Keeping her faith

Julia Fogg has managed to arrange her life around her passions, which range from God to Latin America to boxing.

That's why she teaches religion at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, preaches in Spanish at a small church in Pasadena and boxes at least once a week at a gym near her Chatsworth home.

"My passions have grown out of very early experiences, where I responded to something and wanted to pursue it," said Fogg, an assistant professor of New Testament and early Christianity at CLU. "I've done that the rest of my life."

Fogg's enthusiasm spills over into the classroom and is one of the reasons she recently was named CLU's professor of the year, an honor voted on by seniors.

Students want to be in her class because she welcomes discussion and goes out of her way to help, said Michelle Bunn, 22, who graduated from CLU this year.

"You learn so much more in her class because she's open to discussion, open to interpretation," Bunn said. "You feel like you want to be there. You feel like you're learning something that's actually going to make a difference in your life."

Ask Fogg, 38, about her teaching style, and she'll tell you she works with the various ways her students learn best, whether it's by reading information, seeing it or hearing it. She also "walks with them," recognizing when her students have mastered something, then specifying what they need to do next.

But she has high expectations, too. She tells them at the start of class that they'll earn an A only if they've helped her "think something new." If they do all the work required, that's a B.

Her overall approach: Concentrate less on facts and more on thinking.

"It's not about memorizing and content," Fogg said. "It's about thinking and learning to think."

Last year, Fogg led some CLU students on a trip to Turkey, where they explored places once visited by St. Paul. Bunn was on that trip, where Fogg stood out by wearing a big, bright orange hat.

"She's such a good-hearted, easy-going person," Bunn said. "Everyone loves to be around her. That's why we do independent studies with her. That's why she was named professor of the year."

Since she was a child, Fogg has been interested in both the intellectual and spiritual sides of religion. When she was growing up, Sunday school was her intellectual outlet, she said. As she grew older, she loved analyzing text during Bible study.

Fogg started teaching right after graduating from college with a degree in Spanish literature. But she wasn't teaching religion back then. She taught English in Madrid, using skills she had learned from her mom, who was a teacher and tutor.

Just as she was deciding she had learned all she could in that job, a friend decided to go to Yale Divinity School.

"I thought, What the heck, I'll apply there too,'" she said. "I had no idea what divinity school or seminary was."

At first, Fogg planned to study only the academic side of religion. But along the way, a professor suggested she consider the ministry. She did and started an internship in a Presbyterian church, planting a foot in both the classroom and the sanctuary.

It took her 10 years, but she earned her doctorate in religion in 2006. Five years ago, she took her first college teaching job, at CLU.

She also preaches at Messiah/Mesias Lutheran Church in Pasadena, sustaining her passion for both the spiritual and intellectual sides of religion, she said.

Her boxing, meanwhile, allows her to integrate her intellectual and physical sides, giving her life more balance than when she was in seminary.

"In grad school, it was all brain work," she said. "I felt like I had a 200-pound pumpkin on my shoulders. I feel much more integrated now in the things I'm exploring."

These days, Fogg sees her role as mentoring students who will go on to take their own roles in the church.

"I'm mentoring people who will work in different paths of faith," she said. "That's my service to the church — mentoring and learning through these students."

--- Published in the Ventura County Star on June 5, 2008