We had the opportunity to watch Jacob, a junior at Summit, in the final round of his golf tournament on Sunday. Jacob is our son's mentor and also coaches several of the younger Summit boys in golf. To walk 18 holes and watch this young man in a threesome of teens consistently strike sweet, pure shots across a course that was carved out of the local beauty, stretching forth beneath the crisp, azure October sky, was to experience poetry in motion.
I know that for many the idea of "performance art" conjures up images of people doing things on stage that no one else understands and then forcing all those confused people to call what they have seen "art," lest they be branded as rubes who do not appreciate the avant garde. What we observed today, however, was truly performative art. The Greeks are famous for having celebrated the human form in art, and not only were they right to do so, but no one did it any better than they did, and few have done it as well since. God created human beings in His own image. The human form, and especially the human form in motion, is a thing of beauty. The young men in Jacob's threesome gave ample testament to that today. They swung effortlessly and purely time after time after time, sending the ball soaring on a trajectory that, often as not, caused it to land a great distance straight in front of them.
It was the ease of their swings...energy and power expressed in fluid grace...displayed in a natural amphitheatre of God's creation that made the experience one of glory. Glory for the young men who played or glory for the course architect who so artfully crafted a course that so little violated nature it seemed as if it had existed as it was since time immemorial? No. Sharing an afternoon with Jacob while he did what God has gifted him to do, spending time with a young man who is such a wonderful influence in the life of our own son, was to turn our hearts with gratitude toward God. He it was who created this young man with such a sweet swing. He it was who gave him the kind of heart that makes him an ideal mentor and coach for other young men. He it was who set the stage for it all when He spoke creation into existence.
This was indeed a day well spent.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Faithfulness in Exile
In Philippians 3:20, NIV, Paul writes, "But our citizenship is in heaven." Our life on earth is one of exile, and there are different ways we can live out our life while on the journey home. In his book American Babylon, Richard John Neuhaus describes several, concluding with one that made me think of all the families involved in Classical Christian education.
"Some choose accomodation -- up to a point, praying they will recognize that point when it comes. Some strive to engage and transform the world where they are, hoping to make it less strange, knowing it will always fall pitifully short of the city to which they are called. For yet others, fidelity in exile is the course of subversion and even insurrection. Witness the liberation theologies of our time and all times. Then there are those who deliberately, and often at great sacrifice, choose to create enclaves of fidelity, outposts of the promised Kingdom, islands of Christendom in the absence of Christendom. Thus a dynamic that is at the core of the monastic tradition. Thus a growing number of Christian parents today who, through home schooling and other exertions, strive to make the family a haven from a heartless world. Faithfulness in exile takes many forms."
"Some choose accomodation -- up to a point, praying they will recognize that point when it comes. Some strive to engage and transform the world where they are, hoping to make it less strange, knowing it will always fall pitifully short of the city to which they are called. For yet others, fidelity in exile is the course of subversion and even insurrection. Witness the liberation theologies of our time and all times. Then there are those who deliberately, and often at great sacrifice, choose to create enclaves of fidelity, outposts of the promised Kingdom, islands of Christendom in the absence of Christendom. Thus a dynamic that is at the core of the monastic tradition. Thus a growing number of Christian parents today who, through home schooling and other exertions, strive to make the family a haven from a heartless world. Faithfulness in exile takes many forms."
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Christian Atheist Citizens
In his last book before his death earlier this year, American Babylon, former-Lutheran-pastor-turned-Catholic-priest Richard John Neuhaus, who was once named by Time as one of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America, wrote a chapter titled, "Can An Atheist Be a Good Citizen?" Early in the chapter he mentions that the first Christians were considered atheists by the polytheists of the Roman Empire, for they were "without the gods" and adamantly opposed to them.
Eventually he includes a piece from George Washington's farewell address, delivered at the end of his second term of office. Our first President, who aptly received the title pater patriae, said this:
And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. (American Babylon, 114)
Neuhaus himself then goes on to say:
"In such a nation, an atheist can be a citizen, but he cannot be a good citizen. A good citizen does more than abide by the laws. A good citizen is able to give an account, a morally compelling account, of the regime of which he is part -- and to do so in continuity with the constituting moment and subsequent history of that regime. He is able to justify its defense against its enemies, and to convincingly recommend its virtues to citizens of the next generation so that they, in turn, can transmit the order of government to citizens yet unborn. This regime of liberal democracy, of republican self-governance, is not self-evidently good and just. Reasons must be given. They must be reasons that draw authority from that which is higher than ourselves, from that which transcends us, fromthat to which we are precedently, ultimately obliged." (American Babylon, 116, emphasis mine)
"Those who adhere to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus turn out to be the best citizens. Those who were once called "atheists" are now the most persuasive defenders not of the gods but of the good reasons for this regime of ordered liberty. They are that not despite the fact that their loyalty to this polis is qualified by a higher loyalty, but because of it. The ultimate allegiance of the faithful is not to the regime or to its constituting texts, but to the City of God and the sacred texts that guide our path toward that destination. We are dual citizens in a regime that, as Madison and others underscored, was designed for such duality. When the political order forgets itself and reestablishes the gods of the polis, even if it does so in the name of liberal democracy, these citizens have not choice but to run the risk of once again being called 'atheists.'" (American Babylon, 117)
Whatever else we teach our children about being good citizens, and we must teach them to be good citizens, we must teach them that their primary allegiance is to the God under Whom exists the nation to which they pledge a secondary allegiance. Ours is a nation in which anyone and anything can become a god. Yet whether such a state of affairs is good or bad can only be articulated in any coherent and meaningful way by those who have come to know the Truth, not the desiccated propositional truth of the philosophers and scientists, although even such lower-case truths have their foundation of their existence in the upper-case Truth, but the Truth Who was and is and is to come, the Truth Who became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. With such an understanding of ethics informed by this personal Truth, this Truth Who is a person, the Christian citizen can articulate what true justice is, why it matters, and provide sound arguments for how it can be achieved.
Oddly, it was part of the initial design of the free public school system in America to produce just such good citizens. Yet by refusing the God Who is Truth and substituting for Him an atheistic pantheon of disembodied beliefs, such schools are incapable of producing the kind of citizens who can, as Neuhaus urges "convincingly recommend its virtiues to citizens of the next generation so that they, in turn, can transmit the order of government to citizens yet unborn."
To the degree that the Christian school has not lost its mandate and become a prep school for the elite with a nominal chapel time thrown in for good measure, it alone in this present age is capable of producing what our nation needs, good citizens capable of working for the good of their country.
Eventually he includes a piece from George Washington's farewell address, delivered at the end of his second term of office. Our first President, who aptly received the title pater patriae, said this:
And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. (American Babylon, 114)
Neuhaus himself then goes on to say:
"In such a nation, an atheist can be a citizen, but he cannot be a good citizen. A good citizen does more than abide by the laws. A good citizen is able to give an account, a morally compelling account, of the regime of which he is part -- and to do so in continuity with the constituting moment and subsequent history of that regime. He is able to justify its defense against its enemies, and to convincingly recommend its virtues to citizens of the next generation so that they, in turn, can transmit the order of government to citizens yet unborn. This regime of liberal democracy, of republican self-governance, is not self-evidently good and just. Reasons must be given. They must be reasons that draw authority from that which is higher than ourselves, from that which transcends us, fromthat to which we are precedently, ultimately obliged." (American Babylon, 116, emphasis mine)
"Those who adhere to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus turn out to be the best citizens. Those who were once called "atheists" are now the most persuasive defenders not of the gods but of the good reasons for this regime of ordered liberty. They are that not despite the fact that their loyalty to this polis is qualified by a higher loyalty, but because of it. The ultimate allegiance of the faithful is not to the regime or to its constituting texts, but to the City of God and the sacred texts that guide our path toward that destination. We are dual citizens in a regime that, as Madison and others underscored, was designed for such duality. When the political order forgets itself and reestablishes the gods of the polis, even if it does so in the name of liberal democracy, these citizens have not choice but to run the risk of once again being called 'atheists.'" (American Babylon, 117)
Whatever else we teach our children about being good citizens, and we must teach them to be good citizens, we must teach them that their primary allegiance is to the God under Whom exists the nation to which they pledge a secondary allegiance. Ours is a nation in which anyone and anything can become a god. Yet whether such a state of affairs is good or bad can only be articulated in any coherent and meaningful way by those who have come to know the Truth, not the desiccated propositional truth of the philosophers and scientists, although even such lower-case truths have their foundation of their existence in the upper-case Truth, but the Truth Who was and is and is to come, the Truth Who became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. With such an understanding of ethics informed by this personal Truth, this Truth Who is a person, the Christian citizen can articulate what true justice is, why it matters, and provide sound arguments for how it can be achieved.
