Education: A Student's Guide

By Ted Newell

Education has the power to shape culture through the passing on of traditions, narratives, and values across generations.
Profiling five distinct paradigms of education through different eras in history, this book casts a vision for a renewal of Christian education—essential for bringing hope to our postmodern world. Understanding the role of education in the reformation of societies will enable churches, families, and schools to reclaim their task for the spread of the gospel in our world today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crossway Books
• Release date: Jan 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781433554964

Ted Newell

Ted Newell (EdD, Columbia University; MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary) is associate professor of education at Crandall University. He previously developed a business curriculum for vocational schools with the Papua New Guinea Department of Education and has taught adults and children in churches. He is the author of two books on education and theology.

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This brief guide to the history of education is a valuable resource for those who wish to think about what education is, what it should be, and what it possibly could be. History helps to cure our myopia and enlarge our vision. Newell does a great job of presenting a broad picture of what education has been in various cultural settings in the past. Anyone interested in thinking Christianly about education would benefit from this small but wide-ranging treatment.

Craig A. Carter, Professor of Theology, Tyndale University College & Seminary, Toronto, Ontario; author, Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition

"In Education, Newell offers his readers a compact and readable history of Christians’ involvement in education. He traces both the continuities and the shifts from the time of Christ to the present. I recommend this volume for anyone wanting a clear and accessible telling of a complex story."

Ken Badley, Professor by Special Appointment, Tyndale University College & Seminary, Toronto, Ontario; author, Educational Foundations in Canada and Faith and Learning

Get ready for a whirlwind tour through over twenty centuries of education in the Christian tradition! Newell highlights educational efforts, both formal and informal, and explores how changes in society impacted the growth, decline, and change in educational efforts by the church and society. In light of the past, Newell explores issues for the ‘next’ Christian education. A helpful orientation that will prompt needed reflection for our times.

Kevin E. Lawson, Professor of Educational Leadership, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University; editor, Infants and Children in the Church; author, Supervising and Supporting Ministry Staff and Associate Staff Ministry

"How does one make sense of two millennia of education? Ted Newell does it effectively by exploring education as the process of learning a culture, guided by an animating story and vision of what really matters in life. Outlining five major historical paradigms, Newell provides a helpful map to guide readers through a complex terrain. In the process, he provides a compelling case for a renewed Christian education that challenges the flood of competing educational stories whose visions and values are not shaped by the gospel."

Harry Fernhout, President Emeritus, The King’s University, Edmonton

Ted Newell brings the reader on an exhilarating ride through history, tracing how the theory and practice of education has shaped, and been shaped, by both culture and Christian theology. He engages a wide breadth of literature as he seeks to make sense of the interplay and development of educational theory and practice with changing historical contexts. This small book introduces students to the world of education as it is experienced today and casts a vision of how Christians can and must be shaped by education in this post-Christian world. I highly recommend this book, not only for students, but for all Christians who work in the various fields of education. Newell offers a vision that is both realistic and hopeful with sound theological grounding and insightful cultural analysis.

Perry G. Downs, Professor Emeritus of Educational Ministries, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

~Series Endorsements~

Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition promises to be a very important series of guides—aimed at students—intended both to recover and instruct regarding the Christian intellectual tradition.

Robert B. Sloan, President, Houston Baptist University

Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition is an exciting series that will freshly introduce readers to the riches of historic Christian thought and practice. As the modern secular academy struggles to reclaim a semblance of purpose, this series demonstrates why a deeply rooted Christian worldview offers an intellectual coherence so badly needed in our fragmented culture. Assembling a formidable cohort of respected evangelical scholars, the series promises to supply must-read orientations to the disciplines for the next generation of Christian students.

Thomas Kidd, Department of History, Baylor University

This new series is exactly what Christian higher education needs to shore up its intellectual foundations for the challenges of the coming decades. Whether students are studying in professedly Christian institutions or in more traditionally secular settings, these volumes will provide a firm basis from which to withstand the dismissive attitude toward biblical thinking that seems so pervasive in the academy today. These titles will make their way onto the required reading lists for Christian colleges and universities seeking to ensure a firm biblical perspective for students, regardless of discipline. Similarly, campus pastors on secular campuses will find this series to be an invaluable bibliography for guiding students who are struggling with coalescing their emerging intellectual curiosity with their developing faith.

Carl E. Zylstra, President, Dordt College

Education

RECLAIMING THE CHRISTIAN INTELLECTUAL TRADITION

David S. Dockery, series editor

CONSULTING EDITORS

Hunter Baker

Timothy George

Niel Nielson

Philip G. Ryken

Michael J. Wilkins

John D. Woodbridge

OTHER RCIT VOLUMES:

Art and Music, Paul Munson and Joshua Farris Drake

Christian Worldview, Philip G. Ryken

Ethics and Moral Reasoning, C. Ben Mitchell

The Great Tradition of Christian Thinking, David S. Dockery and Timothy George

History, Nathan A. Finn

The Liberal Arts, Gene C. Fant Jr.

Literature, Louis Markos

Media, Journalism, and Communication, Read Mercer Schuchardt

The Natural Sciences, John A. Bloom

Philosophy, David K. Naugle

Political Thought, Hunter Baker

Psychology, Stanton L. Jones

Education

A Student’s Guide

Ted Newell

Education: A Student’s Guide

Copyright © 2019 by Ted Newell

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jon McGrath, Simplicated Studio

First printing 2019

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture references marked NRSV are from The New Revised Standard Version. Copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-5493-3

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-5496-4

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-5494-0

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-5495-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Newell, Ted, author.

Title: Education : a student’s guide / Ted Newell.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, [2019] | Series: Reclaiming the Christian intellectual tradition | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018013751 (print) | LCCN 2018044334 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433554940 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433554957 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433554964 (epub) | ISBN 9781433554933 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781433554964 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Christian education—Study and teaching. | Christian

education—History.

