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School’s Back! Educating to Transform People and Glorify God
You shall love the Lord your God with all your . . . mind[1]
No longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds[2]
Be transformed by the renewal of your mind[3]
Preparing your minds for action[4]
Part 1: The Educator’s Audience: Anthropology
While some schools commence earlier, Labor Day traditionally signals the beginning of a new school year. How should we think Christianly about education, writ large[5]? Because we are commanded to love God with all our minds, educational effectiveness should be a concern to all who follow Jesus. Being sober-minded is crucial for arresting pagan influences as advanced by the devil himself.[6] To explore what this means foundationally, we offer this four-part Dicta series: The Educator’s Audience; the Educator’s Context; the Educator’s Mission; and the Educator’s Means.
Recognize at the outset that teachers teach persons, not subjects. We would do well to keep this in mind as we conduct Sunday School, discipleship groups, as well as good ‘ol readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmatic’. Who comprises our audiences and what we know about them can be overlooked; and that is a fatal error. Let’s get to the gist.
Human Rights and Human Education
The world frequently clamors about “rights,” particularly “human rights.” The focus of such demands is heavy on “rights” and light on “human.” But to accurately address such things, we cannot get “human rights” right until we get “human” right. Education also must get “human” right because again, we teach people, not subjects.
“Human” → Finitude and Gratitude
To be human is first of all to be a creature. There exists a fundamental Creator/Creation distinction, reality’s fundamental binary. Dr. Jones often referred to this as Twoism.[7] This reality means that humans are dependent (upon the Triune God) for their very existence. To put it theologically, only God possesses self-existence (aseity). Every creature is dependent upon, as Paul informed the Stoics at Athens, “[T]he God who made the world,”[8] because in Him “we live and move and have our being.”[9] Accordingly, mankind is not independent as to his ontology. No person is self-created; no person is absolute or sovereign. Good educators understand therefore that no student is “master of [his] fate” nor “captain of [his] soul.”[10] It is God who numbers each students’ days and provides him life.[11]
Moreover, because God is the Lord of heaven and earth, mankind cannot be rightly autonomous regarding his morality and behavior. Rather, man lives by “every word that comes from the mouth of God.”[12] Man cannot rightly be his own moral standard; God is. It is therefore arrogant and foolish to boast like Nebuchadnezzar:
and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”[13]
God humbled him, making him like a beast, no longer acting as the imago Dei, until he recognized that the “Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”[14] Accordingly, when the Lord does grant success – academic or otherwise -we must be careful to attribute those successes to God, and not ascribe credit to ourselves, as Moses warned:
Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,[15]
Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.[16]
Mankind’s reality of being a creature means that education takes account of man’s finitude and cultivates gratitude for his accomplishments and endeavors. A thankful heart – one wisely “open to reason”[17] – should flourish as we educate humans.
“Human” → Imago Dei → Rational → Moral → Religious
Secondly, to be human is to be universally created as the Imago Dei.[18] This posits human exceptionalism. Though mankind is a creature, he is a different order of creation, unlike any other created entity. Aardvarks do not write epic poems; seals do not erect laboratories to study physics; amoeba do not craft films or bake desserts; badgers do not compile and write histories of elk and moose migration patterns. Man is unique among all the created order. Several implications flow from this and we must remember this when addressing our educational audience.
First, our audience is rational. Fallen, yes, but our students retain the capacity for analyzing, and processing data. Thinking. And we must show them ways to think Christianly rather than remain futile in their thinking as are the pagans.[19] Instead, they must be led to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”[20] What is a Christian approach to finance, psychology, law, history, athletics, et al?
Second, our audience is moral because they are creatures of a wholly moral, moral Being. This means that their rationality, thinking, and learning cannot be neutral or “brute.”[21] Rather, we are to guide our students to rightly think and to think rightly. Truth matters. This means not only guiding students to the truth itself, but also the right or truthful means of discovering and communicating about truth. In short, correct answers exist and must be reached and explained by truthful means.
