Liberal Arts Essay and Application

DCM 2301.N1

Liberal Arts Essay and Application

Submit via Waypoint in Session 15 Course Material

Objective: The student will think critically about the idea of personhood and how active participation in life and responsibility to others are crucial components to succeeding at a particular vocation.

Length: 6-8 pages

Using chapter 3 of Holmes, Idea of a Christian College and chapter 3 of Guinness’ The Call, explain the idea of “personhood.” Pay close attention to how Holmes uses three terms to explain personhood—reflective, valuing, and responsible and how Guinness uses the story of Havel to describe our need for purpose and responsibility to someone.

Part I is ANALYSIS. First analyze the argument relating to Personhood. Explain Holmes’ and Guinness’ thesis about personhood. This is formal writing. No first person. Use direction quotations as a jumping off point for your analysis and organize your paragraphs well. I would recommend using 3-4 paragraphs on this section.

Second, analyze the argument that the liberal arts best prepares a whole person according to the definition of Personhood. Use as many texts from the class as possible. I recommend again using 3-4 paragraphs for this section.

Part II is APPLICATION. Using your analysis of the idea of personhood, choose one of the following means of application:

1. Interview a professional in your field (this could be a professional field or a field of service—example, teacher or community service volunteer.) In your own words, explain to your chosen professional about the three marks of personhood—reflective, valuing and responsible. Then conduct an interview with well thought-out questions asking your professional how they see themselves acting in reflective, valuing and responsible ways. Find out what things prepared them for their vocation.

2. Find a biographical article that chronicles the life of someone in your field. Using concrete detail from the article, trace the themes of personhood throughout the article.

3. Watch a biography-style documentary applicable to your field. Using concrete detail from the documentary, trace the themes of personhood.

After conducting your interview or outlining your article/documentary, write up your findings in a 3-4 paragraph application to follow your evaluation.

Part III is CONCLUSION: In a one paragraph conclusion, tell me what you learned.

To get started on your outline, think in terms of three main chunks of material plus an intro and conclusion.

Chunk 1: Analyze the definition of personhood. Source texts are Holmes and Guinness.

Chunk 2: Analyze how the liberal arts best equips a whole person. Source texts are as many as you can pull from this course.

Chunk 3: Report on your interview, documentary or article subject. How do you see a whole person emerging and why is this so helpful to the person’s vocation/calling.

***With the last outline, I was more specific about what should be found in each paragraph. Here, I want you to come up with the structure on your own. Remember to use the book. First figure out what is being said. The third section is where you can make application.