Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Arts

At the heart of the Liberal Arts degree is the Common Core of the King’s College. This specially-selected group of twenty classes confronts students with the fundamental questions of the humanities and social sciences and many of the most important texts that attempt to answer them. Layered upon this intellectual foundation (complete with sharpened abilities to write and speak effectively) is an emphasis on practical service—the ultimate end of the liberal arts education, as it has historically been understood. Students who major in Liberal Arts should be well-prepared for a wide range of productive careers and broader effort to bring about redemptive transformation in the marketplace and civil society.

The Liberal Arts degree at King’s, in maintaining continuity with the great tradition of liberal arts education, is distinct in several important ways. First, while providing the flexibility to accommodate students with a variety of pre-King’s educational experiences, the required classes have a unity and coherence that keep students in the same Great Conversation across disciplines and semesters. Second, by requiring a twelve-credit senior-level service internship, the program directly leads the student from the classroom to the world at large, from theory to practice, and from self-focus to care for one’s neighbor.

Students may enter the Liberal Arts program in a variety of ways. Many will have prior college experience, from a few dual enrollment classes as a high school student to a full Associate’s degree from another college. Because these credits would typically have been earned at the freshman or sophomore level, King’s provides extra flexibility for transferring in such classes against the twelve Common Core classes taught at those levels or the eight elective courses that fill out the first two years of the program, equally divided between classes in the physical, natural, or social sciences and classes in the arts, languages, or humanities. Junior-level classes in the program include Ethics, King’s distinctive three-semester American Political Thought and Practice sequence, Principles of Biblical Interpretation, and Scientific Reasoning, plus two more electives in each of the general divisions noted above.

The final year of the liberal arts program includes several culminating experiences transitioning students from their King’s education into post-graduate life. In addition to taking the last two courses in the Core and two more general electives, students write a senior thesis (the intellectual capstone of the degree) and complete a 12-credit internship and related senior seminar (the practical capstone of the degree). Because of the number of elective available for Liberal Arts students, those who do not use them to transfer in prior credit have an opportunity to earn one of eleven minors offered at the College or pursue advanced studies in a particular discipline of interest. Whatever their pathway to the College or through its academic program, graduates with a King’s degree in Liberal Arts should be well-prepared to enter into and succeed in our most important civic institutions.

Recommended Course Sequence

Year One – 30 Credits

ECO 110: Introduction to Economics
ENG 110: College Writing I
ENG 120: College Writing II
HIS 111: Western Civilization I
MAT 155 or MAT 160
PHL 110: Logic
REL 110: Christianity & Society
REL 112: Introduction to Old Testament Literature
ALH ELECTIVE (3 credits)
PNS ELECTIVE (3 credits)

Year Two – 30 Credits

ECO 211: Microeconomics
HIS 212: Western Civilization II
PHL 361: Ethics
POL 210: Foundations of Politics
POL 311: American Political Thought and Practice I
REL 211: Introduction to New Testament Literature
ALH ELECTIVE (6 credits)
PNS ELECTIVE (6 credits)

Year Three – 30 Credits

POL 313: American Political Thought and Practice II
POL 315: American Political Thought and Practice III
REL 354: Principles of Biblical Interpretation
SCI 312: Scientific Reasoning
ALH ELECTIVE (3 credits)
ALH 300 Level ELECTIVE (6 credits)
PNS ELECTIVE (3 credits)
PNS 300 Level ELECTIVE (6 credits)

Year Four – 30 Credits

ENG 412: Persuasive Writing & Speaking
REL 412: Foundations of Judeo-Christian Thought
PSP 451: Senior Thesis
PSP 499: Senior Seminar in Public Service
PSP 999: Internship/Service Practicum (12 Credits)
ALH 400 Level Elective
PNS 400 Level Elective