Great Books for Greater Purpose - Arik Chu
Why do we read Great Books? To write papers for college credit? To sound more intellectual when talking to our friends? Or could it be for something greater? Could it develop our character — or even save our soul?
Pepperdine senior Arik Chu found his calling in life through the texts of the Pepperdine Great Books program and through the professors who brought those texts to life. For Arik, the Great Books “scream out a message that needs to be broadcast everywhere in the world: that it matters what you think, that it matters what people used to think, and that what we think shapes the world around us”.
Intrigued from an early age by the “big questions” of life, Arik developed a love of learning that ultimately led to a deep faith.
Arik describes a profound conversion experience in which he met Christ between the pages of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment:
“I felt as if I had seen colour for the first time; the weight of the world was no longer on my shoulders.”
“It matters what you think, it matters what people used to think, and what we think shapes the world around us.”
Armed with a newfound faith and a nascent taste for the joys of literature, Arik enrolled at Seaver College. “I signed up to Pepperdine to find the answer to my question, just what happened that day, and what was I to do with this newfound life of mine? My entire life had been filled with the moral anxiety of the question, WHY? And thus it seemed natural to devote myself to philosophy.”
Arik soon found a home in the Seaver College Philosophy Department and Great Books program, flourishing under the mentorship of beloved professors Paul Contino, Mason Marshall, Jacqueline Dillion, and Tomas Bogardus.
Arik describes in no uncertain terms the immense value of the mentorship he has received at Pepperdine:
“Without Pepperdine (and this is no dramatisation), I would probably be in a gang, getting into fights, addicted to drugs, or dead. I was raised with no parents at home in an atheistic society that focuses on the satisfaction of one's desires and one’s reputation. At Pepperdine, I found role models and mentors who took the place of what my parents should have offered me.”
He recounts the small faculty-to-student ratio and tight-knit community which has facilitated close relationships with his professors and fostered his transformative experience. “Ever been to Mass with a Professor and had dinner with their children? Ever practice martial arts with a Professor? Ever go to conferences with Professors? These opportunities are everywhere at Pepperdine, to a much greater extent than most large universities without private funding and without a Christian, moral mission.”
Grateful to these mentors who imbued his studies with genuine love for learning and passion for life, Arik now works to pass the torch to other students through the Philosophy Club and Great Books Club at Pepperdine. He serves as President of each.
“I think deep down we all know that the purpose of education is to become a better person, and nowhere else is that vision more in focus than at Pepperdine.”
At the Philosophy Club, Arik organizes weekly student-led discussions at “The Academy.” He also holds philosophy classes for the general public every Saturday night at a local church, called “Logos Nights.” His speaker series, aided by the Pepperdine faculty who sponsor the club, has hosted renowned visiting professors from around the globe.
At “Great Books Club,” a new venture Arik has recently launched, he shares the faith and purpose he has found with other students through weekly readings of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. He and his fellow Seaver philosophers are currently creating a Substack tentatively titled “The Pepperdine Logos” — where the insights they share in the classroom can be broadcast to the world.
Arik encourages prospective Pepperdine students to ask themselves honestly what they want to receive from a college experience. “I think with the advent of AI, it’s become clear that getting an education isn’t just about a set of skills... I would ask them what they think college should be for. Is it really just a place to have fun and get a credential? If so, go to other colleges.”
But perhaps, Arik argues, a college education can serve a greater purpose: “I think deep down we all know that the purpose of education is to become a better person, and nowhere else is that vision more in focus than at Pepperdine.”
Explore More
The Philosophy Major at Seaver College offers students a broad education in historical and contemporary philosophical explorations of various regions of human experience, including the nature of knowledge and reality, the theoretical foundations of morality and ethics, and the distinction between cogent and fallacious reasoning
