All things made one

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The great condemnation of the enlightenment must be it's radical divisiveness. Claiming to free every nation and people from religious oppression, it proceeded to divide the French into a radically romantic revolution, to divide the people of Europe from their rulers, to divide the nations from each other, to divide the classes into frequently warring, always envious factions, and, at the root of it all, to divide the mind from itself.

Ephesians 1:10 tells us God's apocalyptic plan for His creation - and it's not what Voltaire had in mind:
"He made know to us the mystery of His will.. to bring all things in heaven and on
earth together under one head, even Christ." (NIV)
"The summing up of all things in Christ" (NASV)
"To gather up all things in Him" (NRSV)

In the originial, we find this beautiful phrase: "ta panta en to Christo" - "all things in Christ."

And what will happen to all things? They will all be brought together, summed up, gathered up, made one - in Christ.

The modern Christian, because he lives in the modern world, imitates the modern in many ways, but in none, I think, more than this: He has a dis-integrated mind.

The modern mind has no principle of unity. That makes any meaningful education impossible.

The glory of Christian education is that it is possible. It is possible to have a unified mind. But it is not easy and it takes overcoming 500 years of bad habits plus 6000 years of bad nature.

The modern mind is characterized by its disunity. The scientist and the poet have nothing to say to each other. The humanities and the maths are at war. The romantic and the rationalist do not know a common language. The university is a diversity - a triversity - a multi-versity.

The solar system has no sun.

Ethics is separated from politics. Education either equips for a job or is barred from life and is called academic. Yeats was famously right - almost. "The center cannot hold," he said. I'm not sure what center he was referring to, but it is evident that no center is holding the world we live in together.

We have turned from intellect to sentiment, for believing separates us and having abandoned the manly unity of Christ we have come to fear separation as a testimony against our folly. We all can love, we think. So we suppress thought on things that matter most and follow our feelings, only to find that our feelings are even more divisive than our thoughts.

We are divided among ourselves, within ourselves, between ourselves, and among others as well. We are not one and we have no means to becoming one. Dividing our souls by diminishing one faculty in the hope that thereby we can attain a Utopian social order will not do. We must believe. We must believe believingly. We must be satisfied that our beliefs arise from valid reasons and that they matter.

But in this fallen order there is no order and all things are in disarray. Especially our minds.

But there is a sun in this solar system and one day He will bring all the planets into their orbits again - He will make all things one by relating them rightly to Himself - He will shine on them in all the glory they are created to enjoy.

Living in that light and being summed up in Him is the purpose of Christian education.

Happy Days

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I'm pleased to announce that the Great Ideas Academy did well in its final competition. Under the tutelage of Jean Robbins with help from Sherri Madden, we took first place for small schools in North Carolina at the NCJCL competitions. The only detail I've heard so far is that David Kern took first place in the state in the category of Roman history. This is a proud moment for a dad.

Do Children care about Justice?

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Last night my 9 and 12 year old children were running around the back yard playing every manner of variation on hide and seek. There were lags of occasionally as long as two minutes between cries of "that's not fair!" but usually they were much shorter.


That's why we are doing a conference on justice. If we can't figure out what it is, we really don't have any hope for a civilized society. If education doesn't cultivate it, something needs to change.

Reflections on Ptolemy's reflections

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If Ptolemy (see 4/16 entry) is right when he says that advantage in theoretical knowledge is gained by a continued progress onward, while with practical knowledge the advantage arises "from a continued and repeated operation upon the things themselves", then his theory has much that is practical for the teacher to think on and apply.

If I am teaching something theoretical (math, ethics, theology, etc.), then the problem that will always have to be dealt with is the gap between the teachers mind and the level of understanding to which the student can attain. The teacher needs to know the student's present understanding and then needs to engage the student in a process of moving him forward to the next degree of understanding. But the teacher can't hope that the student will attain to the level of understanding the teacher has reached - not very often anyway. That's why the Isocratic "Didactic" and the Socratic Dialectic modes are so important.

