An Education That Goes Beyond

INTRODUCTION
Chairman Tidball, former presidents Herron, Stephens, and Smith, members of the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff and administration, trustees and faculty emeriti, alumni, guests, family, and above all, students. Today it is my privilege and honor officially to take office in the rich tradition of nine previous presidents who have gone before me.  I am humbled and overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy.  “The world will little note, nor long remember what I say here…” but the world has already remembered well for over a century what we do here in this place. 

Greenville College is a Christian liberal arts college.  We have heard that many times and said it ourselves over and over.  As I have remarked, only half facetiously, on other occasions; to some ‘liberal’ contrasts with ‘conservative’ and ‘arts’ belong in museums.  So to some, Greenville may be seen as a kind of left-wing painting school.   But in a day when of the nearly 3700 institutions of higher learning in the U.S. perhaps fewer than 200 actually remain committed to liberal arts, and when competition has driven all but 17% of American young people into public colleges and universities, it is imperative that private liberal arts colleges understand clearly who we are.

There have been innumerable attempts to define the liberal arts, and even quite a few to define Christian liberal arts.  This apparently never-ending process may sound discouraging to some.  But I think it is encouraging that educators constantly struggle to revisit their mission.  We must do the same because without focus we will surely wander and may be lost to the crucial high calling we have in Christian higher education.  What is more, without that clear vision, we will also surely lose the excitement and enthusiasm that comes from recognizing the distinctiveness of that calling.

Today I want to sketch in broad strokes the outlines of a vision for liberal arts, and particularly Christian liberal arts, as an education that goes beyond. 

TWO TRADITIONS
From ancient Athens to the present day two major traditions have each claimed to be at the heart of the liberal arts.  One we may call contemplative and the other behavioral.  The contemplative tradition is philosophical.  It affirms the pursuit of knowledge for its own intrinsic sake and emphasizes the use of ratio (reason) and dialectic (critical thinking).  To oversimplify, the point of education is to become a certain kind of person.  This line stretches from Socrates and Plato, to Aristotle, the “schoolmen” of medieval Paris, the philosophes of the Enlightenment, on down to the great research universities of today.

On the other hand, the behavioral tradition is rhetorical.  It affirms “public expression of what is known” (oratio), the centrality of text and tradition, and the importance of building a “community of learning and knowledge.” In short, knowledge is valuable because it is instrumentally useful, particularly in shaping a better society through the service of educated citizens.  To oversimplify again, the point of education is to behave in a certain kind of way.  This line stretches from the lesser-known Athenian, Isocrates to the great Roman Cicero, to the “artes liberales” (trivium/quadrivium) of the Middle Ages and Renaissance humanists, down to the vision of many in the humanities today.

THE PROBLEM
The problem with these two traditions is that for millennia they have been seen as mutually exclusive.  They appear to hold incompatible ideals.  There has been sharp antagonism between those who value knowledge for its own sake and those who value it as a tool to serve since long before even Plato and Isocrates clashed.  One is viewed as mere training while the other is accused of dreamy irrelevance.

In large measure the behavioral approach won out in the west because Roman education followed that pattern more closely, and dominated education until the enlightenment.  Much higher education today avoids liberal arts altogether because students seem intent on obtaining an education with a specific job in mind. But even liberal arts education in the more behavioral tradition is viewed with suspicion.  Parents especially see it as impractical and ask how it can actually prepare their daughter or son to make a contribution to society.  The challenge for those who wish to pursue the contemplative tradition is just that much worse!  Sadly even the arguments that liberal arts in the behavioral tradition are the best possible preparation for a lifetime of what is now generally agreed will be six changes of career does not persuade many.  The task of educating parents and students to the distinctive benefits of either tradition in the liberal arts is monumental. 

