Political science is the study of power, justice, liberty, and order, whether at the local community level, nationally, or internationally. How can we best organize our common life together? How, in fact, do we, and with what results? How should we, and according to what standards or values? Americans are still working out the answers to such questions, whether in terms of the president’s latest foreign policy move, a decision by the local board of education to close a neighborhood school, efforts to alleviate world hunger, or the more abstract questions of political philosophy.
Political science courses are concerned with such topics as Christian political values; the place of the individual in relation to larger organizations; the ways governments make and administer policies; comparative government, foreign policy, and international relations; and contemporary political ideologies. The aim throughout is to enable students to function more effectively within the complexities of the modern world by providing a broad competence in terms of knowledge and how to use it, and by giving careful attention to the spiritual values implicit in most political choices. Political science courses stress developing the operational, analytic, and imaginative skills required for success in virtually all areas of modern society, including business, law, government, education, and the ministry, and for responsible Christian citizenship in today's world. |