If I am teaching something practical (handwriting, batting, reading, writing, calculating, etc.), then the problem is different. Here it is the students reticence to do anything with a "continued and repeated operation upon the things themselves." Only discipline and submission can solve this problem. Motivation helps, of course, but it can't be relied on as the only or even primary solution.

Furthermore, if the teacher sees the theoretical and the practical as warring with each other, the student is doomed. If theoretical means "having no practical application" and practical means "having to do with active application" these ideas are impoverished distant cousins of the realities.

In the words of Benedick (the practical man) to Claudio (the theoretical man) at the reconciliation in Much Ado About Nothing:

"Come, we are friends."

The teacher, who strives to maintain harmony in the classroom, must not allow anything to break that foundational friendship.

This is not a joke

At least not by me. I read this in the Charlotte World sports page on Sunday:

"Cleveland outfielder Coco Crisp, after he dropped a routine fly on Monday: 'I did my job. The ball didn't do its job.'"

The mind reels.

Ptolemy and the practical

He is risen!

Some practical insights from the Preface to Ptolemy's Almagest:

"Those who have been true philosophers... seem to me to have very wisely separated the theoretical part of philosophy from the practical. For even if it happens the practical turns out to be theoretical prior to its being pratical, nevertheless a great diference would be found in them; not only because some of the moral virtues can belong to the everyday ignorant man and it is impossible to come by the theory of whole sciences without learning, but also because in pratical matters the greatest advantage is to be had from a continued and repeated operation upon the things themselves, while in theoretical knowledge it is to be had by a progress onward. "

I never cease to be amazed by the ability of the classical authors to unveil so much truth and application in so short a space. Perhaps Aristotle was best at this. But here in Ptolemy we see one of the fundamental realities of teaching - and one that is frequently overlooked to the anquish of both teacher and student.

If a student is learning a skill, it can only be done through "continued and repeated operation upon the things themselves". If he is learning an idea, the greatest advantage goes to him who "progresses onward." That is why trigonometry helps us understand algebra better and why forgiveness helps us understand law.

The Paideia Plan applies this distinction in their concept of the three columns: Knowledge, understanding, and skills.

By the way, Jim Laney has created a new web site for our teacher training program. It's in its very early stages, but it is up and running. If you would like to check it out go to classicalteachertraining.org.

Moving Conversations

He is risen!

Why is it that CS Lewis enjoyed nothing more than sitting around a fire talking with his friends? Why did Plato's young friends say there was no greater pleasure? It looks so boring from the outside.

Movement.

We love movement. Especially coordinated movement that overcomes challenges, like in basketball or football.

What has that to do with good conversation?

Movement.

It isn't only the physical eye that delights in movement. The mind's eye also is charged by it. But the mind's eye can see the movement of the soul. Thus a conversation can be said to move us, even if we sit still through the whole thing.

This is the reason why Socratic conversations are such blasted fun.

Secrets of Revival revealed!!!!

He is risen!

Classical Christian schools have already had a significant impact. ACCS is almost 200 members strong after only 11 years. If we keep learning and growing and absorbing new insights that arise from the nature of classical Christian education - even if somebody from outside reveals them to us - there is no telling what might be accomplished through our efforts.

When I moved to Boise I didn't realize I was moving to the northern edge of the great western desert. The lawn outside the house we were renting had not been watered or tended in what I could only guess was at least a year or two. It was tall, brutish, and nasty. Cutting it kicked up a cloud of dust - but no "Heigh ho Silver, away," or anything else romantic.

We did cut that lawn. Then we watered it.

And then a miracle occurred:

It turned green!

It doesn't take a lot of water to revive a famished lawn.

Liberal Conservatism

He is risen!

I think it was Michael Reagan who was being interviewed on some TV talk show the other day. He said liberal radio won't make it because liberals have too nuanced a view of life so they can't hold strongly to opinions.