Oddly, it was part of the initial design of the free public school system in America to produce just such good citizens. Yet by refusing the God Who is Truth and substituting for Him an atheistic pantheon of disembodied beliefs, such schools are incapable of producing the kind of citizens who can, as Neuhaus urges "convincingly recommend its virtiues to citizens of the next generation so that they, in turn, can transmit the order of government to citizens yet unborn."
To the degree that the Christian school has not lost its mandate and become a prep school for the elite with a nominal chapel time thrown in for good measure, it alone in this present age is capable of producing what our nation needs, good citizens capable of working for the good of their country.
Friday, September 4, 2009
On Libraries
I imagine that Zenodotus must be spinning in his grave. Don't remember who Zenodotus was? Let me give you a hint: had he married a modern girl, her name very likely would have been Marian.* Still don't know? Zenodotus was the first head of the great library at Alexandria. He was also the first to employ alphabetical order as a means of organizing materials.
According to this CNN article, the future of libraries as we know them is changing, and fast. The article describes moves by some libraries to become digital centers of information exchange. Books not required.
I am getting tired of making the same statements everywhere I go, but here I am saying the same ol' same ol'. I am not a luddite. I use the Internet, word processing, spreadsheets, blogs, Twitter, the whole nine yards. But I agree with Maryanne Wolf in her book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, that something different happens neuronally, cognitively, and emotionally when we read a book than when we read the same text digitized. There is a depth of processing that tends to occur in the former method that does not take place in the latter. Mark Bauerlein in his amply researched and annotated book The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future concurs.
Of course, in an age and culture that recognizes not the value of the specific and the particular, assuming as they do that content in one format is the same in another, could not possibly appreciate the aesthetic value of holding a book in one's hand, inhaling the fragrance of the newly printed page or the page grown musty with age, annotating in the margins. Then again, neither our present age nor our culture seem capable of acknowledging such a thing as aesthetic value to begin with.
A friend recently gave me a beautiful leather-bound volume of Pope's translation of the Iliad. It sits proudly beside its companion volume, the Odyssey. I would prefer to read my favorite poet's version of one of my favorite stories from those volumes than from any of the innumerable websites on which they exist. I can only hope that they will remain on more bookshelves than just my own.
*For those who did not get the clue, this is a reference to the song "Marian the Librarian" from the musical Music Man.
According to this CNN article, the future of libraries as we know them is changing, and fast. The article describes moves by some libraries to become digital centers of information exchange. Books not required.
I am getting tired of making the same statements everywhere I go, but here I am saying the same ol' same ol'. I am not a luddite. I use the Internet, word processing, spreadsheets, blogs, Twitter, the whole nine yards. But I agree with Maryanne Wolf in her book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, that something different happens neuronally, cognitively, and emotionally when we read a book than when we read the same text digitized. There is a depth of processing that tends to occur in the former method that does not take place in the latter. Mark Bauerlein in his amply researched and annotated book The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future concurs.
Of course, in an age and culture that recognizes not the value of the specific and the particular, assuming as they do that content in one format is the same in another, could not possibly appreciate the aesthetic value of holding a book in one's hand, inhaling the fragrance of the newly printed page or the page grown musty with age, annotating in the margins. Then again, neither our present age nor our culture seem capable of acknowledging such a thing as aesthetic value to begin with.
A friend recently gave me a beautiful leather-bound volume of Pope's translation of the Iliad. It sits proudly beside its companion volume, the Odyssey. I would prefer to read my favorite poet's version of one of my favorite stories from those volumes than from any of the innumerable websites on which they exist. I can only hope that they will remain on more bookshelves than just my own.
*For those who did not get the clue, this is a reference to the song "Marian the Librarian" from the musical Music Man.
The Worth of a Book
As I commented in another post, I recently read the play The Laramie Project so I could be more prepared for the local high school that is performing it this fall. As that post indicates I was not impressed with the play as a whole. As a result, I returned it to the local bookstore where I had purchased it. When the clerk asked if I would like to do an exchange, I went to look for another book I wanted. As it turned out, the new book cost less than the one I was returning, so I got a $2.61 credit.
So what was the other book that cost less than The Laramie Project? It was Anthony Esolen's translation of Dante's Inferno. Yes, that's right. Dante. As T.S. Eliot said, there is Shakespeare and Dante. They divide the world between them, and there is no one else. Dante, who, according to George Steiner, is the only true critic of Vergil. How could such a book be of less monetary value than a contemporary experimental play that, unlike Dante's work, will undoubtedly not even be remembered seven hundred years from now?
Oh, it must have been a cheap edition you say, a hack translation perhaps. Hardly. Dr. Esolen's translation is wonderful. He eschews rhyme, something many Dante lovers may scream at, but he rightly notes that rhyme, at least in English, forces too many contortions of meaning. He employs instead regular blank verse, a form wielded to great effect by no less than Milton. And the edition itself contains the Italian on facing pages, to say nothing of more useful appendices than I have ever run across in an edition aimed at the popular market. There is an appendix with ample citations from Vergil, one with citations from Aquinas, and a host of other notes and materials that make it an excellent edition for pleasure and for study.
While not displeased to have received my $2.61 credit, I remarked to the clerk that if we were measuring genuine worth, my second purchase should have been five times the cost of the first.
So what was the other book that cost less than The Laramie Project? It was Anthony Esolen's translation of Dante's Inferno. Yes, that's right. Dante. As T.S. Eliot said, there is Shakespeare and Dante. They divide the world between them, and there is no one else. Dante, who, according to George Steiner, is the only true critic of Vergil. How could such a book be of less monetary value than a contemporary experimental play that, unlike Dante's work, will undoubtedly not even be remembered seven hundred years from now?
Oh, it must have been a cheap edition you say, a hack translation perhaps. Hardly. Dr. Esolen's translation is wonderful. He eschews rhyme, something many Dante lovers may scream at, but he rightly notes that rhyme, at least in English, forces too many contortions of meaning. He employs instead regular blank verse, a form wielded to great effect by no less than Milton. And the edition itself contains the Italian on facing pages, to say nothing of more useful appendices than I have ever run across in an edition aimed at the popular market. There is an appendix with ample citations from Vergil, one with citations from Aquinas, and a host of other notes and materials that make it an excellent edition for pleasure and for study.
While not displeased to have received my $2.61 credit, I remarked to the clerk that if we were measuring genuine worth, my second purchase should have been five times the cost of the first.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Lone Founts
by Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Though fast youth's glorious fable flies,
View not the world with worlding's eyes;
Nor turn with weather of the time.
Foreclose the coming of surprise:
Stand where Posterity shall stand;
Stand where the Ancients stood before,
And, dipping in lone founts thy hand,
Drink of the never-varying lore:
Wise once, and wise thence evermore.
by Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Though fast youth's glorious fable flies,
View not the world with worlding's eyes;
Nor turn with weather of the time.
Foreclose the coming of surprise:
Stand where Posterity shall stand;
Stand where the Ancients stood before,
And, dipping in lone founts thy hand,
Drink of the never-varying lore:
Wise once, and wise thence evermore.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Cursive
It is sad to report that at least one suburban public school district has chosen to replace time spent teaching cursive writing with time spent teaching children how to operate a computer keyboard. Do most in our society use the keyboard? Yes. Do more use the keyboard than a fine fountain pen? Without question. Do those who do put pen to paper print rather than use cursive? Almost without exception.
And to this I ask, so what? A school district only takes its curricular mandates from the shrill voice of the moment when it has given its soul in sycophantic subservience to the jackbooted tyranny of the pragmatic.
Yet when a school or school district dares, when a group of educators dares, when parents dare to pursue true education, the kind suggested in Plato's famous "Allegory of the Cave" in which a mind is led forth from darkness to light and not merely equipped to do a job, then children are educated in truth, goodness, and beauty. The last in the list is by no means the least, and every effort is made to instill in them not only an appreciation for all that is good and true in the graphic, musical, and performative arts, but also the ability for them to take their place beside other artists by developing their own artistic gifts.
Is cursive necessary to fill out a form or to post on a blog? Not at all. But does it add immeasurably to a poem or letter from a lover to a beloved, does it grace the note of thanks or sympathy, does it bring a touch of elegance amidst the quotidian pressures and stresses of life that erode the humane senses? It certainly can. Unfortunately, such simple grace will no longer be available to the children of this school district.
And to this I ask, so what? A school district only takes its curricular mandates from the shrill voice of the moment when it has given its soul in sycophantic subservience to the jackbooted tyranny of the pragmatic.
Yet when a school or school district dares, when a group of educators dares, when parents dare to pursue true education, the kind suggested in Plato's famous "Allegory of the Cave" in which a mind is led forth from darkness to light and not merely equipped to do a job, then children are educated in truth, goodness, and beauty. The last in the list is by no means the least, and every effort is made to instill in them not only an appreciation for all that is good and true in the graphic, musical, and performative arts, but also the ability for them to take their place beside other artists by developing their own artistic gifts.
