While finishing a course from Credo House awhile back, I stumbled onto J P Moreland, a professor in Philosophy from Biola University, and immediately took to his teaching style and subject matter.

So, as part of my Unschooled Master of Theology program, I wanted to add as much material from him as I could. I quickly found most of his books, watched several presentations on Youtube, yet I still could not find any course lectures anywhere. But, hey, I’m getting ahead of the story.

You can read all of my course assignments for my Unschooled Master of Theology here.

Let’s get started….

Nature and Limitations of Knowledge Acquisition

I realize higher education is a business. But, there is also an additional level inherent to education in general that many institutions have recognized and embraced over the last several years.

Access to education needs to remain free.

From Harvard to Yale, DTS to Master’s, lectures and course material have been posted online for free consumption for people who are interested in knowledge for its own sake rather than for a degree. But, others have resisted this trend and have decided to hold back for various reasons.

The problem with this is, if higher education becomes a product alone, then access to it will shrink over time, to the point that those who do not have the funds (or the right pedigree) to attend are simply cut out of the conversation altogether. Already in American society today we can see a multi-generational elite class forming while the rest of the commoners receive only scraps. This is why efforts such as Sci-Hub and P2P are so important in countering such moves by higher education.

When I discovered a short course (really just a lecture and Q&A) by J P Moreland (hosted by Credo House), I was floored by the content he was teaching. Substance Dualism, issues and constituents of the soul, the fundamental nature of being; these were all important topics in my own research.

In fact, I was so impressed with him, I immediately tracked him down at Biola University and looked into the Philosophy programs there. Unfortunately, the cost is simply disqualifying.

Biola does advertise on their website the option for auditing courses, which I was initially excited about. It would cost me about $150 per course, which I was more than willing to pay. So I emailed the school asking about this option.

The response was disheartening to say the least. I’m not certain if it was my educational background (community college + online schools) or that I wasn’t an already admitted student (they really don’t stipulate this in their materials), but the response simply stated, “You cannot audit courses from Biola.”

No alternatives were provided. No means of getting at the lecture material was proffered. It was simply a “no.” I could certainly try to apply for admittance as a student to the school, but I did not have $40,000 for the tuition, nor did I have a desire to take a full program (it’s simply not cost effective and has little to no ROI to attend these kinds of programs anymore).

Needless to say, I was very disappointed. Why would a school – a Christian school on top of it – shut out people interested in the knowledge they have acquired? Their tuition was the paywall, but like academic journals today, the fees were exorbitant and simply out of my reach.

I figured I would have to settle for scouring Moreland’s books and the few interviews and presentations I could find on him online. But then, this week, completely out of the blue, I stumbled onto a treasure trove of J P Moreland lectures online.

A Treasure Trove Found

I don’t even remember what I was searching for, but in a list of Google results I came across a short snippet that say “someone was nice enough to post four courses from Moreland online.” I certainly thought it was too good to be true, but clicked on the link anyway and quickly discovered how wrong I really was.

Here are the course lectures I found:

• Metaphysics of Substance Dualism
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Science
• Moreland’s Apologetics

When I finally realized what I had found I was floored. It is basically the core of his course load from the early 1990’s in audio format that a student has made available.

Needless to say, I made quick work of downloading all the lectures for all four courses + several other files like a debate, a presentation, and several one off lectures on interesting topics like hell and afterlife.

When I woke up early this morning, I decided to try out the first lecture from the Substance Dualism course and I was not at all disappointed. I also went online and found all the syllabi for each course, as well as made sure I had all the required textbooks for the course.

Now I can’t wait until next month to officially get started.

Conclusions

So, I guess now I need to thank Biola for initially blocking my access to Moreland’s work. Whether it was their greed or their elitism that drove them, in the end I am now able to work through Moreland’s material at my own pace – plus Biola inadvertently saved me $150 per course!

Thanks, Biola! I know you didn’t mean to do it but thanks anyway!

Please consider supporting my work, my unschooled studies, and my hermitic lifestyle by purchasing one or more of my books. I’m not supported by academia or have a lucrative corporate job – I’m just a mystical modern-day hermit trying to live out the life I believe God has called me to. So, any support you choose to provide is GREATLY appreciated.

Excerpt from Our Daughter:

“Okay, mom,” Randy said.

“You behave yourself and be nice. You’re lucky to have company while you wait for the doctors.”

The woman turned and started back the way she came.

“The nurse said it would be twenty or thirty more minutes, so we’ll eat quick and be back up here before they take you in, okay?”

“Okay, mom.”

“Sorry for him,” the woman said to Katie as she walked by.

“He’s funny.”

Katie grinned.

As the woman left, Katie noticed the boy moving around again on the bed. Before she realized what was happening, the tiny lump disappeared and she could hear the faint sound of bare hands and feet on the tile floor.

He was low crawling under the beds toward her.

A moment later, Randy popped his head out from under the nearest hospital bed, craning his neck around to look up at her.

“Hello, there,” Katie said.

Randy disappeared back under the bed, the bed sheet draping down almost to the floor. Katie could still see three little fingers pressed to the tile.

“What are you here for?” Katie asked, readjusting her seat in the chair, trying to get the ache in her chest to lessen.

For whatever reason, the wheelchair was really uncomfortable.

“Why are – “

Randy’s voice trailed off for a moment as he looked around.

“Why are you here?”

“I’m getting my leg fixed,” Katie said. “See?”

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