Newsletter #1 - What is Classical Christian Education?

A question we often get asked is, ‘What actually is classical Christian education?’

It’s a good question, and one that is notoriously difficult to answer! But in the interest of trying difficult things, let’s give it a go. We’ll tackle each word in reverse order.

‘Education’ isn’t that difficult. Most of us understand what’s meant by that term. It’s the term we use to describe a programme of learning. To receive an ‘education’ is to acquire knowledge and skills that will (hopefully) help you flourish.

‘Christian’ isn’t too much of a challenge either. To be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus. Someone who worships Jesus as Lord and Saviour. A ‘Christian education’, then, can reasonably be thought of as one in which the Christian worldview plays an important role.

Now we get to the tricky part. ‘Classical’. What on earth do we mean by that? A normal school, with Mozart playing in the background? Will children ride in on their penny farthings in the morning? Will we use the cane?

No, is the answer to all three. As a matter of fact, what we really mean by ‘classical’ is simply this: that which has stood the test of time. In other words, a classical Christian education is one in which the Christian worldview is taught, alongside the great conversation.

The ‘great conversation’ is a dialogue that mankind has been having with itself for millenia. How should we live? What does a virtuous life look like? What is the purpose of life?

All these questions and more have been pondered by great minds throughout the ages: Socrates, Chaucer, Thomas Aquinas, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, GK Chesterton, Flannery O’Connor.

These writers, thinkers, and artists are just some of the many contributors to the great conversation. A classical Christian education is one that invites children to eavesdrop.

As classical Christian educators we fight against what CS Lewis called ‘chronological snobbery’. We don’t assume that what’s new is necessarily better than what’s old. We pay homage to the past by listening and learning from the greatest ideas, books and artworks produced in human history. We don’t ignore the present, but we aren’t shaped by whatever happens to be flavour of the month.

There is so much more that can be said about classical Christian education, of course. But therein lies much of its appeal. If knowledge is food, then we want our students to be feasting on a rich banquet of nutritious dishes and not simply eating junk food and sweets.