Q&A: The Liberal Arts Major at King's

Professor David Corbin on the new major

NEW YORK, May 14, 2012—The liberal arts serves as the backbone of the King’s education. With the introduction of the new Bachelors in Liberal Arts in the fall of 2012, students at King’s will have even more opportunity to explore the great books that have shaped the world we live in today.

The Liberal Arts major is one of three majors that has been proposed to be housed within our Program in Public Service. The New York State Education Department is currently reviewing two other proposed majors, International Affairs and Public Affairs. More news on these majors will be announced in the near future.

Below is a short Q&A on the Liberal Arts major with Professor David Corbin, Program Chair for Public Service.

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Q. What is the Liberal Arts major, and why have it?

A. Liberal arts colleges have always promoted education as more than a means to professional credentialing. The liberally-educated man was to be prepared for living a life of public-spirited virtue. The King’s College Liberal Arts degree draws upon that tradition with its focus both on the great questions confronted within our Common Core and the practical service that is the capstone to the degree, promoting the seamless movement from study to application.

All students who have completed the PPE Common Core at King’s are, to a significant degree, prepared to enter and eventually to lead strategic institutions, regardless of the other classes they have taken. At the same time, we recognize that most TKC graduates, like most graduates of any elite college or university, will not end up in Congress or be public intellectuals, editors of newspapers, movie directors, or CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Rather, they will do their part in the redemptive transformation of society in the general marketplace, in their church, and in their family. The Liberal Arts graduates produced by King’s will have the academic preparation necessary to do this well.

Q. What type of student would be attracted to the Liberal Arts major?

A. The Liberal Arts major's heart is the TKC Common Core. We expect that a disproportionately large population of transfer students, who have a documented record of college-level academic success and therefore already possess the maturity and habits of discipline necessary for higher education, to be attracted to the program's structure, rigor, and placement within our Public Service program.

Q. How does our Liberal Arts major compare to a similar major at a secular university?

A. I think what will make our liberal arts major unique is the same thing that makes all of our current programs unique, namely, each is built upon the truth that Christianity gives powerful insights into the key questions that political theorists, philosophers, and economists pursue. Most of our liberally-educated graduates understand the terrible horrors produced by those who engage in politics, philosophy, and economics with the assumption that they are gods or that others are little more than beasts.

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To learn more about the Liberal Arts major, you can view the 2012-2013 catalog here. If you have questions about the new Liberal Arts major at King’s, please feel free to email Professor David Corbin at this address. The King’s College educates students in the ideas upon which nations rise and fall. With a focused curriculum in the liberal arts tradition, students are prepared to help shape, and eventually to lead, the institutions of government, civil society, media, law, business, education, the arts, and the church. King’s is a Christian college located in New York City.

For more information about The King's College please contact: Matthias Clock
Communications Coordinator
212.659.3602