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The Big Questions

About Harding
About Harding

 

The goal of a Harding education is the pursuit of enlightened knowledge that allows us to discern truth. We aim to create active citizens and flourishing people who take from their education a strong allegiance to Christ. We do this through specialty instruction in our majors, minors, certificate and graduate programs, and in The Core courses that every student takes.

A Shared Experience

The Core and our academic majors are anchored in The Big Questions — those that humans spend their whole lives contemplating. At Harding, we consider these questions in every part of campus life: in chapel, in the classroom, in the dorm, in the lab, at the coffee shop, on the field, on the stage. You’ll graduate with a toolbox full of approaches to those questions as well as a continued desire to explore what it means to live a good life.
The Core

Changing the world

These questions encourage shared language for a unified story, and each one leads to additional questions for further consideration. In your chosen major, you’ll be challenged with discipline-specific language that will broaden and deepen your understanding and worldview. We do not pursue these questions merely as an academic exercise but rather to discern truth that changes our lives and strengthens our faith. In a dynamic job market, people of character who can think and communicate well are positioned to change the global marketplace. When you combine your education with soft skills and the servant ethic of Jesus Christ, you can change the world.
Discover your inspired purpose

The Big Questions

 

This is the most foundational question we can ask. It invites us to consider the nature of all that is and all that is true, of good and evil, of beauty and being. Scripture tells us in I John 4, “God is love.” This essential truth frees us to love each other, to love the world, and to pursue further questions about everything from science to psychology and mathematics to music as expressions of the love that lies at the heart of all reality.  

The discussion begs further questions like:

  • What does it mean to be holy/sanctified/set apart?

  • What is God’s will?

  • What is sin?

  • What is idolatry?

  • Is God someone or something?

  • What is the Trinity?

  • Has God spoken?

  • What makes something good?

  • What makes something evil?

 

Our understanding of who we are drives what we do, what we talk about, what we value and how we make decisions. Wrestling with the question of who you are during your time in college positions you to be self-aware, influential and wise in your professional and personal life. Considering yourself in relation to God and creation will help you prioritize your passions, act with grace and realize your potential as an imager of God.

The discussion begs further questions like:

  • Who am I?

  • What communities am I a part of?

  • How and why did God create us?

  • What does it mean to be human?

  • Are we bodies with souls or souls with bodies?

  • Am I just my brain?

  • Are people good or bad?

  • What does our history have to do with who we are?

  • What is the “image of God” within us?

 

This is a question all humans wrestle with but an especially important one for college students. Unless you constantly keep your eyes fixed on the kind of life you want to live and the person you want to become, it’s very easy to make unhealthy compromises. You have a unique calling, and each day you are invited to tap into your purpose by loving God and loving others and letting the beauty of our creator shine through you.

The discussion begs further questions like:

  • What does it mean to be mature/respectable?

  • How can I be a good steward of my gifts?

  • What is justice?

  • What is the relationship between justice and mercy?

  • How should we think about death?

  • What does it mean to work with purpose?

  • What is “The Good Life”?

  • Is Beauty just vanity, or is it something that really matters?

  • What are the Good, the True, and the Beautiful?

  • What standards do we appeal to in assigning value?

  • Is anything unimportant, or does everything matter?

 

By clearly articulating our responsibilities and the goals required to fulfill them, we are much better equipped to make the most of our educational opportunities, make immediate and lasting contributions in our jobs, build thriving local and regional communities and create loving homes for our families. With love as the basis for our own identity as image-bearers of God and as the connective tissue for our relationships and communities, we can cultivate responsibilities common to all of us.

The discussion begs further questions like:

  • What’s my response to the problems of the world?

  • Can I actually make a difference in the world?

  • How do I obtain wisdom?

  • How do I obtain prudence, discernment, discretion?

  • What practices lead to holiness?

  • How do I please God?

  • How do I act justly?

  • What are my responsibilities to my various communities?

  • What does it mean to love attentively?

  • Am I my brother’s keeper?

     

 

The most common ways to gain knowledge are through accepted authority, evidence, experience and intuition. Although some things can be verified by observation or experimentation, true faith requires that we accept God's complete authority. Intuition and logical deduction are also needed to explore our curiosities about the world around us. Engaging in these conversations while you’re in college will help equip you to seek knowledge of things that are truly important.

The discussion begs further questions like:

  • What is wisdom?

  • What is the relationship between wisdom and knowledge?

  • What practices lead to maturity/respectability?

  • What practices lead to health?

  • How do I know God?

  • How can I discern my purpose?

  • How can I discern the many truths of the world–politically, socially, culturally–and differentiate that with the Truth in the personhood of Christ.

  • Can I trust my senses?

  • Does science answer everything?

  • Can I trust the authorities in my life?

  • Has God spoken?

  • Is the Bible reliable?

  • How is artificial intelligence changing the relationship between knowledge, information, truth, and wisdom

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