The Paideia of God and Other Essays on EducationAnd, you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4) In this passage, Paul requires Christian fathers to provide their children with a "paideia of the Lord." To the ancient world, the boundaries of paideia were much wider than the boundaries of what we understand as education. Far more is involved in paideia than taking the kids to church, having an occasional time of devotions in the home, or even providing the kids with a Christian curriculum. In the ancient world, the paideia was all-encompassing and involved nothing les than the enculturation of the future citizen. He was enculturated when he was instructed in the classroom, but the process was also occurring when he walked along the streets of his city to and from school. The idea of paideia was central to the ancient classical mind, and Paul's instruction here consequently had profound ramifications. |
Contents
A Brief Statement Against Vouchers | 33 |
The Biblical Meaning of School Clothes | 39 |
Does Classical Mean Reformed? | 55 |
The Great Logic Fraud | 77 |
A Brief for Greyfriars Hall | 105 |
Why Evangelical Colleges Arent | 113 |
Classical Learning and the Christian College | 119 |
Footnotes | 145 |
Common terms and phrases
abstractions academic apostle argue argument Arminian Augustinian authority believe biblical C. S. Lewis cation child Chris Christ Christian colleges Christian education Christian school movement Christian worldview church classical and Christian classical Christian schools classical education Cornelius Van Til course discipline doctrine dress Dyslexia election English essay established evangelical colleges everything example fact faith Father garments Gary North God’s gospel government schools grammar Greek Gresham Machen H. L. Mencken homeschools issues Jesus kids knowledge language Latin learning disabilities logic look Lord math mathematical means mind ministry modern neutral notation ontized ourselves paideia parents Paul philosophy precisionist problem question R. L. Dabney realm reason Reformed theology relativism requires result Roman salvation school clothing Scripture secular Semi-Pelagianism seminary simply someone standards T. S. Eliot taught teachers teaching things thought tian tion translation true truth ture understand University vouchers word