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Teaching Literature Courses in a Christian
Liberal Arts University: In 1997, after many years of scientific research and teaching in secular institutions, I came on staff at RACU. Since 1983 I have been an active member of the Russian Orthodox Church. Taking all these facts into consideration, I did not expect any difficulties in teaching at RACU, but I realized how wrong I was during my very first semester. I had to change my old ways that proved successful while working with nonbelievers. All my experience came in handy but needed serious revision. Step by step, listening to advice and recommendations from my American colleagues, looking at the reaction of the student audience, by trial and error, I was searching for new, more effective teaching methods. I even had to renew course syllabi and master new techniques for involving students in class activities. My new courses in the Christian Aspects of the New European Literature (working title: Introduction into the Subject of Literature) and Religious Roots of the Russian Identity (working title: Russian Literature of the XIX-XX centuries) are the outcome of long years of work. The conceptual and methodological parts of the new courses were described in detail in 2001. Beyond any doubt, I was far from thinking that this would be the final result of my research. However, this marked the end of only one stage in my professional development. I found that most students enjoy my courses and gladly participate in both class and homework assignments, but there was only one fear on my part, that if we do not move forward, we will inadvertently go backwards in our development running the risk of settling into a routine. I was thrilled to hear about the RACU faculty retreat in August 2002 dedicated to the problems of Christian liberal arts education. Finally, in his wonderful book, James Mannoia suggests new methods and principles specifically for Christian professors and outlines our aims and goals. It was a pleasure for me to read about the roots, traditions and history of liberal arts, paying special attention to the Christian component, which goes beyond secular educational traditions and represents the highest stage of their development. Whereas before I was groping for my way in the dark in my professional and personal life (that are inseparable for me at RACU), now I feel supported and encouraged. Besides, this research has expanded my professional horizons and helped define the prospects for improving my courses in future. Right now, making use of James Mannoia's terminology and labor categories, I would like to make a partial analysis of my teaching at RACU. 1. Formation of the students' internal values as a critical commitment It should be mentioned that my two literature courses, first of all, provide good material for reaching one of the goals for Christian liberal arts education, i.e., forming the students' personality and character. For instance, the course Christian Aspects of New European Literature is conceptually arranged in a way that helps demonstrate the inadequacy of the worldview and spirituality of the secular humanistic culture of the New Era (XVII-XIX centuries) and the chaos and spiritual anarchy of the Modern Period (XX century) (5, 17). Students study one period of the New European Literature after another, starting from the Renaissance when Belles Lettres just appeared as a new genre. From the very beginning they get a general idea about the difference between Christian view of the world and humankind and the philosophical-humanistic understanding of the same matters, which turns Man into a god (2, 5, 8, 17). The paradox consists in the fact that we as Christians live inside a humanistic and post-humanistic culture, which, in essence, is contrary to Christianity. Extreme developments within this culture in the form of atheism and revolutionary socialism serve as evidence to that. The culture of the New Era is built around the fundamental ideal of the "heaven on earth," heaven without God, without personal transformation, heaven that is run by human beings through social and technological progress. This prideful eudemonistic culture makes earthly life, not everlasting life, its focus (2, 5, 8, 17). We never choose when and where to be born. Many Christian authors and poets of the New Era experienced a powerful influence from the anti-Christian culture, which was expressed in their thinking and work. It is interesting that this kind of literature incessantly turns to the image of Christ, Biblical themes and symbols, even to religious rituals. However, Biblical truths would acquire a new, humanistic interpretation, often without the authors realizing it (14, 15, 16, 17). For example, the XIX century is the time of the "birth" of the "humanistic Christ" - a perfect man, hero, warrior, and champion of social justice (D. Strauss, E. Rennin, G. Sand, etc.). He is stripped of His divinity (14, 16, 17). Declaring the revolution to be the "labor of love" and revolutionaries - followers or even new incarnations of Christ on earth, N. Nekrasov, an