Is cursive necessary to fill out a form or to post on a blog? Not at all. But does it add immeasurably to a poem or letter from a lover to a beloved, does it grace the note of thanks or sympathy, does it bring a touch of elegance amidst the quotidian pressures and stresses of life that erode the humane senses? It certainly can. Unfortunately, such simple grace will no longer be available to the children of this school district.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Aristotle and Contemporary Theatre
I just finished reading the play The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman. Before continuing, let me say that I could not recommend it for its moral content, for its content is absolutely amoral from a Christian perspective. Not only does it portray the Christian faith in a false and negative way, it presents as absolutely normal a sinful lifestyle. I read it in order to be informed about the play because it will be performed this fall at an area high school.
That said, the play contains what Kaufman calls a series of "moments," an idea he derived from a Brecht essay in which Brecht describes "an eyewitness demonstrating to a collection of people how a traffic accident took place." There is no traditional plot in Kaufman's play, no traditional character development. There is a series of actors who come on stage to portray various characters. Occasionally the characters interact, but the play is in long stretches a concatenation of monologues. To be honest, I did find the technique interesting.
Musing then about dramaturgy in general, I took a look at Aristotle's Poetics and found the following.
"The tragedies of most of the moderns are characterless -- a defect common among poets of all kinds.... [O]ne may string together a series of characteristic speeches of the utmost finish as regards Diction and Thought, and yet fail to produce a true tragic effect; but one will have much better success with a tragedy which, however inferior in these respects, has a Plot, a combination of incidents, in it." (Poetics 1450a)
Clearly Aristotle would not approve of Kaufman's work nor, I would imagine, of much else in modern theatre.
He goes on,
"[T]he poet's function is to describe, not the thing that has happened, but a kind of thing that might happen, i.e. what is possible as being probable or necessary. The distinction between historian and poet is not in the one writing prose and the other verse...; it consists really in this, that the one describes the thing that has been, and the other a kind of thing that might be. Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are of the nature rather of universals, whereas those of history are singulars." (Poetics, 1451b)
And now we get to the heart of it. When Aristotle talks of poets and poetry, he is talking of drama, for all drama was written in poetic meter. Today, music, theatre, movies, and television, are obsessed with the singulars rather than the universals. Rather than transcend the historical moment in which it is produced, dramatic and musical art seems focused on becoming ever more accurate in what it portrays. In fact, verisimilitude seems to be the prime, if not the sole, criterion for measuring success in drama and lyrical music. The more the rap artist uses language like what is found on the streets, the more the police drama can use real-life scenarios and procedures, the better.
What, then, takes us beyond the suffocatingly immanent? Obsessed with the here-and-now, we find ourselves looking only and ever more inward. What can lift our eyes to where, as Pope once observed, "hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise?" Alas, it is not The Laramie Project, however interesting or novel its dramaturgy. Aeschylus' trilogy Oresteia or Sophocles' Oedipus cycle, perhaps Euripides' Alcestis, to say nothing of Shakespeare or even the more recent A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt...these fulfill Aristotle's vision, for indeed they are pieces of graver import than anything else to be found today.
That said, the play contains what Kaufman calls a series of "moments," an idea he derived from a Brecht essay in which Brecht describes "an eyewitness demonstrating to a collection of people how a traffic accident took place." There is no traditional plot in Kaufman's play, no traditional character development. There is a series of actors who come on stage to portray various characters. Occasionally the characters interact, but the play is in long stretches a concatenation of monologues. To be honest, I did find the technique interesting.
Musing then about dramaturgy in general, I took a look at Aristotle's Poetics and found the following.
"The tragedies of most of the moderns are characterless -- a defect common among poets of all kinds.... [O]ne may string together a series of characteristic speeches of the utmost finish as regards Diction and Thought, and yet fail to produce a true tragic effect; but one will have much better success with a tragedy which, however inferior in these respects, has a Plot, a combination of incidents, in it." (Poetics 1450a)
Clearly Aristotle would not approve of Kaufman's work nor, I would imagine, of much else in modern theatre.
He goes on,
"[T]he poet's function is to describe, not the thing that has happened, but a kind of thing that might happen, i.e. what is possible as being probable or necessary. The distinction between historian and poet is not in the one writing prose and the other verse...; it consists really in this, that the one describes the thing that has been, and the other a kind of thing that might be. Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are of the nature rather of universals, whereas those of history are singulars." (Poetics, 1451b)
And now we get to the heart of it. When Aristotle talks of poets and poetry, he is talking of drama, for all drama was written in poetic meter. Today, music, theatre, movies, and television, are obsessed with the singulars rather than the universals. Rather than transcend the historical moment in which it is produced, dramatic and musical art seems focused on becoming ever more accurate in what it portrays. In fact, verisimilitude seems to be the prime, if not the sole, criterion for measuring success in drama and lyrical music. The more the rap artist uses language like what is found on the streets, the more the police drama can use real-life scenarios and procedures, the better.
What, then, takes us beyond the suffocatingly immanent? Obsessed with the here-and-now, we find ourselves looking only and ever more inward. What can lift our eyes to where, as Pope once observed, "hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise?" Alas, it is not The Laramie Project, however interesting or novel its dramaturgy. Aeschylus' trilogy Oresteia or Sophocles' Oedipus cycle, perhaps Euripides' Alcestis, to say nothing of Shakespeare or even the more recent A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt...these fulfill Aristotle's vision, for indeed they are pieces of graver import than anything else to be found today.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Why Our School Exists
I ran across the following article and found it to be an insightful and incisive argument for why The Summit Academy exists. It is not long and is well worth your time to read.
http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2009/08/what-do-you-want-an-engraved-dismissal.html
In addition, there is this on the recent New Hampshire court ruling, forcing a young girl to attend the local public school because it found she was too much like her mother, who homeschooled her, when it came to the issue of her Christian faith. No, I am not making this up!
http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2009/08/what-do-you-want-an-engraved-dismissal.html
In addition, there is this on the recent New Hampshire court ruling, forcing a young girl to attend the local public school because it found she was too much like her mother, who homeschooled her, when it came to the issue of her Christian faith. No, I am not making this up!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
We Have a Location!
We have a location!
Union Chapel Church met for the last time to allow a final opportunity for Q&A, open debate as part of the Administrative Council procedure and then to approve the lease agreement.
Just to explain the atmosphere and the congregation’s mood, I haven’t seen that many smiles in one room in a long, long time. The vote was 32-0, a unanimous decision to openly welcome us onto their property. There was genuine excitement throughout the conversation and after the meeting was over, discussion of all the new possibilities, ways to make rooms work better, cleaning up and getting organized was so fun to watch. Faces I saw to be hesitant just days or weeks ago were bright and enthusiastic, full of joy. That went on for nearly an hour after the meeting was over. These folks are truly excited for us and for the ministry opportunities that are sure to flow out as we come to know each other a bit better. In the two Sundays I’ve spent with them as a congregation and in meetings with their Board of Trustees, I have found them to be incredibly kind and full of a love for the Lord. I pray that you will take time to get to know these people as they want to get to know all of you.
God has truly blessed both parties with this opportunity for the coming year and I pray that we will bless them with the same level of loving commitment that we have for The Summit Academy.
Thursday, July 23rd is your first opportunity to do just that as we hold our informational meeting for families, Union Chapel members and prospective families. The fun starts at 6pm for Summit Families and I’m sure there will be members excited to meet you there so please come! Join in a time of celebrating God’s love for us all and this school. Can you actually say no to ice cream? We didn’t think so! Come and give thanks.
Thank you for your patience and so many prayers,
Mickey Justice
Board President
The Summit Academy
Union Chapel Church met for the last time to allow a final opportunity for Q&A, open debate as part of the Administrative Council procedure and then to approve the lease agreement.
Just to explain the atmosphere and the congregation’s mood, I haven’t seen that many smiles in one room in a long, long time. The vote was 32-0, a unanimous decision to openly welcome us onto their property. There was genuine excitement throughout the conversation and after the meeting was over, discussion of all the new possibilities, ways to make rooms work better, cleaning up and getting organized was so fun to watch. Faces I saw to be hesitant just days or weeks ago were bright and enthusiastic, full of joy. That went on for nearly an hour after the meeting was over. These folks are truly excited for us and for the ministry opportunities that are sure to flow out as we come to know each other a bit better. In the two Sundays I’ve spent with them as a congregation and in meetings with their Board of Trustees, I have found them to be incredibly kind and full of a love for the Lord. I pray that you will take time to get to know these people as they want to get to know all of you.