This necessitates engaging them with the structure of thinking the right things well, avoiding fallacies and other errors in thinking.[22] Identifying the right conclusion does not mean the student is educated. HOW they “got there” – showing their work – is essential.
Third, because mankind came into being from a Divine Creator, mankind can’t not be a religious creature. He is inherently a worshipper. And, this is true whether the student acknowledges it or not. This also means that true religion is always relevant to every subject because it’s relevant to the students who are always – and can’t not be – religious.[23] Note how Paul approached the pagan philosophers in Athens, taking account of their religious expression and bent:
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,[24]
Paul, given this inherent predicate that they, being men, are intrinsically religious creatures who worship, pivoted to presenting the God who created them:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.[25]
Effective education will take these immutable and inherent facets of human nature into account. Because mankind was created by God, the Creator who is Lord of every square inch,[26] religion and the Creator’s perspective always bears upon instruction and learning.
Male and Female → Intrinsic Complementarity Effectuated by Design
The next facet of humanness reflects that humanity exists as immutable sexual dimorphs, a fancy way of saying male and female. These are immutable ontological categories. They are creational norms. These norms remained unquestioned until pagan notions of androgyny fueled by Critical Theory began defying reality. How so? The Left started claiming irrational things like “pregnant men,” “gender transition,” or more generally that sexual biology is irrelevant at best or bigotry as worst.[27]
This reality impacts educational pedagogy: boys learn differently than girls, especially in athletic contexts.[28] This means that education should employ pedagogy and technique that recognizes and accommodates these creational differences.
This also raises – and requires – structural considerations relating to the educational experience: privacy protections, safety measures, competitive fairness, housing considerations, dress codes, et al.
The rise and codification of pagan presuppositions stemming from gender ideology bucks against this reality: Mediocre men athletically competing against women;[29] school bureaucrats severing parental control over children by refusing to inform – or even lying – about children suffering gender dysphoria, concealing medical matters from their parents;[30] urging children to “transition” – as if a boy can become a girl by chemicals and scalpels – when all that results is a mutilated, sterile child with a greater risk of self-harm or suicide.[31] Ignoring creational realities removes protective barriers and exposes our children – our educational audience – to deep harm.
Human Nature: Static, Universal, and Transgenerational
Another thing “real reality” informs us about our audience is that every human possesses the same nature. This is true irrespective of sex, location, or time.[32] This shared human nature forms the predicate for advancing moral claims to non-Christians as well as Christians. This is educationally important because not every student attending a Christian school will be regenerate. Yet because they possess a human nature, they can still be educated. Note how the apostles, Paul and Barnabas, approach their pagan audience:
“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.[33]
“Nature” – in this instance human design – also provides a reference point to evaluate conduct. Paul notes that because of false worship,
For this reason [false worship] God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature[34]
A teacher (or parent) should recognize that the shared and common human nature provides a pathway for instruction, including moral instruction. Why? Because implicit in our “nature” resides a design and purpose. Education should cohere with that nature, including warning against a misuse of human purposes. For example: While our lungs can inhale water, that’s not the purpose of lungs; that would be injurious. While our eyes can stare into the sun, that’s not the purpose of our eyes; that would be injurious. We can gain and transmit knowledge because God imbued us with a universal static human nature – the Bible doesn’t specify these details, but we can – using our minds – infer them from what the Bible does tell us: we have a fixed nature.
Mission Focused: Cultural Mandate/Great Commission
The next facet impacting a teacher’s audience is the fact that being human means being missionally focused. Humanity has been collectively commanded to
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”[35]
The audience, if unaware, must be made aware of this standing directive imposed by the Lord. All pedagogy must be contextualized as serving this overarching purpose. This mandate presupposes developing technology and technique which coheres with and advances this mission – and because it extends to the entire created order, education must be comprehensive in serving this mission. As John Murray commented in explaining the Christian world order:
We must be bold to say that the Christian revelation does not allow us to do anything less than to formulate and work towards a Christian world order in the life that we now live. . . .