extremely talented Russian poet of XIX century, further confuses the reader. And, as N. Berdyaev put it, we have to teach students to tell the difference between the revelations of God Himself and "human ideas about God" (5) in literature. Traditionally, literature (both national and international) is granted authority in Russia; therefore, even a Christian Russian reader can be confused by this lack of clarity. One of my tasks during the courses is to unravel these spiritual misinterpretations. For this end, it is always necessary to appeal to the Bible and to the image of Christ as portrayed in the Gospels. The Biblical Christ as the role model is present in all our classes, which helps to acquaint students with the spiritual searching of Shakespeare, Goethe, Balzac, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, and others. So, it turns out that I have been intuitively following Mannoia's principle about the myth of secular liberal arts education and the necessity to proclaim the only objective value - faith in the Biblical Christ. At the same time, I was doing my best to avoid the trap of forcing my beliefs upon students by providing them with opportunities to get acquainted with a variety of worldview models that had appeared in the course of XIV - XX centuries in the West European literature and in XIX - XX centuries - in Russian literature. Among these were Baroque, Classicism, Realism, Sentimentalism, Romanticism, Naturalism, and various types of Modernism and Post-modernism. Each school of literature would find a natural combination of worldview principles and artistic means for their expression (3, 4, 9). The latter are far from neutral since they always determine the content, whatever the time period. For instance, the usage of the genre of epopee in Russian literature of the XIX-XX centuries (by L. Tolstoy, N. Nekrasov, M. Sholokhov), which had leading positions in West European Literature even before the Renaissance, testified to such characteristics of the Russian mentality as a strong collectivist basis and a hunger for determining the national identity (3, 9). Analyzing the themes and messages of literary works, completing assignments on genre and characteristics of expression, students can see for themselves that each stage in literature development had its own peculiar worldview. Entering into the world of Belles-Lettres, they get a chance to put themselves in the author's shoes, to see his "truth", the relativity of which they always keep in mind, since there is the evangelical Truth, Way and Life in front of their eyes. Hopefully, my students can rid themselves of intolerance, limited views and dogmatism and at the same time avoid drowning in the sea of the myriad of subjective truths by hearing openly about the Evangelical Christian belief system of the university and the teacher thus forming "critical commitment" and character. 2. Applying the principles of "critical commitment" formation in the students To tell you the truth, I used to be terrified by the possibility of a "dissonance" in my classes, and could not get over disagreements with students and what seemed to be lack of understanding on their part. I blamed myself and considered these "dissonances" the shortcoming of my teaching methods. I remember how I would talk to David Broersma about this. Now I feel much better, having learned that these conflicts in class are normal. Moreover, it is an indicator of educational success - it shows that students are interested, actively involved in class and growing personally. It is true that going through different stages students must feel "pain", the teacher sharing this "pain" of theirs. For instance, while talking about Modernism, I demonstrate how Nietzsche's views were reflected in the literature of that period - in teaching on "eternal revival", "superman," Apollo, Dionysus and so forth. My emotional narration is interrupted by a remark of a vexed student, who is accusing me of... siding with Nietzsche. The same phenomenon occurred in classes on Descartes, Shelling, and Freud. The most delicate situations were when we discussed the Decameron of J. Boccaccio, whose frivolous theme lines sometimes make our students blush. Nonetheless, they should not be oblivious to the reality of these aspects of human nature and conduct, but, rather, formulate the correct, Christian attitude toward them (6, 8). This is a preventive measure, a sort of vaccination, if you please. Reaffirmation of human nature in all its expressions is the essence of Renaissance and humanistic literature, and there is no way around it (6, 8, 10). This is typical of the modern cultural situation as well. Only halfway through the course students stop attributing to me sympathy toward the Renaissance, then toward the Enlightenment, and finally toward Romanticism. They learn to avoid instant rejection, but rather try to understand and sympathize with every teaching while looking for a way of Christian transformation. Now they do not look at authors and characters of past centuries from the height of their own "wisdom" and "infallibility" but give