Comments:1310 - Dr. Swinney was a great professor. He is very smart, educated, and extremely nice. I would 100% recommend taking his class if you are open-minded. Dr. Swinney will challenge your believes, and he will infact help you be more educated in the christian scriptures. I want to take his heritage class later on in my college career. He is great, we have weekly reading quizzez, maybe 2-3 per week, sometimes only 1. they are not hard, and if you are a believer, it helps you stay focused on opening our bible! the tests are multiple choice, you will have 3 exams, 1 for the first half of the old testament (50 questions), 1 for the second half of the old testament, and 1 final exam which is over the whole new testament (approx. 100 questions). This class was fantastic, i would 100% recommend it over and over again! not a lot of work whatsoever, i think anyone that wnats to learn the bible, get closer to God, or just understand christianity, you should def take him!  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:REL 1310 - Overall I definitely liked Dr. Swinney. It was a little rough having his class at 8am MWF; it'd probably be best to opt for late morning/early afternoon if possible. I think 50 min 3x/week was the better format though, rather than 75 min 2x/week. This class wasn't the easiest A, but definitely not the hardest either. If you show up, pay attention, and give it your best effort, you should be fine. At the end of the semester, he'll add 2 points to your final grade if you had perfect attendance, or 1 point if you only missed one class. He gives you a 5-minute grace period at the beginning of each class before he takes attendance in case you're running slightly late. If you're more than 5 minutes late but less than 15, you can email him after class and he'll mark you tardy rather than absent. He will also give you a free 10/10 quiz grade for completing the course eval. His grading scale accounts for rounding (ex: he considers a 92.5 an A because it's within half a point of a 93). You will have at-home reading quizzes on Canvas before most classes, then discuss that section of the Bible in the following lecture (so it's flipped-style learning). The quizzes are all multiple choice and very detail-oriented, but they're open-note. You're usually given a 5-minute timer (sometimes 10 or somewhere in between), but it's always plenty of time. If you check Canvas an hour after class ends and see that he hasn't posted the next quiz yet, make sure you double and triple check. It is fully possible that there won't be a quiz, but sometimes, at least for me (and keep in mind I could have just been having issues with Canvas), quizzes would pop up later in the day or on the following day. The quizzes are always limited to one attempt (so no retakes but he does drop your lowest few scores), they're automatically graded so you can instantly see your score and what you got wrong, and they close 30 minutes before the next class starts. The exams are also fully multiple choice, but they're pretty dense. It's true that there are a lot of interpretation-style questions on them, but there are plenty of questions regarding course content as well, so don't slack on studying. He's very laid back about exam time limits, so don't stress if you're a slow test-taker. Something really nice about this class is that the quizzes and exams don't have drastically different weights, so if you happen to be better or worse at one or the other, it'll usually balance out rather than spiking or tanking your grade. All in all, Dr. Swinney is definitely a solid option for Scriptures.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:REL1310 - Lots of reading and nearly impossible detail-based reading quizzes if you don't cheat or have a photographic memory. The tests much easier and are like the SAT reading section–lots of interpretation/genre questions. I took this class TR 0800-0915 in MMSCI 301 and what a mistake it was. I fell asleep multiple times with coffee in hand. Never taking this timeslot+room combination again. Otherwise, class was not terrible.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:heritage - Great professor makes the class enjoyable he can teach it. He knows the material very well there are quizzes sometimes before class starts that’s over the reading, but I honestly never really did the reading and I made A’s on all the quizzes. There’s one paper in the semester and you can choose when it’s due and it honestly was not that long and not that bad either I think there were two exams and a final, but the final was not cumulative. He let you use a note card on the exam. You don’t really have to pay attention all the time and you’ll still be fine really helpful and really nice and down to earth person too.  - Grade In Class:B

Comments:1350 - I loved having class with Dr. Swinney. Not only does he do an excellent job lecturing and keeping his students engaged in lessons, but he's also a very kind professor. He's very approachable and easy to converse with so asking questions was never a problem for me. He has a pretty reasonable workload with assigned readings with quizzes every week to every other week. He assigns four major grades throughout the semester, one being a paper and the other three being tests including the final exam. His exams are easy to pass as long as you take detailed notes and pay attention in class. A majority of the material he discusses in the lectures will be on the exams. I would highly recommend taking his class, he makes lessons easy to understand and interesting to learn about. It was the first Baylor class I've taken that I thought was pretty fun.  - Grade In Class:B

Comments:REL 1350 - Dr. Swinney is both a great guy and a great professor, which is so needed for a class like Christian Heritage. He is always upbeat and spreads his positivity by just lecturing. Last semester when I took Scriptures, the class would stay silent when the professor asked a question, but Dr. Swinney makes everyone feel comfortable enough to say something. However, there aren't quizzes before every single class, only most of them, so the beginning of the semester was a little tricky for me to get in the swing of things. Unfortunately, since there's so many quizzes, you can get screwed over if you miss a couple, so watch out. I missed 3 quizzes and got between 80s to 100s on the other quizzes with high 90s on my tests, but overall, I have an 82 right now. As a whole though, the tests are extremely straightforward, they have a little bit of the readings but are 90% straight from the powerpoints from class.  - Grade In Class:B

