Liberal Arts and the Christian
Read the Bible. Pray. Listen to worship music. Go to church. Repeat. These are the things that are ‘worthwhile,’ right?
Sometimes Christians get this wrong-headed idea that there is no value to anything that is not innately spiritual. Today I’m going to try to change your mind. I believe that as Christians we should embrace the ‘liberal arts’ – the branches of knowledge ranging from mathematics to astronomy, music to aesthetics, and everything in between. Here are three reasons why.
The Liberal Arts Foster Curiosity for God’s Creation
Post-Reformation Europe rejected the ideal of the monastery in favor of a competing idea: non-secular humanism. That’s right – humanism need not be secular. You can learn from, understand, and influence the world around you (humanism) without consigning God to a single department in your life (secularism).
Non-secular humanism is an exciting way to view the world – as an orderly, beautiful, and semi-predictable system that showcases the glories of the Creator.
This is how we should view creation. It was fashioned by God for humans, and we have been given a degree of ‘dominion.’ The universe was created perfect, and theology tells us that we can learn much about God from creation. Paul admits that the pagans knew enough from God’s creation to be ‘without excuse.’
The Liberal Arts Provide Unique Insights to Christianity
Engineers use biology to help design more efficient systems. Psychology informs marketing. The liberal arts can teach us much about theology.
The more you know, the more you can connect dots, play with ideas, and understand God’s truth holistically. Astronomy illustrates God’s infinity and glory. Marine biology identifies divine creativity. Mathematics impresses design. Music illuminates beauty.
The God who made each of these disciplines is a God who is intensely know-able. We catch glimpses of the Creator as we range about His world. Minds that are stretched and flexed through the knowledge of Creation are better prepared to grapple with the Uncreated. God designed His majesty and glory to be not only read about but sampled.
The Liberal Arts Were Created by God for Our Enjoyment
The philosophy of rigorism claims that the physical realm is wrong, merely a stumbling-block on our journey to glory. This is not a biblical idea. Solomon concluded that “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)
How does this apply to the liberal arts? If it is good and right to moderately enjoy this world, then it is good and right to delve into the studies and pursuits that are not strictly theological. Christians – of all people – should be most able to enjoy the simple gifts of God. Christians should be most curious about God’s creation.
Conclusion
While there is a legitimate danger to pursue excessively the things of this world, Christians do not need to be scared by the pleasures, knowledge, or disciplines of the natural world. Christ himself referred to the wonders of botany and biology, agriculture and meteorology. Pursue the knowledge of God, but do so in a wide-orbed realm.
