<p>After a great deal of deliberation I recently decided I wanted to major in English. My plan is to start attending my college of choice in the fall, and I was hoping some of you could tell me about some of the Christian colleges in the U.S. with excellent English undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>Generally, the more selective the school, and the more oriented towards liberal arts and less “vocational,” the better the English program is likely to be. I would suggest looking at the course catalog. See how many professors there are in the department, and how many English majors. You don’t want to see a host of survey courses. You want to see many courses covering specific authors, genres, time periods, etc. An example of a mid-range college with an inferior English department would be Juniata. (Not to pick on them, it is a respectable school and fine for many, but not for serious students of literature. I happened to look up their English department and its offerings a few years ago at someone’s request.) I have no specific knowlege of any Christian schools in this regard.</p>
<p>Look at Sewanee: The University of the South. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church (although all faiths are welcome) and has an excellent English program.</p>
Check out Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids! Beautiful campus genuinely Christian.
Cornerstone isn’t known for English.
Sewanee and Kenyon are Episcopalian but only affiliated. However, English at Kenyon is world-class and considered among the best in the country at Sewanee.
Wheaton, IL, Calvin, Hope, Pepperdine would all be good if you want Evangelical Christian.
If you’re okay with Catholic colleges, Jesuit universities are really strong - Fordham, Georgetown, Holy Cross, UScranton are all different levels of selectivity and very good for English.
Don’t forget some of the very good Lutheran schools (St. Olaf, Concordia -Moorhead, Luther, Valpo ) which although they don’t typically have the behavior codes like Wheaton, definitely have an active worship life on campus and seriously deal with how to make an impact in the world as a Christian.
As a Calvin alum, and both my husband and I were English majors, I would be concerned about the stability of the department. Due to huge financial errors of the previous president, Calvin carries a staggering amount of debt. Humanities faculty numbers are being reduced by attrition, buyouts, elimination of majors (see the Grand Rapids Press article this week ), and layoffs.
Shoot. Thanks for the link. What a horrible situation. It’s really really sad. Calvin used to be a premier college but it sounds like with the cuts it’s being reduced to a small regional school with little intellectual ambition:( I mean, 10 to15 years ago I knew Christian kids who turned down Stanford and ivies to attend Calvin. Based on the situation now, that would never happen.
So, cross out Calvin from.my previous list.
It’s so sad though.
I second the strong Lutheran colleges - St Olaf is a standout, Luther, Valparaiso, and Concordia Moorhead are pretty good too. I don’t know much about Cal Lutheran and Pacific Lutheran.
Has anyone noticed this thread is almost two years old? And the OP only had one post?
yup Creekland i agree with your