Adorn the Doctrine of God our

Roger Schultz Professor of History Dean, College of Arts & Sciences

“Adorn the Doctrine of God our Savior in All Things”: Christian Vocation in the Humanities

As a rising university junior and history major, I told my father that I planned to drop my teaching endorsement and replace it with a second major in the field of humanities. My father was a simple and practical farmer, and I was the first member of the family to attend college. He had envisioned a clear career path for me; I would return home, land a job in the local high school, and help out on the family farm. A humanities path was beyond his comprehension. I can still remember the look on my father’s face as he said, “But what could you do with that?”

According to conventional wisdom, humanities degrees are dead-end credentials.1 Graduates in the humanities - in English, modern languages, religion, philosophy, history and art - will never land real jobs. The poor English major, mired in debt and marginally employed, faces the bleakest of futures. Indeed, humanities programs at American universities have steeply declined over the last decade.2 The Great Recession drove students, and their parents, to consider programs that were deemed surer tickets for employment.

There is increasing evidence, however, of solid vocational opportunities in the humanities.3 “Contrary to popular belief,” Heather Long notes in The Washington Post, “English majors ages 25 to 29 had a lower unemployment rate in 2017 than math and computer science majors.”4 Earnings of humanities graduates, while initially smaller than STEM graduates, eventually catch and surpass those in STEM fields. Maybe it is time to steer students back to the humanities.

Harvard professor David Deming is a new champion of career paths in the humanities and liberal arts. In a recent New York Times article, he shows that graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) programs have an initial hiring opportunities and earnings potential, but “by age 40 the earnings of people who majored in social science or history have caught up.”5 The latest technological skills can become obsolete as technology advances. “[S]kill obsolescence and increased competition from younger graduates,” Deming argues, “work together to lower the earnings advantages for STEM degree-holders as they age.” Deming’s counterintuitive work urges us to rethink counsel given to students about majors and careers.6

Some critics dismiss the soft skills of humanities programs. “[L]iberal arts education fosters valuable ‘soft skills’ like problem solving, critical thinking and adaptability,” Deming counters, which have value in multiple careers paths. Graduates with the ability to read, write, think critically and solve problems are always marketable. In a rapidly changing world, soft skills are invaluable.7

Indeed, some employers urge students to pay more attention to interpersonal and relational skills. Two large national employers recently visited Liberty University to recruit students. As one observer put it, they were less interested in finding “doctors in charge” than “nurses who care.” They sought prospective employees who could nurture and develop other people. No one academic discipline has a corner on the virtues of honesty, diligence, humility, compassion – the elements of Christian education that Liberty University has long advocated.

Humanities disciplines, furthermore, do an excellent job at preparing graduates for law school, graduate school, professional schools and seminary. An emphasis on logic and critical thinking uniquely equips students for threshold entrance examinations. Philosophy majors, for instance, have outstanding success with the GRE, LSAT, GMAT and MCAT exams, required for admission to competitive schools and eligibility for coveted scholarships.8

In the summer of 2019, I visited with a recent graduate of Liberty University’s English program. The student was an honors graduate, who also

earned an MA in English. From there he went to Harvard Law School, and then was promptly accepted into a prestigious dual degree program at Cambridge University. These opportunities are rare, but his English education helped propel him into the Ivy League. For, humanities programs emphasize textual analysis, critical thinking, research training, and coherence in thought; skills that apply to many careers and are natural transition paths to graduate school. These are also essential for Christians who desire influence in a secular world because the build on the languages, ideas, and stores of a culture. In order to be salt and light, students must know how to communicate effectively in a culture, and the humanities are one of the essential aspects for such equipping.

Humanities disciplines also do an excellent job of developing civic literacies. Courses in history and English, for instance, provide perspectives on culture, Christian values, and the past. The decline of humanities disciplines coincides with the decline of American patriotism and respect for past generations. As a recent National Review article notes, “Less than a fifth of colleges and universities require their students to take an American history or government course”9 Jerry Falwell, Jr., commenting on the tragic loss of American historical perspective, notes that a curricular audit of one New England college found “not a single requirement for a course on American history” – but the elitist school did offer courses “on class, sexuality, gender, ethnicity and the evils of capitalism.”10

The most important life and professional skills are learned from Scripture. The Bible promotes hard work, honesty, faithfulness and discipline. Paul’s advice to Titus (2:9) has a revolutionary application to the marketplace. “Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” Even the lowliest slave could “adorn” the gospel by faithful service. As Paul’s admonition was relevant to the early Christians, it too is relevant for those of us in the Humanities, as we steward our educational and vocational opportunities in faithful service.

And so, my father asked, “What will you do with that?” I explained that the Lord had given me an aptitude for and a desire to study in this humanities field. I wasn’t sure of a particular vocational value, but I was confident that it could be useful in the Lord’s work. My father was a simple, godly man. If I thought that this was the Lord’s path, he had no objection to my following God’s call.

At Liberty University, we have a unique opportunity to Train Champions for Christ in multiple areas of study and service. We expect them to impact the world for Jesus Christ. Many are called to science and technical fields. Many are called to service sectors. Some will be called to Humanities disciplines, where, we trust, they will be “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5).

1 Beth McMurtie, “Can You Get Students Interested in the Humanities Again?,” The Chronicle of Higher Education (November 15, 2019), A8. There is a perception “that Humanities degrees don’t get you a job,” one English professor comments,” and “perceptions drive decisions…”

2 Heather Long, “The world’s top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors,” The Washington Post (10/20/2019), https:// www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/19/worlds-top-economistsjust-made-case-why-we-still-need-english-majors/ (accessed 5 November 2019). The English major has dropped by 25% over the last decade, suffering more than any other major tracked by the National Center for Education Statistics.

3 Scott Jaschik, “Shocker: Humanities Grads Gainfully Employed and Happy” Inside Higher Ed (February 7, 2018), https://www. insidehighered.com/news/2018/02/07/study-finds-humanities-majorsland-jobs-and-are-happy-them (accessed 30 October 2019).

4 Heather Long, “The world’s top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors,” The Washington Post (10/20/2019), https:// www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/19/worlds-top-economistsjust-made-case-why-we-still-need-english-majors/ (accessed 5 November 2019).

5 David Deming, “In the Salary Race, Engineers Sprint but English Majors Endure,” The New York Times (September 20, 2019), https:// www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/business/liberal-arts-stem-salaries.html (accessed October 22, 2019).

6 For a longer analysis of workplace changes, see David Deming and Kadeem Noray, “STEM Careers and the Changing Skill Requirements of Work,” https://scholar.harvard.edu/ddeming/publications/stem-careersand-technological-change (accessed October 22, 2019).

7 David Deming, “The Value of Soft Skills in the Labor Market,” The National Bureau of Economic Research Reporter 4 (2017), https://www. nber.org/reporter/2017number4/deming.html (accessed October 22, 2019).

8“ Philosophy Student Performance on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT),” https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.apaonline.org/resource/resmgr/ Data_on_Profession/Philosophy_performance_on_LS.pdf (accessed 11 November 2019).

9 Rich Lowry, “Treason of the Elites,” National Review (11 November 2019), 27.

10 Jerry Falwell, Jr., “2013 Baccalaureate,” http://media2.liberty.edu/mediaplayer/14/message?_ ga=2.225834202.1738955332.1573475748-1098958559.1571534738 (accessed 11 November 2019).