Opening Question

Dec 17 2024 22 ep. 40 mins 7
Opening Question Podcast artwork

Good conversation about great ideas. Opening Question is the official podcast of the Torrey Honors College at Biola University. Learn more about the Torrey Honors College at https://www.biola.edu/torrey

  Religion & Spirituality  Arts  Education
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Who has time to think?

Dec 17 2024 44 mins  
The life of reading and the mind seems like something you might get to do in college, but then never again. After all, who isn’t tired after working all day?! In our final episode of season 3, Ellie, Fred, and Paul get into a lil argument about what it means to continue with a life of the mind, even after you graduate college. Hosted by: Ellie Martin, Dr. Paul Spears, and Dr. Fre

But what if I read this already in high school?

Dec 03 2024 41 mins  
Ah, a question we get all the time from our incoming students: but surely I don’t need to read Antigone again, or The Odyssey, or Dante’s Inferno again - I read those already in high school! Paul, Ellie, and Fred discuss the nature of reading as re-reading in this penultimate episode of season 3. Turns out, there are some books that reading once just barely scratches the surfac

How do theologians help us read Scripture?

Nov 19 2024 42 mins  
Ellie, Fred, and Paul are joined by Dr. Matt Jenson, a fellow Torrey faculty member and systematic theologian. In this episode, the four of us discuss the role of the theologian in the life of every Christian - what spiritual, practical, and hermeneutical lessons we can learn from them, and how theologians impact the way we read and study Scripture. Hosted by: Ellie Martin, Dr. Pau

My friends, what is a Torrey session?

Nov 05 2024 43 mins  
A little bit of a Part 2 to our last episode (Why a different tutor every session?), where Paul, Fred, and Ellie wrap up the conversation about the mystifying and magical teaching schedule. Then we embark on a new question: What actually makes a Torrey session good? Do students and faculty agree when a discussion has been successful? What, my friends, makes for a good discussion an

Why a different tutor every session?

Oct 22 2024 48 mins  
Torrey students’ cohort and mentor stay the same, but every single class session has a different tutor. In fact, students don’t even know who their tutor will be when they come to class! Why this variety and mystery? Ellie, Paul, and Fred talk through one of the most bewildering parts of Torrey’s pedagogy - and even reveal a little of the magic of how the massive teaching sch

What's the point of writing?

Oct 08 2024 43 mins  
So much of your energy in college seems to be spent on a non-transferable skill: writing academic papers! Why do your professors make you write so much, and what do they think you’ll gain from the process? Is academic writing like eating your vegetables - not very fun, but worth it in the end? Join Fred, Paul, and Ellie as we unpack this love-to-hate topic. Hosted by: Ellie Marti

Should I use or enjoy my Torrey education?

Sep 24 2024 38 mins  
Ellie unapologetically stole a real opening question from one of Dr. Laurie Wilson’s sessions with Torrey seniors - but to make up for it, Laurie agreed to be the very first guest on Opening Question! Ellie, Paul, Fred, and Laurie discuss the value of a Torrey education, both during and after college, with Augustine's On Christian Teaching as their guide. Hosted by: Ellie Martin,

Who's smarter: Plato or me?

Sep 10 2024 45 mins  
It seems like new things are always the best things - there’s better technology, better medicine, better scientific advancement today than 10 years, 5 years, even 1 year, ago. But is that true for ideas, as well? Do ideas get better with time, or can we still learn things from the philosophers of old? Join Ellie, Paul, and Fred in our quest to discuss what CS Lewis calls “chron

Lots of questions — what about answers?

Jan 30 2024 49 mins  
You might get the impression that we love to ask questions over here, but we don’t care so much about the answers at the end of the road. Far from it. In this episode, Ellie, Paul, and Fred lay out all the answers you ever wanted to hear. Okay, maybe not. But we do talk through some answers. Hosted by: Ellie Martin, Dr. Paul Spears, and Dr. Fred Sanders Executive Producer: Ellie

What have I learned this semester?

Jan 16 2024 45 mins  
With no exams to test your knowledge, no cheat sheets with plot summaries, and just a big stack of books to show for a semester’s worth of work….what exactly can you say you “learned” in your first semester of Torrey? Paul, Fred, and Ellie talk through some misconceptions about what we all think learning is today. Is college just about memorizing facts and figures - or abou