Anthropology

I began to study Anthropology (the study of man/humans) in 1964 at Bethel College (now University). I was interested in cultures and customs because of my diverse background growing up, because of the diversity I saw around me in various places, and because I thought it would be useful for a missionary. I went to graduate school in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota. During the first two summers I assisted with a study being done in northern Minnesota, attended a 6 week dig on an archaeological site (archaeology is one part of Anthropology, the other parts are Cultural Anthropology, Linguistics, and Human Biology). Over those two summers (1966 and 1967) I attended Chippewa (Ojibwe) Powwows (weekend dance celebrations) and wrote the research up as my Master's Thesis. Then I travelled to Arno Atoll in the Marshall Islands to conduct my doctoral research (in the center of the Pacific Ocean). I studied land rights inheritance and use, and wrote that research up as my doctoral dissertation. 

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Then I taught at Macalester College for ten years in the Anthropology Department, and was chair of the department when I left in 1981. I returned to Anthropology when I served as a missionary-anthropologist at the Melanesian Institute in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea for five years (1997-2002). Finally, I taught Anthropology for Christian Mission at Asbury Seminary from 2002 until my retirement (2010). 

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Anthropology gives us ways to gain insight into other people's worldview in order to better understand their life experience, joys, and concerns. Anthropology also helps us understand other distant people, distant in time in the Old Testament (2500 to 5000 years ago) and the New Testament (about 2000 years ago). Certainly their language and culture was not the same as ours, so interpretation of the text takes time