Photo by Abby Burgess

Compiled by Kelsey Keranen

Speaking French with enough fluency to drive jealousy into the hearts of even the most hardened language students and dabbling in Hindi to boot, Josh Anthony ‘16, is certainly passionate about human expression through language.  However, there is a moral underlay regarding Anthony’s drive; his religion, and his plans to use his language abilities to religiously inspire others around the world.

Throughout his life, Anthony said, his father has been his biggest inspiration.

“When I was younger he taught me rules of conduct, often backed by Biblical authority. He always told and demonstrated to me what was right, particularly in impartial judgement.  And most importantly, it was he who was the greatest spiritual influence on my life and truly introduced me to God.”

The teachings of his spiritual father are also held close to his heart; Anthony believes that it was the encounter with these teachings that made him realize his place and purpose in the world.

“After I made the first spark of ‘discovering’ God, everything started to fall into place- all the teachings I had been given all my life, which I had followed as a matter of obedience but not of integrity, suddenly made sense and were totally worth following all the time.”

Anthony plans on utilizing his religious passion later in his life through his language studies.  He would like to be an interpreter for reasons connecting to his beliefs.

“I think language is  one of the biggest barriers dividing humanity, so something like translation, when applied right, could only do good to the world. There are hundreds of language groups in the world today that don’t have the Bible in their heart language, and so are excluded from a lifetime of hope and possibly an eternity of fulfillment. If I can help to resolve this problem, let nothing stand in my way.”

In addition to language, Anthony is also passionate about reading and songwriting and hopes to pursue these areas of study in the future while remaining true to the word of his religion.