The problem for us, today at Greenville College is even more pointed. When we call ourselves a liberal arts college, our choice of which tradition we follow makes a difference.   Some will object, perhaps a little impatiently, that we must follow both.  But the imperative to understand clearly who we are, driven by limited resources and extensive competition may force us to make difficult choices that differ between these traditions.  The question is not whether one could do both separately; with unlimited resources that is possible.  The real question is whether we can do both at the same time.  Can these historically differing views of the liberal arts really be combined?  Can one value education for its own sake while also valuing education for its usefulness?  History—and perhaps even common wisdom—say “No.”  One drives out the other.  And today, the American way is for the behavioral to drive out the contemplative.  But I believe the answer is “Yes.”  We must envision, articulate, and adopt a distinctively Christian form of the liberal arts which embrace both these historic traditions and in an exciting way go beyond. 

AN EDUCATION THAT GOES BEYOND
An education that goes beyond both the contemplative and behavioral traditions can be built with a foundation and a framework found in basic Biblical principles. 

Foundation - The contemplative tradition of liberal arts elevates thought (ratio) and the behavioral tradition exalts deed (oratio), At the heart of the gospel is the fact that the “Logos became flesh and dwelt among us.” Christ himself is the Logos. “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”  There can be no more powerful claim than this, that what is thought becomes deed; that what is mind becomes action.  The very concept of Logos captures them both. It embraces them by going beyond them both.  No where else in creation are thought and deed identical and that is “good news” both eternally and educationally.  So the foundation of Christian faith provides the foundation for an exciting and distinctive liberal arts education. 

We see this foundation in even greater detail if we turn from the Gospel to the Epistles. In keeping with the contemplative tradition, Christian liberal arts automatically and naturally make becoming a certain kind of person the point of education because our goal as believers is to become like Christ; “Have this mind in you which is also in Christ Jesus.”   But in keeping with the behavioral tradition, it is also automatic and natural for Christian liberal arts to make the point of education to behave in a certain kind of way.  Our goal as believers is to follow Christ, to live and act the way he did; “For me to live is Christ.”  “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only.”  So once again, Biblical principles provide a foundation to reconcile and thereby go beyond the purposes of both liberal arts traditions, contemplative and behavioral.

Framework – But Christian faith does far more than just provide a foundation for this education that goes beyond.  It offers us the framework as well.   What kind of people and what kind of behavior do Christian liberal arts produce? 

Plato’s contemplative vision called for educated people to become the kind of people who know the truth.  But for Christians to know the Truth is much more than an intellectual state of mind.  It is to enter into relationship with the person of Christ.  And that inevitably means we will become like Him.  To become like Christ, to have His mind, is to empty ourselves as He did and to become a person of humble character.  To me the surest evidence that we have been liberally educated in the Christian liberal arts tradition is that we have become people who are passionate but humble.  I call this ‘critical commitment.’

Our culture is replete with persons who are dogmatists…either dogmatically liberal or dogmatically conservative.  They see things in overly simplistic terms with no room for discussion.  Their obsessive fear of the “slippery slopes,” which like it or not pervade life, keep them from honest engagement with the most important issues around them and engender a judgmentalism which keeps them from growing themselves.  But our culture is also replete with sceptics.  They have deconstructed and subjectivized all “truth” leaving each to “do what is right in his or her own eyes” with only the “will to power” left in control.

But because our call is to have Christ’s mind, Christian liberal arts must go beyond both dogmatic thinking that sees only one perspective and excludes others as well as beyond sceptical thinking which sees many perspectives but includes everything and excludes nothing.  We must become passionately committed while at the same time humbly and self-reflectively open. It is Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “simplicity beyond complexity.”  It is Paul Ricoeur’s “second naivete.” It is the “expanse of soul” by which Pascal calls us to “display greatness [not] by going to one extreme, but in touching both at once, and filling the intervening space.” For many of us this is very difficult because of our temperaments.  That is how faith works in education.  But the promise that this combination—this going beyond dogmatism and scepticism—is attainable, arises from the example of Christ—perhaps no where better captured than in His struggle in Gethsemane. 

Cicero’s behavioral vision called for educated people to act in service to their society.  But for Christians to serve their Lord is to serve a community far greater than that of mere shared interest or social contract.  To follow Christ means to follow his example of obedience, even to death, to serve self-sacrificially beyond the boundaries of our own community.  His own service extended to those beyond the pale of those like himself.  He redefined ‘neighbor’ in a way we cannot escape.  To follow him, to behave as he did, we must be equipped differently from those equipped in other institutions of higher education.  To me it is further evidence we have been liberally educated in the Christian liberal arts tradition if we behave with both skill and a global perspective.  I call this ‘integration.’

