CWC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why do so many Bethel students take CWC?

One of the great advantages of a liberal arts education like Bethel's is that it develops understanding that's both deep and wide. Deep, in that you'll take a lot of classes in an area of major interest to you, cultivating skills and knowledge that prepare you for the workplace or for graduate/professional education. Wide, in that you'll take classes from throughout the College of Arts & Sciences in its General Education Program, integrating your faith with all areas of study.

One of the "pillars" of this program is called Global Perspectives. It includes study of a second language and of a non-Western culture, plus an upper-level comparative analysis of societies. But its cornerstone is CWC (or the Western Humanities sequence) and the critical examination of the culture that is most familiar to most Bethel students. Again and again throughout your Bethel career, but particularly in this pillar of the Gen Ed program, you'll find yourself going back to the individuals, events, ideas, and issues you first encountered in CWC.

I already took a lot of history classes in high school. How is CWC different from a Western Civ or European history course?

CWC does have the same kind of structure as a one-semester Western Civilization course. It starts with the Greco-Roman World, moves on through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance/Reformation period in Europe, and concludes with the Enlightenment (when we touch briefly on American history).

But it's different in at least two important ways:

First, while there are several historians on the CWC faculty, history is only the starting point. During a typical week in CWC you might also learn about philosophy, theology, politics, art, or another field.

Second, unlike a Western Civ course at a state university or a secular college, CWC is designed to help Christian students make their faith their own, to locate themselves in the story of Christianity. So you'll study the history of the church, key theological debates, and the relationship of Christians in the West to their culture.

What can I expect a typical week of CWC to be like?

During a typical week of CWC you will attend class three times. On Monday and Friday you will be in a large group, and one or two of the professors will teach about some key events, ideas, and people related to the current topic in the course. Often we will watch video clips, listen to music, view art, and participate in discussion activities.

On either Wednesday or Thursday of each week, you will meet with a small group (usually 16-17 students). Each small group is led by one of the professors. You'll have time to ask your small group leader questions about any of the assignments, and you'll work on different activities that help you organize and understand the course material.

What kind of homework will I have in this class?

Each week you will have assigned readings to complete, study questions to answer based on the readings, and vocabulary terms to learn. These assignments help you prepare for the tests in this class, and as the time for each test gets closer, you'll also work on preparing answers to the essay questions that may be on the test. At the end of the semester, you will also write a short paper that gets you thinking about what you learned in the class and how it applies to a contemporary issue.

The "Cloud of Witnesses" approach to Western Civilization sounds really interesting. But CWC covers over 2,000 years of Western history: I'm feeling overwhelmed already! Do you provide any resources to help me?

This is a big course, and it can be a challenge for many students. That's why we've developed multiple study resources:

First, on the very first day of class we pass out the syllabus. That's where you'll find a schedule of lectures, readings, assignments, and exams, plus a discussion of the big CWC questions and suggestions for effective studying. Then for each unit we'll pass out study guides that give you potential essay and reading questions and lists of vocabulary terms.

Second, check out the Academic Enrichment and Support Center (AESC) in HC 324 - across from the Library. This is the headquarters for our team of teaching assistants (TAs), former CWC students who did well in the course and are available several times during the week to help answer your questions about the material, work with you to improve study strategies, etc. (If you have extracurricular commitments in the afternoon like an athletic team or musical group, don't worry: there are evening hours available.) The TAs also run study workshops and test review sessions, and most Wednesdays they lead something called "Midweek Boost," during which they'll help you work through the readings assigned for that week.

Third, we use Bethel's course management software, Blackboard, to provide the course schedule and announcements, copies of assignments and study materials, downloadable PowerPoint presentations, and practice quizzes.

Fourth, all CWC professors schedule several office hours during the week, times when you can expect them to be in their offices, available to answer questions, go over a recent quiz or exam, and talk about issues in the course. (It's also a great way to get to know your small group leader and start developing relationships with the women and men on the Bethel faculty.)

We're here to help! We want you to succeed in this course and in all of your studies at Bethel, and we're happy to provide resources to assist you.

I've heard students talk about the three "big CWC questions." What are they?

As they examine the events, ideas, and people that shaped Christianity and Western culture, professors will often take time in a large or small group to bring up one of the following questions:

What is the relationship between the individual and God?
Throughout history, many Christians encounter God through a personal relationship based on prayer, meditation, Bible study, or even receiving mystical visions. Other Christians encounter God by going to church, worshipping him and taking part in sacraments like Communion and Baptism. Another question that will come up here is "How are we saved?" Can we earn salvation? Can we even choose to be saved?
What is the relationship between the individual and the Church?
Or, to put it another way, what role does the Church play in the life of the individual? As with the first question, you'll hear different opinions from Christians throughout history. Some will say that the Church is absolutely necessary, that you cannot even be saved without the ceremonies and clergy of the Church. Others will say that church is important, but not essential to salvation. It's probably fair to say that most Christians would agree that individual believers benefit greatly from taking part in a community of faith, which often turns its energies outwards to convert nonbelievers or to fight against social injustices.
What is the relationship between Christians and the culture around them?
This is probably the most common question you'll hear in CWC (which is, after all, about Christianity and a particular culture). Asking this question will get us into more specific questions about the arts and media, politics, war, the economy, education, etc. As with the first two big questions, don't expect to hear Christians agreeing on a single answer here. Some Christians believe that they need to distance themselves from the surrounding culture, but some embrace it, feeling that its values are basically consistent with their own. Still others find that they live in constant tension with their culture: sometimes accepting it, sometimes rejecting it, sometimes trying to change it.

Just what do you mean by "culture"? And what makes a culture "Western"?

By "culture" we don't just mean things you see on PBS: opera, ballet, book talks, etc. In CWC "culture" means the customs, beliefs, values, lifestyles, habits, institutions, and symbols of a society.

"Western culture" is typically associated with the following ideas (some you might view as positive, others not):

Democratic institutions and the ideal of liberty
An emphasis on logic, authority, and efficiency [notice that these values are sometimes at odds with each other -- for example, it's hard to have both liberty and efficiency at the same time]
Privileging the individual over the group
Judeo-Christian morality
A perception that symmetry and order create beauty
The habit of self-criticism
The exploitation of non-Western peoples

Historically, these values developed in Europe, with roots in Greece and Italy that grew and extended north and west into places like France, Germany, Spain, Britain, Holland, and Scandinavia. Europeans tended to think of themselves as living in "the West" (as opposed to people who lived in "the East," or "the Orient"). Hence: "Western."

As Europeans began to explore beyond their own rather small corner of the world and set up overseas colonies, their customs, beliefs, values, etc. went with them. So nowadays we commonly associate United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (all former British colonies) with "the West," and you can even find strong Western influences in places like Japan, India, China, South Africa, and the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Latin America. (We don't spend much time in those countries in CWC, but you'll start to study them when you take a World Cultures course -- open the link and scroll down).