46 Years of Faith and Philosophy: Professor Phil Smith’s Journey with GFU

Reported by Luci Lettau

Photo by Luci Lettau

It is 1964, and Phil has just come to George Fox University (GFU) for summer camp. He knew right then and there that GFU would be a part of his future.

“So, I visited George Fox in 1964 which was a very different place back then, and I made the decision right then, ‘I'm going to go to George Fox,’” Smith said.

Now, Phil is Professor Emerita Phil Smith. He has been retired for two years, yet he keeps his 46-year-long involvement with GFU as an adjunct professor.

Smith has been connected with the university since his freshman year in 1973 and has been a self-proclaimed "GFU Lifer" ever since.

Having applied only to GFU, Smith soon found a role model in his professor, Arthur Roberts, who taught Smith ethics, logic, and three freshman philosophy courses. He found that the university soon became a place of positive development and continual learning.

“It confirmed me in my faith, and it confirmed me in my thinking,” Smith said. He also learned quickly that a Christ-centered education is important.

“Spiritual growth and intellectual growth cannot be neatly separated. The two go together,” Smith said.

Smith’s relationship with the school did not end with his chapel attendance, philosophy classes, or dorm-room Bible studies. After graduating in 1977 and marrying his wife, Karen Smith, Smith became an adjunct professor for the school just 2 weeks later.

He began teaching classes on the Old and New Testament in 1982, then moved on to teaching Greek in 1984. As a witness to the school’s monumental growth, Smith finds that the biggest contributor to GFU’s development is the addition of graduate education.

Growth comes with challenges. Smith has faced many tough decisions at GFU, particularly during the 12 years he served as department chair.

“I’ve been pleased to be a GFU professor all these years. There are obviously going to be some hard times and difficult decisions,” Smith said. “Sometimes you can hire people that you think will do good jobs, and they don’t, and you have to let them go. That's not fun.”

Another notable change during his time at GFU was the school motto. While he acknowledges the marketability of the “Be Known” promise, he feels a stronger connection to the past slogan, which he paraphrases here:

“We want to be a community, professors and students together. It's an educational community that demonstrates the truth of Jesus Christ,” Smith said. “It says something about mutual care and love for each other.”

Smith emphasizes the merit of a Christian education that fosters knowledge and togetherness throughout his time as a student and professor. Pursuing knowledge has been a lifelong goal for Smith, and he stresses the importance of doing so in the right environment.

Smith has maintained his connection to GFU even after his retirement in 2022, continuing to provide an enlightening education to his students, as was provided to him.

Currently, he teaches Ethics and Honors classes. He believes that a slow investigation of texts is the best way to approach literature and history, which matches the learning style encouraged in Honors.

“There is a tendency for a professor to say, ‘Let's just cut to the chase and get the important ideas on the board,’” Smith said. “It's much better for the students to find them for themselves.”

Regarding the exponential growth of the Honors program this year, Smith finds that the challenges presented this year come from positive growth. He explains his view on viewing challenges positively.

“You can have the problems of failure or the problems of success. I suppose there are other problems, but I would take the problems of success over the problems of failure,” Smith said.

Smith hopes to shape students in the way he was shaped by his professors, even as an adjunct. He believes that the continual pursuit of knowledge positively forms the soul, a philosophy he actively pursues outside the university as well.

Smith has also recently been working more on writing fiction. He has self-published a few titles over the years and is now working on a longer piece of fiction titled Castles 2.

Collaborating with student artist Elli Nauman on the cover design, Nauman has come to know Smith throughout their work together.

“Phil is very kind and passionate, speaks eloquently, and has a lot of fun working on his books,” Nauman said in an email interview.

For Smith, valuing knowledge and wisdom is paramount, yet he also recognizes the importance of keeping learning fun. Whether writing fiction or leading seminar discussions, he has spent 46 years pursuing wisdom by embracing the joy of learning.

Smith heeds the advice of philosopher Iris Murdoch in support of this idea. “She explores the ideas of personal and moral growth. What's the opposite of growth? Decline and corruption,” Smith said.

While Murdoch’s words may seem harsh to some, to Smith they serve as a reminder that he has not learned it all. After serving GFU for nearly half a century, Smith continues to seek the art of learning and hopes to pass on his endless passion for education to all he encounters.