justice to the strengths and weaknesses of the human nature in general, and learn humility. Besides, our classes are arranged in such a way as to encourage discussion and exchange of opinions between the students and myself as well as among the students themselves. Oftentimes, we have interesting dialogues and discussions. In such a way we form a "community," which V. James Mannoia considers to be a necessary element of building "internal" values of Christian liberal arts education. Unfortunately, we have to limit these discussions due to the lack of time. During these discussions we turn to the Bible and to the life experience of each and every one present. I realize that at RACU we have a lot of courses, but I have to stress that we need more time for literature courses for the sake of holding more "round table discussions." Theme lines and characters of various pieces of literature and everyday situations always spur interesting discussions among students on matters of theory and practical application. It is difficult to form good, useful habits among students, since it requires some effort and discipline on their part. Russian students have a long-standing aversion for both. This is a peculiarity, or even, a weakness of Russian culture (14, 15). So far I have found only one way to change this, i.e., to constantly remind my students that they are not only Russians, but also Christians. Christian life, by its definition, is a life of discipline (although grounded in freedom). Therefore, I suggest they make timely preparation of presentations, reading necessary books, writing tests and research papers as a Christian ministry, training their will for reaching perfection. I agree that faculty members at a Christian liberal arts institution must be role models for students. To be honest, it is not easy although RACU administration has clearly communicated this goal to us teachers from the very beginning. Of course, as a Christian I try to follow moral standards set forth by our belief system not only at RACU, but also in my everyday life. However, working with Christian youth requires much more responsibility. I see to it that students abide by ethical norms in their communication with one another in class. I demand proper attitude towards their studies, which sometimes leads to conflict - I have to clearly point out ethical blunders to some students, which does not exactly please them. I feel it my responsibility to put aside personal problems and moods while interacting with students. I need training in tolerance, forgiveness, and unbiased judgment. I must stay objective and friendly in communication with a student that has violated ethical principles. Having talked about his/her misconduct, I try to put this behind us. Besides, it seems to me that professors at RACU cannot limit their activity only to teaching a specific subject, but must demonstrate an example of unselfish Christian ministry to colleagues and students. Personally, I have chosen to work at the RACU Cultural Committee in order to do everything I can to help colleagues and students to better appreciate culture. Excursions to Yasnaja Polyana and Peredelkino, which I organized, serve not just as another educational activity, but also as an example of an extracurricular activity we all participate in for the good of those around us. 3. Integration of aesthetic and informative aspects into the literature courses: defining the problem and outlining its Christian solution In my opinion, teaching literature in itself should not have any "instrumental" value. Integration of "intrinsic" and "instrumental" values is the task of a Christian liberal arts institution, and the result of the right choice of subjects. Literature courses must focus on forming students' personality, their "critical commitment." The beautiful has no practical meaning; it is a purpose in itself, a glimpse of heavenly harmony in our fallen world that gives rest to our souls and the strength for transforming this world (4). I see my main task in evoking and developing the aesthetic sense among my students. My classes must be interesting and pleasant. Beauty is attractive, and students must see the beautiful in literature, not a combination of worldviews (4). But the latter must also be present and herein lies the main difficulty in teaching my courses. At the same time, these subjects require a lot of effort and time. How does one combine aesthetic pleasure with the need to discipline oneself and work diligently? Answering this question is the specific task I am always facing. I am hoping to find answers in the development of the principles of Christian liberal arts education, first of all, through turning to the image of the Biblical Christ. His image is splendid, and the Gospels are full of themes for art and literature. The soul coming into contact with Christ rejoices and finds pleasure (17). At the same time, the Christian way means bearing the cross. