{"id":39903,"date":"2025-01-13T17:04:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T01:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39903"},"modified":"2025-01-13T17:04:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T01:04:22","slug":"liberalism-liberty-and-justice-for-all-and-a-liberal-arts-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/liberalism-liberty-and-justice-for-all-and-a-liberal-arts-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberalism, Liberty and Justice for All, and a Liberal Arts Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Previous Knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I looked at the term for our previous knowledge assessment and saw liberal democracy,<\/em> I remembered that I read about it in Jesus and the Powers[1]<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0 I knew that the authors spoke in favor of it, but honestly that is where it ends. \u00a0The term liberal as used in society today, depending on which side you are on, has a negative connotation.\u00a0 When I consider it in relation to its counterpart, conservative, I think of someone who is liberal as a person who wants change, who is unhappy with the bonds that currently imprison people within our systems.\u00a0 I will now glean what I can from Patrick Deneen\u2019s Why Liberalism Failed.[2]<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I Had No Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starting in the introduction of the book I realized that I really had no idea what the term liberalism referenced.\u00a0 In recent years I have only heard the term being referenced to those on the left side<\/em> of the political spectrum.\u00a0 I did not realize that liberalism was the ideology or philosophy upon which our country and its government was founded.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Deneen writes, \u201cIt (liberalism) conceived humans as right-bearing individuals who could fashion and pursue for themselves their own version of the good life. Opportunities for liberty were best afforded by a limited government devoted to \u2018securing rights\u2019 along with a free economic system that gave space for individual initiative and ambition.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Because of my historical disinterest in both history and politics, I thought democracy was the ideology our nation was founded upon.\u00a0 I do not remember the term liberalism being discussed as we began our discussions of American History from grade school through high school.<\/p>\n

Liberty and Justice for All<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every morning starting in grade school we would stand up, place our hand over our heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance which ends with the phrase with liberty and justice for all.<\/em> \u00a0What is liberty? I do remember the term liberty being discussed in history classes, how the American Revolution and other wars were fought for the cause of liberty, for freedom. However, Deneen defines it differently. \u00a0\u201cLiberty had long been believed to be the condition of self-rule that forestalled tyranny, within both the polity and the individual soul. Liberty was thus thought to involve discipline and training in self-limitations of desires, and corresponding social and political arrangements that sought to inculcate corresponding virtues that fostered the arts of self-governance.\u201d[5]<\/a> This term that focused on religious and social norms was rewritten to focus on \u201ccivil peace that might in turn foster stability and prosperity, and eventually individual liberty of conscience and action,\u201d the building blocks of liberalism.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 This is the definition of liberty that I often hear today, freedom to do what I feel is right, Don\u2019t tread on me.<\/em> \u00a0Deneen writes that \u201cself-limitation and self-rule \u201cthat frees us from tyranny \u201crelied up reinforcing norms and social structures arrayed extensively throughout political, social, religious, economic, and familial life.\u201d[7]<\/a> Comedian Brad Stine talks about why everyone used to say Merry Christmas instead of happy holidays .\u201cIt wasn\u2019t about a religion, it was something about a culture that we thought was so valuable that we would all do it together even if I disagreed with the religion behind it, because it was good for all of us instead of just me.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Liberalism has taken the focus off what is good for all of us and focuses on what is good for me.\u00a0 \u201cMachiavelli proposed grounding a political philosophy upon readily observable human behaviors of pride, selfishness, greed and the quest for glory.[9]<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

One could ask, do we really have liberty and justice for all?\u00a0 Deneen says that liberalism has failed, not that it did not do what it was supposed to, but just the opposite.\u00a0 In its quest to \u201cfoster greater equity, defend a pluralist tapestry of different cultures and beliefs, protect human dignity, and of course, expand liberty,\u201d it \u201cgenerates titanic inequality, enforces uniformity, and homogeneity, fosters material and spiritual degradation, and undermines freedom.\u201d[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

A Liberal Arts Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deneen devotes a chapter to his book discussing liberal arts education.[11]<\/a>\u00a0 I attended a liberal arts college for my undergraduate degree and currently work at a liberal arts college but until the fall of 2023, I had no idea what a liberal arts education is.\u00a0 I taught a humanities class that all first-year students take and one of the readings was from Arthur F. Holmes book The Idea of a Christian College<\/em>.[12]<\/a>\u00a0 It was in reading Chapter 3 that I learned what a liberal arts education was, \u201cCicero suggested that liberal education is the education of free men for the exercise of their freedom rather than of slaves.\u201d[13]<\/a>\u00a0 I enjoyed Deneen\u2019s descriptions of a liberal arts education and found it to be more comprehensive than Holmes. What I want to share in closing is evidence of how Liberalism has impacted our liberal arts college.\u00a0 Over the past few years, the University eliminated some of the previous requirements which had several faculty members questioning whether we are still a liberal arts college.\u00a0 The requirements for a philosophy class and a foreign language were removed.\u00a0 Also removed was a science class that explored \u201cscience from philosophical, historical and cultural perspectives, examining both the robust character of scientific inquiry and its limitations. The harmony between science and Christianity is addressed along with ethical and social dilemmas that have resulted from scientific advances in certain areas.\u201d[14]<\/a>\u00a0 These classes have been replaced with courses that focus on vocation.\u00a0 Deneen suggests that our educational systems now focus on \u201cmoney making and a life of work,\u201d and as a result we have \u201cadopted the educational form that was reserved for those who were deprived of freedom.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall, I still have a lot to learn about liberalism.\u00a0 I no longer view it simply as a political term, but an ideology that impacts all our society including the Christian liberal arts institution where I work.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> N.T. Wright and Michael Bird, Jesus and the Powers:<\/em> Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies, <\/em>(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2024)<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Patrick, J. Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed<\/em>, (New Haven, CT: Yale, 2018).<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Deneen, 3.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Deneen, 3.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Deneen, 23-24.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Deneen, 24.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Deneen, 25<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Brad Stine: Happy Holidays…Merry Christmas! posted by Tim Grable, October 3, 2011, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T8RiCzL4XF8&t=50s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Deneen 25.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Deneen, 3.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Deneen, 110-130.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Arthur F. Holmes, The Idea of a Christian College<\/em>, Revised Ed,( Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1987).<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Holmes, 27.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Traditional Academic Catalog 2021-2022<\/em>, 223, https:\/\/mvnu.edu\/content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/tradcatalog2122.pdf<\/a>,.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Deneen, 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Previous Knowledge When I looked at the term for our previous knowledge assessment and saw liberal democracy, I remembered that I read about it in Jesus and the Powers[1].\u00a0 I knew that the authors spoke in favor of it, but honestly that is where it ends. \u00a0The term liberal as used in society today, depending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2712,2967],"class_list":["post-39903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-deneen","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39904,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39903\/revisions\/39904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}