This school year your child joins the pantheon of classically educated covenant-influencers throughout world history that received the classical education of their day and lead the people of their tomorrow.

 

The pantheon of classically educated covenant-influencers throughout the history of world illustrates the value of a classical education as preparation of the contemporary Christian student.   Moses received the classical education of his day when schooled in “all the wisdom of Egypt” and deeply infused with the traditions of his Hebrew fathers. He went on to lead God’s covenant people out of bondage, to receive the Law of God on Mount Sinai, to deliver the covenant and promises and to prepare the children of Israel to inherit the land of Canaan promised to their forebears. Solomon received a classical education when schooled first according to the Hebrew Shema, a verse of scripture that became the great confession of Israel’s monotheistic faith, and the verses immediately following it wherein the Lord said, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when your walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up…” (Deuteronomy 6: 4-7) He became renowned for His wisdom, his grasp of natural sciences, art, architecture, poetry and music and brought Hebrew culture to incomparable heights. However, his life illustrates the pitfalls awaiting even the best educated and the most brilliant. Daniel, one of Israel’s best and brightest, educated as a Hebrew and as a captive in the Babylonian court, found his place as a remarkable prophet and a leader in Babylon. Paul the Apostle illustrates the consummately educated Christian, beginning with his studies in the synagogal schools, mastery of the Torah, and of classical literature and rhetoric. On Mars Hill, he brilliantly weaved his knowledge of Greek polytheism and poetry into preaching the resurrection of Christ with high rhetorical skill to penetrate the proud Athenian culture with the Gospel. These giants of the faith transformed the world because of the equivalent of a classical-Christian education.  

 

The hall of heroes continues with the educated Athanasius, contra mundum, doggedly defended orthodox Trinitarianism at and following the Council of Nicaea.   Augustine, also liberally educated, answered Tertullian’s question, “What hath Jerusalem to do with Athens?” by agreeing with Origen when he said, “All truth comes from God” and again that we should, “plunder the [educational] Egyptians.” Later Thomas Aquinas brilliantly blended Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy as an outgrowth of his monastic education developing the dialectic as a pedagogical form to sharpen the minds of his seminarians. In the fourteenth Century Gerard Groote was converted and established the Brothers of the Common Life. The biggest impact of the brethren was in the area of education since they produced a large number of famous pupils including Thomas a Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, and Erasmus, who became the greatest scholar of his age and an agent of reform. Likewise, such luminaries as Luther, Melanchthon and Calvin were all educated in Brethren schools earning Groote, a Roman Catholic, Luther’s praise as the “Father of the Reformation.” The ideas taught by the brethren had consequences as far reaching as the foundations of western religious, political and economic liberty. Their Christian schools transformed culture over the course of hundreds of years as will yours.