Some of you may know professor Joshua Alexander from his math classes; others may know him from his involvement with the newly begun Christian apologetics group, Ratio Christi. Others may have simply just passed by him on campus.
Alexander has taught math here at Shepherd since 2007 after teaching physics a year before at Biola University. He also taught at Frederick Community College concurrently with Shepherd for a few years.
Alexander graduated from Biola University with a master of arts in science and religion. Before that, he went to Johns Hopkins and graduated with a bachelor of science in math and physics.
He says that he originally got into teaching because it was a way to use his math degree. He found he really enjoyed teaching and explaining things, interacting with students, and just the college atmosphere in general. He came to Shepherd because he was looking for a job and Shepherd was looking for adjunct math professors.
Alexander became interested in math in high school when he read a book by David Berlinski, “A Tour of Calculous.” From then on, he was fascinated by math and wanted to study it more and more.
Although he has taught both science and math, Alexander considers himself more of a student of science than a teacher. He says that getting his degree in science and religion was born out of the fact that he is a Christian and had a sense that science and religion need not be at odds.
Alexander said, “I think they lend one another mutual support. They can. Unfortunately, historical myths have created the public perception that science and Christianity are necessarily at odds.”
Alexander believes it gives a deeper purpose to the science that he is studying. It enables him to be more holistic in his approach to science.
Alexander said, “The deeper purpose is the same purpose early scientists like Kepler and Newton saw: the discovery of the underlying order with which God imbued the natural world, and thus a window into the mind of God. It’s holistic in that I’m free to consider all possible explanations for the observed phenomena, not merely naturalistic ones.”
He stated that believing in a “final cause or purpose for the universe” enables one to discern connections among the various branches of science that would otherwise be inscrutable.
One of the things Alexander is involved with on campus enables him to discuss science and faith together. Ratio Christi is a Christian apologetics group at Shepherd for which Alexander is the faculty adviser and chapter director. Ratio Christi seeks to train Christian students to give reasons for their faith and attempts to provide skeptics with the answers they are seeking. Ratio Christi covers not only science but also history and philosophy, among other fields.
Alexander attributes a great part of who he is today to his parents, both Methodist pastors who homeschooled him from third grade through high school. He said that they have been very supportive and that one of the things they did right was not being authoritarian. Instead, they used reason and answered his questions instead of stifling them.
Alexander also said that a great advantage of his being homeschooled was that he was able to go on field trips that he would not have been able to go on if he had not been homeschooled. His childhood was an experience he enjoyed. He described himself as a “typical Vulcan child,” meaning that he was sort of like Spock in that he was very rational but also very passionate. He had to deal with the struggle that ensues when one is both rational and passionate.
Alexander also likes to play guitar. He loves reading, recreational shooting, debate, and blogging. He has a few anime and mangas that he enjoys.
Alexander’s favorite books are, aside from the Bible, “The Swiss Family Robinson,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and “Harry Potter.” He is also a fan of “The Lord of the Rings” movies. Something from his childhood that he misses is his rope swing and tree fort.
Graduate Norman Guice believed that Alexander was a teacher that was “funny, able to answer questions, good at relating the topic to the student, patient, fair with grading and a good listener.”
Student Aaron Lloyd also said that Alexander was a good teacher and made the material easy for the students.