God has truly blessed both parties with this opportunity for the coming year and I pray that we will bless them with the same level of loving commitment that we have for The Summit Academy.
Thursday, July 23rd is your first opportunity to do just that as we hold our informational meeting for families, Union Chapel members and prospective families. The fun starts at 6pm for Summit Families and I’m sure there will be members excited to meet you there so please come! Join in a time of celebrating God’s love for us all and this school. Can you actually say no to ice cream? We didn’t think so! Come and give thanks.
Thank you for your patience and so many prayers,
Mickey Justice
Board President
The Summit Academy
Our New Home for 2009-2010
A lot has been happening this summer, and we want to share with you some of the changes that are taking place as we look toward the new school year. After many long, prayerful meetings and exploration of many possible locations for our school, we are excited to announce that The Summit Academy will meet for the 2009-2010 school year at Union Chapel United Methodist Church. Union Chapel is located at 2720 East 86th Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46240.
The people of Union Chapel have shown great enthusiasm in welcoming us into their facility, and we are eager for all Summit families to see the space that will be our home for the next year. We hope you will be able to join us for an informational meeting on Thursday, July 23 at the church. Current Summit families will meet from 6:00-7:00 p.m. to see the facility, with a general informational meeting following from 7:00-8:00 for all current and prospective Summit families as well as our new friends at Union Chapel, who are very much looking forward to this evening. It will be a great opportunity not only to tour the church, but also to begin building relationships with our new hosts. Popcorn, hotdogs, and ice cream will be on hand, and children are invited to check out the playground equipment and basketball courts.
Paul wrote the Philippians, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:4-6, NIV) The Summit board is likewise filled with joy because of the partnership of all our families in an adventure in education that is rooted in the gospel. Like Paul, we, too, are confident that our Lord will carry to completion the good work that He has begun at Summit.
We hope you will be able to join us on Thursday, July 23, at Union Chapel for a time of fellowship, catching up on the events of the summer, and sharing in our vision for the future. It is an exciting time in the life The Summit Academy, and we look forward to where God is leading us.
The people of Union Chapel have shown great enthusiasm in welcoming us into their facility, and we are eager for all Summit families to see the space that will be our home for the next year. We hope you will be able to join us for an informational meeting on Thursday, July 23 at the church. Current Summit families will meet from 6:00-7:00 p.m. to see the facility, with a general informational meeting following from 7:00-8:00 for all current and prospective Summit families as well as our new friends at Union Chapel, who are very much looking forward to this evening. It will be a great opportunity not only to tour the church, but also to begin building relationships with our new hosts. Popcorn, hotdogs, and ice cream will be on hand, and children are invited to check out the playground equipment and basketball courts.
Paul wrote the Philippians, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:4-6, NIV) The Summit board is likewise filled with joy because of the partnership of all our families in an adventure in education that is rooted in the gospel. Like Paul, we, too, are confident that our Lord will carry to completion the good work that He has begun at Summit.
We hope you will be able to join us on Thursday, July 23, at Union Chapel for a time of fellowship, catching up on the events of the summer, and sharing in our vision for the future. It is an exciting time in the life The Summit Academy, and we look forward to where God is leading us.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Latin Grammar and Chemistry
I spoke today with a Latin II student at the public high school where I teach. She informed me that she could not take Latin next year because she was enrolling in a veterinary science class that would occupy three class periods. I asked her what she would take if she were not taking the veterinary class, and she replied that she would be taking a second math and a second science class in addition to the math and science she will already be taking, along with Latin.
Her choice, then, was between taking a schedule with two math and two science classes along with Latin III, or one with only one math, one science, and the veterinary class.
I was immediately put in mind of the following account, which I shared with her.
In the early 20th century, the great German chemist, Bauer, was asked by one of his colleagues whether his best students came from the Real-Schulen (a modern school where chemistry was taught as a subject) or from the Gymnasien (a traditional liberal arts school where Latin grammar was stressed). His colleague's assumption was that the best science students would come from the Real-Schulen.
"Not at all," [Bauer] replied; "all my best students come from the Gymnasien. The students from the Real-Schulen do best at first; but after three months work here, they are, as a rule, left behind by those coming from the Gymnasien." The colleague wondered at this because the Real-Schulen students had been especially instructed in chemistry. "Yes," he replied; "but the students from the Gymnasien have the best trained minds. Give me a student who has been taught his Latin grammar, and I will answer for his chemistry." (Kelsey, Latin and Greek in American Education, New York, NY: Macmillan, 1911, p. 24)
I asked my student who had advised her on this choice of curriculum. Her guidance advisor at school and, to my surprise, someone at the university she wishes to attend...North Carolina.
She and her mother thought that the veterinary class would give her a leg up when it came to such studies in college. I tried to help her see that the better preparation would be more classes in math, more in science, and more in Latin, precisely for the reasons that Bauer cited, but when I ran up against the university itself saying the opposite, I ceased trying to persuade her.
This is but one more example of an educational system and a social culture within our country that fails to recognize what true education is.
Her choice, then, was between taking a schedule with two math and two science classes along with Latin III, or one with only one math, one science, and the veterinary class.
I was immediately put in mind of the following account, which I shared with her.
In the early 20th century, the great German chemist, Bauer, was asked by one of his colleagues whether his best students came from the Real-Schulen (a modern school where chemistry was taught as a subject) or from the Gymnasien (a traditional liberal arts school where Latin grammar was stressed). His colleague's assumption was that the best science students would come from the Real-Schulen.
"Not at all," [Bauer] replied; "all my best students come from the Gymnasien. The students from the Real-Schulen do best at first; but after three months work here, they are, as a rule, left behind by those coming from the Gymnasien." The colleague wondered at this because the Real-Schulen students had been especially instructed in chemistry. "Yes," he replied; "but the students from the Gymnasien have the best trained minds. Give me a student who has been taught his Latin grammar, and I will answer for his chemistry." (Kelsey, Latin and Greek in American Education, New York, NY: Macmillan, 1911, p. 24)
I asked my student who had advised her on this choice of curriculum. Her guidance advisor at school and, to my surprise, someone at the university she wishes to attend...North Carolina.
She and her mother thought that the veterinary class would give her a leg up when it came to such studies in college. I tried to help her see that the better preparation would be more classes in math, more in science, and more in Latin, precisely for the reasons that Bauer cited, but when I ran up against the university itself saying the opposite, I ceased trying to persuade her.
This is but one more example of an educational system and a social culture within our country that fails to recognize what true education is.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Special Facilities Update
The Facilities Committee and the Board are excited to say that our search is nearly over! We have narrowed the options to two final properties, one in the west 86th Street area and one near 131st and Meridian. We are waiting for a little more information on one of them, but the board has committed to making a decision for our 2009-2010 location that we can share with everyone the Tuesday we return from Spring Break. Please take this time...whether you are at the beach, in the mountains, or staying home for Spring Break...to pray diligently each day for us to hear clearly God's voice. We are excited about our options and want to make a faithful decision.
Friday, March 6, 2009
How Democracies Become Tyrannies
An article from American Thinker titled "How Democracies Become Tyrannies" not only puts forward an insightful view of the times through the lens of Book VIII of Plato's Republic, but also presents an excellent example of the application of Classical learning in the modern world.
We read ancient works that have proven their worth by standing the test of time so that we may better understand and live in our own times.
This article is must-reading, especially for our rhetoric students.
We read ancient works that have proven their worth by standing the test of time so that we may better understand and live in our own times.
This article is must-reading, especially for our rhetoric students.
_ _ _ at School
What three-letter word rhyming with "nod" fits into the blanks in the title of this post? If you are a student at Lakeview Elementary School in Mt. Juliet, TN, you will never know. This article on this latest in an ongoing attack on God and those who follow Him can be found here.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Death's Duel
The great English poet John Donne (1572-1631) delivered his final sermon in 1630. It was during Lent and was titled Death's Duell. The following is the conclusion of that sermon, and I found it so eloquent, so poignant, that I just had to share it. Yes, the language is a bit difficult. Try not to get hung up on individual words and just push through. Let the general force of the piece carry its message. For those who want to read the entire sermon, you can find it here.