Comments:REL 1310 - Dr. Swinney LOVES interpretation. Majority of our class meeting had some kind of class discussion about a passage or idea that you could contribute to for participation points. I would often get lost in the powerpoint and not have a good understanding of the material since they were more conceptual and not definitions. Luckily, we were given the option to write any information we needed on a note card for every exam! This helped my grade tremendously! The exams are more focused on his lecture rather than weekly reading (so you don't have to really read if you don't want to). We had reading quizzes too, but you can easily get a 100 (wink* wink*). Different from other scripture classes, we had to write an interpretation paper around 800 words about a few verses. If you get it done before your designated due date, GO TO OFFICE HOURS and he will read over the entire thing. This is a grade booster if you are consistent with improvement. Overall, participation is easy even if you don't know anything about the bible stories, exams are average, and the paper can easily be an A with proper work. If you want an easy religion class, look around first, then consider Swinney!  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1310 - I loved this class! Dr. Swinney made the class very interesting. We had a lot of class discussion, which I really appreciated! I enjoyed talking to him in his office hours too. He is very kind and wants his students to succeed.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1310 - His class is very average. You'll get a grade representative of the work you put in. His exams are harder to prepare for than average because he mainly tests your understanding of the material instead of your knowledge. By knowing the ideas he emphasizes, you will do great. He wants the paper to be clear, concise, and consistent. So, you gotta bring your paper in for a meeting to know what he wants to be safe. He is a standard teacher very talented at explaining and testing on themes in the Bible.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:BIC 1314 - Take this review with a grain of salt, as this was Swinney's first time teaching WCI, so he will mostly likely improve if he continues to teach in the BIC. However, Swinney was not an exciting professor. He relied on students to carry most of the small group classes, he himself not providing much incite to the reading material as he was out of his depth in a lot of the cultures. The class was not difficult and the workload was fine. Swinney gives minimal feedback on work and sometimes takes off points for grammar, both of which can be a little frustrating.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:Rel 1350 - Dr. Swinney is one of my favorite professors I have ever taken. Please take his Christian Heritage, as he makes it interesting by giving you Church history in almost a story format, and I guarantee unless you are a supercomputer about Church history you will learn a lot. He is very balanced and does not often give his own views in class, and likes to be realistic yet charitable to the historical figures. The quizzes are weekly and you have an essay or two. He is very available in office hours so if you want to go talk to him you can. Please take Swinney he is a really good option. If you can't take Swinney, I have heard Kevin Scott is another good option.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:REL 1310 - Dr. Swinney is a great guy! The first thing you might notice is that he takes the effort to learn every student's name within the first class or two (over 75 students/class), and that really sets the stage for his personality. He works very hard to keep the lectures engaging and does a good job of this. He is very approachable outside of class, both in office hours and on campus. Something that stands out is how far out of the way he goes to make sure every student is on an equal footing, taking time to explain some concepts that would be intuitive to long-pracicing Christians, etc. As for the coursework, there are 19 quizzes with 4 drops (30% of grade), 2 attendance grades (5% each), 2 exams (10% each), a final (20%), and a paper (20%). The quizzes are over assigned reading, which is typically pretty short (~5 chapters of the Bible each reading, on average, but can be more sometimes), and the quizzes are very easy if you do the reading. The quizzes are timed, unproctored, online multiple choice. The attendance grade is based on participation, but seems pretty lax. I said maybe 5 things over the semester and got 92% by just being attentive. The exams are based very heavily on the lectures, with a few additional questions from the readings. Exams are 50 question MCQs and are fairly easy, relative to most classes (just take good lecture notes and skim over them) and are weighted very lightly. The final is not cumulative, rather it is just the final third of the class' information, but counts for twice as much weight as the other exams; it is similar difficulty to the other exams (not that bad if you study). The paper is the kicker. He weighs it equally to the final (still just 20%, though), but he grades this relatively hard (still around a B/B- average, it seemed). He warned us he would grade this hard, and the grades seemed to be a bit higher than he had threatened, but he was not outrageous (plenty of As and a lot of Bs). One huge boost is two automatic extra points added to your final grade for perfect attendance (or a single point for one skip), which can makes it worth it to show up physically, even if you don't mentally lol.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1310 - The class is very manageable. His lectures are not the most interesting and don’t have much to do with the quizzes or the tests. You have quizzes a lot but they aren’t that hard. I would recommend him as a professor since I have heard the other professors are not great.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:1310 - The paper is worth 20% of your grade and he grades it using an "old school grading method" that he admits is outdated but he uses it anyways. It means that a C is "average" and you checked all the boxes and a few students get a B, and he RARELY gives out an A on it. It's ridiculous. Unless you're a diehard Christian, take a professor that understands this class is a requirement and you wouldn't be taking it if you didn't have to.  - Grade In Class:B