The standard of thought and the rule of conduct for us are divine obligation . . .applied to the whole range of life, of interest, of vocation, and activity. . . .
A Christian world order will embrace every department of life – industry, agriculture, education, recreation.[36]
Detour: The Fall, The Truth, and Pedagogy
Evidence v. Ethics
The catastrophe of the Fall impacted all of creation, which awaits redemption.[37] What does this mean for education? If education, rightly understood, means pressing for and discovering the truth, the Fall presents an obstacle to education’s mission. Paul explains the humans now “by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”[38] This leads to their exchanging “the truth about God for [the] lie.”[39] This results in their minds being debased and their thinking futile.[40] Paul outlines even more consequences, including idolatry, ungodliness practices, and then ultimately approving those ungodly practices.[41] Paul paints a grim picture; does this mean education too becomes futile? Hardly. Yet, the noetic[42]effects of sin do impact our learning faculties.
Note however, that truth itself, though suppressed and unacknowledged, is not obliterated. This means that the central educational problem is not evidence but ethics. In fact, as to knowing God Himself, Paul teaches that
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew [the] God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.[43]
Once the ethical obstacles are bulldozed, the truth can be accessed. Teachers should be encouraged by this – truth, despite the Fall, remains accessible to their students. Light overcomes the darkness.[44] While Satan is the father of lies,[45] Jesus Himself IS the truth.[46] His birth and coming into the world had this purpose: “to bear witness to the truth.”[47] Consequently, we are to be “fellow workers for the truth.”[48] Now, will this educational effort be successful? Will it matter long term? Scripture provides an educator confidence that his or her work is not in vain. Educators must live, not in their own story, but in God’s story, His narrative. This means that the context of education must always understand what’s actually inevitable – where is history going?
The Teaching Enterprise and Inevitability
A Lesson from the Past Unpleasantness: Soviet Oppression
Until it actually happened, few analysts – even fiercely anti-Soviet analysts – had believed that revolution was possible within the Soviet bloc. Both communists and anticommunists, with very few exceptions, had assumed that the Soviet methods of indoctrination were invincible; that most people swallowed the propaganda without question; that the totalitarian educational system really would eliminate dissent; that civic institutions, once destroyed, could not be rebuilt; and that history, once rewritten, would be forgotten.
We now know that the actual outcome defeated the prior assumptions: Soviet Totalitarianism’s reign over Europe was not inevitable, even though it seemed to be the only plausible scenario . . . Why?
Those who contended against Soviet domination operated according to a different plausibility narrative; Soviet domination was not ultimate and therefore, it was not inevitable.[49]
The same is true today for our culture. Despite pockets of powerful paganism, a culture of death is not inevitable. A culture of broken sexuality and legally redefined matrimony is not inevitable. A culture that constricts Christian conviction and religious liberty is not inevitable. Why? Because God has redeemed all things and will reconcile all things to Himself. That is what is inevitable.
And as Christians, we have been told what is inevitable. Society will be so consecrated that even the most common day-to-day elements of everyday life – pots, pans, and even bells on farm animals – will reflect God’s glory:
And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And thepots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.[50]
Habakkuk, writing during a particularly dismal time, nevertheless understood what is inevitable:
“Woe to him who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
that peoples labor merely for fire,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.[51]
However, this inevitability is not instantaneous, but rather incremental and will include setbacks.[52] But we know that ultimately Christ conquers; His victory is assured. Showing students this historical path – past, present, and future – in all subject matters matters. What is the narrative demonstrating this that can be applied to every subject encountered by our students?
