The Liberating Arts

When Line and Marty went off to college in the mid-Sixties, work towards the Bachelor of Arts degree was very general, without much in the way of specific professional courses. At college, in-depth history, literature and philosophy courses would widen their horizons. They also had a chance to explore the arts and sciences. They did not expect to learn anything beyond the realm of Western civilization, but hoped to deepen their understanding of their own origins and traditions.

Information was much less thickly distributed at the time. In order to use reference material deeper than a dictionary or an encyclopedia, one must go to a college or university library. Television had bonded people together pretty well by this time. Almost everyone knew what each other was talking about because they all watched one of three networks, which fought to cover national news like the space race or presidential campaigns. In addition, the post-war egalitarian climate extended toward making everyone’s work and ideas valuable.

But, those with hankerings to become citizens of the world wanted the broad intellectual background of the liberal arts. Line and Marty’s mother had a B.A. degree, which made her unusual. Often the only people with degrees of any kind in small towns were teachers and pastors. Knowledge was valued and so was being able to go to college. Like Line and Marty, those at the fictional Wittenberg College were already a privileged bunch. Still very monocultural, Caucasian, Lutheran and mostly of northern European ancestry, students distinguished themselves by their interests, in music, art or science, rather than by economics or class.

Core courses had been laid out which coordinated history, literature and religion into time periods so that one could get an overview and see how one affected the other. St. Augustine, who had a huge influence on the early church, studied the Greeks. Thomas Acquinas synthesized the Greek rationalism of Aristotle and Judaeo-Christian doctrines into what came to define the Catholic (universal) church. Later Renaissance scholars again went back to Greek culture to find a new emphasis on humanism, searching for realism and human emotion particularly in art. At the same time, reformers including Martin Luther questioned church doctrine and practice, in a period called the Reformation. In terms of the Modern, Wittenberg College dealt with Nietzsche’s statement that “God is dead.” The Death of God by Gabriel Vahanian, stating that our secular culture had lost any sense of the sacred, was published in 1961.

Line and Marty discover they are not scholars. Line is much more interested in people and action. Marty, though she loves books, cannot follow critique and analysis of them and doesn’t want to. Learning these things takes a long time. But no one wonders if they have gotten their money’s worth from their studies. At the very least, they received:

• An understanding of the philosophical place upon which they stand.
• A brief look into the cyclical nature of history.
• The ability to distinguish the figurative from the literal.
• The ability to weigh opinions and not believe everything they hear.
• Some assurance of excellence in written and verbal expression.
• The chance to test themselves in various disciplines to see where they might fit.
• A belief that physical and mental health balance each other in a well-rounded person.
• A general background in the arts and sciences so as to see how they fertilize each other.
• An ability to take themselves seriously, to know how to use and enjoy their precious lives.

The word “education” comes from the Latin meaning “to lead or draw forth.” An education in the liberating arts is just the beginning, and it is certainly true in Line and Marty’s lives, as we shall see.