Christian Wisdom

This class tackles a manifestly absurd task: to dive into all of Christian theology and to cover the Christian liberal arts tradition that will shape your GCC education. And we get one hour a week to do this. Needless to say, we won’t be able to go particularly deep in either of these fields, but my aim is to open a series of portals onto the rich vistas that you can look forward to exploring in the rest of your time at GCC and for all eternity. Further up and further in!

Course Objectives

This course is an introduction to the Humanities core at Grove City College. It welcomes students into the biblical story of creation, fall, and redemption, and it reflects on the role that liberal arts education plays in this narrative.

On completion of this course, you should be equipped to

  1. Demonstrate a basic understanding of the Christian theological framework of
    creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, including an understanding of Christian vocation and the calling of the Christian college student.
  2. Exhibit a basic understanding of the role of the humanities in wisdom-oriented education, including an understanding of the nature and role of the HUMA core at Grove City College.

Grading Breakdown

Required Texts

  • Engaging God’s World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living Paperback, by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. ISBN: 9780802839817
  • The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories, by Leo Tolstoy. ISBN: 9780140449617
  • Basic notebook from the college bookstore
  • Readings in the course pack at the college bookstore

Course Calendar

Creation

Week 1 (Aug 24:J, 26:K, 28:L)

  • Introductions

Week 2: Attention (Aug. 31:J, Sept. 2:K, 4:L)

  • Read: Arthur Holmes, “The Liberal Arts: What and Why?” and Simone Weil, “Reflections on School Studies”
  • Writing Prompt: If you were to choose one word from Weil’s essay to orient our class discussion, which would it be? Define the word (including its etymology). Identify one or two key passages that distill its importance. Articulate the central themes and questions that would structure our class discussion.

Week 3: Gratitude (Sept. 9:K, 11:L, 14:J)

  • Read: Plantinga, ix-16 and Augustine, excerpt from On Christian Doctrine
  • Writing Prompt: How might you practice Augustine’s mode of appropriating pagan gold for Christian purposes in your academic discipline or prospective profession? How can you appropriately value this gold while also preventing it from showing up in an idolatrous golden calf? Provide a specific example.

Week 4: Joy (Sept. 16:K, 18:L, 21:J)

  • Read: Plantinga, 17-44 and Milton, excerpt from “On Education”
  • Writing Prompt: Draw from your own discipline or educational experience to name, as precisely as possible, the delight that those who cultivate intellectual understanding can enjoy. Give an example and articulate how such pleasure is appropriate for we who have been created in the divine image.

Week 5: Studiosity (Sept. 23:K, 25:L, 28:J)

  • Read: Augustine, excerpt from On the Trinity and Thoreau, excerpt from “Life Without Principle”
  • Writing Prompt: Which is more damaging to the mind of a Christian, what Thoreau calls conventionalities or impurities? In other words, should we be more concerned about the trivia that dominates our feeds and screens or about R-rated movies. (Yes, I know that both can be bad! But make a case for which is most damaging to your mind and soul.)
  • In-Class Writing 1: I will give you 20 minutes at the beginning of class to write a 250-word response to one of the first four prompts. I will let you know which prompt I’m asking you to write on when class begins.

Fall

Week 6: Diligence (Sept. 30:L, Oct. 5:J, 7:K) (Note: the Wednesday section K skips a week here and the Friday section L meets on Wednesday for this week only)

  • Read: Plantinga, 45-68 and Aristotle, excerpt from Nicomachean Ethics (focus on pgs. 23-31)
  • Writing Prompt: Name one intellectual vice that characterizes your academic life (e.g. pride, sloth, covetousness, ingratitude, etc.). Of what virtue is it an excess or deficiency? Drawing on Aristotle’s account of moral virtues, describe a habit that would help you cultivate this virtue.

Week 7: Justice (Oct. 9:L, 12:J, 14:K)

  • Read: Plantinga, 94-100, Bonaventure, “On the Reduction of the Arts to Theology,” and Dante, Paradiso 26
  • Writing Prompt: Should we see theology as a kind of trans-disciplinary queen of all the intellectual disciplines and professional guilds or as itself another discipline, albeit one we should all study to some extent? What is gained and lost by taking the approach you think is best?

Week 8: Friendship (Oct. 19:J, 21:K, 23:L)

  • Read: Tolstoy 157-188
  • Writing Prompt: How can you avoid what the kids these days call “Main Character Energy” or what Augustine might call incurvatus in se? Name one of Ivan Ilyich’s failures and identify one practice you can cultivate to be a better friend where he fails.

Week 9: Love (Oct. 26:J, 28:K, 30:L)

  • Read: Tolstoy 188-217
  • Writing Prompt: Does Ivan Ilyich die well? Justify your answer.
  • In-Class Writing 2: I will give you 20 minutes at the beginning of class to write a 250-word response to one of the second set of four prompts. I will let you know which prompt I’m asking you to write on when class begins.

Redemption and Restoration

Week 10: Creativity (Nov. 2:J, 4:K, 6:L)

  • Read: Plantinga, 69-94 and John Dyer, From the Garden to the City 77-82
  • Writing Prompt: What distinction would you propose to differentiate between redemptive and rebellious technology? Be precise and give examples.

Week 11: Generosity (Nov. 9:J, 11:K, 13:L)

  • Read: Plantinga, 103-121 and Anna Julia Cooper, “Educational Programs”
  • Writing Prompt: Cooper refers to Acts 22 (pgs 201-02). Elaborate on the significance of this reference by articulating what kind of education is appropriate for those who are free citizens of the City of God?

Week 12: Courage (Nov. 16:J, 18:K, 20:L)

  • Read Plantinga, 121-144 and C.S. Lewis, “Our English Syllabus”
  • Writing Prompt: Describe an institution (one that is not an official school or college) you’re familiar with where the activity that Lewis defines as “learning” takes place.

Week 13: Hope (Nov. 30:J, Dec. 2:K, 4:L)

  • Read: Tolkien, “Leaf by Niggle.”
  • Writing Prompt: Name one way that your work now—as a student at Grove City College—may prepare you for your eternal work in the New Creation.

Week 14 (Dec. 7:J, 9:K, 12:L) (Our final exam slot is Saturday, Dec. 12 from 8-10 a.m. Section K will meet from 9-10 to take the final)

  • Final exam. I will give you 60 minutes to write two 250-word responses to two questions, one from among the first eight prompts and one from among the last four.