Piper Curda

COMM 494

26 November 2018

Communication and the Christian Liberal Arts

I once heard a Wheaton graduate say the best thing his liberal arts education did was

teach him how to learn. This resonated with me because it rang true of my own experience.

Studying, understanding, and applying knowledge from a breadth of subject areas examined and

interpreted within a Christian framework gifted me with a more comprehensive view of the

world academically and spiritually. However, and perhaps more importantly, learning about

communication in particular, through classes in theory and research, developed my ability to

study, understand, and apply. My communication major and my Christian liberal arts curriculum

work hand in hand to cultivate in me a more well-rounded and farther-reaching, Christ-focused

mind and view of the world that better prepares me for life after college.

Due to the nature of a liberal arts education requiring the study of varied subjects, to reap

the most benefit, one’s mind must remain attentive and committed to fully comprehend each

individual subject while at the same time integrating it. One must be able to divide and conquer

with their mind. Communication is the key to fostering this engagement. It is not impossible to

learn without communication, but we are able to learn more effectively if we know how to

communicate well.

A communication major teaches how people communicate and why. Classes about

communication theory open students to the litany of ways any given person may choose to

communicate. Classes exploring communication research show students how to find out the

what, how or why a person may communicate one way or another way. A communication major
prepares students to speak effectively but also how to listen well. It asks students to not only

observe the world but to seek to interpret and explain it. Proficiency in communication provides

an avenue to understand other phenomenon in the world more fully. In this way, a

communication major prepares students to learn the assortment of other spheres of knowledge

that a liberal arts education offers.

Moreover, not only does a communication major help me understand the liberal arts, but

my liberal arts education has helped me understand communication. The expansiveness of a

liberal arts curriculum provides students an opportunity to gain a broader understanding of

different cultures, religions, and worldviews. This is crucial to developing the ability to

communicate efficaciously because, in order to communicate, one must first be able to

understand. A specifically Christian liberal arts education provides a spiritual foundation upon

which to foster this understanding. Typically, children grow up only being exposed to a small

amount of different communication styles. Therefore, it is important to intentionally study and

experience more styles of communication than the few each person is immediately privy to. In

exploring and encountering new cultures and their accompanying methods and reasons for

communication, a Christian liberal arts framework allows students to do so with grace and

compassion.

Lewis (1949) claims “good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad

philosophy needs to be answered” (p. 50). It is important that, as Christians, we learn the ways to

combat these ‘bad philosophies’ in a way that is in line with the gospel. A Christian liberal arts

education enables us to do just that. Lewis explains that “a cultural life will exist outside the

Church whether it exists inside or not” (p. 50). Being able to engage in this cultural life will give

us a greater accessibility to those outside the church and equip us to “meet the enemies on their
own ground” (p. 50). A Christian liberal arts education not only gifts us with a more expansive

view of the world, it does so in a way that empowers us to share the gospel while sharing this

knowledge.

All of these things, in turn, set up students for a successful endeavor into the workforce

post-graduation. Communication skills are gaining more and more desirability when searching

for potential employees. Hersh (1997) maintains this fact saying, “those who hire consistently

rank ‘oral communication’ and ‘interpersonal skills’ as the top two attributes they seek in

applicants” (p. 27). This idea is beginning to gain more traction in a world that is constantly

creating and distributing new means of communication or connection. Urciuoli (2003) even goes

so far as to say communication skill is “fetishized” (p. 402) in the hiring process. Even so, she

attributes skilled communication, or the ability to “express thought concisely and persuasively,”

to a liberal arts curriculum, saying that “the grace of precise expression is that hallmark of a

liberal education. It is also the single most marketable skill I know” (p. 407).

It may be difficult to see why the relationship between a communication major and a

liberal arts education is any more significant than the relationship between any major in

conjunction with general education requirements. Nonetheless, I believe the relationship is a

special one because it is mutually beneficial. Not only does developing communication skills

allow me to encourage growth in my liberal arts education, my liberal arts education aids my

development of these communication skills across a wide frame of subjects. Furthermore, the

development of both of these things has gifted me with an identity that makes me more prepared

to enter the workforce after college. As a result, I feel a well-rounded progression in both my

mind and my actions and a greater confidence in entering into what is waiting for me in the real

world.
 References

Hersh, R. H. (1997). The liberal arts college. Liberal Education, 83(3), 26-34.

Lewis, C. S. (1949). Learning in war-time: A sermon preached in the Church of St. Mary the

Virgin, Oxford, Autumn, 1939. The weight of glory and other addresses (43-54). New

York: The Macmillan Company.

Urciuoli, B. (2003). Excellence, leadership, skills, diversity: Marketing liberal arts education.

Language & Communication, 23(3-4), 385-408.