Education is becoming what God meant humanity to be.
Education cannot save anyone. It cannot begin itself given the broken and sinful human condition. Humanity requires redemption first, but education is of great value for the redeemed.
Education is part of any faith at work!
Is it Biblical?
It has as its Biblical mandate John 1: 1-14.
True education begins in the Revelation of God the Word as Creator and ends with the ability of humans to see His grace and truth in the Incarnation of that Word.
Why is it Classical, Traditional, Christian education?
It is Christian, because it accepts that only Christianity is wholly true, good, and beautiful and rejects the notion that any good, true, or beautiful idea, thing, or person cannot be reconciled to it.
It is traditional, because it accepts that the full council of God includes what God has said to all people at all times and rejects the impiety of assuming that our fathers and mothers in the faith have nothing to teach us.
It is classical because it accepts that the “common grace of God” in all men gives non-Christians much to teach us and rejects the assault on God’s providence of assuming that the cultural context of the birth of Christianity was accidental or unimportant. The Greeks and Romans matter in a way unique to non-Christian cultures.
It is “education,” because it recognizes that all humans (not just children) are not what they can be. After redemption, there exists the possibility of being to express what humans were meant to be when created by God. This cannot be done fully in this life, but education is the faithful start.
How is it virtuous?
It shows courage by daring to take Christianity out into the cosmos and living it in that dangerous, but good place.
It shows moderation by refusing the seduction of revolution (Utopia now!) or the allure of reaction (Let’s hide!).
It shows practical wisdom by knowing the right time for each human activity. Classical, traditional Christian education knows a fit body is important. It knows a fit mind is more important, but that fit soul is most important. Classical traditional Christian education trains each in its time.
It shows justice by knowing the proper role of education: it cannot justify, but is a proper tool in sanctification.
It shows hope when it reaches out to unbelievers to learn from them and be taught by them.
It shows faith by rejecting the idea that all knowledge must be certain in order to be believed . . . instead it moves forward with doubt toward greater certainty.
It shows charity by educating without being motivated by fear of the world, but by love of God, humanity, and His creation.
What characterizes it?
It is characterized by (at least):
being merely Christian,
pilgrims who take the walk of other pilgrims (living and dead) seriously,
having humility about human knowledge this side of paradise (Skepticism and doubt can be good!),
desiring to take the information gained from both physics and metaphysics seriously,
forming adults who have liberty under God in authentic community,
yearning for holiness (including proper judgment regarding bad ideas) and a lack of fear of those ideas,
imaging full humanity in Jesus Christ through doing human things (incarnating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the sciences, arts, and daily living),
combining optimism about the End with a lack of utopianism now (there is no best curriculum, no plan that can save our children of the world, but things can be better by God’s grace!).
What defines it?
Four things define it:
First, it is composed of persons (a category that includes God!) educating other persons. It exists for their sake, not for the sake of educational systems. When it uses books, it does so to allow the vast number of dead wise persons (otherwise inaccessible!) to speak. Our constituents are not books, but people. God, as the only fully actualized Person, is the chief teacher.
Second, it educates through discussing, reading, writing, and creating. As much as possible classical education rejects learning skills or in making things that are of use only in educational settings. (Art not Charts! or “Why am I in school?” “To learn how to go to school!”)
Third, it takes the form of a lively interaction with God’s good world, ideas, and people. It also can be seen reconciling broken and fallen things, ideas, and people to Jesus Christ through proper judgment, mercy, and charity.
Finally, it has as its end flourishing (happy) human beings fit for an eternity seeing the Face of God as citizens of the City of God.
Who are our heroes?
A classical, Christian education knows that God is totally other than humankind in His essence. He cannot be known, except as the “known unknown” without the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the living Revelation of God to humanity. He alone provides the needed sure insight that allows for any positive theology, philosophy, and all the arts and sciences to proceed.
He is also fully man and so is the only example of a flourishing human being.
