Educating for Christian Rulers:
Creating a New Paideia (part 3 of 3)
Brett King, RMCA Headmaster
In this Perspectives, we finish the exploration of T.M.
Moore’s article, “Educating for Christian Rulers, Creating
a New Paideia.” In part one, Moore introduced the concept of paideia,
the idea that the broader culture and community are potent and influential
educators. In part two, Moore continued to explain that a complete understanding
of the gospel is essential if Christians are to combat the caustic influence
of the modern American paideia. We wrap-up with Moore’s thoughts
on how we might usher in a new generation of Christian rulers. (The
full article can be accessed in Breakpoint Worldview Magazine at www.breakpoint.org
)
Through my observations and in my readings, I have become
more and more convinced of the need for a strong Christian paideia in
our day. For most of our fellow Americans, the truth of Christianity
and the church in general are seen as hopelessly intolerant or at best
completely irrelevant. Yet if we are to restore the hope of the gospel
message and the relevance of the Christian worldview in all spheres
of society and learning, we must educate the upcoming generation differently.
This may seem countercultural. But by providing our students with a
classical and Christian education, we better prepare them to impact
their world for Christ.
Certainly education that seeks the kingdom of God must
be rooted in Scripture and the grand tradition of the faith (2 Timothy
3:15-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:15). It must be committed to wide learning,
for the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it (Psalm 24:1;
Ecclesiastes 1:12-13), and He is putting all things under His feet to
advance His rule on earth as it is in heaven (Ephesians 1:22-23). The
new paideia must focus, in all its expressions, on the formation of
godly character— minds captive to Jesus Christ, hearts enthralled
with God and His Law, consciences trained to wisdom, and lives progressing
in godliness (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Psalm 119:97; 1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Corinthians
7:1). Such an educational program can be accomplished only through a
curriculum established in loving discipline, in which all willingly
submit to those spiritual exercises and regimens that train the soul
and life for godliness. It must be a community undertaking, a conscious
collaboration of home, church, and educational specialists at all levels.
Finally, education for the rule of Christ—education
designed to nurture Christian rulers—must concentrate for the
long term on the realization of a new spiritual order: the kingdom of
God. Four general objectives must guide all our instruction and assessment:
the achievement of divinely ordered lives, divinely ordered relationships,
divinely ordered communities, and divinely ordered culture. If we keep
these objectives in mind, and order all our instruction to achieve them,
we will certainly come closer than at present to nurturing a generation
who rules their own lives, and every sphere of their lives, according
to the kingdom agenda of our Lord.
Is such an education possible? Past generations of the
followers of Christ have realized more of it than we in our own generation
have even dared to dream, often against the most impossible of odds,
and in the least likely of settings. The martyrs of the first three
centuries; the Celtic Christians; the generations nurtured by Alcuin
and Rabanus during the Carolingian revival; sixteenth-century Lutherans
in Germany and Calvinists in Geneva; Hollanders at every level of society
under Abraham Kuyper; and many, many other examples from Church history
stand ready to encourage and enlighten us as we take up the task of
nurturing a new paideia for a new order of the ages lovingly and truthfully
prosecuted by a new generation of Christian rulers.
It is a long-term proposition, I admit. But what are the
prospects for our children and grandchildren if we in our generation
refuse to make the sacrifices, prepare ourselves, and redirect our educational
efforts from the dismal failure which is contemporary Christian education
to the brighter prospect of a kingdom paideia?
Let every parent, every Christian educator, and every
believer in Jesus Christ consider the increasingly marginalized state
of the contemporary church in America, and let them ask themselves:
If this continues unchecked, what will be the future for the generations
that succeed us? Then let each one of us resolve to begin seeking a
new paideia for the nurture of Christian rulers in the unfolding kingdom
of Jesus Christ.
The article above has been edited for space. The complete article can be accessed at www.breakpoint.org.
