A Necessary Alternative to Liberal Arts Education David J. Masoner and Karen B. Salem The University of Alabama "Learning's purpose is the enlargement of reverence, obedience and faith." - George MacDonald Introduction The basic foundation of Western Education has historically been a result of the premise that God was the creator of the Universe: that Theology was the queen of the sciences. Higher Education in the west is rooted in this thesis. All disciplines were integrated around it, and the church had a pervasive influence in the inception of Higher Education in the United States. (Brubacher & Rudy, 1976)) As Western Society changed through the period of Enlightenment and Romanticism, man has tended to become enthroned while God has been dethroned. Nietzsche and others followed, further promoting man and the presumed need for personal power, autonomy and self-determinism. There followed a discontent with traditional Judeo-Christian standards and Western culture became post-modern where fewer and fewer absolutes, standards and rules were acknowledged or adhered to particularly in the Academy. This has led to a popular worldview and myth of modernity known as relativism. (Duncan, 1993) Relativism -- a rejection of absolute truth and a belief that all things are relative -- acknowledges undeniable beliefs and values rather than objective truths and universal right and wrong. Relativism permits an individual to believe anything to be true, as long as others are not expected to believe it. (Duncan, 1993) Such are the presuppositions underlying much of contemporary American higher education institutions. Christian higher education can offer an exciting intellectual, historical, philosophical alternative by developing its uniqueness through innovative curricular and governance procedures. The Condition Today's system of higher education in America continuously bombards students, parents and educators with relativistic teachings. In most colleges and universities, multiple beliefs and philosophies are dealt with by declaring them all to be equally valid. In Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind, he states that college students in America today are encouraged to be democratic in their thinking and give equal time to all differing philosophies. (Bloom, 1987) Thus, the typical secular college education demands a relativistic worldview and acceptance of all belief systems. Pollster George Barna points to the existence of such relativism. He asks students from numerous colleges and universities, secular and Christian, to respond to this statement in the poll: "There is no such thing as absolute truth; different people can define truth in conflicting ways and still be correct." In evaluating the responses, some striking results are found. Only twenty eight percent of the respondents indicated a strong belief in "absolute truth." Perhaps even more surprising, of those who identified themselves as evangelical Christians, only twenty three percent disagreed with the statement. (Barna, 1992) This is particularly troublesome and of great concern in that the basic tenets of Christianity are based on absolutes. The Christian student is at a critical point in solidifying his/her personal worldview. Sadly, our churches, religious leaders, educators and parents have not given Christian young people necessary information and accurate biblical teaching to enable them to make accurate assessments relative to absolutes, and thus develop valid worldviews. Integration of biblical principles of faith with academic disciplines is indeed a foreign concept. Many secular institutions and even some Christian colleges and universities have allowed themselves to drift from absolute truths to the alternatives of relativistic thinking and teaching. Moral and ethical standards have become situational and relative to societal trends. When men are allowed in women's dorms on some Christian college campuses and the scientific creationist view is not upheld, something is wrong. Forty years ago, William F. Buckley, Jr., in his book God and Man at Yale, observed "what so many persons consider axiomatic, namely the proposition that all sides should be presented impartially, that the student should be encouraged to select the side that pleases him most...this attitude, acknowledged in theory by the University, has never been practiced, and in fact, can never and ought never to be practiced." (Buckley, 1951) More recently, Thomas Howard, Professor of English at Gordon College said, "there is good stuff and bad stuff...there is wheat and there is chaff. Distinctions have to be made . And the only way to sort out the good from the bad is to discriminate. There is no question of moral democracy, any more than there is of gastronomic democracy. If you eat vegetables, they will do good for you. If you eat toadstools, they will kill you. Somebody has to discriminate between the two...we need a touchstone." (Howard, 1994) The current post-Christian, perhaps even anti-Christian condition in American higher education institutions can be challenged head-on. Today, Christians need a touchstone in the form of an alternative education. Such an alternative can be met through a well thought out Christian liberal arts education. The Role What then is the appropriate role for Christian higher education? An alternative Christian education has the potential to give the youth of today and tomorrow the opportunity to reinforce their beliefs and gain assurance of their worldview. Traditionally, the accepted Christian worldview upholds absolute truths and teaches individual responsibility and accountability before God. The Christian worldview says there are universal rights and wrongs and consequences associated with moral choices. The current