Our Philosophy
College Engages Postmodern Worldviews with Classical Education
National statistics show that two out of three active youth group participants stop attending church in college. These students report the main reason for their attendance drop-off is "open-minded" professors who intentionally try to dismantle every belief the student has ever held. But at the College at Southwestern, minds are challenged, but souls are refreshed. Students are taught and guided by professors who firmly hold to the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture. Graduates of the college will be able to share Christ with both children and skeptical doctors of philosophy.
The mission of the College at Southwestern is to create effective witnesses for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, regardless of the student's academic pursuit. The college will prepare students to live with a heart full of fire and a head full of the wisdom of God. Within the Bachelor of Arts in humanities, students are given intensive instruction in the Bible and the history of Western ideas, as well as optional concentrations in music, education, general studies, the history of ideas and homemaking.
All students take a 60-hour core in "History, Life and Thought," which integrates class lectures with small group breakout sessions. Students read primary and secondary literature of the period, including works by profound thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Darwin and Freud. To be salt and light in the world, Christian students must be able to converse with the influential ideas of the day as well as the ideas that have influenced culture over time.
Fostering intellectual confidence meets only half of the college's mission, so all students also complete 24 credit hours in Old Testament, New Testament and systematic theology to encourage spiritual growth. Professors train students how to present Scripture expositionally to honor the unalterable Word of God. Finally, in an age where the local church is often undermined by culture, our students are required to take Baptist history so that they learn about our precious past and what it means to be a believing church in an unbelieving world.
Learning about the world does not stop with textbooks. The faculty acknowledges that students cannot fully develop a complete worldview if they have never been outside of America. Therefore, the heavy emphasis on academia is balanced with a requirement that each student go on an international mission trip before they graduate.
Likewise, the nationally recognized intellectuals who compose the college's faculty set wonderful Christ-like examples as they teach students inside and outside of the classroom. These students have unique opportunities to share the Gospel on the streets of downtown Fort Worth with a Fulbright scholar or play ultimate Frisbee with a man who once claimed to be an atheist. Interested students should cultivate a healthy and spiritual lifestyle, emotional stability and a positive attitude towards learning, as well as strengths in reading, reasoning and writing skills. Parents can rest in the confidence that the biblical training and upbringing they have invested in their children will be extended and strengthened at the College at Southwestern, just as Proverbs 22:6 teaches, rather than undermined or discarded.