Take in the whole day from the hour that Christ received the passover upon Thursday unto the hour in which he died the next day. Make this present day that day in thy devotion, and consider what he did, and remember what you have done. Before he instituted and celebrated the sacrament (which was after the eating of the passover), he proceeded to that act of humility, to wash his disciples' feet, even Peter's, who for a while resisted him. In thy preparation to the holy and blessed sacrament, hast thou with a sincere humility sought a reconciliation with all the world, even with those that have been averse from it, and refused that reconciliation from thee? If so, and not else, thou hast spent that first part of his last day in a conformity with him. After the sacrament he spent the time till night in prayer, in preaching, in psalms: hast thou considered that a worthy receiving of the sacrament consists in a continuation of holiness after, as well as in a preparation before? If so, thou hast therein also conformed thyself to him; so Christ spent his time till night. At night he went into the garden to pray, and he prayed prolixious, he spent much time in prayer, how much? Because it is literally expressed, that he prayed there three several times, and that returning to his disciples after his first prayer, and finding them asleep, said, Could ye not watch with me one hour, it is collected that he spent three hours in prayer. I dare scarce ask thee whither thou wentest, or how thou disposedst of thyself, when it grew dark and after last night. If that time were spent in a holy recommendation of thyself to God, and a submission of thy will to his, it was spent in a conformity to him. In that time, and in those prayers, was his agony and bloody sweat. I will hope that thou didst pray; but not every ordinary and customary prayer, but prayer actually accompanied with shedding of tears and dispositively in a readiness to shed blood for his glory in necessary cases, puts thee into a conformity with him. About midnight he was taken and bound with a kiss, art thou not too conformable to him in that? Is not that too literally, too exactly thy case, at midnight to have been taken and bound with a kiss? From thence he was carried back to Jerusalem, first to Annas, then to Caiaphas, and (as late as it was) then he was examined and buffered, and delivered over to the custody of those officers from whom he received all those irrisions, and violences, the covering of his face, the spitting upon his face, the blasphemies of words, and the smartness of blows, which that gospel mentions: in which compass fell that gallicinium, that crowing of the cock which called up Peter to his repentance. How thou passedst all that time thou knowest. If thou didst any thing that needest Peter's tears, and hast not shed them, let me be thy cock, do it now. Now, thy Master (in the unworthiest of his servants) looks back upon thee, do it now. Betimes, in the morning, so soon as it was day, the Jews held a council in the high priest's hall, and agreed upon their evidence against him, and then carried him to Pilate, who was to be his judge; didst thou accuse thyself when thou wakedst this morning, and wast thou content even with false accusations, that is, rather to suspect actions to have been sin, which were not, than to smother and justify such as were truly sins? Then thou spentest that hour in conformity to him; Pilate found no evidence against him, and therefore to ease himself, and to pass a compliment upon Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, who was at that time at Jerusalem (because Christ, being a Galilean, was of Herod's jurisdiction), Pilate sent him to Herod, and rather as a madman than a malefactor; Herod remanded him (with scorn) to Pilate, to proceed against him; and this was about eight of the clock. Hast thou been content to come to this inquisition, this examination, this agitation, this cribration, this pursuit of thy conscience; to sift it, to follow it from the sins of thy youth to thy present sins, from the sins of thy bed to the sins of thy board, and from the substance to the circumstance of thy sins? That is time spent like thy Saviour's. Pilate would have saved Christ, by using the privilege of the day in his behalf, because that day one prisoner was to be delivered, but they choose Barabbas; he would have saved him from death, by satisfying their fury with inflicting other torments upon him, scourging and crowning with thorns, and loading him with many scornful and ignominious contumelies, but they regarded him not, they pressed a crucifying. Hast thou gone about to redeem thy sin, by fasting, by alms, by disciplines and mortifications, in way of satisfaction to the justice of God? That will not serve that is not the right way; we press an utter crucifying of that sin that governs thee: and that conforms thee to Christ. Towards noon Pilate gave judgment, and they made such haste to execution as that by noon he was upon the cross. There now hangs that sacred body upon the cross, rebaptized in his own tears, and sweat, and embalmed in his own blood alive. There are those bowels of compassion which are so conspicuous, so manifested, as that you may see them through his wounds. There those glorious eyes grew faint in their sight, so as the sun, ashamed to survive them, departed with his light too. And then that Son of God, who was never from us, and yet had now come a new way unto us in assuming our nature, delivers that soul (which was never out of his Father's hands) by a new way, a voluntary emission of it into his Father's hands; for though to this God our Lord belonged these issues of death, so that considered in his own contract, he must necessarily die, yet at no breach or battery which they had made upon his sacred body issued his soul; but emisit, he gave up the ghost; and as God breathed a soul into the first Adam, so this second Adam breathed his soul into God, into the hands of God.
There we leave you in that blessed dependency, to hang upon him that hangs upon the cross, there bathe in his tears, there suck at his wounds, and lie down in peace in his grave, till he vouchsafe you a resurrection, and an ascension into that kingdom which He hath prepared for you with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood. Amen.
Take in the whole day from the hour that Christ received the passover upon Thursday unto the hour in which he died the next day. Make this present day that day in thy devotion, and consider what he did, and remember what you have done. Before he instituted and celebrated the sacrament (which was after the eating of the passover), he proceeded to that act of humility, to wash his disciples' feet, even Peter's, who for a while resisted him. In thy preparation to the holy and blessed sacrament, hast thou with a sincere humility sought a reconciliation with all the world, even with those that have been averse from it, and refused that reconciliation from thee? If so, and not else, thou hast spent that first part of his last day in a conformity with him. After the sacrament he spent the time till night in prayer, in preaching, in psalms: hast thou considered that a worthy receiving of the sacrament consists in a continuation of holiness after, as well as in a preparation before? If so, thou hast therein also conformed thyself to him; so Christ spent his time till night. At night he went into the garden to pray, and he prayed prolixious, he spent much time in prayer, how much? Because it is literally expressed, that he prayed there three several times, and that returning to his disciples after his first prayer, and finding them asleep, said, Could ye not watch with me one hour, it is collected that he spent three hours in prayer. I dare scarce ask thee whither thou wentest, or how thou disposedst of thyself, when it grew dark and after last night. If that time were spent in a holy recommendation of thyself to God, and a submission of thy will to his, it was spent in a conformity to him. In that time, and in those prayers, was his agony and bloody sweat. I will hope that thou didst pray; but not every ordinary and customary prayer, but prayer actually accompanied with shedding of tears and dispositively in a readiness to shed blood for his glory in necessary cases, puts thee into a conformity with him. About midnight he was taken and bound with a kiss, art thou not too conformable to him in that? Is not that too literally, too exactly thy case, at midnight to have been taken and bound with a kiss? From thence he was carried back to Jerusalem, first to Annas, then to Caiaphas, and (as late as it was) then he was examined and buffered, and delivered over to the custody of those officers from whom he received all those irrisions, and violences, the covering of his face, the spitting upon his face, the blasphemies of words, and the smartness of blows, which that gospel mentions: in which compass fell that gallicinium, that crowing of the cock which called up Peter to his repentance. How thou passedst all that time thou knowest. If thou didst any thing that needest Peter's tears, and hast not shed them, let me be thy cock, do it now. Now, thy Master (in the unworthiest of his servants) looks back upon thee, do it now. Betimes, in the morning, so soon as it was day, the Jews held a council in the high priest's hall, and agreed upon their evidence against him, and then carried him to Pilate, who was to be his judge; didst thou accuse thyself when thou wakedst this morning, and wast thou content even with false accusations, that is, rather to suspect actions to have been sin, which were not, than to smother and justify such as were truly sins? Then thou spentest that hour in conformity to him; Pilate found no evidence against him, and therefore to ease himself, and to pass a compliment upon Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, who was at that time at Jerusalem (because Christ, being a Galilean, was of Herod's jurisdiction), Pilate sent him to Herod, and rather as a madman than a malefactor; Herod remanded him (with scorn) to Pilate, to proceed against him; and this was about eight of the clock. Hast thou been content to come to this inquisition, this examination, this agitation, this cribration, this pursuit of thy conscience; to sift it, to follow it from the sins of thy youth to thy present sins, from the sins of thy bed to the sins of thy board, and from the substance to the circumstance of thy sins? That is time spent like thy Saviour's. Pilate would have saved Christ, by using the privilege of the day in his behalf, because that day one prisoner was to be delivered, but they choose Barabbas; he would have saved him from death, by satisfying their fury with inflicting other torments upon him, scourging and crowning with thorns, and loading him with many scornful and ignominious contumelies, but they regarded him not, they pressed a crucifying. Hast thou gone about to redeem thy sin, by fasting, by alms, by disciplines and mortifications, in way of satisfaction to the justice of God? That will not serve that is not the right way; we press an utter crucifying of that sin that governs thee: and that conforms thee to Christ. Towards noon Pilate gave judgment, and they made such haste to execution as that by noon he was upon the cross. There now hangs that sacred body upon the cross, rebaptized in his own tears, and sweat, and embalmed in his own blood alive. There are those bowels of compassion which are so conspicuous, so manifested, as that you may see them through his wounds. There those glorious eyes grew faint in their sight, so as the sun, ashamed to survive them, departed with his light too. And then that Son of God, who was never from us, and yet had now come a new way unto us in assuming our nature, delivers that soul (which was never out of his Father's hands) by a new way, a voluntary emission of it into his Father's hands; for though to this God our Lord belonged these issues of death, so that considered in his own contract, he must necessarily die, yet at no breach or battery which they had made upon his sacred body issued his soul; but emisit, he gave up the ghost; and as God breathed a soul into the first Adam, so this second Adam breathed his soul into God, into the hands of God.
