Larry D. Kauffman
Professor of Music
570.585.9388
What is your favorite hobby?
During nearly every summer for the past 15 years, I have taken week-long bicycle tours (sometimes two in each summer) in the Northeast, in the company of good friends, Dr. David Harris, Dr. Chris Davis, and more recently with my youngest son, Nathan (26, BBC grad, living in upstate New York). I have toured the Poconos, the Catskills, the Adirondacks, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the upper coast of Maine. Our excursions have averaged 250-400 miles for the week, depending on the terrain and how tough we are feeling.
What is your favorite book?
I have read most of Thomas Hardy's (1840-1928) novels but the one that warms my heart most is The Woodlanders , a story about rural country people in 1880's England. The main character is a rustic fellow named Giles Winterborne who makes his living raising apples and traveling around with a horse-drawn cider mill, squeezing out apples for other folks. Unfortunately for Giles, he falls in love with Grace Melbury, a country girl herself, whose parents want her to marry into a higher class. He behaves very nobly, but eventually loses her to a young doctor who proves to be a less than noble fellow. As you can guess, this story is a tragedy, but it paints such a true picture of the human condition that I am about to read it for the third time.
Another favorite is Jonathan Edwards' The Religious Affections , a theological treatise dealing with distinctions between true and false religion. He examines regeneration as the 'saving work of the Holy Spirit' and lays before us the attributes that truly born again people have. This book 'straightened me out' on so many of the big theological ideas that my life has been changed ever since.
Family:
I have been married to Marjorie for 38 years and have three married adult children and two grandsons.
Further Information:
I love to read! American and British history (especially the American Civil War), 19 th century British novels, art history, philosophy, and theology are where I spend most of my reading hours.
Education:
B.A., Bob Jones University
M.M., D.M.A., University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music