As a Christian holy day, Christmas is about one great Christian doctrine: the Incarnation. The first thing to say about this is that the word means what it says. “Incarnation” is a Latinate word that means, literally, “enfleshment”—the act of being made flesh. And the doctrine of the Incarnation—the idea that Jesus was God come […]
We all want our children to become virtuous, so we naturally shop around for the schools and communities that have the best results. Upon inspection, however, we find that the graduating classes at even the best schools are not infallibly filled with saints. Parents eventually complain. Teachers complain too. “Perhaps we should include more hard […]
When teaching the faith to children with special learning needs, begin with Bible stories depicted by the most beautiful illustrations you can find. Bible stories introduce us to God who is fiercely holy and righteous while also merciful, compassionate, and true to His promises. Bible stories are the bedrock of biblical literacy. Before a child […]
Too often we relegate religious instruction in our private and homeschools to a kind of secondary academic status. We teach it, but in a way that seems to communicate a lack of seriousness about it. We do this by failing to treat it like we would treat any other academic subject. But what I will […]
It is an interesting irony that, at a time when so many Christians have abandoned the King James Bible, a prominent atheist should come forth to praise it. In celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the King James Bible in 2011, the famed unbeliever Christopher Hitchens paid it gushing homage in Vanity Fair magazine, […]
Most of us don’t think much about angels, at least not in any serious way. Even in religious discussions involving the role of angels in the doings of the world and the purposes of heaven, angels play a very marginal role. But there is one occasion when angels are very much on our minds, and […]
The following is a list, not of the twelve greatest Christian novels, since I haven’t read all the novels ever written, but at least twelve of the greatest. Any one of these would make a great Christmas present for the reader in your family (hopefully there is more than one). These are not children’s books, of course, […]
…and how to know when you see it. One of the most overused terms in the Christian education lexicon is the expression “worldview.” And although it is frequently used, it is almost never defined. We are told how important “worldview” is. We are supposed to have a “worldview” and make sure we teach “worldview” to […]
G. K. Chesterton was said never to have produced a masterpiece. The reason is not because he never wrote a great book, but because he wrote so many. But if we had to pick one of Chesterton’s books as his best, it might be Orthodoxy—his case for Christianity. Chesterton became famous in 1904, when he responded to the provocations […]
A common question asked of classical Christian educators is why we should read the pagans. If you had to buy one book to help you answer this question, this is it. Markos, one of the most exciting Christian writers today, explains how Homer, Hesiod, the Greek dramatists, and Virgil foreshadowed the Christian revelation. Markos joins […]