Leadership and the Liberal Arts

How Christian Liberal Arts Education Shapes Effective Leaders

A flourishing society depends on effective leadership, and a quality education is the key to forming leaders. Yet our modern understanding of what it means to be educated often lacks unifying values and purpose. This is where the rich, centuries-old tradition of Christian liberal arts education remains more crucial than ever.

In Leadership and the Liberal Arts, Gayle Beebe, president of Westmont College, brings together a diverse group of experienced educators from disciplines including theology, history, biblical studies, and philosophy to mathematics, chemistry, politics, economics, and more.

These experts explore the essential role of Christian liberal arts today and show that in this centuries-old tradition study is never just for knowledge itself, but always a means to something more: moral education, vocational aptitude, and knowledge of God.

Leadership and the Liberal Arts offers:



- a powerful vision for how a Christian liberal arts education is the ideal preparation for lifelong leadership and flourishing;

- insights and examples from a diverse group of professors and administrators;

- chapters on disciplines such as theology, natural sciences, creative arts, business, and technology; and

- thoughtful engagement with current challenges facing Christian higher education and a hopeful vision for its future.



This insightful volume demonstrates how a liberal arts education in the Christian intellectual tradition invites us to see the interrelationship of all knowledge and discover how to reach into every area of human learning to find new solutions to vexing problems. Leadership and the Liberal Arts offers inspiring wisdom for educators, students, and everyone invested in higher education.



Gayle D. Beebe (MBA and PhD, Claremont Graduate University) is president of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He is also the author of The Shaping of an Effective Leader and is the coauthor of Longing for God with Richard J. Foster.



Introduction: The Purpose of a Christian Liberal Arts Education

Gayle D. Beebe



1. The Liberal Arts and Scripture

Tremper Longman



2. Knowing God Structures Meaning: Theology in the Liberal Arts

Telford Work



3. Jesus Through the Centuries: A View of History to Knowing God

Helen Rhee



4. Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, and Ethics: The Verbal Arts and the Greater Good

Jim Taylor



5. Mathematics: The Abstract Arts and Our Life with God

Russell Howell



6. Rejoicing in the World, His Earth: The Liberal Arts, the Pleasures of Science, and God's Good Creation

Jeff Schloss



7. The Social Sciences and Our Hope for Human Flourishing

Jesse Covington



8. The Creative Arts as Formative Arts

Daniel Gee



9. The Liberal Arts and Modern Capitalism: The Case for Economic Well-Being and Human Flourishing

Rick Ifland



10. The Technological Arts and the Frontiers of New Knowledge: AI, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, and Decision Science

Reed Sheard



11. Bringing Learning to Life: The Art of the Curricular and Cocurricular Partnership

Kimberly Denu and Edee Schulze



12. The Liberal Arts and Life with Christ

Steve Porter



Conclusion: The Westmont Way

Gayle D. Beebe



Postlude

Gayle D. Beebe



List of Contributors



Further Reading



Name and Subject Index



Scripture Index