As he and his mother sat across from me, I could tell they were hungry for answers. What exactly can you do with a professional writing and information design (PWID) degree? The mother asked the normal questions: What does the curriculum look like? What kind of writing style will he learn? How big are the classes? When she had exhausted her list, the young man sat up straight and composed himself, shifted a little in his chair. Something was on his mind, and it took him a beat to formulate the question. I doubt my memory does it justice. “With all the stuff out there, how do you teach students to write in a godly way?” His mother leaned forward and folded her hands, making eye contact with me. The Bible says a lot about how we use words, and yet, it was clear this student and his mother were worried about a few things in particular. As the young man described what “stuff” meant, there was a yearning in his voice, a desire to think biblically about the craft of writing and the messages we send through that craft. He mentioned the messages blasting out from popular books, Hollywood, and marketing channels. My colleagues and I try hard to cultivate our students’ writing and editing skills, giving them the ability to adapt their style to different communication situations. Even more important than improving their skills, we want their writing to be immersed in faith, dripping in love for God and love for others. Our graduates write and edit in a variety of industries, including publishing, nonprofit, and marketing settings. In each, they encounter unique challenges from our contemporary culture, the most significant being a challenge to reality itself. That’s what the young man wanted to discuss the most. Our society encourages us to construct reality based on our feelings, as if truth were merely a form of self-expression. In this way, my truth may not be my neighbor’s, my desires reign over my biology, and good and evil are simply the preferences of individuals. This worldview bleeds from the heart onto the page, causing many writers to use words that conceal or dull the truth. BY NICK CARRINGTON ‘10 WRITER MAJOR: PROFESSIONAL WRITING AND INFORMATION DESIGN Even more important than improving their skills, we want their writing to be immersed in faith, dripping in love for God and love for others. Cedarville Magazine | 19
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