Contemporary Contexts: The Search for Meaning in a Fragmented World
Program Overview
London: city of brick and stone and green spaces, home to some of the world's greatest art galleries and museums. The National Gallery. The British Museum and Library. The Natural History Museum. On the city skyline, Neoclassical Domes, Victorian Brick Spires and dazzling post-modern towers of glass and steel rise side by side, proudly making their conflicting cultural statements and vying for attention. London is the perfect place to explore the search for meaning and order in a fragmented modern world.
But first, begin with questions. What does it mean to be an individual in an age where identity and human connections are increasingly shaped by digital media? What does it mean to be free in a culture which sometimes seems bent on dissolving all moral and behavioral boundaries? And as Christians living in what is sometimes called a post-Christian age, how can we learn to leaven the life of the mind with compassion and grace, enabling us to address effectively and credibly the uncertainty and pain that sometimes seem epidemic in the Western world?
Procedures:
We search for answers, applying the disciplines of art, communication, psychology and literature, first with an introductory seminar in the fall semester, then with the plunge into honors coursework in the spring, including excursions to artistic and cultural centers on this side of the Atlantic. In May, it’s a three-week immersion in London, the global city, to study the clash and balance of old and new, despair and hope. We finish the program in the fall of your second year with a capstone course.
