Not too long ago, I attended a Christian discussion forum in which a well-known speaker outlined some of the problems our nation faces, specifically regarding the intersection of education, politics, and religious belief. He offered an interesting take as to why such challenges to Christianity have emerged in recent decades and how we may overcome them as a nation.
The speaker stressed that those citizens comprising at least some element of the Christian youth movement are lacking in two vital aspects of America’s larger political struggle: we are inadequate in our argumentation techniques, and we do not fully understand, examine, and infiltrate the machinery of culture. It is time that we speak up, get involved, and take up the cause for Christ, he pleaded, by participating in the surrounding culture and offering stronger arguments for our faith and its place in our republic. He described how it is culture that affects politics, and not the other way around as many believe. The things we read, and watch, and hear have tremendous influence on public policy—and we Christians have been out of the loop for far too long. As I listened to him speak of rhetorical strategies and television shows, debate practices and classic books, I thought sarcastically to myself, “Gee, if only there were some field, even some major, that our students should be studying in preparation for participating in the future dissemination of Truth by way of cultural influence and communicative practice. If only there were a field of study in which these complicated ideas could be dissected and skills could be honed. If only we could pinpoint an area in which rhetoric and culture were the primary focus for which the speaker is pleading. If only.”
For those that aren’t sure what we do in English, that is it. What the speaker is seeking is exactly what we do. We examine both the wisdom of the past and the hypotheticals of the future in search of the best options for sustaining spirituality and morality, opportunity and liberty. We exalt beauty from the halls of history and pursue excellence in the pages of the present. We study the essence of the creative act, not only because imaginative engagement allows us to wonder of the motivations of humanity, but more importantly, because God is the original creator and by existing in His image we are creators, and He calls us to enjoy and seek to understand all that he has created. We read Plato and Arnold, Locke and Milton, Orwell and O’Connor. We read fiction and poetry and journals and letters to seek answers to the fundamental questions of our being: Who am I? Why am I here? How shall I understand this world and attempt to improve it? As one literary scholar puts it, “The fact remains that in literature there abide major hopes for human renovation.”
And once we have read thoroughly and thought deeply, we write. And we write in the form of argument. We compose our ideas from the infancy of a passing whim all the way to the ethos of a life code. We defend ourselves and our beliefs in the written word, as Aristotle and the Apostle Paul exemplified in eras past, and as countless authors and leaders continue to do today. We promote logic and reason, a rationalism that offers evidence. We consider all sides, all opinions and analyses, seeking fairness in debate, yet bringing strength through our voice. We investigate, we evaluate, we deliberate, and we demonstrate. We practice finding ourselves on the page—endlessly rewriting to find the precision for which our personhood is worthy—so that we may present our best characters, our most honest versions of the selves we wish to become.
If we need yet another reason to promote the field of English as vital to our influence on our culture, the speaker that night (perhaps unintentionally) made a very compelling case. Understand culture and make arguments.
That is English. That is what we do.
The speaker stressed that those citizens comprising at least some element of the Christian youth movement are lacking in two vital aspects of America’s larger political struggle: we are inadequate in our argumentation techniques, and we do not fully understand, examine, and infiltrate the machinery of culture. It is time that we speak up, get involved, and take up the cause for Christ, he pleaded, by participating in the surrounding culture and offering stronger arguments for our faith and its place in our republic. He described how it is culture that affects politics, and not the other way around as many believe. The things we read, and watch, and hear have tremendous influence on public policy—and we Christians have been out of the loop for far too long. As I listened to him speak of rhetorical strategies and television shows, debate practices and classic books, I thought sarcastically to myself, “Gee, if only there were some field, even some major, that our students should be studying in preparation for participating in the future dissemination of Truth by way of cultural influence and communicative practice. If only there were a field of study in which these complicated ideas could be dissected and skills could be honed. If only we could pinpoint an area in which rhetoric and culture were the primary focus for which the speaker is pleading. If only.”
For those that aren’t sure what we do in English, that is it. What the speaker is seeking is exactly what we do. We examine both the wisdom of the past and the hypotheticals of the future in search of the best options for sustaining spirituality and morality, opportunity and liberty. We exalt beauty from the halls of history and pursue excellence in the pages of the present. We study the essence of the creative act, not only because imaginative engagement allows us to wonder of the motivations of humanity, but more importantly, because God is the original creator and by existing in His image we are creators, and He calls us to enjoy and seek to understand all that he has created. We read Plato and Arnold, Locke and Milton, Orwell and O’Connor. We read fiction and poetry and journals and letters to seek answers to the fundamental questions of our being: Who am I? Why am I here? How shall I understand this world and attempt to improve it? As one literary scholar puts it, “The fact remains that in literature there abide major hopes for human renovation.”
And once we have read thoroughly and thought deeply, we write. And we write in the form of argument. We compose our ideas from the infancy of a passing whim all the way to the ethos of a life code. We defend ourselves and our beliefs in the written word, as Aristotle and the Apostle Paul exemplified in eras past, and as countless authors and leaders continue to do today. We promote logic and reason, a rationalism that offers evidence. We consider all sides, all opinions and analyses, seeking fairness in debate, yet bringing strength through our voice. We investigate, we evaluate, we deliberate, and we demonstrate. We practice finding ourselves on the page—endlessly rewriting to find the precision for which our personhood is worthy—so that we may present our best characters, our most honest versions of the selves we wish to become.
If we need yet another reason to promote the field of English as vital to our influence on our culture, the speaker that night (perhaps unintentionally) made a very compelling case. Understand culture and make arguments.
That is English. That is what we do.