There we leave you in that blessed dependency, to hang upon him that hangs upon the cross, there bathe in his tears, there suck at his wounds, and lie down in peace in his grave, till he vouchsafe you a resurrection, and an ascension into that kingdom which He hath prepared for you with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood. Amen.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Classical Education and the Community
Yesterday evening six of my Latin students from North Central High School used their Classical learning to bless the lives of children at The Julian Center, a nonprofit agency providing counseling, safe shelter, and education for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other life crises.
Last fall we accepted submissions from student-authors of the classic myth of Phaethon, re-told in a way suitable for children. Two versions were selected by a panel of teachers, and when the illustrations had been completed by another student, The Tale of Phaethon was published.
Students and families then raised funds to purchase copies of the book to give to children at The Julian Center. Interested students attended an after-school session to learn how to read effectively to a young audience, and last night they brought the project full circle.
It was amazing to watch these elementary-aged children, who have suffered mightily in their young lives, sparkle with excitement as the high school students read the book and intereacted with them. When they were presented with their own autographed copies of the book, they positively beamed.
The motto of The Libri Juliani Project is antiquitatem legere est videre futurum...to read the past is to see the future. This is but a shorthand way of saying what Cicero said so eloquently in his Pro Archia, a speech in defense of the poet Aulus Licinius Archias. Ceteros pudeat si qui ita se litteris abdiderunt ut nihil ex eis possint neque in aspectum lucemque proferre, neque in communum adferre fructum. "Let others be ashamed if they have so hidden themselves away in literature that they can bring forth nothing into the light to be seen or can offer nothing for the public good."
Last fall we accepted submissions from student-authors of the classic myth of Phaethon, re-told in a way suitable for children. Two versions were selected by a panel of teachers, and when the illustrations had been completed by another student, The Tale of Phaethon was published.
Students and families then raised funds to purchase copies of the book to give to children at The Julian Center. Interested students attended an after-school session to learn how to read effectively to a young audience, and last night they brought the project full circle.
It was amazing to watch these elementary-aged children, who have suffered mightily in their young lives, sparkle with excitement as the high school students read the book and intereacted with them. When they were presented with their own autographed copies of the book, they positively beamed.
The motto of The Libri Juliani Project is antiquitatem legere est videre futurum...to read the past is to see the future. This is but a shorthand way of saying what Cicero said so eloquently in his Pro Archia, a speech in defense of the poet Aulus Licinius Archias. Ceteros pudeat si qui ita se litteris abdiderunt ut nihil ex eis possint neque in aspectum lucemque proferre, neque in communum adferre fructum. "Let others be ashamed if they have so hidden themselves away in literature that they can bring forth nothing into the light to be seen or can offer nothing for the public good."
Monday, February 23, 2009
Upcoming Lecture
For the past five years I have been co-director of The Episteme Lectures (www.epistemelecture.org). This is a series of lectures given at North Central High School by scholars on a variety of topics. Past lecturers have included Pulitzer-prize winner Dr. Douglas Hofstadter and Dr. Ora Pescovitz, President and CEO of Riley Children's Hospital.
The 2009 lecture will "The Indianapolis Museum of Art's 100 Acres: Art and Nature in the 21st Century" by Dr. Lisa Freiman, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art for the IMA. The lecture is free and will be at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, in the Performance Classroom at North Central (1801 E. 86th Street)
The 2009 lecture will "The Indianapolis Museum of Art's 100 Acres: Art and Nature in the 21st Century" by Dr. Lisa Freiman, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art for the IMA. The lecture is free and will be at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, in the Performance Classroom at North Central (1801 E. 86th Street)
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tried and True
Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, was martyred in A.D. 155. According to the account of his martyrdom, when he had been asked to swear upon the name of the emperor, he boldy replied, "If you vainly suppose that I will swear by the genius of Caesar, as you say, and pretend that you are ignorant who I am, listen plainly: I am a Christian. And if you wish to learn the doctrine of Christianity fix a day and listen."
His was not an arrogant response, but it was bold. As a Classical and Christian school, The Summit Academy makes a similar announcement to all who suggest that other types of schools can do just as well educating our children. At a board/staff training, Andrew Kern of the Circe Institute observed that what the education market desperately needs is a school that will plant its flag and say, "This is what true education looks like. If you want to be a part of it, come on. We'll show you how, because we have not compromised."
Does this mean that our school or any other never makes mistakes? Of course not. But unlike schools that follow the fad of the day, we find our model in theory that has been proven right in practice for more than a thousand years. We welcome all who would be part of this grand adventure in education...students, parents, and other educators alike. Note that we are not inviting anyone to an experiment in education. This is not a trial, a test, an exploration to see if something may work. We know that it does.
At the end of the 6th century B.C., Horatius Cocles realized that he could save Rome if but two others would join him at the narrow entrance to a bridge leading into the city. His words, idealized and immortalized at the turn of the last century by Thomas Babington Macaulay, ring out to us today.
His was not an arrogant response, but it was bold. As a Classical and Christian school, The Summit Academy makes a similar announcement to all who suggest that other types of schools can do just as well educating our children. At a board/staff training, Andrew Kern of the Circe Institute observed that what the education market desperately needs is a school that will plant its flag and say, "This is what true education looks like. If you want to be a part of it, come on. We'll show you how, because we have not compromised."
Does this mean that our school or any other never makes mistakes? Of course not. But unlike schools that follow the fad of the day, we find our model in theory that has been proven right in practice for more than a thousand years. We welcome all who would be part of this grand adventure in education...students, parents, and other educators alike. Note that we are not inviting anyone to an experiment in education. This is not a trial, a test, an exploration to see if something may work. We know that it does.
At the end of the 6th century B.C., Horatius Cocles realized that he could save Rome if but two others would join him at the narrow entrance to a bridge leading into the city. His words, idealized and immortalized at the turn of the last century by Thomas Babington Macaulay, ring out to us today.
In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on my right hand
And keep the bridge with me?
The Limits of Freedom
Freedom in our society is often mistaken for license or permissiveness, yet true freedom can only exist in a world with limitations. In his essay On the Education of Children, Montaigne recalled, "For as Cleanthes said, just as sound, when pent up in the narrow channel of a trumpet, comes out sharper and stronger, so it seems to me that a thought, when compressed into the numbered feet of poetry, springs forth much more violently and strikes me a much stiffer jolt." (Donald Frame translation)
In the world of education we often see a confused idea of freedom manifest when it comes to reading. Some will claim that they are respecting the freedom of children to read whatever they want when they refuse to censor what they read. It is assumed that all reading is beneficial, so it makes no difference whether a child reads a classic work of literature or smut.
Yet true respect for a child, which is rooted in a love for the child as a creation of God and not anchored in the shifting sands of sentimentalism, will provide proper guidance. It will cause a parent or teacher to say no to some things and yes to others.
It will also lead us way from the kind of flattery that some endlessly bestow on children. Andrew Kern of the Circe Institute recently spoke of this. He rightly observed that when children are praised and flattered for what they have no control over...intelligence, beauty, and other gifts from God...then they will eventually sin to get that praise. The child over whom a teacher or parent inordinantly gushes for being smart will be more likely to cheat on a test to obtain this flattery. On the other hand, the child who learns to value true praise for hard work, and who learns as well that praise is more valuable when it is accompanied by necessary criticism and correction for wrongdoing, will develop a work ethic that will bless all around him.
In the world of education we often see a confused idea of freedom manifest when it comes to reading. Some will claim that they are respecting the freedom of children to read whatever they want when they refuse to censor what they read. It is assumed that all reading is beneficial, so it makes no difference whether a child reads a classic work of literature or smut.
Yet true respect for a child, which is rooted in a love for the child as a creation of God and not anchored in the shifting sands of sentimentalism, will provide proper guidance. It will cause a parent or teacher to say no to some things and yes to others.
It will also lead us way from the kind of flattery that some endlessly bestow on children. Andrew Kern of the Circe Institute recently spoke of this. He rightly observed that when children are praised and flattered for what they have no control over...intelligence, beauty, and other gifts from God...then they will eventually sin to get that praise. The child over whom a teacher or parent inordinantly gushes for being smart will be more likely to cheat on a test to obtain this flattery. On the other hand, the child who learns to value true praise for hard work, and who learns as well that praise is more valuable when it is accompanied by necessary criticism and correction for wrongdoing, will develop a work ethic that will bless all around him.
Knowing God and Multiplication
What does it matter whether a school is Christian or not? Surely a child's learning of multiplication has no connection with whether the teacher is a Christian. 2x2=4 for the Christian, the Muslim, and the atheist alike.
