Dr. Zak Schmoll
about the teacher
My name is Zachary Schmoll. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in Humanities at Faulkner University. I earned my M.A. in Apologetics from Houston Baptist University in 2016, and I earned both a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.S. in Statistics from the University of Vermont. I also am privileged to serve as the Managing Editor of An Unexpected Journal, a quarterly publication of cultural and imaginative apologetics.
Since the fourth grade, I have been in love with Middle-earth. After I heard The Hobbit read aloud to me, I wanted more. For the past two decades, I have been trying to get more. Stories have power, and they can trigger something inside of us that we didn’t even know was there. They can awaken us, and that is what I hope to be able to communicate to you here at Kepler. I want to help you learn why stories matter and why they ought to be told. I want to help you learn to create and imagine.
As you might have guessed, J.R.R. Tolkien is my favorite author, but I love to read broadly. Some of my other favorite books are Lord of the Flies by William Golding, A Rumor of Angels by Peter Berger, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis, Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, and God, Freedom, and Evil by Alvin Plantinga.
When I am not in the classroom, I am very involved in the sport of power soccer. It is four-on-four indoor soccer for power wheelchair users. I have been playing the sport for ten years and recently became an officially certified United States Power Soccer Association referee. I have served on the national level as the chairman of the IT Committee, but currently, my efforts are fully directed towards my hometown team, the Vermont Chargers.
I look forward to learning alongside all of you and challenging you to engage your imagination as we explore some of the greatest minds in human history.
Teaching Philosophy
I believe that discussion is fundamental for successful classroom learning. While lectures are necessary for certain disciplines and certain times, I believe that true learning in the humanities occurs in community. When we ask each other thoughtful, interpretive questions and delve into the text to gain clarity together, we all have learned. I believe that students need to have the ability to ask questions of the text and find the answers in the text with support from their teachers and their peers. That said, there is a very important foundation that is required for learning in this type of community. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Living Together, “Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is only this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.”
We come together to learn because of our shared foundation set firmly in the person of Jesus Christ. Only when we accept that Jesus Christ binds us together as a community will we reap the benefits of a community that will allow for discussion to emerge and achieve this end goal of learning together.
Statement of Faith
I believe that there is one God who exists eternally in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe that God created the world and it was good, but man rebelled against God, enticed by the serpent’s lies and freely choosing to act on that deception. I believe that Jesus Christ came to earth, fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, and dwelt among us. He lived a sinless life and was crucified during the time of Pontius Pilate. I believe that He literally rose from the dead, conquering sin and the grave. I believe that Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God and will return again. Salvation is freely available to all who will call upon the name of the Lord. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. After being saved, I believe the Holy Spirit dwells within each believer, bringing wisdom and conviction as well as empowering the believer towards the production of spiritual fruit. I believe that we are ultimately justified through faith alone, and we are saved by grace through faith.
I currently attend Websterville Baptist Church in Websterville, Vermont.