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" - are not these words the key to solving my professional dilemma? For now let us just say that this is an area that requires practical training on my part. 4. «Instrumental» values in teaching literature Although it was mentioned above that the "instrumental" value is not of the top priority in my subjects, it is still present. The ability to solve everyday life problems is taught through the analysis of various life situations, types of human psychology, historical patterns of thinking and conduct that are portrayed in literature. Traditionally, Russian literature served as a "textbook of life" (16, 17, 18). From the Christian perspective, this is not adequate since Belles Lettres do not always set good examples to follow. For instance, there were trends of following the style of Pechorin (M. Lermontov), Basarov (I. Tourgenev), Korchagin (N. Ostrovsky), Master (M. Bulgakov), who are far from being role models of Christian virtue. At the same time, there are characters worthy of being role models - Tatyana Larina (A. Pushkin), Alesha Karamazov (F. Dostoevsky), Yury Zhivago (B. Pasternak). It turns out that literature can become the real "textbook of life" only for a Christian who is trained to understand it. For a Christian without the liberal arts education this type of literature can turn into a source of temptation (17, 18). 5. The role of integration in resolving the students' real life problems As I have emphasized above, I integrate faith with teaching in my classes. Another aspect of integration present in my classes is defined by V. James Mannoia as interdisciplinary or contextual teaching. In addition to studying the literature itself we use history, philosophy and psychology. Such literary schools of the XX century as structuralism and post-modernism cannot be analyzed without turning to linguistics and, first of all, to semiotics (13). The prerequisite for adequate understanding of my courses is the knowledge of New European history from Renaissance up to modern day times, including some idea about the historical specifics of Russia in XIX-XX centuries. For instance, in order to demonstrate the essence of a very important "myth of Peter the Great and Petersburg" in Russian literature, I must explain the different stages of Russian history and, specifically, provide characteristics of the "Petersburg" period (2, 5). It is necessary to turn to philosophy in order to carry out an in-depth study of messages and problems discussed in literature. It is impossible to make an adequate judgment of, say, the conduct of characters created by Goethe, Karamzin or L. Stern, not knowing the views of Rousseau (10) or to grasp the difference between G. G. Byron's (romanticism) and O. Balzac's (realism) characters without first studying the philosophical teaching of these schools. That is why we have to talk about I. Kant, I. G. Fiche and F. Schelling on the one hand, and G.V.F. Hegel and L. Fuerbach on the other hand. The literature of the XX century has a strong ideological orientation (11, 12, 13). For instance, surrealism is completely based on the psychoanalysis of S. Freud, and without studying the latter we would not see as much in the former (19). Psychological character is one of the recognized strengths of Modern literature (3, 9). One can say that the science of psychology has its origins in literature. Therefore, we cannot do without turning to psychological studies by S. Freud, K. Jung, E. Fromm, E. Bern, and others. The human personality in its different aspects occupies the central place in the Belles-Lettres style (17). The central point in literature courses is the historical way of the development of human personality starting from God, walking away from God, and then towards God. The human being is the theoretical and practical problem that forms the center of my courses. In its theoretical aspects it is studied in the context of historical and aesthetic reality reflected in literature. And, inevitably, it acquires practical character, since every student is a human being forced to solve both "eternal" and everyday existential problems. Conclusion In this article I have analyzed the peculiarities of teaching literature courses in a Christian liberal arts institution and proved the importance of studying literature in the process of forming the personality of students. The paper is broken into five sections, each one describing the most important aspects of the Christian liberal arts education for the teacher. I have presented a partial analysis of my own six-year experience of working with students at RACU. I have shared what I consider to be my accomplishments in this area and have defined the general difficulties I face. I saw realistic opportunities for improving the quality of Christian education. In addition, I discovered new purposes and prospects for personal and professional growth through cooperation with my Christian colleagues and the Christian administration of our university. Assessing my personal experience and formulating common problems in a way that pleases God are of real help and encouragement to me in aspiring to live out the Christian ideals in my work and life. Bibliography
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