College of Humanities professors lecture on how the humanities inspire empathy.
Education Week at BYU lasted from August 21–25, 2023. Laura Catharine Smith, Michael Kelly, and Katharina Paxman presented on divine love and care for God's children.
Why Learn a Language?
By Lydia Hall
Beyond earning the credits necessary for graduation, what’s the point of learning languages? In her Education Week presentation, Laura Catharine Smith (German, Theoretical Phonology) shared how learning other languages helps us become better disciples of Christ as we connect to our own and others’ humanity.
Beyond the surface-level benefits of learning a language, like being able to communicate while traveling and having increased career opportunities, there are other, more spiritual, benefits and blessings. Smith listed a few examples, including humility, empathy, appreciation of other cultures, awareness of our own culture, and greater understanding of how God sees others. Smith said, “God wanted us to come to earth to have a series of relationships that would allow us to become our better selves, to be able to overcome those weaknesses . . . to be able to see the divinity in others and to learn compassion and empathy.”
Smith also cautioned against judging others. She shared how her brother took pride in only knowing English. He wanted everyone to learn his language rather than making an effort to learn theirs. His mission call to a foreign-speaking mission humbled him; he returned from his mission much different than he left, changed by learning another language and interacting with people from another culture. Smith said, “We may have false ideas about different cultures and biases that wall us off from being able to expand our horizons.”
Learning languages can help us improve as disciples of Christ, increasing our humility and empathy. Smith said, “Our needs are the same, even if our cultures are different and our languages are different. The moment that we have those shared experiences, we see that’s what binds us together.”
Christianity in Russia
By Garrett Gunnell
Russian culture and Christianity—two subjects not often associated with one another, despite Russia’s profound wealth of Christian art. Associate Professor Michael Kelly (Russian Literature) spoke at Education Week on August 23, 2023, sharing elements of Russian culture that can bring us closer to the loving kindness of Jesus Christ.
Kelly explored the image of Christ in Russian culture by first showing Andrei Rublev’s portrait The Saviour. He taught that The Saviour differs from other paintings of the era because it makes Christ look soft and kind rather than stern. Kelly said, “As Russian worshippers look at this image, what they perceive is the Savior's meekness, his humility, his gentleness, his tenderness, his compassion, his loving kindness.”
In addition to its artwork, Russia’s literature also represents the people’s strong spiritual devotion to Christ. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky presents a miraculous story of two people in impoverished circumstances that later come to find the redeeming power of Christ. Through their study of the story where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, the main characters realize there is a spiritual resurrection in store for them through Christ’s matchless love.
Professor Kelly taught that learning about another culture’s spirituality helps us put aside stereotypes and develop compassion for the people of other countries. Kelly concluded by saying, “From the multitude of interactions I've had with Russian people, I felt held deeply by Christ’s loving kindness, but what strengthens me is the recognition of the extent to which these ideas are such an important, integral part of the Russian culture.”
Christ as the True Example of Empathy
By Rylin Green
Associate Professor Katharina Paxman (Early Modern Philosophy) described empathy as a “very slippery . . . often ambiguous term.” To combat the ambiguity, she focused her Education Week presentation on how Christ demonstrated the true meaning of empathy and the best way to practice it.
Paxman started by sharing the scripture Mosiah 18:8–10, which contains the plea to “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and . . . mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.” Paxman noted that these pleas build upon each other, with bearing burdens functioning as the desire to help people, comforting as the attempt to fix their problems, and mourning as sitting with them in their grief. Christ lived this plea perfectly, and the scriptures share many of the instances in which He did.
Paxman used the story of Lazarus as an example of Christ’s empathy. Despite having an immediate solution to Mary and Martha’s problem, Christ sat and joined them in their grieving. Paxman said, “At the core of the performance of the Atonement was His willingness to mourn with those that mourn, to take on the felt experience of all people.” Being able to sit with others in their grief is a key aspect of empathy that Christ embodied, and that we too can embody.
Paxman concluded her presentation with an invitation on her final slide, reading, “May we ever seek to emulate our Savior: seeking others, feeling with others, reaching out our hands to others.”
Learn more about Education Week.