Professor Batten is one of the best professor I ever had at UCLA. Being a South campus major, my professors are dull, boring, and i often fall sleep during their lectures. But Professor Batten is very lively and animated. He makes the lectures fun by telling good stories, and use students as live demonstrations (usually some weird ceremonies that we are discussing in the bible). I never once fell asleep in that class because Batten makes is so fun and interesting. The reading material is kind of dull, just make sure you read everything for the mid term and final because there will be a passage identification section. The class itself if pretty easy.1 midterm, 1 final, and 1 paper. Although it is an upper division English class, Batten did not grade the students as if they were English majors which is a really good thing because I took this class as a south campus major and 1st year. Batten is also very helpful during his office hours. He helped me a lot on writing my paper and writing in class essays in general. so I highly recommend him to everyone who's interested in learning about the bible or just want an easy english class (those of you pre meds). I had a lot fun with him, and learned a lot too, contrary to some of the science classes.