The Liberating Arts

A new generation of teachers envisions a liberal arts education that is good for everyone.

Why would anyone study the liberal arts? It’s no secret that the liberal arts have fallen out of favor and are struggling to prove their relevance. The cost of college pushes students to majors and degrees with more obvious career outcomes.

A new cohort of educators isn’t taking this lying down. They realize they need to reimagine and rearticulate what a liberal arts education is for, and what it might look like in today’s world. In this book, they make an honest reckoning with the history and current state of the liberal arts.

You may have heard – or asked – some of these questions yourself:

• Aren’t the liberal arts a waste of time? How will reading old books and discussing abstract ideas help us feed the hungry, liberate the oppressed and reverse climate change? Actually, we first need to understand what we mean by truth, the good life, and justice.
• Aren’t the liberal arts racist? The “great books” are mostly by privileged dead white males. Despite these objections, for centuries the liberal arts have been a resource for those working for a better world. Here’s how we can benefit from ancient voices while expanding the conversation.
• Aren’t the liberal arts liberal? Aren’t humanities professors mostly progressive ideologues who indoctrinate students? In fact, the liberal arts are an age-old tradition of moral formation, teaching people to think for themselves and learn from other perspectives.
• Aren’t the liberal arts elitist? Hasn’t humanities education too often excluded poor people and minorities? While that has sometime been the case, these educators map out well-proven ways to include people of all social and educational backgrounds.
• Aren’t the liberal arts a bad career investment? I really just want to get a well-paying job and not end up as an overeducated barista. The numbers – and the people hiring – tell a different story.

Chapter 1: What are the Liberating Arts?

Practical Matters, the Editors

Amid the Ruins, by David Henreckson

Chapter 2: Aren't the Liberal Arts a Waste of Time?

Practicing the Liberal Arts in Prison, by Sean Sword

The Possibility of Leisure, by Zena Hitz

On the Road with Marilynne Robinson, by David Henreckson

Chapter 3: Aren’t the Liberal Arts Elitist?               

On The Odyssey Project, by Emily Auerbach

A History of Liberation, by Brandon McCoy

Considering The Catherine Project, by Zena Hitz

Chapter 4: Aren’t the Liberal Arts Liberal or Progressive?

Respecting Reality, by Anne Snyder

Imagining Love University, by Joseph Clair

Elite Education for the Rest of Us, by John Mark Reynolds

Chapter 5: Aren’t the Liberal Arts Racist?

Inside Nysana Classical Community, by Angel Adams Parham

An Expansive Collection, by Angel Adams Parham

How to Fight Over the Canon, by Johnathan Tran

Chapter 6: Aren’t the Liberal Arts Outdated?

On Traditioned Innovation, by L. Gregory Jones

The Liberating Potential of Knowing the Past, by Jeffrey Bilbro

Science as a Human Tradition, Becky L. Eggimann

Chapter 7: Aren’t the Liberal Arts Irrelevant?

The Art of Beauty by Steve Prince

Stories and Severed Selves, by Erin Shaw

Chapter 8: Aren’t the Liberal Arts Unprofitable?

Why Engineers Need the Liberal Arts, by David Hsu

Rejecting the False Dichotomy between Professional Training and Liberal Arts Formation, by Rachel Griffis

Why Liberal Arts Matter in Hiring, by Don Eben

Chapter 9: Aren’t the Liberal Arts a Luxury Good?

Remembering Albert Raboteau and Reflecting on Redemptive Suffering, by Margarita Mooney Clayton

Liberating the Least of These, by Brad East

Liberation from Lonely Suffering and Death, by Lydia Dugdale

Chapter 10: Who Are Liberating Artists?

Lyceums: Places to Think with Neighbors, by Nathan Beacom

Liberal Learning for All, by Jessica Hooten Wilson

Small Magazines as Educational Communities, by Peter Mommsen