department secretary. If the examination is revised, it may not match precisely the description provided here.

Sample Essay Questions for Senior Comprehensive Examination

1. What is leadership, from a Christian perspective? Be concrete and utilize Scripture to establish your claims.
   
   
2. What is the meaning of the Sabbath and why is it so important?
   
   
3. Explain: English Protestantism may owe more to Erasmus and the Old Testament than it does to Luther and the New Testament.
   
   
4. Trace Ellen White's role in the development of the SDA Church from her initial vision in 1844 to her death in 1915.

Sample Objective Questions for Senior Comprehensive

1. ExaminationThe date 457 BC is important for Adventist prophetic interpretation and what other biblical event?
   1. destruction of Jerusalem
   2. rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem
   3. return of Ezra to Jerusalem
   4. rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem
      
      
2. The Jewish writer to whom we are most indebted for his history of Palestine in the century in which Jesus lived:
   1. Philo
   2. Tacitus
   3. Josephus
   4. Mishnah
      
      
3. The epistle which contains the famous incarnational hymn in which Christ's humility is set forth as an example for the community is
   1. II Corinthians
   2. Philippians
   3. Colossians
   4. II Thessalonians
      
      
4. Ecclesiology is the development of
   1. a doctrine of church
   2. a doctrine of salvation
   3. doctrine of the atonement
   4. none of the above