In a recent faculty training session, Andrew Kern from the Circe Institute quoted Aristotle from his Nicomachean Ethics. "It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits." (NE 1094b) The word Aristotle used for "nature" was physis, the root of words like "physical" and "physics." I want to expand what Aristotle said by replacing physis with ousia the word for "essence," and looking at this question from the point of view of a world that has seen God in the flesh.
The classic wording for the revelation of God as Trinity is mia ousia, treis hypostaseis, which means "one essence, three persons." Before God revealed Himself to us, we had a limited understanding of what the essence of a thing was. We assumed it was static and lifeless. Once God showed His own essence to be dynamic and involving three persons...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...we could see that the essence of anything that has been created through Him (and all things have been, according to John 1:3) is a bit more complex.
Putting all this back into Aristotle's words, it is the mark of an educated person to learn and explore each area of knowledge according to the nature of that knowledge, understanding first that the nature of anything is rooted somehow in the nature of God, Who has revealed Himself to us most fully in Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:19)
So, yes, you can learn your math facts without ever knowing God. What you will have failed to achieve, however, is the full understanding of mathematics, or any other discipline, and for that you will have missed becoming the truly educated person that God intended you to be.
In a recent faculty training session, Andrew Kern from the Circe Institute quoted Aristotle from his Nicomachean Ethics. "It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits." (NE 1094b) The word Aristotle used for "nature" was physis, the root of words like "physical" and "physics." I want to expand what Aristotle said by replacing physis with ousia the word for "essence," and looking at this question from the point of view of a world that has seen God in the flesh.
The classic wording for the revelation of God as Trinity is mia ousia, treis hypostaseis, which means "one essence, three persons." Before God revealed Himself to us, we had a limited understanding of what the essence of a thing was. We assumed it was static and lifeless. Once God showed His own essence to be dynamic and involving three persons...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...we could see that the essence of anything that has been created through Him (and all things have been, according to John 1:3) is a bit more complex.
Putting all this back into Aristotle's words, it is the mark of an educated person to learn and explore each area of knowledge according to the nature of that knowledge, understanding first that the nature of anything is rooted somehow in the nature of God, Who has revealed Himself to us most fully in Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:19)
So, yes, you can learn your math facts without ever knowing God. What you will have failed to achieve, however, is the full understanding of mathematics, or any other discipline, and for that you will have missed becoming the truly educated person that God intended you to be.
On Metaphors and Life
I recently had the pleasure to join a lunch with Summit faculty and Andrew Kern from the Circe Institute. One of the questions he asked was why it seems artists, and that term is taken broadly to include graphic artists, poets, musicians, and so forth, are more drawn to Classical and Christian education than mathematicians and scientists. My own thoughts, scribbled in a notebook, led to the following.
Mathematical and scientific symbols...+, =, %, and so on...are metaphors just as are words. GIRL, for example, is not a girl. G-I-R-L is a one syllable word comprised of four letters...three consonants and a vowel. In English it represents a young female human, but it is not a young female human any more than the figure 8 laid on its side is infinity.
The difference between the metaphors in math and science and the metaphors in the arts is that the math and science metaphors are not treated as metaphors in our society. They are seen as reality itself, and a static, unchanging reality at that.
Poets, artists, and musicians never lose sight of their metaphors as metaphors, and this allows their metaphors to remain dynamic. Only when knowledge is dynamic can it stand against relativism, for in its dynamism such knowledge is alive and engaged with the matters of life. When knowledge becomes static, it is lifeless, a mere thing that can be manipulated to mean anything, and this leads to the slippery descent toward relativism.
Schools like Summit, of course, concern themselves with life and all that it entails. We seek the truth in all areas of life...in algebra, poetry, history, and song. The true mathematician and the true scientist would find a home here with the true poet and the true painter because we serve a God Who has said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." (John 14:6, NIV) Our knowledge is thus never static, but always dynamic and alive, as surely as is the One in Whom our knowledge is grounded.
Mathematical and scientific symbols...+, =, %, and so on...are metaphors just as are words. GIRL, for example, is not a girl. G-I-R-L is a one syllable word comprised of four letters...three consonants and a vowel. In English it represents a young female human, but it is not a young female human any more than the figure 8 laid on its side is infinity.
The difference between the metaphors in math and science and the metaphors in the arts is that the math and science metaphors are not treated as metaphors in our society. They are seen as reality itself, and a static, unchanging reality at that.
Poets, artists, and musicians never lose sight of their metaphors as metaphors, and this allows their metaphors to remain dynamic. Only when knowledge is dynamic can it stand against relativism, for in its dynamism such knowledge is alive and engaged with the matters of life. When knowledge becomes static, it is lifeless, a mere thing that can be manipulated to mean anything, and this leads to the slippery descent toward relativism.
Schools like Summit, of course, concern themselves with life and all that it entails. We seek the truth in all areas of life...in algebra, poetry, history, and song. The true mathematician and the true scientist would find a home here with the true poet and the true painter because we serve a God Who has said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." (John 14:6, NIV) Our knowledge is thus never static, but always dynamic and alive, as surely as is the One in Whom our knowledge is grounded.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Praying With a Target
Today the Summit board began a regular time of prayer. Each Wednesday at noon, the Summit board will be praying together. While we may be separated physically, we are coming together in spirit to pray for our school.
Ours is targeted prayer. It is strategic. We share through email a common Scripture reading, a short devotion, and a prayer that lauds our Lord and then lays before Him our petitions...just as Jesus taught us to do.
But our prayer has also been targeted...by our great enemy. One Christian writer once said that to live lives fully committed to Christ is like walking through downtown Baghdad with an American flag t-shirt. Don't forget, the one who opposes us is the one who orchestrated the crucifixion of our Lord.
So pray for all members of the Summit family. Pray specifically for our staff and our board. Pray for our parents and their children. And pray for the families that will one day be part of our larger family. As we walk in ever greater faithfulness, our enemy will become enraged. He will attempt to thwart us with every tactic imaginable. Yet ours is the victory in Christ, secured on the bloody tree of Calvary. We do not fear, but we must walk forward in bold unity, covered in the prayers of those made righteous by Christ.
Ours is targeted prayer. It is strategic. We share through email a common Scripture reading, a short devotion, and a prayer that lauds our Lord and then lays before Him our petitions...just as Jesus taught us to do.
But our prayer has also been targeted...by our great enemy. One Christian writer once said that to live lives fully committed to Christ is like walking through downtown Baghdad with an American flag t-shirt. Don't forget, the one who opposes us is the one who orchestrated the crucifixion of our Lord.
So pray for all members of the Summit family. Pray specifically for our staff and our board. Pray for our parents and their children. And pray for the families that will one day be part of our larger family. As we walk in ever greater faithfulness, our enemy will become enraged. He will attempt to thwart us with every tactic imaginable. Yet ours is the victory in Christ, secured on the bloody tree of Calvary. We do not fear, but we must walk forward in bold unity, covered in the prayers of those made righteous by Christ.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A Greco-Roman Legacy
Regardless of anyone's political persuasion, it is worth our time as Americans to consider that today's inauguration of President Obama was a prime example of the living legacy bequeathed us from the Classical cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. In her opening remarks at the ceremony, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) reminded us that "The world is watching today as our great democracy engages in this peaceful transition of power."
A peaceful transition of power.
How often has power peacefully changed hands in the history of the world? From tribes to city states to nation states, not to mention monarchies, oligarchies, and all manner of tyrannies as well, power has, more often than not, been transferred under violent and deadly circumstances.
Yet for all the vitriol and excoriating attacks during the campaign season, the American people cast their ballots, and the forty-fourth President of the United States took office today from the forty-third without one gun shot, without one body buried. Instead there was music, both soul and classical. There was music and there was prayer. And while some may not have liked the music or may have taken issue with the prayers, what no one can deny is that the seed of democracy, planted in Periclean Athens and developed in republican Rome, has flourished and produced its mature fruit in American soil.
We watched as an African-American citizen assumed the highest office in the land a mere forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Has there been too much made of race in this election? Has there been a pandering to and exploitation of ethnicity? Perhaps. But the better question may be this. Will the daughter of a Pakistani girl whose school was destroyed yesterday by Taliban bombs rise to such a level in her country within a mere four decades?
Today we indeed witnessed a peaceful transition of power, and ours is certainly a great democracy. It is time once again to take our leaders at their words until such time as they may prove themselves false. It is time for us to exercise our kratos of the demos, our rule of the people, by involving ourselves in our own economy, yet another word of Greek origin that means literally the governance of one's own household. And it is time that we begin our prayers for God's guidance of those we have chosen to lead.
A peaceful transition of power.
