# Why the Great Books Aren't the Answer



## ChristianTrader (Apr 7, 2010)

Why just requiring the reading of classic books of western lit cannot stop the slid towards relativism, but instead can further the slide.

Why the Great Books Aren't the Answer


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## Semper Fidelis (Apr 7, 2010)

Interesting article. In a sense the author is arguing for a controlling presupposition to inform what would otherwise be a competing set of metanarratives. Seems that people who have eschewed the same now think that simply reading a bunch of competing worldviews will somehow lead people into a view of ultimate reality that they can settle on for themselves.


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## jwithnell (Apr 8, 2010)

I struggled with some of the same thoughts, since many in the home schooling community push a classical education as greatly superior to any other form. My gut reaction has been that you can't mix light and darkness -- why have my children dwell on the thinking of pagans? I was delighted to find that Cornelius Van Til also rejected classical education while strongly advocating a thoroughly reformed Christian education. He said that we will either worship the creator or worship the creature, and that a reformed approach to education must give the choice between covenant keeping or covenant breaking. He termed a classical education to be at best, half-Christian and half-pagan.

Now, it does make sense for our children to know something of the stories and history to be conversant in our society. And Latin can be useful in understanding the structure of language, some of the English roots, and the ability to understand some of the older writings (even Louis Berkhof) that can wander into Latin. But to make it the basis for a Christian education? That doesn't make much sense.


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## Peairtach (Apr 8, 2010)

The "Great Books" sprung up or were appreciated in the seeedbed of Christian Western Civilisation. Without that seedbed there will be fewer and fewer " Great Books" or other great works of art made or appreciated.

These books need to read in the light of God's Word.


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## rbcbob (Apr 8, 2010)

I believe that for the majority of intelligent, hard working Christians in regard to the Great Books, “a little will go a long way”. A biblical foundation, critical thinking skills, solid epistemology and a general overview of the thinking of mankind through the centuries should sufficed.

An immersion in the Great Books would be helpful for an elite few, while the rest of us can get by with something like the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy or the Story of Civilization.


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## LawrenceU (Apr 8, 2010)

This section is telling in the flaw of studying the Great Books as a means within themselves:



> But Kronman is quite explicit that arriving at life's meaning will be the result of an individual's negotiation between these various texts. The "meaning of life" will be developed from each person's own capacity to arrive at a personal response to the many challenges these books represent. Confrontation with these texts reveals the expansiveness of possible ways of life, beliefs, ethics, and economics: they teach us that "each of us can make, and wants to make, a life uniquely our own - a life that as no precise precedent in all the lives that have gone before and that can never be repeated exactly." These books reveal the "plasticity of human nature."



It is not the reader's / student's response that is crucial. It is comparison of them to the Standard of Scripture that is crucial. I believe that study of the Great Books is valuable, but only in that light. 

The last sentence is also insightful. Human nature is not plastic. It is rigidly sinful. The only thing plastic about it is the ability to develop some sort of veneer.


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## Theogenes (Apr 8, 2010)

Isn't the Great Books approach simply warmed over rationalism? It is trying to walk by the light of our own making. Having said that I think a Christian with a biblical world view can read the "Great Books" for pleasure but all the while bringing what is read to the bar of Scripture.


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## Montanablue (Apr 8, 2010)

I think the key is to read the "Great Books" through the lens of Christianity. I certainly don't think we should abandon them - they're wonderful works of art. But, as with everything, we must use discernment.


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## JBaldwin (Apr 8, 2010)

Lawrence, I was thinking along the same lines as I read the article. The "great books" are fine as long as we are steeped in Scripture. For most, the Bible was the primary source of literature in the earlier days of our nation's founding, and the "great books" were studied along side the Scriptures. If we do not have God's truth nothing else really matters. 

I would recommend a study of the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiates and Job (among other Scriptures).


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## jwright82 (Apr 8, 2010)

I agree with everyone that studying these books in the light of Scripture is the only way a christian can aproech them. But they have value to be studied and should be studied by christians. I believe that good christian teachers should be the ones teaching other christians these things but we also have to understand these thinkers in their own terms and we need to know how the unbeleiving world views them as well. If we do not do this than we are bound to make fools of ourselves by getting things wrong. 

A case in point was in the article when the author implied that Nietzsche was a nihillist. It could be argued that his whole philosophy was a reaction to nihillism and he was trying to get out of the nihillistic place that he saw the western world in. This is just one point at which without a firm grasp of Nietzsche we would make fools of ourselves by claiming he was a nihillist. As an ametuer apologest it is essential for me to have a grasp on the philosophical development of the world, without this I would be a gunslinger without any bulletts.


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## Laura (Apr 8, 2010)

Thanks for the interesting article.



LawrenceU said:


> It is not the reader's / student's response that is crucial. It is comparison of them to the Standard of Scripture that is crucial. I believe that study of the Great Books is valuable, but only in that light.



In mainstream Christian universities like the one I went to, that is not academically respectable. I think it was seen as some sort of anti-intellectual, fundamentalist instinct to be consulting Scripture when interacting with contradictory literature. Some professors may have wanted you to eventually come back to the conclusion that Christianity alone holds the correct view of reality, etc., but you were expected to suspend your presuppositions at least for a while. A mature Christian may be able to benefit from great texts in such a program, judging them for himself against God's revealed will. I was not that mature Christian and it was a confusing thing to try and navigate.


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## CharlieJ (Apr 8, 2010)

I found it interesting and admirable that the author's solution was not to discount the "great books", but to suggest that the *purposes* for which some people use them are illegitimate. They aren't to teach people what is true or to give your life meaning. Rather, they are very helpful in teaching people how to interact with ideas and what ideas are consistently worthy of attention. Also, they are windows into understanding the forces that have shaped our culture and ourselves. This also suggests that rather than the value judgment "great," we might use the more historical judgment "influential" to describe them.


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## LawrenceU (Apr 8, 2010)

Laura said:


> Thanks for the interesting article.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I understand. I am very familiar with 'mainstream Christian universities'. Most of them are more like mainstream universities with a bit of Christian sprinkled on top. The idea that one can suspend, or should suspend, presuppositions is evidence of a secularist mindset. There is a difference in having a presupposition challenged by literature, philosophy, or logic and attempting to read without presupposition (which is impossible). In reality, abandoning presuppositions in study is much more akin to anti-intellectualism than reading critically. And, in fact is impossible to read critically without presupposition. The only thing that can be done in that light is merely seeing if the author is consistent within his own rubric. That does nothing to determine the veracity of his thesis.

Your experience proves what many are unwilling to admit, much of our 'Christian' higher education is doing a great job at undermining our young people in their faith.


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## cih1355 (Apr 14, 2010)

If you are going to read the Great Books, you should not read them from a position of neutrality. The truth of Scripture should be presupposed and the ideas contained in the Great Books should be judged by the bar of God's word.


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