Scripture teaches us that . . .
a. Victory (Redemption) Occurs ANTITHETICALLY: Conflict in history serves redemption, as the first whisper of the Gospel indicates:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”[53]
Scripture uses many metaphors to convey and portray this historical conflict as redemption “works out” historically: light/darkness, sheep/goats, wheat/tares, wise/foolish, the truth/the lie, and ultimately, Heaven/Hell. Yet, as Genesis 3:15 indicates, this conflict serves redemption.
b. Victory occurs PROGRESSIVELY:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.[54]
Jesus’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension changes all things – not only rescuing individual souls. This provides thick context for educators to envision their students and provides God’s hope that their endeavors are not in vain. It may be dark, but dawn will come again and again.
c. Victory inevitably produces a DOMINANTLY Christian culture:
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.[55]
d. The Older Testament consistently ANTICIPATES this inevitable victory
1. God promises Abraham to make him the “father of a multitude of nations,”[56] with abundant offspring, metaphorically depicted as “many stars”[57] and “grains of sand”[58]
2. Psalms 2 and 72 note that ENTIRE NATIONS become an inheritance; all kings and nations as nations shall serve Him
3. Daniel 2 describes history as a succession and SUPPLANTING OF KINGDOMS: Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman, ending with a kingdom – not made by human hands – that devours then progressively develops:
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand,and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”[59]
4. Ezek. 47 depicts an EVER-EXPANDING RIVER OF LIFE that flows from the presence of God (the Temple) into the desert in all directions, bringing life – living water – to a parched and dry land:
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. . . .[60]
And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.[61]
e. The New Testament EVIDENCES the Reality and EXPANSION of Christ’s Rule
- After the Kingdom comes (Matt 12:28), Jesus Explains its Character via parables
a. Wheat and Tares—depicts a WHEAT field, not a tare field; the wheat dominates the tares because “the field is the world . . .”[62]
b. Mustard Seed teaches that the Kingdom experiences QUANTITATIVE Growth: that which starts small becomes large
c. Leaven instructs that the Kingdom experiences QUALITATIVE Growth: a small quantity changes the character of the entire loaf
ii. This promised Victory and is HISTORICIALLY MANIFESTED to some extent — prior to the glorious second Advent:
For he must reign [at the Father’s right hand] until he has put all his enemies under his feet.[63]
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.[64]
iii. Accordingly, Satan is CRUSHED—in history, as predicted in Genesis 3 as Christians persevere in the Faith:
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.[65]
iv. In fact that CRUSHING is the VERY REASON the Son of God Came:
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.[66]
Instantiating educational endeavors within this Godward redemptive perspective prevents educational despair when encountering sin and its consequences appearing throughout human history – and in our students. God does have a purpose, and He has purposed to redeem and rescue – conflicts that arise historically – and in our own hearts – are conflicts that ultimately serve redemption.
Building Cultural Beauty: Education as an Intergeneration Construction Project
Education is an intergenerational endeavor. This means the educator must understand and instantiate his instruction within God’s control and direction of history. Moreover, it means that our audience must come to understand their place in that story – how what they do contributes to God’s story.
One metaphor that communicates this reality invokes how the ancient cathedrals were constructed: artful hard work over many decades if not centuries: from the design, to mining the granite and marble quarries, back breaking effort – over many generations all to construct and beautify a place where humans can marvel at the glory of the Lord. The workers subordinated their own ambitions to a common good that they may not experience in its fruition. Yet, they focused on “Building a Cathedral,” whether they cut rocks, moved rocks, downed trees and shaped lumber, stained glass, etc — They embraced a servant-dominated mentality—intergenerationally focusing on a telos and purpose: the Common Good. As Tom Wright remarked:
Like craftsmen working on a great cathedral, we have each been given instructions about the particular stone we are to spend our lives carving, without knowing or being able to guess where it will take its place within the grand design. We are assured, by the words of Paul and by Jesus’s resurrection as the launch of that new creation that the work we do is not in vain.[67]
Teachers: Know your audience and God’s story – and be encouraged!! You are building glorious cultural cathedrals.[68]
[1] Matt. 22:37
[2] Eph. 4:17
[3] Romans 12:2
[4] 1 Peter 1:13
[5] Curriculum and preferential modes of educating children – home schooling, private Classical Christian schooling – is beyond this discussion’s focus.
