Page 84 - 2019-2020 Academic Catalog - Providence Christian College

English and Communications (ENC)
Providence Christian College’s English and Communications (ENC) concentration explores the fundamental questions of human existence and experience, such as “Who are we?” “Why are we here?” and “How should we live?” through a specific engagement with the God given gifts of the written and spoken word from a holistic (heart, body, soul, mind) Christian perspective.
At Providence, we believe that all God created was created good, even the language He gave us to communicate with one another. Language is an incredible gift God gave to humankind; we’re the only creatures of creation given it, which clearly illustrates that it is a special gift designed specifically for us.
However, though this great gift has been given to us, we know and confess that creation has fallen, and sin taints every aspect of our lives, language being no exception. We can see this expressed in all forms of communication, from the harsh and corrosive way individuals speak to one another on social media, the news, and even to each other privately, to the disturbing, and often times heartbreaking sinful and broken realities we might encounter in novels, poetry, and movies.
With this in mind, Providence teaches and believes that the Christian’s responsibility is not to recoil from this brokenness but to recognize that these are real and honest truths of our sinful reality, while also understanding that, because language was created good and given to us as a gift, there is a way to actively engage with it in order to seek the truth, beauty, and goodness of creation, so that we might better learn how to love and serve both God and neighbor. Furthermore, as human beings made in God’s image who abide by the Living Word, who is Christ, and the Revealed Word, the Scriptures (as shared in John 1), Christians have an even greater call and responsibility to a study of language, as God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through this gift of human language in His written Word.
Moreover, the revealed Word is also the greatest and grandest of stories, one which compels us to study its complexities for truth, wisdom, and understanding, to find both our place as Christians and God’s place as our creator and Savior in this world. In the same way, language, literature, and communication can, at its foundational level, be understood as story, wherein, through study, we as humans can learn further about creation, ourselves, and our neighbors, in order to seek to love Christ and our neighbors as ourselves, both looking forward to and working toward the redemption of this fallen world.
With this understanding, students who choose to pursue studies in the English and Communications concentration at Providence will become immersed in this Creation, Fall, Redemption framework, studying the art of language, both literature and communications, to learn, analyze, practice, and implement the tools of great writers and communicators who came before them. E&C students will not simply study works of literature and language for the sake of their study, as can often be the case with many other programs, nor will they come to understand it as frivolous culture creation, as can often be part of certain Christian perspectives. Rather, students will be pushed to come to the joyful understanding that the spoken and written word are incredible creative and redeeming tools through which to share the painful realities of sin, but also the even more powerful and joyful realities of redemption in Christ, bringing truth, beauty, and goodness to the world, both believer and non-believer alike. This is an exceptional viewpoint for this study, which is further solidified by a strong foundation in a broad and deep liberal arts education. With this foundation, students will be equipped with the writing and communication skills necessary for Kingdom work in a myriad of fields, as well as receive a strong foundation for a graduate degree in language degrees, such as literature, communication, poetics, rhetoric and composition, creative writing, journalism, and more, where they might joyfully continue to seek wisdom, serving and loving their Lord and neighbor in their redemptive Kingdom calling.
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