What is a Christian Education?
David Burke
This paper ‘locates’ a Christian view of education within Christian world-view and advocates consistency from thought to practice. It discusses how the Bible is used in this, identifies some specific aspects of education for attention and illustrates a Christian perspective in one of these. There are more questions than answers, for this is a vast and ongoing project.
Introduction
In its broadest form, education is concerned with the totality of the teaching / learning process.
All educators have to grapple with some common basic issues[v]. The answers to these form a philosophy of education. In turn, philosophies of education give rise theories of education and these give rise to the practice of education.
Where does a Christian view of education come from? The Bible has much to say about education and is a real goldmine for those seeking to develop a Christian view of education[x].
Education has several central and overarching questions. They can be summarised in the single sentence: Who is teaching what, to whom, why and how?[xiv] A host of further questions can be developed under each of these.
There is an order in these questions, broadly corresponding to a movement from theory to practice. The ‘Who, What, To Whom and Why’ are contributive questions. The answers to them contribute to the final question that has an integrative nature. I am persuaded that the giving of attention to the contributive questions is an important step in ensuring that educational practice has a consistency about it. I also believe that it makes it easier to answer the ‘How’ question after giving attention to the contributory questions.
Each of these sets of questions raises profound issues and there are Christian distinctives applicable to all of them.
For example, consider questions relating to educational goals (the ‘Why?’ questions). In many countries, educational agendas are commonly expressed as outcome statements and these are generally written in economic terms. That is, education is organised to achieve purposes of delivering productive workers for the next phases of economic development. Typically this is seen in a move away from education in the liberal and performing arts and towards scientific, professional and technical subjects. This move is generally a matter of emphasis rather than absolutes and is implemented through such devices as the number of teaching hours given to different subjects; the combinations of subjects needed for such ‘gatekeeper’ exercises as PSLE, O and A levels, university entrance; and the allocation of postgraduate research grants. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Christian parents and schools have accepted these economic agendas. Parents aspire for their child to enter well-paid employment and schools laud the number of their graduates who gain entry to training for this employment.
This paper has tried to show that a Christian education is more than education in the Bible, although it certainly includes that[xvii]. Rather, it includes a distinctly Christian view of all aspects of education, from educational philosophy to educational practice. In many places this will overlap with other views of education (for truth is to be found in many places), but it will have a distinctive form arising from its foundations in the God from whom all is and to whom all shall be[xviii].
[iii] Some examples of introductory level reading follow: Renewing the Mind In Learning (ed. D Blomberg & I Lambert, CSAC, 1998); Foundational Issues in Christian Education (R Pazimo, Baker, 1988); The Greening of Christian Education (B Hill, Lancer, 1985); The Christian Philosophy of Education (S Perks, Avant, 1992); The Christian School (N Weeks, Banner of Truth, 1988); Christian Education: Its Philosophy & History (K Gangel & W Benson, Moody, 1983); A Biblical Psychology of Learning (Accent, 1982); For The Children’s Sake (S Schaeffer-Macauley, Crossway, 1984); Philosophy & Education (2nd edit, G Knight, Andrews Uni, 1989); Philosophy of Education (M Peterson, IVP, 1986); Christian Education & The Search For Meaning (J Wilhoit, Baker, 1986); The Crumbling Walls of Certainty (Ed. I Lambert & S Mitchell, CSAC, 1997); Reclaiming the Future( ed. I lambert & S Mitchell, CSAC, 1996).
[iv] There is a huge literature in the field of Christian world-view, much of it coming from a reformed theological perspective. The following works may provide a starting point: Building a Christian World View, Vols 1&2 (ed. W Hoffeker, Presbyterian & Reformed 1986 & 1988); Worlds Apart, (N Geisler & W Watkins, Baker 1989); The Transforming Vision (J Middleton & B Walsh, IVP, 1984); Truth is Stranger Than It Used To Be (J Middleton & B Walsh, IVP, 1995); The Making of a Christian Mind (ed. A Holmes, IVP, 1985); The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (M Noll, Eerdmans, 1994); The Christian Mind (H Blamires, Servant, 1963); Foundations of Christian Scholarship (ed. G North, Ross House, 1979); Every Thought Captive (R Pratt Jnr, Presbyterian & Reformed, 1979).
[v] This can be illustrated from the field of adult education: for example, see Philosophical Foundations of Adult Education (J Elias & S Merriam, Kreiger, 1980). Also see endnote (iii) above for some Christian texts relating to these issues.
[vi] There is a well-respected body of literature that argues for deriving theory from practice. Consider the following: The Reflective Practitioner (D Schon, Basic 1983) and The New Production of Knowledge (M Gibbons et al, Sage, 1994). No epistemology of education can ignore this literature. For my part, I would argue for a combination inductive / deductive approach in which philosophy, theory and practice inform each other in a two-way dialogue.
[vii] G Clark’s Christianity & Behaviorism (Trinity, 1982) evaluates Skinner’s behaviouralism from a Christian perspective.
[viii] Some years back I conducted a review of many texts relating to Christian education as part of a project to develop a teacher-training curriculum. At one level, there were comments from Christian sources about the dangers of using insights from non-Christian sources, specifically Piaget’s development approaches as applied to education about the Christian faith by people such as R Goldman in Readiness for Religion? Somewhat to my dismay, I discovered that many educational texts published by Christian publishing houses used Piaget’s work, but never acknowledged it or discussed its philosophical or theoretical basis. Was this ignorance or inconsistency? It certainly creates the suspicion of an uncritical use.
[ix] My use of the plural is intentional. I resist the suggestion that there is a single philosophy, theory and practice of education arising from a Christian world-view. Faith and reality are too complex to allow for reductionism to a convenient binary formula in which all is seen in blacks and whites. Even black and white TV had shades of grey!
[x] A concordance search under such words as ‘teach’, ‘instruct’, ‘knowledge’, ‘learn’ etc will throw up many references as starting points. The plethora of the Biblical material on education makes it easier to develop a Christian view of education than it is for other learning areas.
[xi] Noel Weeks discusses the sufficiency of Scripture in: The Sufficiency of Scripture (Banner of Truth, 1988).
[xii] Deut 29:29.
[xiii] See endnote viii above.
[xiv] I have used these questions as an organising structure for Christian teacher training in several different cultures and think that there is some universality about them.
[xv] Mt 6:11; 2 Thess 3:6-12; Lke 4:4; Gen 1:26-27; Eph 4:11-16; Lke 1:52.
[xvi] Mt 22:37-40; 6:19-24.
[xvii] In some ways, Dt 6:7ff is the fundamental task of education. Its proximity to the Shema reinforces this priority.
[xviii] Rom 11:36.
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