Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning

First off, I am not an educator. After researching and reading much about the running of our political government, I asked myself how could we as a people let the government: put us trillions in debt; let 50 years go by without acquiring a trade surplus; allow the Federal Reserve to print money hand over fist which will lead to hyperinflation; and let the Supreme Court disallow pray in public schools and during other social functions? We the people had everything going for us in this country. How and why did we let this happen? I concluded that we have been ill-schooled. The education system is all wrong for the Democratic-Republican government that we inherited. So in search of answers to this revelation, I needed to find a book to guide me through some of the ideas that our education system is under, and not under. I choose this book, “Wisdom and Eloquence – A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning” as my first research book on education. I was very pleasantly surprised to find this book includes very wide aspects of education; it uses history, (both ancient and modern), psychology, sociology, management theory, and philosophies from a world of different topics including of course, Christianity. I found very helpful in gaining knowledge about the field of education. The book is full of wisdom and insight. I was quite intrigued with two chapters; “The Mathematical Arts and True Science” and “The Rhetoric Curriculum.” Here is a statement in the “The Mathematical Art…” chapter that fascinated me:“Geometry forms the basis for our understanding of how we relate to and interacts with the physical world and has endless implications for our apprehension of truth, goodness, and beauty.” I have never thought of geometry in this fashion, but I feel this statement is entirely true. To me, geometry is 80% logic, 20% imagination. If any subject should give students extra notoriety, extra gold stars and awards above the other subjects, it is geometry. The appendixes in the back of the book should not be over looked by the reader; they read more like additional chapters rather than appendixes. In the introduction of the book, asks “…why another book on Christian education?” The authors the answer this question: “Because things keep changing…Christian educators must be responsive to society’s changing needs so that our graduates are prepared to make a difference in the world…” Two points, the authors never lose sight of the end result or goals and they put forth several ideas along this line. Also, I do not believe this book is just for those involved in Christian schools. It would do well if the staff of public schools also read this book. As for my opening statement, I wish only to suggested “The Liberal Arts Curriculum” listed in the book, should include the ‘Debates on the US Constitution' and that should be used as the center of all history classes; it branches of into Christianity, (which was important in the founding of our Republic) and into both the ancient and modern histories and philosophies from which lessons can actually be used by students when they finally get to self-governing our country. Besides educators, I do recommend this book for those people who are life-long learners; I do believe they will enjoy it.

Wisdom and Eloquence, by Robert Littlejohn and Charles T. Evans, is on a classical Christian education, which is to say a liberal arts education by a pre-twentieth century definition. The authors write of the importance of the trivium, and emphasize rhetoric. They cite and respond to Dorothy Sayers’s essay, “The Lost Tools of Learning.” The authors write of the quadrivium a little more widely than the classical definition, as they include geography and visual arts. The authors do not ignore math and science, and write of the Christian student’s need for these subjects. Science is not opposed to Christianity: “The overarching paradigm for a Christian education is the sciences is the understanding that our worldview embraces the reality that our study of the natural sciences is our window into God’s revelation of himself to his image-bearers through his creation” (124-25). The culmination of science is theology and philosophy, “toward which all our studies in the liberal arts has been building” (127).The book is largely the philosophy of education of the authors. They suggest the whole education of K-12 to have an objective, and with that end in mind to plan from the top – graduation – down. “We must look first to the desired end of the educational process, to the skills, knowledge, and virtues we want to be universally inherent in our graduates and determine how to get them there” (166). The Christian perspective must be kept in mind by educators: “We don’t produce these leaders (that is the work of the Holy Spirit), but we can encourage this potential by reminding ourselves and each other that all our students, whether they profess faith or not, are fashioned in God’s own image” (45). The authors go so far as to say the Christian school should have a Christian faculty:A non-Christian teacher’s presuppositions, no matter how sympathetic toward or accepting he may be of Christian ethics, places him at odds with the Christian worldview, especially in metaphysics (one’s understanding of why and how things exist) and epistemology (one’s understanding of how we can know what we know). This is an unacceptable conflict that renders the Christian school’s mission ineffective and hypocritical. So, Christ must be the central reference point of the teacher’s life in a way that recognizes him as the active and irresistible Creator, Ruler, and Redeemer of the universe. The Christian teacher must also be committed to placing the welfare of others ahead of his own. (157) Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning

I read this book because of familiarity of the author and I wanted insights that I could put to practice in my home-schooling for my children. Though the book is primarily written for the private school educator, there are valuable principles to be gleaned for the home-school educator. The value of the book is in the consistency of the worldview that the authors present. If you want to answer the 'why' questions about private, classical, christian education this book is for you.

I just began reading but the style of writing and the common sense approach to education is exactly what I needed to hear.

I bought this book to use as I wrote a research paper on classical education. It was exactly what I needed. It provided a good background and philosophy of classical education and then outlined possible curricula options/plans.

Read this and Hicks's Norms and Nobility and you'll never think about education the same way again.

As advertised.