Dear Reader,
This is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed philosophy theology of education. You can find all the posts here.
Though I have been blogging for a while on a reformed Christian approach to education and slowly developing my own philosophy of education, I am realizing that there is a body of material I have not interacted with and should.
I have come to this enterprise with my own particular bent, coming from homeschooling and having used Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education. Most of these other authors come from Christian schools often with a classical bent, or at least influenced more by the Christian classical movement. My goal over the next months is to read and distill what they have written.
I have a few convictions that I come into this enterprise with. One, born of my readings in various approaches to homeschooling, is that every philosophy of education says something about the nature of man and his ultimate purpose. I believe that the Bible is the “only infallible rule for faith and life.” The wording is from my denomination’s membership vows and it is important. “Only” here modifies “infallible.” God’s Word is our only infallible rule, but not the only place we may go for guidance. I do not believe the Bible will give us all the answers to all the questions we have. I do not believe, for instance, that it tells us which diet is right. But, given that questions about education are ultimately questions about the nature of man and his purpose, we should expect to get a lot of insight from the Scriptures. Lastly, we need an approach to education which accounts for every child, not just covenant children. I find it quite odd actually that most Christian approaches are just for kids from Christian homes. Anyone who teaches can have non-Christian children under their care. This is certainly true in public schools but also in Christian schools unless they strictly limit enrolment. It can even be true in the home for those who take in foster kids or watch others’ children. There may be differences in how education is applied and received by covenant versus non-covenant children, but our statement of what education is should be applicable to all people.
One of the thinkers I will be looking at is Peter Ton. His master’s thesis, “Is Classical Christian Education Compatible with a Reformed Christian Perspective on Education?,” following Vriend, lays out a few schools of thought among reformed thinkers on education, he distinguishes three categories: confessionalist, positive Calvinist, and antithetical. Though not everyone need fit into one of these boxes, I think it is helpful to have these categories in mind. They give us some sense of the issues at stake and some way to evaluate where a given thinker falls on the spectrum of belief. Confessionalists, Ton says emphasize content. It is not enough to put a Christian spin on non-Christian facts. We need to teach our own theology and confessions and history. This approach is more in line with classical education which also emphasizes content. Awareness is preferred over action. Little concern is given to learning styles and teaching strategy. The Positive Calvinist is more progressive and emphasizes process over content. The response to what is learned is important. The goal is not so much to develop students’ minds as to practice stewardship, justice and compassion. Lastly, the Antithetical approach, which Ton himself takes, bridges some of the gaps between the other two. It states that all ages have their problems and there is no golden age to which we look back. It combines the content of confessionalist with the practical application of positive Calvinist. Education equips children to live in this world and fulfill their covenant responsibilities. The faith of the teacher and community and the content of the educational materials are important. A distinctly Christian curriculum is also important.
Some questions to ask of each thinker, then, include:
- What does he assume about the nature of man, including his ability to learn and to receive what is good?
- What does he see as the ultimate purpose of man?
- What is the purpose of education and how does it serve man’s ultimate purpose? Are they the same or is education a stepping stone?
- Can these ideas be applied to all children, whether from believing homes or not?
- Is there more of an emphasis on taking in knowledge or on application and action?
- Is there a set body of knowledge that one needs to know?
- How much individualism is allowed for?
- What does it say about knowledge, especially knowledge that we get from non-Christian sources?
- Is the method applicable to both home and school environments? Does it prefer one over the other?
Lastly, I will point you to a few writers whose work I have already reviewed:
J.G. Vos What is Christian Education?