Skinnerian worldview, taught in many institutions, simply teaches behavior modification as a solution to man's problems, but has failed to produce lasting behavioral changes. (Stevenson, 1974) Lasting change occurs when the Christian student is taught to think theologically, looking to God for solutions. Rather than desensitizing or destroying conscience, as secular education allows, Christian education can assist in developing or refining a Christian conscience. The student can be taught to study the Bible in the context of life rather than in the abstract, and study academically with a practical understanding of Scripture as the standard. The Faculty and Staff At the onset a vital Christian liberal arts education must be developed by academians and administrators who truly know God as the source of all wisdom and acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Faith must be an uncompromising qualification because "only one who has been made a new creature in Christ can mediate God's grace to others." (Knight, 1989) Faculty and staff must also be committed to understanding the biblical basis of their particular discipline and collegiate education in general. In all activities, academic and co-curricular, faculty and staff must mirror the truths our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the revealed Word of Scripture. These activities ought to consistently reflect an uncompromising Christian worldview. Faculty and staff can reaffirm students' beliefs as Paul did in his letter to the Romans. Paul writes, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that we are without excuse." (Romans 1:20) Faculty and staff should leave the students "without excuse." Such a perspective held by faculty and staff, would necessarily contain presuppositions associated with authentic Christianity, as defined in biblical teachings. The Academic Program In addition to a committed faculty and staff, the academic program of a Christian college should propagate the Christian worldview through well-balanced excellent teaching. All subjects should be taught in their relationship to the existence and purposes of Almighty God. Such teaching would clearly point students in their disciplines and chosen fields of study to biblical foundations. Students would be taught to implement biblical truth, to filter information and to develop the art of thinking Christianly. To think Christianly is to accept all subjects as related, directly or indirectly, to man's eternal destiny as a redeemed, chosen child of God. (Blamires, 1963) To think Christianly is to acknowledge absolute truths that relate to all academic areas. The goal for students, as they think Christianly, is to develop the ability to discriminate between "the good and the bad, the wheat and the chaff." Paul encourages the Phillipians that as their "love abounds more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, that they may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ filled with fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ...to the glory and praise of God." (Phillipians 1:9- 11) A Christian academic program will adopt this as its goal. The Curriculum In order to be successful, several innovative educational procedures and academic objectives must be attended to if a program is to be vibrant and effective, yet remain distinctively Christian. The following are suggested: ¥ "The institution, and therefore the student, must accept the Bible as the self- revelation of God through Jesus Christ. This revelation allows students to make further observations concerning the nature of reality, and it provides a metaphysical framework in which the Christian education takes place. The Bible is the foundational and contextual document for all curricular items in the Christian school. The teaching authority of Scripture commits the believer at certain focal points and so provides an interpretative framework, an overall glimpse of how everything relates to God." (Knight, 1989) ¥ The program is to be epistemologically sound. "Epistemology deals with how a person knows. As such, it has to do with one of the most basic problems of our human existence. If our epistemology is incorrect, then it follows that everything else in our knowledge system will be wrong or, at the very least, distorted. In the quest for truth and knowledge every philosophic system develops a hierarchy of epistemological methods in which one method generally serves as a criterion for judging the veracity of conclusions attained by other means." (Knight, 1989) The Christian criterion and the basis for such knowing is the inerrancy of God's Word. A stated goal to and for students would be for them to articulate the basis of their newly informed views. ¥ A curricular program offering breadth as well as depth in a particular field of study must be made available and required of all students. Such a program should emphasize broad areas of knowledge as well as specific skill development in chosen fields of study. The integration between disciplines as well as with Scripture must be a goal of the curriculum planning. ¥ The student should understand the three branches of philosophical content: "metaphysics (the study of questions concerning the nature of reality), epistemology (the study of the nature of truth and knowledge and how these are attained), and axiology (the study of questions of value)." (Knight, 1989) These then become very important to the curriculum as students investigate reality, truths and values. Perhaps it would be wise to offer several courses in systematic theology in order to creatively open up this doctrine. ¥ Reasoning, logic, integrative and deductive skills must be taught and developed as students are encouraged to think Christianly. In