RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
by Arthur Holmes.
As with most of Holmes' works, this book nicely integrated knowledge and virtue in light of a larger vision. Holmes identifies four key areas that constitute the "soul of Christian learning:"
1.The usefulness of liberal arts as preparation for service to both church and society.
2. The unity of truth
3. Contemplative (or doxological) learning
4. The care of the soul (spiritual formation)
Holmes captures the true vision of Liberal arts: an education for freemen, rather than slaves, “one that makes citizens, body and soul, fit for the exercise of virtue” (Aristotle, Politics, viii, in Holmes 10). Indeed, such an approach will pursue Virtue: arete; overall excellence that actualizes human potential for a complete life in accordance with reason.
Holmes then leads us on a tour of Christian pedagogy in history. With Augustine we pursue the highest good: not just chief among many goods, but the all-inclusive good that gives every other good its value (26). The teacher’s words do not reveal the Truth, but alerts the mind to think about an inherent order of things by the inner light of reason with which God illumines the mind. The real teacher is the Logos.
Newman, the Liberal Arts, and Secularization
Holmes ends with a fine chapter on Newman. We don't have to agree with Newman's ecclesiology, but we must appreciate his pedagogy. “The knowledge he [Newman] has in mind, then, is n passive recitation of subject matter but an active engagement that expands the mind, organizing and interpreting material, digesting it and making it subjectively one’s own, and interrelating the old with the new within a comprehensive view of the whole word” (89).
Newman’s basic argument: “the university is a place where universal knowledge is taught and so no part of it may be omitted” (92). It is an integrally related system.
Conclusion:
Reading Holmes reveals why modern education is a complete disaster. We determine progress by quantifiable testing, yet the most important things in life are not reducible to quantification. How do you quantify virtue? But no matter. Even by empirical quantification the modern method (be it GLEs or Common Core) is an utter failure. Proof: both conservatives and liberals are waking up to this disaster.
We forbid virtue and integrated systems because they resist quantification, yet we act surprised that "Johnny" not only can't read, but he can't do the right thing. Or anything. To quote CS Lewis, "We castrate the gelding and bid him be fruitful."
As with most of Holmes' works, this book nicely integrated knowledge and virtue in light of a larger vision. Holmes identifies four key areas that constitute the "soul of Christian learning:"
1.The usefulness of liberal arts as preparation for service to both church and society.
2. The unity of truth
3. Contemplative (or doxological) learning
4. The care of the soul (spiritual formation)
Holmes captures the true vision of Liberal arts: an education for freemen, rather than slaves, “one that makes citizens, body and soul, fit for the exercise of virtue” (Aristotle, Politics, viii, in Holmes 10). Indeed, such an approach will pursue Virtue: arete; overall excellence that actualizes human potential for a complete life in accordance with reason.
Holmes then leads us on a tour of Christian pedagogy in history. With Augustine we pursue the highest good: not just chief among many goods, but the all-inclusive good that gives every other good its value (26). The teacher’s words do not reveal the Truth, but alerts the mind to think about an inherent order of things by the inner light of reason with which God illumines the mind. The real teacher is the Logos.
Newman, the Liberal Arts, and Secularization
Holmes ends with a fine chapter on Newman. We don't have to agree with Newman's ecclesiology, but we must appreciate his pedagogy. “The knowledge he [Newman] has in mind, then, is n passive recitation of subject matter but an active engagement that expands the mind, organizing and interpreting material, digesting it and making it subjectively one’s own, and interrelating the old with the new within a comprehensive view of the whole word” (89).
Newman’s basic argument: “the university is a place where universal knowledge is taught and so no part of it may be omitted” (92). It is an integrally related system.
Conclusion:
Reading Holmes reveals why modern education is a complete disaster. We determine progress by quantifiable testing, yet the most important things in life are not reducible to quantification. How do you quantify virtue? But no matter. Even by empirical quantification the modern method (be it GLEs or Common Core) is an utter failure. Proof: both conservatives and liberals are waking up to this disaster.
We forbid virtue and integrated systems because they resist quantification, yet we act surprised that "Johnny" not only can't read, but he can't do the right thing. Or anything. To quote CS Lewis, "We castrate the gelding and bid him be fruitful."
