English Department
Overview of the English Department
The Department of English approaches the study of literature and the craft of writing from a Christian perspective that recognizes faith as integral to all learning. We value language as created by God and words as the medium through which we best understand the human experience. Through extensive knowledge of English and American literature, as well as exposure to literature of other cultures, students better understand themselves, vicariously experience the lives of others, and increase their knowledge of the world around them. We equip students to pursue education at the graduate level, to work in fields closely related to the discipline (such as teaching grades 5-12), or to bring their skills in careful analysis, effective writing, and creative thinking to a variety of other professional careers. The disciplines of literary study and writing develop the intellectual capacity for critical thought, the emotional capacity for sympathetic understanding, the aesthetic capacity for appreciating beauty, the moral capacity for ethical action, and the creative capacity for effective communication. Each of these areas must be nurtured if students are to develop as whole persons with lives committed to meaningful work and enriched by the capacity for lifelong learning.