Retired Professor Bill Jolliff: Diligence in Faithfulness

Reported By: Benny Schorie

Photographed By: Chris Low

After spending a few decades as a core fixture of the George Fox University (GFU) English Department and the Newberg community, Dr. Bill Jolliff retired this past spring. A musician, published poet, beloved professor, and former department chair, Jolliff’s career achievements have been impressive and his legacy at GFU is undeniable. However, Jolliff realized he was ready to take several steps back from public life to enjoy a slower and more private one.

For the last six months, Jollif has been embracing a newfound inward focus in his life. “I've always been very reflective but always teaching or doing something in public,” Jolliff said. Since retirement, he has not participated in public life but spends time in personal contemplation with practices like journal-keeping, worship, and prayer.

Jolliff’s new serene life has become fertile ground for pursuing God through inwardness. His Quaker faith is rooted in the denomination’s “honest attempt to recover something of the first-century church” with practices like unprogrammed worship. As he seeks to invest in his faith, Jolliff continues to study the early church and its worship practices to find new avenues for the pursuit of God. He is also searching the entirety of church history for other forms of worship to answer the question: “Is [unprogrammed worship] the best way to pursue God as a corporate body?”

This theme of tranquility has rolled over into new reading habits by “turning that time of reading into prayer and prayerful thought about the text.” Jolliff now reads slowly and consciously with more intention to seek God. As a professor, he read every text within the context of teaching. By making a lesson engaging for a room of college students, he often neglected the personal, spiritual truth. 

However, he misses being in a room with groups of students who have read the same texts as him. By engaging with students, he gained new perspectives on the text and broadened his understanding not only of the text but also of God and truth. “The whole focus of my career was ‘How do you seek truth in a great text?’” Jolliff said. 

As he reflects on his teaching career, Jolliff wonders how he could’ve sought truth more avidly, examined a text more holistically, and brought more glory to God. “I’m confronted every day by my own ignorance,” Jolliff said. “I’m sometimes struck by various flashes of when my ignorance was deeper than my awareness of my ignorance.” 

Part of his role as a teacher was bringing students closer to truth and away from ignorance. Jolliff recalled an encounter with a student who was deeply engaged in and moved by a particular text and in-class discussion but wanted more. Throughout the conversation, Jolliff saw their care and intention to seek truth. “I didn’t make the success, but I was present for a good thing that was happening,” Jolliff said. 

With the seeking of truth, the most valuable aspect of teaching, learning, or researching is pursuing faith. For Jolliff, everything we do is an opportunity to learn more about God and faith, and to keep that intention in the room with every project and pursuit is our duty. “It’s so easy to let the pressing take precedence over the important,” he said. “As important as I think Homer or Thoreau might be, you need to ask ‘how is this interpretation interacting with my own pursuit with God?’”