Christian liberal arts must go beyond just a generalized compassion for the world that fails to address its real problems with any particular skill. While well intended, if Christians are not equipped with the best tools, our contribution in service is limited.  “Holy shoddy is still shoddy.”  A student’s years of Christian liberal arts education may include times of actual service, but more importantly, those years should be times when they focus on acquiring the skills to serve.  Christ himself prepared for over 30 years before he began his ministry.   But Christian liberal arts must also go beyond the narrow specialization often found in other institutions that fails to be relevant to the real problems of the world. These are the problems with which people on the street and people in the pew struggle every day: violence in society, care for the aging, substance abuse, gender roles in the church, development in the two-thirds world.  By focusing attention on such problems, a Christian liberal arts education almost automatically goes beyond what is done elsewhere.  That is because those problems always require attention to multiple disciplines not just one, require consideration of theoretical as well as practical matters, and inevitably force us to take values into account.  We must be equipped to act with the utmost skill, trained in the most excellent way with discipline second to none.  But we must also turn these skills in directions different from those often narrow concerns of our academic counterparts elsewhere.  We must go beyond both, a calling that is exciting and distinctive. 

So our Christian faith provides not only a foundation for going beyond both the contemplative and the behavioral traditions in the liberal arts, it provides a framework as well.  A Christian’s call goes beyond the concerns of both Plato and Cicero.  The call to follow the model of Christ in service and to become like Christ who is the Truth, gives Christian liberal arts education an exciting and distinctive purpose.  It is a matter of service and character.  Paul says it best. “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind [character], that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  (Romans 12:1-2) 

GREENVILLE COLLEGE’S HISTORIC TRADITION
Greenville College is particularly well suited to the task of providing this distinctive education that goes beyond.  The rich roots of our tradition find soil in the words of John Wesley himself; “It is a fundamental principle with us that to renounce reason is to renounce religion; that religion and reason go hand in hand.”  Out of his training at Oxford University, Wesley affirmed this integration of faith with education, “My intention is to make [both unlearned and learned men] to think, and assist them in thinking.  This is the way to understand God: ‘Meditate thereon day and night.”  B.T. Roberts, founder of the Free Methodist Church agreed; “Education and religion should not be separated.”   It is little wonder our small denomination has been known for over 130 years for its unusually strong commitment to liberal arts education.  Our tradition, from Wesley forward has been to advocate both the educated mind and the spiritually warmed heart, advocating a life of contemplative inner holiness and a passion for outward action in service of social justice.  The very epistemological foundation of the Methodist movement, that well-known quadrilateral, recognizes the place for both experience and reason.

In 1928, under the theme of educating the whole student, Dr. Leslie Marston, our fourth president, focused educational reform on three points: 1) change of personality, 2) liberalization of the mind, and most illustrative of the point I wish to make today, 3) a combination of spiritual development and Christian service. 

Sixty-three years ago this week, Dr. H.J. Long, after whom this very room is name, was installed as the fifth president of Greenville College.  In his address, entitled, “Marks of a Christian College” he listed nine characteristics.  One of these was the development of Christian character, underscoring what I have called the contemplative tradition of the liberal arts.  He also included the cultivation of sacrificial service underscoring what I have called the behavioral tradition.  Echoing my call for an attitude of critical commitment, he exhorted our community over half a century ago to be characterized by open-mindedness.  He said that day; “It is inconceivable that in a really Christian college anyone should keep a closed mind, whether in the realm of religion, philosophy, or science.  This necessarily means there will continually be a seeking after the whole truth.  If so, neither dogmatic liberalism, nor dogmatic conservatism will be given countenance.  There must be a fundamental loyalty to truth regardless of where it leads.”  To my mind Dr. Long was calling for an education that went beyond.  He added, “I fear that in some cases the philosophy of “Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free,” is no longer in evidence.”   I pray that is not the case at Greenville College today. 

