Christianity key to liberal arts

By: John Reist - Special to The Collegian

Posted: 4/23/09

With all due respect, I disagree with Dr. Arnn, if he actually said that Hillsdale is "not a political school." And I also disagree with Mr. Stolyarov that to require a course in biblical studies or a theology course would be to "shove [theology] down" anyone's "throats if they do not wish it." I commend him for his career here, for he is always clear and forthright in debate; indeed, at Fairfield Society I have heard him several times debate important issues in a fair and intelligent and provocative manner. I welcome his questions and views on curricular requirements. I commend The Collegian for publishing them, and I do not find The Collegian "nasty," as certain of my esteemed colleagues do. Please - argument, not acrimony!

Yet, Mr. Stolyarov needs to find another potential tyrant on campus, for I am known to be someone with whom anyone can discuss anything in or out of class. In fact, I have been (mis)judged for doing so.

Given the purpose of the founders of the college, given the claims that the college now makes about our mission, we must ask, "What should we require?" We require a core curriculum - is that too much for Mr. Stolyarov? Is it not unfair to require a foreign language, or HST 104-05, or ENG 101-02 or two courses in physical education? We require a course in the U.S. Constitution, and I support that. However, suppose a Marxist or Tory or Whig or Socialist or Monarchist were required to take the course - would that be unfair? Mr. Stolyarov misunderstands me (probably because I said it shortly, as a sound byte) if he thinks I believe that the Constitution is a "Christian" document. However, many of those who produced it were Christians (we know that from examination of their letters, essays, orations, wills and diaries) and it was their Christian faith that motivated them to produce the Constitution. This, of course, challenges Mr. Stolyarov's argument (or at least, his principle without argument) that requiring a course in biblical studies or theology would impose it on students, for these Christian men produced a document that is about fundamental freedoms. Ergo, genuine Christianity engenders freedom for all.

If Mr. Stolyarov had gone to the University of Chicago (and he has told me he had that option), he would have found that there is an interesting plenitude of perspectives; but that is their requirement! I have an M.A. and a Ph.D. from there, so I know. Hillsdale College is an oasis of freedom, but not without focus. Freedom without focus is not freedom, but anarchy or chaos. If I may quote Jesus: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Further, Hillsdale College would not even exist were it not for Christians (free church men and women - Baptists!) and their faith - read our charter, Mr. Stolyarov. All thinking, even liberal arts thinking, is about something - and everything. It is not intolerant to expect students to think about Christianity. We wish to move students to address the basic questions of existence, and, while all thoughtful men and women do so, we believe that if you have not addressed the questions of Christianity (which is true), you have personally, seriously and fatally impaired your understanding of the cosmos. Paul the Apostle claims (and I would rather quote him than Jefferson; but, at Hillsdale we can quote both of them!) that Christ is the Logos through whom all things consist, or hold together, and he exhorts the Corinthians to "bring every thought into captivity to Christ." Christ is not an afterthought in the mind of God, nor the aftermath to history, nor the afterglow to commencement this May - or any other May.

No one is required to believe anything in the courses I teach. And if we require a course in biblical studies, we would be saying that you must address and consider these issues, not sign a creed. Imagine that all students were required to study Scripture as well as the Constitution; then the would understand why Reinhold Niebuhr rightly stated that democracy is necessary because men are sinners, and possible, because they know it. This, of course, is one of the reasons we have the three-fold balance of powers - legislative, judicial and executive. No kings, no tyrants, no despots, because as Lord Acton declared: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Biblical ignorance or illiteracy is a sure way to truncate your understanding of ethics, science, music, psychology, sociology, et al.

We will miss you next year, Mr. Stolyarov. And we will miss your children, if they do not come. But think of what they will miss - an open liberal education in the whole tradition which would lead them into the future with a hopeful trajectory determined by that tradition; otherwise, a truncated education will lead to tragedy.

Indeed, in some sense, such a secularized destiny in our society has already begun. But as Ronald Reagan said, "Not on my watch!" Go Chargers!