This semester, for the first time in my eighteen-year career at Messiah College, I will not be teaching any history courses. Instead, I will be teaching three sections of a required first-year seminar titled “Created and Called for Community.” This course, which uses a common syllabus, is designed to introduce a Messiah College liberal arts education to first-year students. It focuses on the writing, close reading of texts, biblical and theological reflection on human dignity and community, and the meaning of Christian vocation.
I will be teaching these texts:
Stanley Hauerwas, “Go With God“
John Henry Newman, “What is a University?“
Ernest L. Boyer, “Retaining the Legacy of Messiah College“
James Weldon Johnson, “The Creation“
Bruce Birch, “The Image of God“
J.R.R. Tolkien, “Leaf by Niggle“
Alice Walker, “In Search of our Mothers’ Gardens“
Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed
Harold Bender, The Anabaptist Vision (excerpt)
Alabama Clergyman, “A Call for Unity” and Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail“
Robert Putnam, “Bowling Alone“
Augustine, Confessions (excerpts)
Robert Frost, “Mending Wall“
Desmond Tutu, “God Believes in Us“
Plato, “The Allegory of the Cave” (excerpt)
Albert Schweitzer, “I Resolve to Become a Jungle Doctor“
Henri Nouwen, “Adam’s Peace“
Jerry Sittser, “Distinguishing Between Calling and Career“
Jerry Sittser, “What We’re Supposed to Do”
Dorothy Sayers, “Why Work?“
I will probably blog about these texts as the semester moves forward. Feel free to read or follow along.