In most universities, humanity departments include subjects such as philosophy, religious studies, languages, literature, various aspects of arts, and history. A good number of humanities schools include educational and legal studies in their menu of courses. In humanities and arts, you learn to communicate, solve problems, think critically,  handle human situations sensitively and convey ideas clearly and persuasively. As in other branches of knowledge, how you study humanities and arts depend on your fundamental assumptions about human beings.

In philosophy, Christians don’t depend exclusively on human rationality. We apply our regenerated mind to tough questions about life on the basis of propositional truths in the  Bible and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In religious studies, Christians are interested in, among other things, understanding the anti-Christian and  sub-Christian foreshadows of God’s full and final revelation in Christ Jesus. We explore how and why individuals, cultures and whole societies reject God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, this is not how many of your professors of religion approach the discipline. They find in religious studies, an occasion to reduce the claims of Jesus to the same level of authority that they confer to the teachings of other past and present religious teachers.

In language and literature, Christians explore humanness from the perspectives of our origin in Adam, our experiences as fallen and sinful humans, and human responses to the redemption in Jesus Christ. Our relationship with God is our primary reference point. In Christian studies of language and literature, we stand outside ourselves to understand and appreciate the values of language and literature as avenues for expressing worship to God. Studies of language and literature provide the skills for understanding and better appreciating communications and relationships with people  and all creation.

Biblically sound Christian approaches see the arts as  expressions of God-given creativity in human beings with a purpose to glorify God. In your study of the arts, remain alert and be prepared to reject the ideas of many teachers who adopt postmodernism and eastern religions in their teachings and practices. Some of their preferred theories and demonstrations aim to channel your mind into contemplative paganism and practical idiolatry.

Christian scholars reject vulgarity and superficiality in current sin-tainted human language, literature and culture. Refuse to indulge your mind in things that are not honorable. Don’t revel in injustice and impurity. If anything in the arts fails to show high moral standards, if it is not deserving of praise,  don’t accommodate it in any way in your mind.

There is a growing tendency for humanist scholars to present history  as nothing more than purposeless records of past events that are subjectively interpreted by a dominant intelligentsia. As you examine different ways of understanding and interpreting the past in historical studies, beware of materialistic perspectives fail to acknowledge overarching meaning and purpose in events. Christian scholars approach history from a very different perspective. The Bible provides us with a universal outline for a correct interpretation of history. Major and minor events of history have purposes and meanings which can only be correctly interpreted when you see them from the perspective of God’s providential care for all creation.

In your education courses, watch out for theories and models of teaching and learning that contradict the Bible in any way. A Christian curriculum is a package of knowledge that is Christ-centered in philosophy, content and methodology. It is always  consistent with biblical portraits of the place of the student and the teacher in God’s purposes and priorities. It aims to direct the student to how we as human beings should think and live in a relationship with God and all His creation.

Many law departments are populated by humanist scholars who are opposed to God’s moral absolutes. They reject the principles of divine justice, and go on to search for other bases for legal theories and jurisprudence. In your law studies, reflect on what is consistent with, and what contradicts, a biblical view of justice. Develop clarity about key issues that the Lord is passionate about, including  defence of the poor and the innocent, tempering the letters of the law by mercy, and a hatred for travesty of justice.