Oikos University, the Oakland, Calif. school where a shooter left at least seven people dead and injured another three on Monday, was established in 2004 as a place where Christianity would be infused into everyday instruction and the overall campus spirit.
On its website, several detailed pages are dedicated to describing the university's fundamentalist Christian roots and its founders beliefs in the inerrancy of the Bible, which they say should be read literally.
The university's religious objectives include demonstrating a "comprehensive knowledge of the Bible and an understanding of Christian doctrine," developing "an appreciation for the Korean and Korean-American church denomination heritage" and instilling "a desire for lifelong commitment to personal spiritual growth through daily Bible study and prayer." The university also aims to "develop attitudes of service and commitment to the local church and world missions" and "prepare students for Christian service and vocation in the Church and society."
The school is affiliated with Praise God Korean Church in Oakland and Shepherd University of San Francisco, but little is known about either institution.
The Oakland Police department has arrested a possible suspect but not given his identity. The suspect's religion is not known, but the Rev. Jong Kim, who founded the university and is its president, told the Oakland Tribune that the shooter was a nursing student who was not enrolled anymore. The school also offers degrees Asian medicine, music and theology.
Oikos University's website lists a doctrinal statement on the beliefs of the university administration, which are theologically conservative. It says the Bible is made by "infallibly and uniquely authoritative and free from error" and that "the Father, Son and Holy Spirit equal in every divine perfection, yet executing distinct but harmonious offices."
It also says: "We believe the full historicity and perspicuity of the biblical record of the primeval history, including the literal existence of Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all people, the literal fall and resultant divine curse on the creation, the worldwide cataclysmic deluge, and the origin of nations and languages at the tower of Babel. We believe the realities of heaven and hell."
The statement says that university officials believe in the "redemptive grace of God though the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ who paid the full redemptive price for the sin of the world" and see the "biblical account of creation as a historical and theological record of God's creation" that happened in "six literal days of the creation week."
It says salvation is "provided solely by the grace of God on the basis of the atoning death and resurrection of Christ" and is "only appropriated by a person placing his faith in the finished work of Christ" and that there will be a "visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom."
Regarding Satan, the statement says he is a "malevolent being...for whom the place of eternal punishment was prepared, where all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity. He can be resisted by the believer through faith and reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit."
A welcome message on the school's website from its chairman, Youngkyo Choi, says the school's mission is to "provide highest standard education with Christian value and inspiration."