addition, strong attention should be given to development of verbal and written communication skills. ¥ Research, special study or work opportunities ought to be made available to students for the purposes of applying their academic discipline in their daily lives and testing their value system. Academic advisement, tutelage or mentorship between students and faculty is a necessity. Fiscal support has to be a major part of this curricular plan. ¥ Students must be informed, encouraged and assisted to prayerfully explore their talents and to integrate their skills with their academic/personal/spiritual interests in light of God's particular call on their lives. Students must be encouraged to discover their talents and counseled to invest them wisely under Christ's Lordship. Various testing instruments and other techniques must be given time in each curriculum and would also require fiscal planning. ¥ A basic core of Christian apologetics should be taught and included in academic and as well as co- curricular experiences. ¥ A well grounded study of scriptural ethics, including study and discussion of individual responsibility to God, family and society, is imperative and should be integrated within courses in each discipline as well as offered under specific course headings. ¥ Students should be taught personal devotional techniques of Bible reading and quiet time management, scriptural relationships, personal evangelism, journal keeping, personal financial management and the like, as a required compliment to excellent academic offerings. The final result of this curricular treatment would be academic excellence yielding students who are prepared and equipped to fulfill God's call on their lives, as spouses, or as single members of the Body of Christ under His Lordship, while living in our contemporary post-Christian society. Effective Governance and Leadership Fresh curricular planning and implementation will be the positive effect of visionary Christian leadership. All the preceding concerns or objectives should be developed through a sound process of cooperative committees which involve all facets of the institution. Faculty, staff and students will want to concern themselves with academic development within the context of excellence while meeting the scriptural mandates to: (1) "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15) (2) and "sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts, always being ready to make a defense to every one who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." (1 Peter 3:15) If the vision of a Christian liberal arts education is to distinctively stand and flourish, the leaders of the college must be committed to its success and to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their personal lives, as well as in the operation of the institution. Besides what has been previously discussed, the administrators of such curricula must be able to articulate and administrate the distinctively Christian vision. Therefore, administrators must become aware of and incorporate biblical principles of management as they function in their roles and staff development seminars should regularly be presented. Faculty and staff must be committed to living the Christian life in such a manner as to lead and inspire one another, as well as students, to good works, good scholarship and an active relationship with their Savior. Conclusion In our post-Christian society, in a world of deepening relativism, a well developed Christian liberal arts education provides an alternative to secularism which can stand on its own merits. Christian higher education is a forum in which students have the opportunity to solidify their worldview. If the objective of Christian higher education is to develop young minds and propagate the Christian faith, then the faculty, the curriculum and the leadership should be reflections of God's truths. With faculty and staff committed to the Christian faith in their personal and professional lives, it is imperative that the curriculum be developed on the authority of God's Word. Their leadership must reflect biblical principles of administration and ethics. Christian higher education can be a tool to combat relativistic teachings and reaffirm the absolutes of Christianity. This alternative to secular humanistic higher education that stands for truth will help our nation to recapture the lost influence of Christianity and enable the development of standards of true righteousness based on biblical absolutes, thus empowering the Christian Student to take their responsible and informed place in contemporary society. Bibliography Barna, George. (1992). Barna Report. Ventura, California: Gospel Light Publications. Blamires, Harry. (1963). The Christian Mind. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Servant Books. Bloom, Allan. (1987). The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. Brubacher, John & Rudy, Willis. (1976). Higher Education in Transition: A History of American Colleges and Universities, 1636- 1976. New York: Harper and Rowe. Buckley, William, Jr. (1951). God and man at Yale; the superstitions of academic freedom. Chicago: Regenery. Duncan, J. Ligon, III. (1993). "The Myths of Modernity," Occasional Paper, Jackson, Mississippi: Reformed Theological Seminary. Howard, Thomas. (1994). "A Touchstone," Messenger, Vol. 18, No.1, January, 1994, p.9. Knight, George. (1989). Philosophy & Education, An introduction in Christian Perspective. Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press. Stevenson, Leslie. (1974). Seven Theories of Human Nature. New York: Oxford University Press. A NECESSARY ALTERNATIVE TO LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION by David J. Masoner, Ph.D. and Karen B. Salem November, 1994