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Paradigms, Conversation, Prayer: Liberal Arts in Christian Colleges

Paradigms, Conversation, Prayer: Liberal Arts in Christian Colleges Given the debates now raging about the place and function of English and its allied disciplines, how should we understand the situation of the liberal arts in the particular context of Christian colleges and universities? For Anthony Kronman (2007: 205 – 59), the phrase “Christian liberal arts college” is an oxymoron. Are not the liberal arts defined by a free, open, critical inquiry seeking human truths about the issues inherent to our existence? Do they not begin in Socratic ignorance, free of received opinions, and arrive at Kantian self-assertion, the bold assumption of individual responsibility for one’s own knowledge and convictions? Is not such a spirit of critical inquiry completely at odds with Christianity’s — indeed any religion’s — demand that adherents obediently submit to authoritative truths? Surely a college with a Christian mission has already committed itself to certain truths that are placed beyond question or inquiry? A little reflection will reveal that the opposition that frames this outlook is, to say the least, highly questionable. Terry Eagleton (2009) provides a trenchant critique of it. On the one side, all inquiry rests on presuppositions it cannot itself ground — a point noted by Jürgen Habermas in his http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture Duke University Press

Paradigms, Conversation, Prayer: Liberal Arts in Christian Colleges

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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2010 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1531-4200
eISSN
1533-6255
DOI
10.1215/15314200-2009-031
Publisher site
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Abstract

Given the debates now raging about the place and function of English and its allied disciplines, how should we understand the situation of the liberal arts in the particular context of Christian colleges and universities? For Anthony Kronman (2007: 205 – 59), the phrase “Christian liberal arts college” is an oxymoron. Are not the liberal arts defined by a free, open, critical inquiry seeking human truths about the issues inherent to our existence? Do they not begin in Socratic ignorance, free of received opinions, and arrive at Kantian self-assertion, the bold assumption of individual responsibility for one’s own knowledge and convictions? Is not such a spirit of critical inquiry completely at odds with Christianity’s — indeed any religion’s — demand that adherents obediently submit to authoritative truths? Surely a college with a Christian mission has already committed itself to certain truths that are placed beyond question or inquiry? A little reflection will reveal that the opposition that frames this outlook is, to say the least, highly questionable. Terry Eagleton (2009) provides a trenchant critique of it. On the one side, all inquiry rests on presuppositions it cannot itself ground — a point noted by Jürgen Habermas in his

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Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2010

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