Alex Dooley (CPO 1014)

Integrative Essay
BITH 111
Dr. Beth Jones
Miss Lowery
10/14/11

The proper Christian approach to a liberal arts education involves more than learning a
variety of disciplines simply for the purpose of self-betterment and increasing knowledge.
Christians have the responsibility to use every circumstance, whether educational or otherwise,
to further learn and discover who God is and what He wants for our lives. There are a vast
number of perspectives with which people can see the responsibility of Christians to honor God
with our minds. I believe that examining the doctrines of Christology, Redemption, and the
Church helps Christians understand how to best approach a liberal arts education as both
scholarly and spiritual beings.
Something that genuinely never stops amazing me is the way God chose to reveal
Himself to humans. The fact that God wants anything to do with humans at all is incredible in
itself, and the fact that He decided to actually become one is amazing. As stated in John 1:14,
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. How amazing that the One who
created life itself would make Himself to be like His own creation!
Jesus' willingness to become a human should tell us something very clearly God wants
His children to know the truth. Christ Himself encapsulated truth not only by giving us a perfect
example of what it is to be human, but also by showing us exactly what God looks like.
Understanding the Christology of Jesus that is, His being God incarnate as a human being is

key to understanding that the truth He has revealed to us is perfect, and very much worth taking
our time to discover.
As followers of Christ, we must strive to know God more and become more like Him in
every circumstance, and this includes the way a Christian approaches a liberal arts education. A
Christian must take care not to see education as a way only to learn about things of personal
interest, or merely as a way to a successful career. By learning about the truth of who God is
through observing the way He works in the world through the arts, sciences, and all other
disciplines, we learn to see God better and learn how we can become more like Him. Viewing
everything we learn through the lens of God's truth is the key to a liberal arts education not just
being a student of our major (Hauerwas 7).
Although Jesus came into the world to be an example of perfection and teach humans
how to live, his primary goal was not to simply be a model of a good life. The reason Jesus came
into the world as a human was for the purpose of redeeming the human race. Jesus' redemption
of sins is the focal point of our faith as Christians the truth of his death, burial, and resurrection
is the hub and synecdoche of the gospel (Bock 3). 1 Corinthians 15:17 states And if Christ has
not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. If not for the redemption offered
by Jesus through his sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection, our faith and works would be
lifeless, empty, and without meaning. Proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus is not nearly
everything Christians can give to the world, but it should be the platform for everything we have
to offer (Plantinga 80). The actions we take as Christians must always come back to the central
truth of Jesus' redemption.
In the same way that our faith is made alive and meaningful through the redemption of

Jesus, our liberal arts education is redeemed and made useful when it is centered on Christ. Just
as a life without Jesus is incomplete and broken, a liberal arts education not centered on the truth
of Jesus Christ is inherently flawed. Without the redeeming work of Christ at the center of our
academic study, our pursuit of knowledge results only in the gathering of extraneous bits of
information. Making Christ the center of our study and viewing the things we learn as they relate
to Him coagulates all the things we learn into one cohesive picture (Jones, Lecture 9/28/2011).
The redemption of our sins by the atoning, sacrificial blood of Jesus is not the end of the
gospel in fact, it is only the beginning. Without redemption our works are eternally worthless
but without works, our redemption is completely wasted. We as Christians do good work for the
Lord as a result of our redemption, likewise, Christian students must develop the life of the mind
in such a way as to learn to think within a specifically Christian framework across the whole
spectrum of modern learning. This entails more than simply learning to succeed in the modern
academic world, it means learning to think like a Christian about all things the nature and
workings of the physical world, the character of human social structures like government and the
economy, the meaning of the past, the nature of artistic creation, and the circumstances attending
our perception of the world outside ourselves (Noll 7). The well-being of Christian intellect in
the liberal arts is possible because of God's redemption of our hearts, souls, and minds.
God established the church as a place for Christians to garner support from and
experience fellowship with other believers. On a global level, the church unites believers
worldwide in one common body. On a local level, the church is a corporate gathering of
believers who worship, learn, and serve together. The church also acts as a base for going into
the world, whether far or near, to share the gospel. Without the church, Christians would be left

to face the trials of life lacking a good framework of support from fellow believers.
Just as Christians draw from the strength of other Christians in the body of Christ,
Christian students should bond together in their pursuit of truth through a liberal arts education.
The university is just as much a community as the church, and the positive effect of a liberal arts
education is amplified when experienced with others. In fact, the very essence of a liberal arts
education is thoroughly tied into personal interaction with others and learning from fellow
humans in different walks of life. As Christians, we must pay special attention to the people God
has placed around us in the context of both the church and university. Instead of being
unnecessarily competitive in academic matters, we must seek to glorify God by helping those
who may be struggling and enriching the minds of those around us through discussion and
collaboration.
The church was also established for the purpose of giving believers a forum for learning
the deeper truths of God and what He has revealed to us in His word. Gaining an understanding
of God's creation requires action on our part; we are not to sit stagnantly in our faith, content
with only what has been told us. We must dig deeply into the word of God and seek God
diligently in order to gain a fuller understanding of His truth. In doing so, we learn not only
about who God is, but also about one another as believers and fellow seekers of God's truth.
The same principles of diligently seeking God in our spiritual lives apply to academia as
well. A Christian should not approach a liberal arts education with laziness, or contentment with
simply getting a good grade. Rather, our approach to education must be investigative,
intellectual, and active. We must search in earnest for the character of God revealed in our
studies, and use our education to practice seeing the world through the lens of Christianity

(Jones, Lecture 9/9/2011).

A Christian approach to a liberal arts education is advantageous in many ways. The
pursuit of higher education can benefit the mind not only through academic gain, but also by
helping us develop a keener sense of who God is, how He works in the world around us, and
how we can become more like Him. Having Christ at the center of our liberal arts education
makes our study worthwhile and gives meaning to all the little things we learn, just as the
redeeming work of Christ on the cross breathes life into our faith and gives Christianity its
foundation upon which to stand. Finally, analogous to the truth that is found by the church in its
continued diligent study of God's revelation to man through the Bible, Christian students find
truth in their studies and in the surrounding world by perseveringly viewing everything they do
through the lens of Christianity. Christians can make a great impact on the world, but only if they
understand it. A liberal arts education can make a difference in the lives of individuals,
communities, and the world when approached from a Christian perspective and vitalized by the
One who gave us the ability to learn.