Classification: LCC BV1471.3 (ebook) | LCC BV1471.3 .N485 2019 (print) | DDC

261.5—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018013751

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2019-02-06 08:39:46 AM

Contents

Series Preface

1 The Potential of Christian Education

2 Jesus’s Education

3 Christian Education in Hellenistic City-States

4 Cloistered Education

5 Empirical Education

6 Progressive Education

7 The Next Christian Education

Questions for Reflection

Timeline

Glossary

Resources for Further Study

General Index

Scripture Index

Series Preface

Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition

The Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition series is designed to provide an overview of the distinctive way the church has read the Bible, formulated doctrine, provided education, and engaged the culture. The contributors to this series all agree that personal faith and genuine Christian piety are essential for the life of Christ followers and for the church. These contributors also believe that helping others recognize the importance of serious thinking about God, Scripture, and the world needs a renewed emphasis at this time in order that the truth claims of the Christian faith can be passed along from one generation to the next. The study guides in this series will enable believers to see afresh how the Christian faith shapes how we live, how we think, how we write books, how we govern society, and how we relate to one another in our churches and social structures. The richness of the Christian intellectual tradition provides guidance for the complex challenges that believers face in this world.

This series is particularly designed for Christian students and others associated with college and university campuses, including faculty, staff, trustees, and other various constituents. The contributors to the series will explore how the Bible has been interpreted in the history of the church, as well as how theology has been formulated. They will ask: How does the Christian faith influence our understanding of culture, literature, philosophy, government, beauty, art, or work? How does the Christian intellectual tradition help us understand truth? How does the Christian intellectual tradition shape our approach to education? We believe that this series is not only timely but that it meets an important need, because the secular culture in which we now find ourselves is, at best, indifferent to the Christian faith, and the Christian world—at least in its more popular forms—tends to be confused about the beliefs, heritage, and tradition associated with the Christian faith.

At the heart of this work is the challenge to prepare a generation of Christians to think Christianly, to engage the academy and the culture, and to serve church and society. We believe that both the breadth and the depth of the Christian intellectual tradition need to be reclaimed, revitalized, renewed, and revived for us to carry this work forward. These study guides seek to provide a framework to help introduce students to the great tradition of Christian thinking, seeking to highlight its importance for understanding the world, its significance for serving both church and society, and its application for Christian thinking and learning. The series is a starting point for exploring important ideas and issues such as truth, meaning, beauty, and justice.

We trust that the series will help introduce readers to the apostles, church fathers, Reformers, philosophers, theologians, historians, and a wide variety of other significant thinkers. In addition to well-known leaders such as Clement, Origen, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and Jonathan Edwards, readers will be pointed to William Wilberforce, G. K. Chesterton, T. S. Eliot, Dorothy Sayers, C. S. Lewis, Johann Sebastian Bach, Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, George Washington Carver, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Michael Polanyi, Henry Luke Orombi, and many others. In doing so, we hope to introduce those who throughout history have demonstrated that it is indeed possible to be serious about the life of the mind while simultaneously being deeply committed Christians.

These efforts to strengthen serious Christian thinking and scholarship will not be limited to the study of theology, scriptural interpretation, or philosophy, even though these areas provide the framework for understanding the Christian faith for all other areas of exploration. In order for us to reclaim and advance the Christian intellectual tradition, we must have some understanding of the tradition itself. The volumes in this series seek to explore this tradition and its application for our twenty-first-century world. Each volume contains a glossary, study questions, and a list of resources for further study, which we trust will provide helpful guidance for our readers.

I am deeply grateful to the series editorial committee: Timothy George, John Woodbridge, Michael Wilkins, Niel Nielson, Philip Ryken, and Hunter Baker. Each of these colleagues joins me in thanking our various contributors for their fine work. We all express our appreciation to Justin Taylor, Jill Carter, Allan Fisher, Lane Dennis, and the Crossway team for their enthusiastic support for this project. We offer the project with the hope that students will be helped, faculty and Christian leaders will be encouraged, institutions will be strengthened, churches will be built up, and, ultimately, that God will be glorified.

Soli Deo Gloria

David S. Dockery

Series Editor

1

The Potential of Christian Education

When disciplined learning tells the Christian story in a fresh way, history has shown that vibrant expressions of faith result:

In the 800s, organized learning in a Europe united under Charlemagne brought a time of confidence when Christian culture flowered.

The 1100s renewal of learning seen in figures like Anselm and Bernard of Clairvaux led to the first universities.

The 1400s revival of humanistic learning in northern Europe and diffusion of books from the movable-type printing press raised interest in what Scripture really taught. The next generation saw a widespread renewal of faith in Christ.

John Wesley, the mid-eighteenth-century evangelist to Britain and America, maintained the gains of the Great Awakening for at least another century through Bible learning carried out in small groups called classes.

Denominations formed universities in the 1800s to train leaders for churches and society. University-based revivals brought urgency to the worldwide Christian movement.

Education can foster a wide renewal of the Christian story in our time and place. Initiatives in education can be a sign of Christian renewal, and feed it. Getting the story right changes people. Imaginations are fired. Believers reclaim a vision for evangelism, missions, church life, education, and family life.

This guide aims to introduce the academic field of education in a Christian perspective. It takes Christian education in the widest perspective possible. It discusses all types of disciplined learning—schools, universities, seminaries, local churches, parachurch organizations, youth ministries, and families.

Education has a strong claim as the very first Christian intellectual tradition. The apostles Paul, John, Peter, and others wrote documents for local churches in Corinth or Rome and elsewhere where individuals engaged in a battle of knowledge. The New Testament effort might be