Comments:1350 - He's a great professor. Make sure to check canvas for the reading quizzes because that's the only reason I didn't get an A. Exams are pretty straightforward and can do pretty well if you just take notes during lectures and skim the readings. If you don't miss class you can get 10 extra points tacked onto your final grade (full letter), but that's hard to do with it as an 8am.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:1350 - TAKE HIM! Your grade is mostly based on reading quizzes then the exams come straight from lecture so take good notes! There was one paper, but it correlates to lecture. He also adds 2 points to you grade at the end of the semester if you have perfect attendance.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:REL 1350 - I took Dr. Swinney for scriptures and heritage. I loved this man. The quizzes correlate with the readings, but they are not super difficult. There is also one paper a semester, but it is super manageable. His exams are usually 40-60 questions, but I have never made below a 70 on them with minimal studying.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:REL 1310 - Dr. Swinney is an excellent professor. He is charismatic and cares deeply about his students while being very available outside of class despite the relatively high number of students he has. If you do the readings, you will be fine on the quizzes. The end of semester interpretation paper can be at times graded "harshly", but you will get an A if you go to his office hours and really squeeze everything you can out of the verses. Overall, 10/10 would take Swinney again.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1310 - Honestly, his classes could be infuriating just because they were discussion-based and there were some not-so-sharp students in my class, but overall he was a knowledgable and engaging lecturer, and his tests weren't hard and aren't heavily weighted. Definitely put in the effort on the interpretation paper and do all the out of class quizzes and readings and you will get an A.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1310 - Let me start by saying that professor Swinney is AMAZING. He cares so much about his students and makes sure that they understand the material. He is funny and enthusiastic about the material and always posts the PowerPoints. In class, I would take hand-written notes and the tests would mostly be based on these lecture notes. To study, I would go over all the old powerpoints and my notes and make an outline. The final is not cumulative which is great, and I found that all the tests were pretty fair! Each class day there is assigned reading from the Bible and then sometimes 1-2 ten question quizzes per week. The quizzes are definitely fair and he drops a couple of them. I found that you could get by doing the reading only for the quizzes and you could skip the other reading if you needed to. There is also one big essay that you will be totally prepared for if you don't wait last minute to write it. Overall, I really recommend Swinney because he's a fantastic professor with a big heart and makes lecture really impactful.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1310 - Kipp is an AMAZING teacher! After every class, I felt like I attended church. He is always making sure we participate in class and makes sure we understand the content. There are readings assigned that you have to read for every class, however, you can get away with reading the ones that have a quiz assigned with them (that's what I did). There is also one big essay that you have to do at some point in the year if you take him for scriptures, but even that isn't too bad. If you study your notes for the test you'll do good, and the final isn't cumulative. Overall, if you are dreading this class TAKE KIPP!! He really cares about his students and is really enthusiastic about what he is teaching.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:REL 1310 - Professor Swinney is great! He's really enthusiastic about the Bible and Christian history which makes his lectures fun and engaging. There is a small reading quiz due before class - do the reading and get it done the night before and you should be fine. He only teaches from the Bible which makes the readings pretty straightforward, and his only paper is a short essay - and you get to choose the due date. Definitely take Professor Swinney if you get the chance.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1310 - This class was pretty hard. He lectures every class, and you have a reading and quiz for every class. If you do not pay attention or miss class, you will not do well on the test. Even missing one class means you will miss content on the test. The tests have obscure facts and you need to know details to do well. Overall, hard hard class.  - Grade In Class:C+

Comments:Rel 1310 and 1350 - Professor Swinney is an amazing professor. He is animated when he teaches, he does interactive experiences like acting out the history we are learning, and lets the class debate topics. He is incredibly helpful and understanding, but he will still hold you to a high standard, which I appreciated. If you take good lecture notes and study them, you will be set for tests. There is one big paper due, but he is very helpful in the process and gives truly insightful feedback that is substantial. There are reading quizzes that are good to make sure you are doing the reading and preparing properly for class. You can tell that he gives thought to his assignments, his feedback, and his class in general. I won't lie and say this is an easy class. It is not an easy A, because you are expected to put in the effort. But you will learn a lot and learn things of value and substance that affect daily life. I think Professor Swinney is an excellent professor, and I highly recommend him.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1310 - I LOVE LOVE LOVE professor Swinney! I took his class at 8 am but he actually made the class so fun to listen to! I also thoroughly enjoyed that he let the class discuss/debate what we were reading. Lecture is very entertaining regardless of your religion and he ask very thought-provoking questions which made me like the class even more. We had readings pretty much before every class and quizzes over the readings about half the time. Basically, if you don't like to read you might not like this class because pretty much all of your grades are from reading quizzes. There are two essays in the course but they are only a page long and you can choose which verses to write them over and he cares more about if you understand the text. The tests are difficult I'm not going to lie but a college freshman should be JUST fine. Usually, there is at least one essay question on the test but as long as you really try you will get a good score. The multiple-choice portion of the test is hard but if you did the readings then you'll be just fine after reviewing notes from class. WRITE GOOD NOTES OVER WHAT HE SAYS! Overall great teacher!  - Grade In Class:A