Puritan Education

[VirginiaHuguenot]

John Milton, Tractate on Education:

The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.

 

[BaptistCanuk]

Originally posted by Irishcat922
Sproul was talking about a school I think in Penn. that is patterned after the Medieval system of Education. He said they have children that by the time they are twelve are adept in Latin and Greek and able to read and play classical music. I'd love to enroll our Daughter in a school like that.

My pastor's kids have this type of education. I wish I could have gotten it.

 

[LadyFlynt]

Anyone have the name of that school?

 

[Don Kistler]

There was no such thing as a high school in the Puritan day. The college was the equivalent of today's high school. So they started college at 13 or so, as did Jonathan Edwards at Yale.

The students were under a mentor who largely taught them all their classes in a very small group. The local minister was often the local school teacher, so students were taught classical languages and Bible at very young ages. This is one of the reasons John Owen's volume 17 remained in Latin until we had it translated some years back. Any reputable scholar or student could read Latin.

The regression is pretty humbling, isn't it? Wehn we were preparing to publish "To the Rising Generation," a collection of sermons by Jonathan Edwards to the youth of his congregation at Northampton, we included some Bible questions he had put together for them. RC Sproul and I looked them over and grimaced at how few of them we knew the answer to!

 

[BaptistCanuk]

Yes, the regression is humbling. Our society prides itself on being "intelligent" and for the most part, we don't hold a candle to the people back then. Our society is knowledgable as far as technology, etc. but our public school systems are woeful.

Like I said, I wish I could have had the kind of education they had back then.

 

[Ivan]

Originally posted by Don Kistler
When we were preparing to publish "To the Rising Generation," a collection of sermons by Jonathan Edwards to the youth of his congregation at Northampton, we included some Bible questions he had put together for them. RC Sproul and I looked them over and grimaced at how few of them we knew the answer to!

That's incredible. So where does that leave the rest of us? Even we, who consider ourselves "educated", would probably be left in the dust by a well-educated teenager of that era.

Humbling indeed. I know I am.

 

[Ivan]

Originally posted by BaptistCanuk
Like I said, I wish I could have had the kind of education they had back then.

Brian,

I think we should do the best we can to educate ourselves. Look at Lincoln...self-educated. John Bunyan...self-educated. Charles Spurgeon...largely self-educated.

The key is to read, read, read and then to read more. That is the key to being self-educated. It can be done. I'm 53 years old and I feel I have more to learn then I ever have. You are a young man and obviously have a bright and inquiring mind.

I think the greatest problem for anyone today is the technology we enjoy, especially television, although that might be a dated concept due to all the the new gadget and gizmoes our there of which I really don't any comprehension.

Bottom line for all of us...turn off the TV and get a good book.

 

[C. Matthew McMahon]

Originally posted by Ivan

Originally posted by Don Kistler
When we were preparing to publish "To the Rising Generation," a collection of sermons by Jonathan Edwards to the youth of his congregation at Northampton, we included some Bible questions he had put together for them. RC Sproul and I looked them over and grimaced at how few of them we knew the answer to!

That's incredible. So where does that leave the rest of us? Even we, who consider ourselves "educated", would probably be left in the dust by a well-educated teenager of that era.

Humbling indeed. I know I am.

Humbling no doubt. Think of it this way in terms of the "qualified preacher" of today, compared to then...

Today we buy a commentary on, say, Jude, that is about 150 pages, normal print, with exegetical notes and info on the book.
William Jenkyn, for example, wrote, back then, a 1200 page commentary in small print on Jude, double column, with some of the more amazing notes and sermons you would ever read on Jude. Think about it, that's 1200 pages on 1 chapter.

It boggles the mind.

 

[Ivan]

Originally posted by C. Matthew McMahon
It boggles the mind.

Yes, indeed. We waste so much of our time these days. We spend so little time on study and reflection...and it shows.