So that's where we stand is it? The conservative is the guy who sees everything in black and white while the liberal sees everything in endless shades of every color of the rainbow. One has everything sharply defined; the other defines nothing.

So much for the politics of prudence.

Or for these words by Aristotle:

"It is the mark of an educated man to demand precision in each subject so far as the nature of the thing admits."

I know we aren't supposed to judge, but surely we've gone too far.

Baseball

It's the game the gods play.

I had to get this prediction made before it lacks credibility: The Milwaukee Brewers are going to be the surprise team in baseball this season by winning 80 games. Watch out for them - in three years they'll be in the playoffs.

Mandatum Novum

A New Commandment. I learned from Leithart.com that the name Maundy Thursday is derived from this Latin phrase. In the context of washing the disciples' feet, Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another." Which humbling do you need - Peter's in letting one wash your feet, or Jesus' in washing another's feet?

Why Americans Can't Figure Out Education

Remember, oh man, that thou art dust,
And unto dust thou shalt return

Contrary to the popular myth, American education in general wasn't very good in the fifties. From what I've been able to determine, it wasn't terribly good in the 40's or 30's either. When you consider it's claims, it was abysmal even in the 19th century.

I don't mean to be rude, but it seems to me that education in America has pretty well paralleled education throughout the world for its whole history: high hopes and low realizations. For the most part.

Still, there have been eras and cultures that nurtured truly educated people and even a few that honored them for what they were. All in all, the Athens that assassinated Socrates did pretty well with a few of her more resilient citizens like Plato and Xenophon. 13th century Italy can be proud of St. Thomas and Dante. Elizabethan England remains the glory of the literary world for Shakespeare. It does seem rare that the truly educated are honored by the communities in which they grow. Perhaps education requires both a rich soil and a harsh gardener.

In America we have a particularly difficult time cultivating truly educated people. I suppose one could find multiple reasons for that: teachers' unions, linguistic isolation (where else on earth can a person know only one language and still look intelligent), egalitarianism, pragmatism, science worship, bad theory, and so on. All of these need to be considered seriously.

I have my suggestion too. I'm not ready to assert this as "The core reason," so for now I'll just present it for your consideration. Maybe we'll determine that it is a symptom that points to a deeper cause, or maybe we'll end up concluding this is the cause of all causes. I rather doubt the latter. But here's my suggestion.

As a nation born of rebellion, we reject every call to submission.

Let me explain why that matters. From K to about, say, 10th grade, the main thing a child needs to learn is submission. For example, the kindergartner needs to learn to submit to the rules of reading, the first grader succeeds if he submits to the rules of grammar, the second grader submits to multiplication, the third grader submits to principles of composition, every student is learning to submit to the rules of thought and expression etc. After all these submissions are accomplished, then the student becomes free.

How can submission set us free? Because freedom is the ability to perfectly express one's nature and thus fulfill its purpose. All of nature is a tapestry. So is the soul. Thus the human soul, to be free, must be rightly ordered within itself and rightly ordered to nature around it.

Since we are born in rebellion, this right ordering requires being brought into submission. And we Americans hate submission. That's why we orient the arts to self-expression, which is not what the arts are for. We use the arts to express ideas, not "selfs". The only value in self-expression is when it contains an idea that goes beyond the self. This isn't as harsh as it sounds.

Indeed, it is liberating.

Back Home

Remember, oh man, that thou art dust,
And unto dust thou shalt return.

I've just returned from four days with The Summit Academy in Indianapolis, Indiana. (I didn't see any indians there, so I wondered if the city's name isn't about as valid as Philadelphia, but that's just a bad joke so I've put it in parentheses). If you want to see how a school is working together to lay the right foundations, this is a school to spend time with.

What stood out to me was how they are built on a strong artistic foundation. They have a strong intuition of poetic knowledge. By giving the fine arts and letters their due they are freed from the hyper-analytical mode that is so easy for a school to fall into.

Clair Staley, the headmaster, and his faculty and staff inspired and refreshed me, reminding me of what God is doing in this renaissance.