How often has power peacefully changed hands in the history of the world? From tribes to city states to nation states, not to mention monarchies, oligarchies, and all manner of tyrannies as well, power has, more often than not, been transferred under violent and deadly circumstances.
Yet for all the vitriol and excoriating attacks during the campaign season, the American people cast their ballots, and the forty-fourth President of the United States took office today from the forty-third without one gun shot, without one body buried. Instead there was music, both soul and classical. There was music and there was prayer. And while some may not have liked the music or may have taken issue with the prayers, what no one can deny is that the seed of democracy, planted in Periclean Athens and developed in republican Rome, has flourished and produced its mature fruit in American soil.
We watched as an African-American citizen assumed the highest office in the land a mere forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Has there been too much made of race in this election? Has there been a pandering to and exploitation of ethnicity? Perhaps. But the better question may be this. Will the daughter of a Pakistani girl whose school was destroyed yesterday by Taliban bombs rise to such a level in her country within a mere four decades?
Today we indeed witnessed a peaceful transition of power, and ours is certainly a great democracy. It is time once again to take our leaders at their words until such time as they may prove themselves false. It is time for us to exercise our kratos of the demos, our rule of the people, by involving ourselves in our own economy, yet another word of Greek origin that means literally the governance of one's own household. And it is time that we begin our prayers for God's guidance of those we have chosen to lead.
Monday, January 19, 2009
On Beauty and Truth
I have been reading The Ratzinger Report, the published interview from 1984 of then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger who is now Pope Benedict XVI. While the following quotations come from his thoughts on liturgy, I could not help but be struck by how appropriate they are for Summit. As some of you know, the only thing I love more than reading such wonderful pieces is sharing and discussing them with friends.
"More and more clearly we discern the frightening impoverishment which takes place when people show beauty the door and devote themselves exclusively to 'utility.'" (p.128)
"[Christians] must make their Church into a place where beauty -- and hence truth -- is at home. Without this the world will become the first circle of hell." (p. 130)
Even Einstein observed that an elegant theory had a greater chance of being right. It would seem, then, that truth, goodness, and beauty are logically necessary causes of each other.
"More and more clearly we discern the frightening impoverishment which takes place when people show beauty the door and devote themselves exclusively to 'utility.'" (p.128)
"[Christians] must make their Church into a place where beauty -- and hence truth -- is at home. Without this the world will become the first circle of hell." (p. 130)
Even Einstein observed that an elegant theory had a greater chance of being right. It would seem, then, that truth, goodness, and beauty are logically necessary causes of each other.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
What is a Classical and Christian School?
It is helpful to think of the phrase "Classical and Christian" as a brand name. Just as you can have many brands of automobiles, you can have many brands of schools. Most of us are familiar with public schools, which can also be known as state schools or government schools because they are funded and guided by the state. There are private schools, some of which are religious in nature, others of which are not. There are Montessori schools, reform schools, and gender-specific schools. And of course, there are Classical and Christian schools. And just as it is true that not all cars are the same, but certain brands outperform others, so it is with schools.So that returns us to our question...what does it mean for a school to carry the brand "Classical and Christian?" Let's start with the Christian part of these schools. The Bible is quite clear that the primary responsibility for the education of children rests with the parents God gave them. Consider these Deuteronomy 4:9, Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Proverbs 22:6, and Ephesians 6:4. Because of these commands from God, not to mention that He created everything that is, the only proper way to study anything is from a Christian perspective. Yes, that means there is a Christian way to approach math, a Christian way to approach literature and history, even a Christian way to approach physical education. The God Who has revealed Himself as One God, eternally existing in three Persons...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...is the God Who created the universe. Therefore, He has something to say about everything from spelling and coloring to string theory and quantum mechanics.A Classical and Christian school takes this seriously. The CCS works with parents in helping them faithfully live out their God-given responsibilities.While there is daily worship in a CCS, it is not a mere add-on. It is not something to check off the agenda to qualify as a Christian school. Children are taught from Kindergarten on to understand their world from the perspective of the God Who created it. To pursue any area of study as if God is irrelevant is like constructing a school in which everyone pretends there are no such things as numbers. There would be no numbers in the books, no numbers on the clocks, no numbers on the classroom doors or the gym score board. Does that sound ludicrous? So is attempting to construct an educational system that says, "For the next six hours, we teachers and students will pretend that God does not exist." It is the goal of a CCS to develop help children and their parents develop the only worldview that is consistent and coherent...a Christian one.
When capitalized, the word "Classical" refers to the language and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. You can major in Classics or Classical Studies at the university. Of course, you often hear people refer to classic literature, classic cars, even classic rock 'n' roll, so what exactly does this term mean in the title of a Classical and Christian school? In part, it carries with it the connotations of that which has to do with ancient Greece and Rome. A Classical and Christian school, for example, typically teaches Latin from an early age. There is an emphasis on understanding the Greco-Roman culture because it was into this world that Jesus was born, and within this world that Christianity first flourished. This world also provided the foundations for Western civilization in its language, architecture, laws, art, and literature.There is much more, however, to the word "Classical" in a CCS. It also refers to the structure of the education, one that draws its inspiration from the Medieval Trivium and fits amazingly well with the natural cognitive development of children.The first stage of the Trivium is the grammar stage and corresponds to what Dorothy Sayers called in her essay "The Lost Tools of Learning" the poll-parrot stage. Young children like to memorize things. They naturally enjoy rhythms and rhymes. In his poem "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot," Alexander Pope once wrote:
As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,
I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came.
Here "numbers" refers to poetic meter. If you don't think children enjoy meter, try listening to children who have watched Barney even once. They know the songs because of their heavy rhythms, which make them memorable. At the grammar stage, children learn the grammar of the different subjects. In other words, they learn the basics. They learn the grammar of history...that there are dates and places and people of importance. They learn the grammar of mathematics...that there are numbers and these can be added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided.The second stage is the logic stage. Anyone who has dealt with a pre-teen or early teen knows that young people of this age have a natural talent for arguing. The logic stage teaches children how to argue well. Rather than becoming argumentative, children learn to argue their position, to spot weaknesses in an argument, and to make that argument stronger.The final stage of the Trivium is the rhetoric stage. You may think that rhetoric is simply about public speaking, and that is the word's original sense, but used here it takes on a broader meaning. This is the stage, approximately high school, where students begin to synthesize what they have learned and to present that information to others. Clear communication is key, and a valuable skill for any occupation or relationship in which the child will find himself as an adult.In summary, a Classical and Christian education is one that explores the wisdom of the past, in the light of the One Who is the truth, Jesus Christ, to enable children to fulfill their God-given purposes for the future.
When capitalized, the word "Classical" refers to the language and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. You can major in Classics or Classical Studies at the university. Of course, you often hear people refer to classic literature, classic cars, even classic rock 'n' roll, so what exactly does this term mean in the title of a Classical and Christian school? In part, it carries with it the connotations of that which has to do with ancient Greece and Rome. A Classical and Christian school, for example, typically teaches Latin from an early age. There is an emphasis on understanding the Greco-Roman culture because it was into this world that Jesus was born, and within this world that Christianity first flourished. This world also provided the foundations for Western civilization in its language, architecture, laws, art, and literature.There is much more, however, to the word "Classical" in a CCS. It also refers to the structure of the education, one that draws its inspiration from the Medieval Trivium and fits amazingly well with the natural cognitive development of children.The first stage of the Trivium is the grammar stage and corresponds to what Dorothy Sayers called in her essay "The Lost Tools of Learning" the poll-parrot stage. Young children like to memorize things. They naturally enjoy rhythms and rhymes. In his poem "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot," Alexander Pope once wrote:
As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,
I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came.
Here "numbers" refers to poetic meter. If you don't think children enjoy meter, try listening to children who have watched Barney even once. They know the songs because of their heavy rhythms, which make them memorable. At the grammar stage, children learn the grammar of the different subjects. In other words, they learn the basics. They learn the grammar of history...that there are dates and places and people of importance. They learn the grammar of mathematics...that there are numbers and these can be added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided.The second stage is the logic stage. Anyone who has dealt with a pre-teen or early teen knows that young people of this age have a natural talent for arguing. The logic stage teaches children how to argue well. Rather than becoming argumentative, children learn to argue their position, to spot weaknesses in an argument, and to make that argument stronger.The final stage of the Trivium is the rhetoric stage. You may think that rhetoric is simply about public speaking, and that is the word's original sense, but used here it takes on a broader meaning. This is the stage, approximately high school, where students begin to synthesize what they have learned and to present that information to others. Clear communication is key, and a valuable skill for any occupation or relationship in which the child will find himself as an adult.In summary, a Classical and Christian education is one that explores the wisdom of the past, in the light of the One Who is the truth, Jesus Christ, to enable children to fulfill their God-given purposes for the future.
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