Tag: liberal arts
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Educating for a Christian Worldview in a Secular Age
In our secular age, there exists a plurality of options for how to think about complex questions. Take the question of what it means to be human, for example. For the biologist, to be human is to possess the DNA of the species Homo sapien. In contrast, for the eastern mystic, to be human is…
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Enjoying the Bible as Literature: 5 Strategies for Engaging Students in Reading the Canon
Guest article by Heidi Dean of Christian Schools International (See Jason’s article on CSI “7 Steps to Narrating the Bible”!) In biblical studies we seek to cultivate the habits of reverence, humility, submission to the text, and other qualities of faithful scholarship. But I propose another goal should rise to the top: enjoyment. The enjoyment…
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Three Premises for Teaching Theology
In March 1984, British missiologist Lesslie Newbigin delivered the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary on the topic of the gospel and western culture. In these lectures, which were later compiled into a book entitled Foolishness to the Greeks (Eerdmans: 1986), Lewbigin considers what would be involved in a genuinely missionary encounter between the gospel…
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Narration Course for ClassicalU: A Rehearsal Sneak Peek
As I mentioned in a previous article on the history of narration, I’ve received an opportunity to film two courses at the beginning of December for Classical Academic Press’ ClassicalU: one on narration and another on Charlotte Mason’s philosophy for classical educators. Our working titles are A Classical Guide to Narration and Charlotte Mason: A…
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Why the History of Narration Matters, Part 2: Classical Roots
In my last article I shared the first piece of why the history of narration matters: it has the potential to break down the barrier between the Charlotte Mason community and classical educators. There are some notable exceptions who have tried to cross the aisle, but for the most part these two groups have kept…
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Why The History of Narration Matters, Part 1: Charlotte Mason’s Discovery?
I’ve decided to put the series on Bloom’s Taxonomy vs. Aristotle’s Intellectual Virtues on hold for a couple months after contracting with Classical Academic Press to film two courses in December for ClassicalU: one on narration and another on Charlotte Mason’s philosophy for classical educators. So I’m returning to the topic of narration and Charlotte…
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Building Ratio: Training Students to Think and Learn for Themselves
In 1947, medievalist Dorothy Sayers took the podium at Oxford University and delivered a lecture that would launch a referendum on modern methods of education. It took time, to be sure, but from our current vantage point in 2020, there is no doubt that her words left a sizeable imprint on the current educational landscape.…
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Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Purpose of Education
One of the major themes in the classical education renewal movement has been to challenge the utilitarianism of modern education. The purpose of education, the argument has gone, is so much broader and more far-reaching than modern educators are making it out to be. It is not merely job training or college preparation, but the…
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The Problem of Scientism in Conventional Education
Scientism is precisely not a focus on the importance of learning all that we can about the natural world in school. This we applaud, and classical education has a lot to tell us about how we can teach our knowledge about nature, our scientia nātūrālis as the medievals would call it, better than we currently…
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Teaching Confident Faith in an Age of Religious Uncertainty
Christianity, as a global religion, is at a crossroads. On the one hand, it remains the largest religion in the world: 31% of the world’s population is Christian, and sociologists predict this percentage to increase to 32% by 2060. [1] On the other hand, the religion is experiencing notable decline in the West. In 2010,…