Welch Unveils M.A. in Humanities

Jun 1, 2022

GALLATIN—This summer the inaugural class of the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Humanities will begin their studies at Welch College, according to Dr. Matthew McAffee, Welch’s Provost.

The 33-semester-hour graduate degree is designed to prepare college graduates who desire additional education in the humanities. It is especially suitable for those who wish to continue to a Ph.D. in one of the humanities fields (e.g., English, history, philosophy, politics, the arts, law, and theology) or obtain a credential as a community college teacher in the humanities.

Coursework for the interdisciplinary degree will integrate the classical disciplines of the humanities, such as the arts, culture, hermeneutics, history, law, literature, philosophy, and theology. Graduates of the program should be able to demonstrate the following objectives:

  1. A sound grasp of the philosophical issues undergirding the disciplines of the humanities
  2. Knowledge of the major writings in literature of the great tradition, including a knowledge of the underlying issues present in the interpretation of works more generally
  3. Critical analysis of culture and its artifacts
  4. Competency in original research

“We’re excited about this new degree program,” McAffee said. “We have a lineup of exceptionally qualified faculty who will help prepare students for Ph.D. work and teaching in the humanities fields. This kind of preparation is important in our day. The university departments in the humanities are most influential in shaping the ideas that drive our culture. We desire to help produce bright, young Christian thinkers who can affect their culture with a Christian worldview, and this program is carefully designed to do just that.”

McAffee continued, “The program is also great for community college teachers and students who are interested in the humanities but don’t know exactly what career they want to pursue. What’s more, it’s very affordable. We encourage students who might be interested in the program to contact program coordinator Matt Bracey at mbracey@welch.edu.”

The two primary faculty for the degree will be Matthew Steven Bracey, who will also serve as coordinator for the degree program, and Tyler Flatt. Other faculty from the humanities areas at Welch will also teach in the program.

Matthew Steven Bracey, a native of Ashland City, Tennessee, has taught at Welch for nine years and serves as Vice Provost for Academic Administration and Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture. A graduate of Welch College, he holds the M.T.S. degree from Beeson Divinity School and the Juris Doctor degree from Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in Christian ethics and public policy with a minor in philosophy at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writing his dissertation on the moral imagination in the thought of Edmund Burke. He is founding co-editor of the popular website the Helwys Society Forum (TheHSF.com) and is a prolific writer and editor, having co-edited and contributed to two books, Sexuality, Gender, and the Church (Welch College Press) and The Promise of Arminian Theology: Essays in Honor of F. Leroy Forlines (Randall House Academic). Bracey has written for numerous publications, including ONE Magazine, the Journal of Biblical Higher Education, Christian Academia, and the Evangelical Quarterly. He also serves as managing editor of Welch College Press. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening and coaching Welch’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams. He is married to Sarah, who heads the psychology program at Welch.

Dr. Tyler Flatt will serve as adjunct instructor for the new program, teaching summer courses in great texts of the Western tradition. He serves full-time as Assistant Professor of Humanities and Co-Director of the Augustine Honors Collegium at Boyce College of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, Flatt holds a Ph.D. in Classics from Harvard University, having earned his B.A. from the University of Waterloo and his M.A. from the University of Toronto. Flatt is dedicated to the conservation and ongoing interpretation of the Western intellectual and cultural tradition and enthusiastically supports the current revival of interest in classical education in North America. Flatt’s work has appeared in The Classical Journal, Classical World, The Classical Review, The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, and Vigiliae Christianae. Current projects include an edition and translation of Erasmus’s Annotations on the Gospel of John for the Collected Works of Erasmus (University of Toronto Press). He also hosts Daily Dose of Latin, a video series devoted to short explanations of passages from the Vulgate, the Latin Bible of medieval Europe. He is married to his best friend Liz, and when he is not reading or writing, he likes to fish. The first course, Great Books: Ancient and Medieval, will be taught this summer by Dr. Flatt, consisting of online instruction beginning in early July and a week-long, on-campus intensive the first week of August. For more information on the M.A. in Humanities at Welch, email program coordinator Matthew Bracey at mbracey@welch.edu. For general information on Welch, visit www.welch.edu.

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