Through Him we see God in Three Persons and this God is the true substance of our education, the engine for it, the image into which we would grow, and the end of all our desires.
The lesser role models are the great men and women of the Bible: Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah (see the summary in Hebrews 11) with John the Baptist, Mary, Peter, John, Paul, Timothy and all the host of great saints and apostles.
As English speakers in a Western nation, American classical, traditional Christian educators look first to Christendom, then to Western Christendom, and then to the English speaking world to find their roots and what God is saying.
Western Christians look to those who came after the close of the New Testament era especially Clement, Irenaeus, Justin, Ambrose, Augustine, and the Fathers of the Creeds and Councils.
In the West, we look for Christ and His message especially in such later Christians (however imperfectly presented) as Benedict, Gregory, Francis, Aquinas, Dante, Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, and the great Church Reformers and Fathers.
In the artists, poets, and musicians of the West and the English speaking word (such as Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Bach, Shakespeare, Spencer, and Milton) we see role models for the work of human beings in creation.
In practical civic affairs, there are great differences about the means to achieve human flourishing, but most admire:
the traditionalism of Burke,
the activism of Wilberforce,
the genius of the British unwritten constitution and the American constitution of 1789,
the courage of the citizen-soldier Washington,
the Biblical voice of Lincoln,
the prophetic role of King,
and the defense of liberty over communist tyranny of Truman and Reagan.
In recent times many of us share affinity for the educational ideas of Newman, the wit of Chesterton, the wisdom of C.S. Lewis, the imagination of Tolkien, and the evangelical zeal of men like R.A. Torrey and Billy Graham.
What other unexpected things do you find in Classical, Traditional, Christian Education?
Generally (with many, many exceptions) the classical, traditional, Christian educators I meet:
are not Luddites . . . loving new media (Hewitt!).
are tied more to ideas than to a political party.
are very bright, but more concerned about being very good.
love the past, but are glad they don’t live in it. They are not “Little House” home school folk, Christian school teachers, or government educators hoping to bring back the Victorian era. They know some old stuff (Elsie Dinsmore!) died for good reasons.
think the goal of attire is beauty before God. They are not reactionary in clothing . . . drawing no undue attention (best they can) to self by refusing to live in their actual culture through outlandish or dated clothes. (No bonnets, but no obsession with fads.) They are not afraid of being attractive.
love the best of old art, ideas, and literature, but are always looking for good new stuff. They love jazz, good pop music, and are dubious about the snobby high culture/low culture distinction.
don’t assume that everything produced by the non-Christian world is bad and have to struggle not to assume that everything produced by the modern “Christian” world is junk (given their experience)
own screens connected to the Internet, digital video recorders, and large movie collections. They known that video is an art form and are not afraid of it. Technology allows them to form their own home viewing networks, because they don’t want to watch much video, but when they do (as they should!), they want good stuff.
think beauty matters and emphasize the arts.
are much more into making and creating than consuming.
support free markets, but know “can” is not the same as “ought.”
are pastorally (but not governmentally) concerned that the Internet and free markets give opportunity for bad behavior.
are sure that this liberty is better than the alternative.
are less worried about finding every bad idea in some book they are not reading, than in reading good books.
are generally not motivated by fear or dislike of government schools even if they don’t use them. Many work in them and send their kids to them while supplementing their education at home.
believe men and women are different in the way Dante or Lewis suggest, that these differences are important in generally defining certain functions, and that in love there is no equality. As a result, they are not generally egalitarians in marriage, but also loath any hint of misanthropy or misogyny. Classical, traditionally educated women are empowered like Nina, Equal to the Apostles, but don’t want to be Apostles.
love their children, but not only their children.
are, on the whole, optimists (since God is in charge) and not pessimists (the Devil is in charge).
think a theocracy is a bad idea. God gave a role to civil government that He did not give to the church or family.
pursue justice by advocating for the right to life, liberty, and the ownership of property for all human beings.