The Department of Arts and Letters at The Master’s University gives a broader designation, encompassing the three degrees within the department: Classical Liberal Arts, English, and Interdisciplinary Studies, as well as its summer intensive study abroad program situated in Florence, Italy. The degrees and programs under this department have a shared mission, in which students are taught to:
- “Pursue the studia humanitatis (“study of the human things”) through a fully articulated theological framework,” as applied in the practice of socratic pedagogy in Classical Liberal Arts, through the intertwining of various course of studies in Interdisciplinary Studies, and through the engagement with various ideologies in literature and the arts.
- “Extend the range of students’ intellectual, moral, and spiritual vision” as they explore works and courses of study from various points of view and “to be to be equipped to recognize truth expressed in multiple sources, discerning it from partial truth and error, testing all by the biblical standard.”
- “Engage in personal, spiritual, and professional growth with the understanding that there exists no dichotomy between the secular and the sacred, as “all things” can be done “for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31)
The Master’s University in Italy Program
Led by Dr. Grant Horner, Dr. Bob Dickson and Prof. Esther Chua, TMU Italy is a study-abroad program based in incomparably beautiful Italy. Students, upon acceptance to the program, will spend six weeks in the summer to earn 9 undergraduate credits in a variety of courses while deeply immersed in Italian culture. The entire program will be based on exploring the question “quid est homo?” (“what is Man?”) asked by the Italian Renaissance Christian Humanist scholars, and the related biblical question “what is man that Thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8).
