The Stampede

Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Samuel Skeirik Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities and History Ted Booth blends his faith and love of learning in his renewed scholarly pursuits.

To the average person, the Latin phrase "fides quaerens intellectum" is probably just that-a Latin phrase. Popularized by St. Anselm of Canterbury, it means "faith seeking understanding" and serves as a concise summary of his belief that in order to truly understand, one must first believe the truth of God. However, for Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities and History Ted W. Booth II, it is far more than just some philosophical idea recorded in a dead language-it is the theme of his life.

Booth has taught classes ranging in topic from freshman humanities to medieval Chinese history at Milligan for the past three years.

Teaching has become an important part of Booth's life not only because he enjoys it, but because he sees learning as a complement of faith, rather than an opposite. It makes sense, then, that he believes teaching is an opportunity to minister to others. He has taught in some fashion since his college years, when he served as a youth minister at Colonial Heights Christian Church.

"I try to revel in the wonder and awe of God," he said. "I find God in my study of history, in a library, or in a cathedral, but I have realized that I need to quiet my own life in order to hear him more. He has led me through some really tough times but he has always pulled me through."

A quick survey of the trappings of Booth's office will reveal that although the self-described Anglophile is a serious scholar, he is by no means a mere academic. Latin dictionaries and books on such topics as the Protestant Reformation and Queen Elizabeth I neatly line his bookshelves; a small Celtic cross stands on his desk next to a model of an English telephone booth. A colored rubbing of an Irish gravestone bearing part of the ancient poem "St. Patrick's Breastplate" hangs on his wall, and high atop a large shelf sits a small toy Smokey-the blue-tick hound mascot of his beloved University of Tennessee Volunteers.

In addition to professorial duties and working on his dissertation, Booth serves on the Board of Directors of Appalachian Christian Camp, volunteers for children's programs at his church and enjoys the simple pleasure of spending time with his two dogs-Maybelle Carter and Elvis-and, above all, with his wife of one year, Kristen. Marriage to her, he maintains, is the greatest achievement of his life; it is a source of inspiration for teaching his students, another integration of his faith, life and love of learning.

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