The goal of any worthwhile educational endeavor involves the pursuit of truth, but how does one find truth? A purely secular education begins with the flawed premise that the created can know truth apart from any knowledge of the Creator. A philosophy of Christian education acknowledges that God has created the entire universe; therefore, truth and an accurate perception of reality cannot be separated from their source. The triune God does not simply point towards truth; He is truth. Accordingly, a serious pursuit of truth is continuously intertwined with a humble quest of knowing God. Part of accepting the fragility of our created status is the realization that, on our own, our vision is limited. However, God has not left us in the dark. He has given us the special revelation of His written Word, the Bible, as the authoritative written account of truth.
The Bible foremost helps people to see their humble and lost state before God presenting them with the one path by which they can find salvation, Jesus Christ who is God incarnate- the way, the truth, and the light. In the Bible, one finds knowledge of God, knowledge of truth personified. As a person comes to know God, the author of truth, he will be better equipped to recognize truth from falsehood in the world around him. According to George Washington, “The future of this nation depends on the Christian training of the youth. It is impossible to govern without the Bible.”[1]
God can be taken out of formal education, yet religiously neutral education is an impossibility. Every system of education is built upon certain presuppositions and truths. The religious belief at the center of public education is secular humanism rooted in Darwinism. Secular education has tremendous limitations that can lead to confusion, disorder, and a misrepresentation of reality. “The teaching of any topic in a Christian school is not a modification of the approach used in non-Christian schools. It is rather a radical reorientation of that topic within the philosophical framework of Christianity.”[2] Any philosophy of education that pursues truth and an accurate perception of reality must be at its core Christian, because “no subject can be taught in the totality of its truth if the Creator is ignored or denied.”[3]
The Christian school has both a conservative and revolutionary role. The conservative function provides a protected environment to nurture and educate youth with all aspects of knowledge taught from the perspective of Christian philosophy. The revolutionary side emphasizes educating children to be witnesses to the love of God, thus maximizing the chances for social justice to become a reality.[4] “The Christian school should be the nursery in which reformers are born and reared—reformers who would go forth from the school burning with practical zeal and enthusiasm to take their places as leaders in these reforms.”[5]
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[1] George Washington, as quoted in Philosophy of Christian School Education edited by Paul Kienel et al., (Colorado Springs, CO: Association of Christian Schools International, 1995), 29.
[2] George Knight, Philosophy and Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective, 4th ed., (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2006), 237.
[3] Roy Lowrie, Jr., as quoted in Kienel et al., 117.
[4] Knight, 256.
[5] E. A. Sutherland, Studies in Christian Education (Leominster, MA: The Eusey Press, 1952), 72.