Beginning in 1930, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary offered correspondence courses in Bible lessons to University of Texas students through the Extension Teaching Bureau of the University of Texas. The courses were originally administered by APTS President Thomas White Currie with the help of Professor Samuel Joekel as part of Currie’s work with the University of Texas YMCA’s Association of Religious Teachers, which sought to develop religious courses for which the university would give credit. APTS taught the Bible, while institutions representing other denominations offered courses covering other Christian topics. Joekel became the primary contact for the courses in the 1940s after Currie’s death, and Professor C. Ellis Nelson took over in the 1950s. It is unclear what became of the program, but it ceased to be listed in the APTS Bulletin after the 1958-1959 school year.
This collection is comprised of two and a half inches of lectures and lessons, arranged by course, used in extension correspondence courses in Bible study offered to University of Texas students through the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary from the 1930s through the 1950s. Documentation suggests that Old Testament lectures and lessons were written by Samuel Joekel, and New Testament lectures and lessons by Thomas White Currie. While it is unclear when exactly these documents were used and by whom, the course numbers listed on the materials corresponds with the numbers listed in the 1944-1945 APTS bulletin.
Each course contains a series of paired narrative lectures and lessons, each on a different book, chapter, or verse from the Bible. The lessons generally call for the student to write essays on the topic at hand.
Materials are available by appointment only. Contact the archivist for details.
Bible Extension Correspondence Course lesson collection, circa 1930s-1950s, Austin Seminary Archives, Stitt Library, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Material was given to the archives by former program head C. Ellis Nelson.