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Northwest University Core Curriculum
“Christ plays in ten thousand places,” says the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. The Northwest University undergraduate core invites students to seek out Christ in the many places he appears in his creation. Spanning a host of disciplines, the core aims to form students intellectually and spiritually. This formation, moreover, prepares students not only for specific majors and careers but for the whole of life. We want our students to flourish as thoughtful, virtuous Christians who love God, work for his Kingdom, and see his glory in so many fields of study and areas of human endeavor.
Truth, Beauty, and Goodness
The core is structured around what ancient Christian theologians call the Transcendentals: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. According to these theologians, the Transcendentals are not just attributes or characteristics of God; rather, they are what he is. They are, in the traditional language, divine names. In other words, God doesn’t simply have truth, beauty, and goodness; on the contrary, he is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. So, for example, Christ doesn’t say that he will merely tell us the truth or show us the truth; he says that he is the truth. Because God is these realities, anything in creation that is true or beautiful or good finally points back to its source in him.
Transcendental Pillars
These Transcendentals, then, provide the three organizing pillars of the core curriculum. As outlined below, each pillar includes a guiding verse from Scripture and a number of classes that unfold one of the Transcendentals. In the first pillar, Loving Truth, students encounter Christ in the Bible and the theological tradition. Here students develop a sense of the Christian narrative—the narrative that we inhabit a good but damaged world that God heals through Christ and his church. That story provides the foundation for the rest of their studies—and hopefully their lives! The second pillar, Seeking Beauty, reveals God’s glory as it radiates out from the best of human culture. Great works of literature and music, the history of civilizations and ideas—these show us humanity as the bearer of God’s image. Yet, this pillar not only asks students to behold beauty but also to make it themselves: here students learn to write essays and poems, to compose speeches and songs—in short, to become participants in beauty. The third pillar, Living Goodness, urges students to act out their faith pragmatically in daily life. The spiritual and intellectual formation of pillars one and two find practical expression in pillar three. Preparing for a career, developing responsible habits toward technology and personal finance, caring for the ecological health of God’s creation, cultivating mental and physical well-being, building wholesome relationships—pillar three addresses these concerns.
The core curriculum is grounded in nothing less than the fullness of God as expressed by the Transcendentals, and therefore, it is wholistic. That is, it includes both the traditional liberal arts and more pragmatically oriented fields of study. The liberal arts—theology, literature, music, and so forth—are those disciplines that have traditionally been studied for their own sake. They are intrinsically worthwhile and need no outside justification. They are “liberal” or free from such justification. The practical arts, by contrast, find their justification outside themselves in their usefulness, their pragmatic application.
Liberal and Practical Arts
The core enshrines both the liberal and practical arts—for to lose either is to distort God’s intention for humanity. God does not create us for some pragmatic purpose or because he needs us to do something for him: he is wholly sufficient in himself, which means he creates us—and everything else—for the intrinsic delight and goodness of our being. The liberal arts reveal this truth: they show us creation and ourselves as intrinsically worthwhile, as needing no outside justification. At creation, God also gives us meaningful work: humanity’s original tasks were to cultivate the earth, name God’s creatures, build families and communities, and more. Again, God gives us these practical tasks not because he needs us to do something for him. Rather, work is originally a blessing that allows us to reflect the image of God. He is the creator, and he invites us to imitate his creative work in our own making and doing. The core curriculum draws us back to these fundamental truths: we are God’s intrinsically good creatures, and work is a way of bearing God’s image. The liberal arts remind us of the first truth; the practical arts remind us of the second. To lose either the liberal or practical arts, then, is to lose the very heart of creation.
The Northwest University core curriculum is, finally, so much more than a series of general education requirements—hoops to jump through to arrive at more important courses. On the contrary, the core helps students to draw together many pieces of the human experience—pieces that so often lie in fragments and make us fragmented people. The core invites us to reassemble these pieces. It invites us into the fullness of our humanity as God’s beloved creatures.
Core Curriculum, BA (48 credits)
Pillar: Loving Truth
Scriptural anchor: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” John 14:6
Learning outcomes. Students will be able to:
- Identify theological and biblical concepts.
- Recognize essential tenets of Christian theology.
Pillar: Seeking Beauty
Scriptural anchor: “One thing I ask from the Lord… to gaze on his beauty.” Psalm 27:4
Learning outcomes. Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate written and verbal communication skills.
- Understand the impact of historical perspectives.
- Evaluate sources for reliability.
Pillar: Living Goodness
Scriptural anchor: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” James 1:22
Learning Outcomes. Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate scientific and technological literacy.
- Apply discipline appropriate problem-solving skills.
- Explain principles of personal flourishing.
Courses that are completed as part of the Core Curriculum can also fulfill major requirements.
The flexibility built into the Core Curriculum helps transfer students utilize as many of their credits as possible. Additionally, transfer students benefit from the following provisions:
- Students who transfer between 30 and 59 semester credits (at time of matriculation) may replace THEO 2063 - God and Society with elective credits.
- Students who transfer 60 or more credits without a Direct Transfer Agreement Associate of Arts (at time of matriculation) may replace THEO 2063 - God and Society, the Journeying Deeper Into Truth course, and the Professional Readiness requirement with elective credits.
- Students who transfer with a Direct Transfer Agreement Associate of Arts will have all Core Curriculum requirements satisfied with the exception of three courses: BIBL 1053 Christian Scriptures, THEO 1093 Foundations of Christian Faith, and THEO 2293 Christian Vocation.
- Transfer students who turn 20 years of age or older during their first calendar year at Northwest University may replace UNIV 1091 Life Together with one elective credit.
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Note for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Buntain School of Nursing applicants (through NursingCAS) who transfer 44 or more credits to Northwest University take 9 Loving Truth credits: BIBL 1053 Christian Scriptures, THEO 1093 Foundations of Christian Faith, and THEO 2293 Christian Vocation, to satisfy the core requirements. Students who transfer with an Associate of Arts degree take 6 Loving Truth credits: BIBL 1053 Christian Scriptures and THEO 1093 Foundations of Christian Faith, to satisfy the core requirements.
Core Curriculum, BS (42 credits)
Pillar: Loving Truth
Scriptural anchor: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” John 14:6
Learning outcomes. Students will be able to:
- Identify theological and biblical concepts.
- Recognize essential tenets of Christian theology.
Pillar: Seeking Beauty
Scriptural anchor: “One thing I ask from the Lord… to gaze on his beauty.” Psalm 27:4
Learning outcomes. Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate written and verbal communication skills.
- Understand the impact of historical perspectives.
- Evaluate sources for reliability.
Pillar: Living Goodness
Scriptural anchor: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” James 1:22
Learning Outcomes. Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate scientific and technological literacy.
- Apply discipline appropriate problem-solving skills.
- Explain principles of personal flourishing.
Courses that are completed as part of the Core Curriculum can also fulfill major requirements.
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