Why the Liberal Arts? | Ep.3 feat. Greg Wilbur
In our continued conversations with Mr. Wilbur, we want to understand better why the seven liberal arts are worth studying. In our discussion, Mr. Wilbur observed that through a study of the liberal arts we are seeking the redemption of all created things.
A student of the liberal arts seeks to order God’s creation, and this act imitates Christ. We cannot know anything without knowing everything, because everything is related. But, to know everything would require us to be God. We men, of course, are not God, but that should not discourage us from attempting to learn what we can, and through our study we are made more into who God made us to be in his creation.
Christians ought to lean into the gifts that God has given them. Believers must recognize that their gifts are not for themselves, but are for those around them and God’s own glory. We ought to recognize that we have strengths in certain areas where others need our help, and we likewise need the help of others where we are week.
Further, education is training students for virtue. Christian education needs to ask the question: “what does it mean to be more like Christ?” This is what the Quadrivium is about. The Quadrivium is a theological pursuit to understand the richness, wonder, awe, and gratitude of who God is and what He has made. This pursuit is achieved by examining every subject as part of an integrated whole, which is what the liberal arts seek to do. The seven liberal arts are different portals to wisdom but isolated singularities.
Talking of modern thinking, Mr. Wilbur argues that modern western society has become too linear in its thinking. We see subjects as lists and put them into a hierarchy, when in reality subject ought to be seen as a collection.
To conclude our discussion we examined music. Music, or Harmonia, was traditionally worship oriented and was an examination of a theology life. Today, however, we tend to think of music as something meant for a concert stage. We enjoy it often as something beautiful, but do not ask if it is good, moral, of true. In fact, it seems that we have forgotten how to even ask such questions of music.
Through a study of the liberal arts, one is simply joining the “great conversation.” There are thoughts significant philosophical questions that men have been asking since the beginning of time. Today we tend to place a great emphasis on original thought, but this way of thinking is a product of the enlightenment. When we try to be original we are trampling important questions and knowledge that came before so that we can stand apart. However, Mr. Wilbur asserts that we as humans do not create in isolation, but in conversation. To grow in knowledge we must converse with both those from the past and those around us. A liberal arts education seeks to teach its students to just that in order to better understand the glory of God.
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