The Department of History offers two degrees: a B.A. in history and a B.A. in Secondary Education Social Studies (SESS). These majors prepare students for graduate work, teaching, business, law, ministry, and other professions.

The Department of History seeks to educate students about historical events, developments, trends, and interpretations, using a Christian perspective of the world and life.

In fulfilling this mission, we strive to offer exceptional majors, minors, and courses in History by providing professional instruction and well-designed curricula, which thoroughly ground our students in the facts, theories, and methods of the historical discipline, in a manner that is intellectually rigorous, practical, and glorifying to God. We foster interdisciplinary scholarship and cooperation within the social sciences and humanities that maximizes the quality of individual and college efforts inside, as well as outside, the classroom, and which rests upon philosophical premises consistent with Biblical truth. Third, we promote the advancement of individual, economic, civil and religious liberty, morality, and personal and civic responsibility through the content of our courses and related professional work and through the character and ideals we model for, and inculate in, our students.

CURRICULA

History
The History program at Grove City College seeks to promote the following intellectual, spiritual, and ethical goals:

    • To encourage students to develop a worldview that integrates historical understanding and the Christian faith, and builds upon the moral and spiritual values inculcated by their families and communities.
    • To encourage and equip students to serve their larger community by applying a coherent Biblical worldview informed by careful historical reflection.
    • To help students acquire a knowledge of and appreciation for the Western Cultural and intellectual tradition, and a basic understanding of and respect for the cultural and intellectual traditions of the nonwestern world.
    • To help students learn critical reading, writing, thinking, and essential research skills.
    • To help students prepare for careers in history and related fields such as secondary education, or for further academic or professional study such as law.

Most historians now recognize that, although scholars should aspire to objectivity in their study of the past, pure neutrality or perfect objectivity is impossible. Like all scholars, Christian historians work from a set of philosophical presuppositions. Christian historical scholarship draws upon Biblical insights into the character of the created order, the fallen nature of man, and God’s redemptive plan in history.

The historical record is complex and ambiguous and thus, outside of Scripture, we are limited in our understanding of precisely how God is fulfilling His plan in day-to-day events. Nevertheless, Christian historians attempt to assess historical events critically using our God-given reason. We seek to select, arrange and interpret past events, texts, movements, and individuals in accordance with our Biblical presuppositions, but in a fair and balanced way that is sensitive to differing perspectives. In our teaching of history, we encourage students to question their own values and presuppositions, and to think independently and critically.