Cornelius Van Til Essays on Christian Education
Rousas Rushdoony Philosophy of Christian Curriculum
Christopher Dawson The Crisis in Western Education (a Roman Catholic writer)
Greg Harris The Christian Homeschool
David Smith and Susan Felch Teaching and Christian Imagination
Nebby
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Gordon H. Clark | Letters from Nebby on March 30, 2019 at 4:15 pm
[…] « Reformed Thinkers on Education: Introduction […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Peter Ton | Letters from Nebby on April 6, 2019 at 3:57 pm
[…] I am currently in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at some modern reformed thinkers on education, The introductory post to this mini-series is here. […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: W.H. Jellema | Letters from Nebby on April 13, 2019 at 7:40 am
[…] I am currently in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at some modern reformed thinkers on education. The introductory post to this mini-series is here. […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Nicholas Wolterstorff | Letters from Nebby on April 20, 2019 at 6:55 pm
[…] I am currently in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at some modern reformed thinkers on education, The introductory post to this mini-series is here. […]
Posted by Cornelius Jaarsma and the Four Ways to Approach Education | Letters from Nebby on May 11, 2019 at 1:19 pm
[…] their views along with some of my responses (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). The next thinker I will be posting on is Cornelius Jaarsma. Because he has so much meaty stuff […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Cornelius Jaarsma | Letters from Nebby on May 18, 2019 at 7:27 pm
[…] what they have had to say about education (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). Last time we began to look at Cornelius Jaarsma, focusing in the four approaches to education […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Louis Berkhof | Letters from Nebby on May 25, 2019 at 4:06 pm
[…] We are in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at various reformed thinkers and what they have had to say about education (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Synopses of Shorter Articles | Letters from Nebby on May 29, 2019 at 4:02 pm
[…] what they have had to say about education (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). Most of the people I have looked at thus far are represented in a volume edited by Donald […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Donald Oppewal and Epistemology | Letters from Nebby on June 1, 2019 at 7:53 am
[…] what they have had to say about education (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). Most of the people I have looked at thus far are represented in a volume edited by Donald […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Frank Gaebelein | Letters from Nebby on June 8, 2019 at 4:36 pm
[…] I am currently in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at some modern reformed thinkers on education, The introductory post to this mini-series is here. […]
Posted by Cornelius Jaarsma and the Argument for Schools | Letters from Nebby on June 15, 2019 at 6:41 am
[…] I look at some modern reformed thinkers on education. The introductory post to this mini-series is here. One of my criticisms has been that most, if not all, of the thinkers we have looked at assume […]
Posted by Chris Coleborn on the History of Reformed Education | Letters from Nebby on June 22, 2019 at 4:03 pm
[…] This is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed philosophy theology of education. You can find all the posts here. Most recently, I have been looking at various reformed thinkers and seeing what they had to say about education. The introduction to this series-within-a-series is here. […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Lockerbie (part 1), Introduction | Letters from Nebby on June 29, 2019 at 3:36 pm
[…] This is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed philosophy theology of education. You can find all the posts here. Currently we are in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at various reformed thinkers and what they have had to say about education (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Henry Zylstra, Or the Transforming Power of Truth | Letters from Nebby on July 3, 2019 at 3:30 pm
[…] next thinker on this series within a series is Henry Zylstra (d. 1956). Like Jellema and Wolterstorff, he worked at Calvin College and […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Lockerbie (part 2), On Christian Paedeia | Letters from Nebby on July 6, 2019 at 10:32 am
[…] This is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed philosophy theology of education. You can find all the posts here. Currently we are in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at various reformed thinkers and what they have had to say about education (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Lockerbie (part 3), On Teachers | Letters from Nebby on July 13, 2019 at 2:41 pm
[…] This is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed philosophy theology of education. You can find all the posts here. Currently we are in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at various reformed thinkers and what they have had to say about education (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). […]
Posted by Mason vs. Lockerbie: Two Views of the Teacher | Letters from Nebby on July 17, 2019 at 7:35 am
[…] This post is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed Christian philosophy theology of education. Find all the posts here. More recently we have been looking at what various reformed thinkers have to say on education. You can find the intro to this this series within a series here. […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Lockerbie (part 4), on Schools | Letters from Nebby on July 20, 2019 at 7:06 am
[…] This is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed philosophy theology of education. You can find all the posts here. Currently we are in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at various reformed thinkers and what they have had to say about education (see the introductory post to this series with a series here). […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers: Gaebelein on Truth | Letters from Nebby on July 27, 2019 at 1:34 pm
[…] This post is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed Christian philosophy theology of education. Find all the posts here. I am currently in the midst of a series within a series in which I look at some modern reformed thinkers on education, The introductory post to this mini-series is here. […]
Posted by David Hicks on Classical Classical Education | Letters from Nebby on August 21, 2019 at 8:27 am
[…] a brief hiatus to discuss the history of Christian thought on education, we are now returning to our mini-series on Reformed Thinkers on Education. I don’t honestly know the denominational affiliation of today’s thinker. I rather […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Henry Schultze, Or the Integrated Personality | Letters from Nebby on September 11, 2019 at 2:40 pm
[…] I am returning today to my a series-within-a-series on reformed thinkers on education, The introductory post to this mini-series is here. […]
Posted by Reformed Thinkers on Education: Jaarsma Revisited, Or Uniting the Heart and Mind | Letters from Nebby on September 14, 2019 at 3:56 pm
[…] This post is part of an ongoing series in search of a reformed Christian philosophy theology of education. Find all the posts here. I am returning today to my a series-within-a-series on reformed thinkers on education, The introductory post to this mini-series is here. […]
Posted by April Reading (2019) | Letters from Nebby on January 15, 2021 at 9:11 pm
[…] a collection of essays by various reformed thinkers on education. I have posted about 99% of it in my current series so I will not recap it all […]
Posted by March Reading (2019) | Letters from Nebby on January 15, 2021 at 9:11 pm
[…] three books in March partly because I have been reading a lot of shorter articles on education (see this series). Here they […]