A movement mixing classical learning and conservative Christian teaching is finding a place in many Christian schools.
The curricula movement known as classical Christian education stresses a return to the “great books” and other elements of elite learning traditionally found in private schools in order to reinforce the conservative Christian worldview. Started by conservative Reformed schools, the movement is spreading to other evangelical classrooms, according to Christian News (April 17).
The newspaper cites an article from the journal Lutheran Education noting that this movement is increasingly popular among homeschoolers and minority and disadvantaged students; a “whole network of classical schools have been organized in the South as part of a ministry of racial reconciliation.” More recently, the movement is finding a hearing among Lutherans and their large educational system, reports Gene Veith and Erik Ankergerb.
Classical Christian schools are the brainchild of Douglas Wilson, a Reformed pastor in Idaho. He started his Logos School based on his reading of Christian classicist writer Dorothy Sayers, and popularized his methods with his 1991 book “Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning.” Since then new publishing companies and classical school associations have sprung up, such as Canon Press and Veritas Press.
Many classical school leaders hold that postmodernism and cultural relativism has even influenced Christian schools and that such an “erosion of cultural norms and standards” can best be thwarted by a return to the liberal arts and the “transcendent perspective on culture” they offer.
(Christian News, 3277 Boeuf Lutheran Rd., New Haven, MO 63068-2213)