[6] 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
[7] Peter Jones, One or Two: Seeing a World of Difference (2010)
[8] Acts 17:24
[9] Acts 17:28
[10] William Ernest Henley, Invictus
[11] See, e.g., Ps 90
[12] Matt. 4:4
[13] Dan. 4:30
[14] Dan. 4:32
[15] Deut. 8:11-14
[16] Deut. 8:17,18
[17] James 3:17
[18] Gen. 1:26, 27
[19] Romans 1:21, 1 Cor. 3:20, Eph. 4:17
[20] 2 Cor. 10:5
[21] A “brute” fact is one that exists without interpretation of any mind. Apologist Cornelius Van Til rejected this concept, contending that the Triune God of the Bible, being omniscient, has already interrupted every fact and data point. To explore this further, see Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith (2008); Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetic – Readings & Analysis(1998); and John M. Frame, Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought (1995)
[22] John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (1987)
[23] This is one of the glaring deficiencies of the influential political theory of John Rawls, who claims that the public square should not be cluttered with narratives like religious worldviews upon which people differ. Distilled to its essence, Rawls would only allow people to engage in “public reason” if they amputated the religious part of their nature.
[24] Acts 17:22-24a
[25] Acts 17:24b-25
[26] See the 2024 Symposium, Every Square Inch – Taking Christ’s Lordship to the Streets – available online in October.
[27] This comprises the logical end of expressive individualism. See. Carl R. Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution (2020).
[28] An abundance of evidence documents this. Here is just one classic source: Michael Gurian, Boys and Girls Learn Differently -A Guide for Teachers and Parents (2010)
[29] https://www.foxnews.com/sports/riley-gaines-gets-emotional-reading-remarks-lawmakers-says-have-chance-send-message-women
[30] Nearly 6000 Schools US public schools hide child’s gender status from parents, https://nypost.com/2023/03/08/us-public-schools-conceal-childs-gender-status-from-parents/
[31] Ryan P. Anderson, When Harry Became Sally – Responding to the Transgender Moment (2018); https://transregret.com/
[32] James invokes Elijah, “a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17) to make an educational and moral point about prayer. This can only be a valid comparison if, and only if, human nature remains consistent transgenerationally.
[33] Acts `14:15
[34] Romans 1:26
[35] Gen. 1:28
[36] John Murray, The Christian World Order, excepts (1942)
[37] Romans 8:20-24
[38] Romans 1:18
[39] Romans 1:25
[40] Romans 1:21, 28, and Eph. 4:17
[41] Romans 1:25, 16, 32.
[42] “Noetic” stems from the Greek term for mind – nous; the idea here is that sin impacts the intellect. See, https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/simply-put/the-noetic-effects-of-sin
[43] Romans 1:19-21
[44] John 1:5
[45] John 8:44 – Jesus teaches that Satan “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
[46] John 14:6
[47] John 8:37
[48] 3 John 8
[49] Paul Kengor, A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century(2018)
[50] Zech 14:20-21
[51] Hab. 2:12-14
[52] Cf., Deut. 7:22, 23
[53] Gen. 3:1
[54] Is. 9:6, 7
[55] Is. 11:9
[56] Gen. 17:3
[57] Gen. 15:5; 22:17
[58]Gen. 22:17
[59] Dan. 2:44, 45
[60] Ezek. 47:1
[61] Ezek 47:9. 10
[62] Matt. 13:38
[63] 1 Cor. 15:25
[64] Heb. 10:12, 13
[65] Romans 16:20
[66]1John 3:8
[67] https://nleaven.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/n-t-wright-on-the-final-kingdom/
[68] Jeffery J. Ventrella, The Cathedrdal Builder – Pursuing Cultural Beauty (2007)