Is College Literature Sinful?

Is college literature sinful?

It doesn't have to be...

A major concern of mine before college was the required literature classes.  I had heard terrible things about literature classes and the appalling literature that students were required to read at secular public universities.  Having come out alive on the other side of these required classes, here are a few thoughts to consider before enrolling in literature classes at a secular institution.

Research beforehand. Research the different class options and what is required of each class offering.  Not all literature classes are created equally.  Some professors specialize in one area of literature over another.  Some professors are more inclined to select classic literature for their classes, while others are less inclined to do so.  Emailing professors ahead of time to ask what their required book selections are can be a crucial deciding factor when it comes to literature classes.  I've seen some required booklists that were downright appalling, but some are quite great.  If no class can be found with decent literature requirements, there is almost always an alternative. If all else fails, most institutions will let you take a comparable class elsewhere and transfer the credit.  In this case, you could even take a literature class from a Christian university and transfer the credit.

I have taken three college English classes as course requirements: one was a general composition class, and two were literature classes.  My English composition class read some pretty crummy literature to be quite honest.  We read some classic literature too, but one book, in particular, was less than desirable.  This was before I knew I could pick and choose literature classes based on their book selections as long as it still met the requirements for my major.  My first Literature class used the Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Volume Two by Martin Puchner. This was mainly okay with few questionable and only a couple "bad" selections of literature.  My second literature class read mainly classic medieval texts such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Oedipus Tyrannus, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Canterbury Tales, Macbeth. and Lazarillo de Tormes and the Swindler.  I was surprised and delighted to find most of these texts had Christian themes to them.  These are classic texts that people have been reading for hundreds of years and were mostly decent in nature.

It is okay to be open to new ideas or interpretations of literature, but screen everything through the lens of a Christian worldview and the Bible.  It's perfectly okay to not agree with everything you read or hear a professor say.  We believe what we believe for a reason.  Be solid in your faith and never let a piece of literature or professor change that.