Marisa Iglesias

December 15, 2014

BITH 111
Final Paper
TA: Robbie Crouse
The Center Of It All
It is safe to say that some of the most formative years in a persons life are those years
spent in college. The college years are the threshold separating childish nonchalance and adult
responsibility. They are the years in which we make lasting friendships, discover and pursue our
passions, and grow into the person God has created us to be. After this, we are thrust into the real
world, in which we are hopefully prepared to thrive wherever we have been called. So how does
one go about maximizing such important years? While there may not be a perfect school per
say, there certainly are some strong choices. Of those choices, a Christian Liberal Arts education
such as Wheaton College is among them. The breadth in learning that expands our awe of God,
the fostering and building of godly character within the students, and the focus on Jesus Christ as
the center of it all makes the Christian Liberal Arts education a highly knowledgeable and
transformative experience.
There are some who believe that a liberal arts education is a waste because you are
studying subjects unrelated to your intended major. However, the Christian liberal arts education
sees this scope in subjects as instrumental in multiple ways. It helps in instructing and growing
young men and women towards a Christ like mindset and assisting in giving them a love and an
appreciation for God and His creation. As written in Liberal Arts for the Christian Life, The
Christian liberal arts are for the sake of love- learning to grow into the most comprehensive love
of God and to be equipped for the most comprehensive love of our neighbors. Accordingly, the
entire breadth of academic learning in the humanities, arts, social sciences, and natural sciences

opens up as the Christians context for learning to cultivate a Christian mind, thinking
Christianly about God, his world, and his creatures so that we might honor, serve, and glorify
God in word and deed (Jeffery P. Greenman 87). An education limited solely on our
concentrated major would only offer us a limited perspective on this world and our Creator. How
are we to really love others as ourselves if we only understand others through say a strictly
anatomical view or perhaps anthropological view? To be able to fully love God and others we
need to learn about them. We learn about God through reading His Word. We learn about others
through interacting with them and walking alongside them, and also by learning why they are the
way they are, in all their complexity and diversity, To love God fully, we need to understand
God and his creation; to love and serve our neighbors we must understand them in diverse wayssocially, politically, economically, linguistically, culturally, historically, and artistically
(Greenman 87).
As we go about trying to gain more of a well rounded outlook, it is encouraging to
remember that when we are pursuant and exploratory in our academic studies, God will honor
that as He promises us in Matthew 7:7-8, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will
find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who
seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. God wants us to study and
asks questions about the world in which we live in and the heavens above, about the past and
present and future, and about us as human beings and Him as the one true God. By being curious
and seeking answers to our many questions, God will reveal Himself so that we may experience
Him in all we learn, Christians discover God the Creators work through astronomys study of
the starry heavens above and through geologys study of the shifting tectonic plates below. We
gain insights into Gods creatures through sociologys analysis of urbanization, through historys

narration of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, and through theaters depiction of varied
human experience in all its richness and complexity (Greenman 87).
At a Christian Liberal Arts college, while academia is incredibly important, it is only one
part of the equation. The professors have a much more important task than only ensuring we
learn the material. They are helping students cultivate character in Christ by leaning on our faith
in Jesus above all else, To restore the ruins, personally and in the world, we cannot begin with
culture or education or force of will for education to be redemptive, we need to acknowledge
that we are dead in our sins until we are made alive in Christ, not by anything we do, but by
the pure gift received in faith (See Eph. 2:8-9) (Wayne Martindale 94). So if we cannot restore
the ruins through education or any other means, how is it that faith in Christ can do what
intellect alone cannot? What does that mean for us? What is our part in bringing about Gods
kingdom if is made clear God does not really need our help? Though many have tried to make
heaven on earth, all have failed We cannot fix the world on our own, but God certainly can and
will create a new heaven and a new earth without our help or hindrance. In the meantime, we are
not to sit on our thumbs (Martindale 92-93). The bible makes it clear that just because God does
not need our help, does not mean we are to do nothing. We are still to challenge ourselves to live
and think above the sinful dredges of this earth. We are to give our utmost for His highest in our
thoughts, feelings, lifestyles, etc., Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what Gods
will is- his good, pleasing, and perfect will (Romans 12:2).
The Christian liberal arts education strives to have students think and act in a way
pleasing to God and in doing so we are participating in Gods will. When we are participating in
Gods will, He can work wonders in our lives and in the lives of those around us thus using the

education we have received to mold us into golden vessels for Him. From the viewpoint of a
Christian liberal arts education, college is about so much more than stuffing your head full of
knowledge to prepare you for the real world. It is about using that knowledge to help you grow
in Christ and pursue His plan for you, Your Christian education, then, distinctly becomes the
context for Gods creative and redemptive work. It is a process of transformation, not mere job
preparation (Stephen B. Ivester 169). This transformation is contingent on our Christian faith,
which incites our Christian mind, a mind trained, informed, and equipped to handle data of
secular controversy within a frame of reference that is constructed of Christian presuppositions.
The Christian mind is the prerequisite of Christian thinking. And Christian thinking is the
prerequisite of Christian action (Greenman 83). It is with this mind that our Christian character
is developed and honed. At a Christian liberal arts college, we are challenged to grow in our faith
so that as our faith increases, our capacity to think as Christ wants us to think increases, as does
our Christ like character. And thus we are continually being shaped as we strive not to simply
make good grades and graduate, but be sanctified and made anew throughout the process, [A
liberal arts theory of education] is about shifting your focus and energy from trying to do
something to learning how to be someone (Ivester 169).
Ultimately, a Christian liberal arts education encourages you to become all that you are
meant to be- more completely human for the sake of Gods kingdom (Ivester 174). The
important part here is for the sake of Gods kingdom. Essentially the purpose of the Christian
liberal arts education is to teach, grow, and prepare students for the glory of God. It is all
reflected back on Him. We are to hold steadfast to God in our educational pursuits because it is
for God that we learn. It is for God that we ask questions. It is for God that we cultivate character
pleasing to Him. Everything we do is for the purpose of His kingdom and to give Him glory,

Your calling, while a student, fundamentally involves preparation and to take full ownership,
under the grace of God, of your total college experience you have the opportunity to see these
years in college as an experience that prepares you for effective kingdom service (Ivester 168).
Our college years are our preparation for the work God has in store for us to do for His
kingdom. College is only the jumpstart in Gods plan for our lives, In truth, my liberal arts
education instigated a lifelong journey toward the discovery of who I am, who I was meant to be,
and what God desires of my life (Ivester 168).
We are chosen by God to do His handiwork in this world. We are His tools to help mend
this broken world, His lights to help bring hope to all who need it. We learn so that we can love
and serve in the name of Jesus. We attend a Christian liberal arts college because we are building
our lives on the rock that is Christ and we want to share that security and joy with the world.
[C.S.] Lewis wrote: I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen. Not only because I
see it, but because by it I see everything else. (Greenman 84). Jesus truly is the center of it all,
and by having a Christian liberal arts education we are exploring, growing, and embracing that
truth every day.

Works Cited
Davis, Jeffry C., and Philip Graham Ryken, eds. Liberal Arts for the Christian Life. Wheaton, IL:
Crossway, 2012. Print.
The Holy Bible: New International Version, Containing the Old Testament and the New
Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Bible, 2011. Print.