Only a few years ago, Dr. Stephens, our eighth president and seated with us today, wrote of “Education for Love,” and called our community to deepen our love for the unique Christian liberal arts of this college.  He said, “It must be driven by its historic ideals of mind and heart and action,” echoing once again Greenville’s longstanding commitment to both the contemplative and the behavioral liberal arts traditions.

Over the past ten months since my arrival, many of you have heard me say that I believe that “Greenville College is committed to providing a Christ-centered education in the liberating arts for both character and service, with that distinctive personal Greenville touch.”  Education for character is in the contemplative tradition of Plato.  Education for service is in the behavioral tradition of Cicero.  My point in highlighting education for both character and service is of course that I believe that a Christ-centered approach to liberal arts is uniquely suited to embrace and go beyond both those historic liberal arts traditions.

Our founding president Wilson T. Hogue said “Education for character” will be our motto.  That has assured me that despite today’s cultural pressures towards behavior…even the noble behavior of service…Greenville College has long been even more strongly committed to the intrinsic values of becoming.  But I was delighted this week to discover that even the more specific combination of character and service I have articulated these months is not new to Greenville.  It can be found in the words of Milton Andrews, 1942 Student Association president.  “A camera cannot reproduce the consecration, the purpose, and frequent happy transformations in the lives of our students.  It is this quality of Greenville that challenges me most—that they are typical, enthusiastic young people who are learning the value of high character and humble service.” 

So as we can see, our heritage at Greenville College equips us remarkably well to provide a Christian liberal arts education that goes beyond both the contemplative and the behavioral traditions of the centuries. What an exciting vision for distinctive calling this can be for us today.

TODAY
What shall we then do?  If our vision is as distinctive as this, what shall we then do?  In closing, let me offer three hopes for Greenville College: 

The first has to do with programs.  I hope that Greenville College will become more and more deliberate about identifying which programs most effectively promote the development of students who are committed but open-minded, passionate but humble, tough-minded but tenderhearted.  I hope we will be unafraid to challenge them to grow in character.  We must recognize that growth always involves stretching, a loss of control, a feeling of inadequacy, and even pain.  Let us not be afraid.  Le us challenge our students while also nurturing them.  May students themselves be deliberate and self-conscious as they seek courses and programs of study which promote the inner formation of spirit, mind, and heart.  But I also hope we will be more and more deliberate about identifying which programs equip our students to think holistically, to tackle real world problems.  May they not emerge either with a heart for the world but shoddy skills or with finely honed skills that are useless in service because they have never been asked to address problems integratively.  God help us. 

The second hope has to do with people.  It is my hope that each of us who plays a role at Greenville College, whether lowly or exalted will be excited by the privilege we have to undertake what few other educators are equipped to do. Every day we face the limitations of our own personal and institutional resources. Our job is tougher than that of employees at institutions uninterested in character.  Our job is also tougher than that of employees at institutions committed to academics without concern for preparation to serve. But as we comprehend the powerful potential we have to shape the lives of our students both to become persons of Christ-like character and for world-wide service we will be inspired by the uniqueness of our task. God help us.

My final hope is that we will be a praying community.  Over the past months the prayers for me and for my wife have been overwhelming.  From the smallest faculty daughter who reported to me while trick-or-treating that she prays for me twice a day, to the former trustee who 70 years ago planted the trees outside Joy House who also reported last week that he prays for me daily, we have seen that Greenville prays.  Whether it is for 15 minutes daily prompted by the “prayer pens” we carry, before or after a difficult meeting, or barely coping for the day by seizing the “new mercies” our Lord offers each morning, Greenville prays.  Let us never underestimate the power of prayer.  With President Long I confess to whistling out of fear.  With President Stephens, I confess to praying “Lord help me not to do anything today that would mess up this fine college You have created.”  With Moses himself, I confess, “Who am I that I should do this work.”  My sense of inadequacy overwhelms me.  But my hope arises from His promise, “I will be with you” and from His promise that “He who began a good work at Greenville College will see it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ.”    Greenville College’s best days are still ahead.  So I pledge to you only that with God as my helper we will seek His face in prayer.  “If God be for us, who can be against us.” 

Thank you.

Dr. Vincent James Mannoia, Jr.
Tenth President - Greenville College