A Theological Defense of the Liberal Arts

The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point drew the ire of whole-brained thinkers across the country last week with their decision to cut Humanities programs. According to a university press release, the move comes as a response to a "deficit of $4.5 million over two years because of declining enrollment and lower tuition revenues." To address their cash shortfall, the school proposes "shifting resources from programs where fewer students are enrolled." These programs include 13 academic majors, among them History, Philosophy, and three world languages.

Recently, I wrote about American conservatism's obsession with zero-sum thinking - Republican orthodoxy's pervasive pattern of forced choices that artificially and unnecessarily create winners and losers. From a theological perspective, zero-sum thinking is problematic because we live in a created cosmos that is defined by the omnipotence and abundance of an active God. The ever-expanding, wholly gracious God of a ceaselessly evolving universe is by nature at odds with systems that force needless choices that inhibit one's ability to see a bigger truth. The conservative mantra that we need "mental health services" instead of pragmatic gun safety - as if these two are somehow mutually exclusive - is the definitive illustration of such zero-sum thinking in our national political discourse. But it is by no means the only example of reckless zero-sum thinking.

UW-Stevens Point's decision to gut the Humanities effectively obliterates their long-standing and necessary partnership between science and the arts. More significantly, it divides the left hemisphere of the student brain from the right hemisphere - as if to lobotomize the learning psyche, in a false forced choice between the quantitative and the qualitative.

A theological lens illumines the extent of Stevens Point's folly.

We might define theology as the unending discernment and pursuit of purpose that is based on merely one assumption: that there is something higher, something more powerful, something more knowing than the fabricated systems around us. A secondary assumption in our definition of theology might be that this higher being, which we might label as "God", is active in our world - and that the actions of God can be contemplated, perhaps even co-opted. Theology, then, is an exercise in reflecting on purpose - what are we doing? Why are we doing it? And where does God fit?

To expel the Humanities from academia is to expel the pursuit of purpose - in a mistaken attempt to accelerate "progress." And while there might be validity to the idea that scientific discoveries, engineered inventions, and ultimately, job placements from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point could happen at a faster clip without institutional investment in the liberal arts, one might wonder, at what human cost?

If we could engineer a passenger airplane that could fly twice as fast as the jetliners currently in circulation, we might very well want to do so. But what if the safety and sustainability of such a plane was in question? What if the faster jet engines led to 0.1% more crashes than today's airliners? And what if the faster jet engines expelled 0.1% more carbon than the jets of today? Would we still put this new airplane into production?

The Humanities do not prescribe what we must do in this situation - but they do afford us the opportunity to consider the trade-offs and implications of such a discovery. In so doing, the Humanities make us more empathetic, a quality that the world needs but lacks, especially from Millennials.  As we consider the costs, examine the benefits, and reflect on the purpose of any advancement, the liberal arts provide access to a fuller, more expansive truth - one that cannot be exclusively quantified, one that cannot be processed fully through the scientific method.

Theology, for instance, might posit the question of what it means to experience 0.1% more crashes, crashes that will surely adversely affect the lives of human beings created by God for involvement in a higher purpose. But theology (ironically known for much of our history as the "queen of the sciences") is just one tool in this multidisciplinary work. In addition to the the theological reflection, history might inform us of how scientists, engineers, and cultural leaders have come together throughout history to (successfully or not) balance safety and advancement. World language might hold us accountable for the global impact of the new discovery - reminding us that local events do indeed have global consequences - both for human lives and for environmental sustainability. Philosophy might ask an entirely different set of questions - asking what is ethical and what is moral - while simultaneously asking the trippy and esoteric questions - like what it means to perceive time, and whether the speed of the "faster" airplane is an objective improvement, or merely one of aesthetics. Not each of these questions has the only answer - but it is through our willingness to explore these big questions that we ensure a lasting bond between what makes us "better" and what makes us whole.

Universities must understand that they have a tremendous obligation to democracy.  This obligation is not merely to balance a budget, to place graduates in jobs, or to patent discoveries. Their obligation is to take on the deep thinking and critical reflection that our media-driven, internet obsessed society is unwilling to do. Moreover, their task is not to funnel students into either the Humanities or the sciences, as if the two were somehow enemy combatants on an intellectual battlefield. Their calling is to do that which the world around us refuses: to join together purpose and progress, contemplation and action, the necessary and the pragmatic.

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Ryan Panzer graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a B.A. in History and Psychology. He has done just fine in the "real" world, despite studying subjects with "fewer students." Comments, criticisms, and reflections on higher education and the nature of existence can be sent via Twitter to @ryanpanzer.

All photos in this post come from the University of Bologna. Founded in 1088, it is the world's oldest University, boasting a nearly 1,000 year tradition of teaching the Humanities. 

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