Category Archives: Classical Studies

Traditional vs. Progressive Education

Everyone agrees that education is a good thing. Unfortunately, the agreement pretty much ends there. Although almost everyone agrees that education is good, there is wide disagreement on what education is. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, there has been a sometimes heated debate, not only about what schools should do, but what they should be. Generally speaking, there are […]

The Flaming Arrow of Classical Education: The Funeral Games in the Aeneid as a Symbol and Hope

Filling Leaky Vessels Arrow

Imagine an arrow shot into the air, and high in flight, it bursts into flame. How cool would that be?! If you saw this spectacle, you would probably deem it a wonder, or perhaps a symbol or sign. This is how Aeneas and the Trojan remnant (traveling with him after the fall of Troy) responded […]

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? – Reason 10: Literature

Why should christians read the pagan classics?

Reason #10: Literature What is literature, and what is it for anyway? Have you ever wondered that? It’s not practical like science and math, so what is its purpose? Why do we include literature in our curriculum, how do we choose it, and what do we hope to achieve by reading literature? These are some […]

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? – 9

Why should christians read the pagan classics?

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? – Reason 9 Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? Reason #9: Human Condition When it comes to the human condition, we may think that Scripture is all we need. After all, Scripture does show us our true human condition in a way that the Greeks did not and […]

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? – Reason 8: Philosophy

Why should christians read the pagan classics?

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? REASON #8: Philosophy Philosophy is a deep subject that can be quite intimidating. Modern philosophy is so esoteric that few can understand or relate to it, but classical philosophy is different. As with so many things, if you go back to the beginning and learn first principles, you […]

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? – Reason 6: Government

Why should christians read the pagan classics?

American government and political science will come alive when you read the Greeks and Romans, the same way that words come alive when you study Latin and Greek. There were many influences on the Founding Fathers, and certainly the modern philosophers—Locke and Hume—were important along with the tradition of English liberty. But separation of powers, […]

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? – Reason 5: Natural Law

REASON #5: Natural Law What did the first Continental Congress mean when it appealed to “the immutable laws of nature,” or Thomas Jefferson when he referred to the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God and the unalienable rights of man”? Natural law. The principle of natural law is embedded in Western civilization, the Declaration […]

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? – Reason 4: Education

Why should christians read the pagan classics?

REASON #4: Education A classical education focuses on the study of the classical languages, Latin and Greek, and on the study of the classical civilization of Greece and Rome.  But why is the word classical reserved only for the languages of the Greeks and Romans and only for their civilization?  What really is so special […]

Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics? – Reason 2: Virtue

Why should christians read the pagan classics?

Reason #2: Virtue In the last article, we learned that the Greeks established the first principles of architecture by studying nature. The proportions that are most pleasing to the human eye are those of nature’s greatest work of art—the human body.  We learned that God gave man reason and the desire to know, but he […]

Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics – Reason 1: Architecture

Why should christians read the pagan classics?

Reason #1: Architecture The power of the word classic cannot be underestimated, communicating as it does the idea of excellence, truth, order, discipline, and beauty. The word “classic” brings to mind something that has withstood the test of time, and by virtue of this fact, participates in some way in the timeless and the eternal. And […]

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