The Cup Has To Be Full To Overflow

Charles Spurgeon to his ministerial students:

You will not be able to extemporize good thinking unless you have been in the habit of thinking and feeding your mind with abundant and nourishing food. Work hard at every available moment. Store your minds very richly, and then, like merchants with crowded warehouses, you will have goods ready for your customers, and having arranged your good things upon the shelves of your mind, you will be able to hand them down at any time without the laborious process of going to market, sorting, folding, and preparing… Take it as a rule without exception, that to be able to overflow spontaneously you must be full.

Read the rest.  

How to Make the Case for Life in a Post-Christian Culture

Justin Taylor:

Every family and youth group should consider watching this video with their pre-teen kids and older. It is a compelling case for being pro-life and learning how to engage these issues, but it is also a crash course in moral and logical reasoning. 

Scott Klusendorf—author of The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture and co-author of Stand for Life: Answering the Call, Making the Case, Saving Lives—makes the case that if you can achieve clarity on three questions, God can use you to start a conversation with the goal of at least planting seeds of doubts with those who disagree. The three questions are:

• What is the unborn?
• What makes us valuable as human beings?
• What is our duty in all of this?

 

The 4 Questions of Good Christian Education

This would apply to schools and churches alike.  Anthony Bradley writes:

One of the advantages of living in a free society is that parents have multiple options for how they can educate their children, including enrolling them in religious education. Christian education is unique in that teachers can integrate faith and learning in the classroom to unlock academic disciplines from mere materialistic or rational concerns to direct interdependence and collaboration with the providential work of the Triune God in his plan to redeem the entire cosmos.

In light this fact, if any student graduates from a Christian school, at either the secondary or the university level, and cannot answer the following questions I argue that the school is failing. These four questions wed the goal of the Christian life — namely, to glorify God — with our day-to-day lives in a way that expands the scope of how we think about vocation.

Read the rest.

Matt Chandler on Porterbrook

We use the Porterbrook curriculum at The Vine and it has proved to be a huge blessing in the development of our DNA as a church focused on Gospel, Community, and Mission.

Matt Chandler on Porterbrook from Porterbrook Network on Vimeo.

A Great Example of the Resurgence of Substantial Theology in Popular Music

I have long grieved the loss of substantial theology communicated in music from Christian artists, especially the music we hear on the radio.  It didn't used to be like this.  Two decades ago there was way more theology packed into songs written by Christians for popular enjoyment and encouragement.

It seems to me that these days Hip Hop artists are leading the way when it comes to addressing the void of good theology in popular music.  Here would be a good example.



 More music from them here.

New Free eBook From Desiring God

A new free eBook from Desiring God, Doctrine Matters: Ten Theological Trademarks from a Lifetime of Preaching:

This book, in many ways, is the distillation of John Piper’s 1,200-plus sermons online into one theological recap. It’s sort of like a systematic theology text in its structure, but then it differs because it is preached theology — it is doctrine heralded to real people in real situations. 

Our hope is that making it available in multiple formats will encourage you to read it — whether electronically or paperback in hand — and that in reading it you will be drawn into the unfolding drama of God’s glory in this world. Our prayer, for you and for ourselves, is that we would know and love Jesus more, and be compelled to dream bigger and risk more in his name. May this little book be one small means.

Get a hardcopy here.

Knowledge Does Not Mean Maturity

Great comments here from Paul Tripp.  Get the book here.

"If you’re a Christian, you MUST be a theologian."

Helpful post here from Michael Kelley.

...all of us, even if we are atheists, are studiers of God. We all have opinions. We all have thoughts. We all have, at one time or another, stared into the night sky and wondered, What’s it all about? Whether we recognize it or not, we are all God-thinkers. We are hard-wired to be so.

But for the Christian, this escalates to another level. We cannot simply be those people who “let the experts tell us.” We similarly cannot be those people who “just want to focus on the real life issues.” We MUST be theologians. And I turn to the Apostle Paul to tell us why, specifically in the book of Ephesians.

Read the rest.

Thinking, Creativity, and Learning

Barnabas Piper:

On a recent airing of the TED Radio Hour Sir Ken Robinson, an author and brilliant thinker on all things related to creativity and education, had this to say:

“Well, creativity is probably the most fundamental set of capacities that distinguishes us as human beings. And from it flows a whole range of practical capacities that we call creativity.

“… in schools … the whole emphasis is on the one right answer; where imaginative thinking is actively discouraged … conformity affectively stifles creative thinking in every field.

“… if you’re promoting an education where there’s only one right answer … that’s hardly a good climate for cultivating the powers of creativity and innovation.”

Robinson’s comments are striking, salient, and not just because they pin the American education style to the wall. They are striking because they reflect so much truth about God and His church.

Read the rest.

Beautiful Video - Beautiful Summary

How Classical Education Shapes Us as God Intended

This is a great summary of what we are trying to accomplish with Charis Classical Academy in Madison, WI.

Bradley G. Green:

A funny thing happened as the 20th century came to a close. A number of Christians began to form what were being called "classical and Christian" schools. Believers who would have been (or were) involved in their local traditional Christian school or public school were suddenly making the case for Latin, reading the great books of the Western intellectual tradition, and talking about the traditional liberal arts---the trivium and the quadrivium.

Read the rest.

BTW - Bradley Green's book, The Gospel and the Mind is on sale now as an eBook.  You can check it out here for $2.51.

The Case for Christian Education

James K.A. Smith:

First, Christian education is not meant to be merely “safe” education. The impetus for Christian schooling is not a protectionist concern, driven by fear, to sequester children from the big, bad world. Christian schools are not meant to be moral bubbles or holy huddles where children are encouraged to stick their heads in the sand.

Rather, Christian schools are called to be like Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia: not safe, but good. Instead of antiseptic moral bubbles, Christian schools are moral incubators that help students not only to see the glories of God’s creation but also to discern and understand the brokenness of this fallen world.

While the Christian classroom makes room for appreciating the stunning complexity of cell biology and the rich diversity of world cultures, it’s also a place to understand the systemic injustices behind racism and the macroeconomics of poverty. Christian schools are not places for preserving a naive innocence; they are laboratories to form children who see that our broken world is full of widows, orphans, and strangers we are called to love and welcome.

In short, Christian schools are not a withdrawal from the world; they are a lens and microscope through which to see the world in all its broken beauty.

Second, Christian schools are not just about Bible classes. The curriculum of a Christian school is not the curriculum of a public school plus religion courses. While Christian education does deepen students’ knowledge of God’s Word, it’s not Bible class that makes a school Christian.

Rather, the Reformed vision of Christian education emphasizes that the entire curriculum is shaped and nourished by faith in Christ, “for by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17). Christian schools are not just extensions of Sunday school focused on learning religion; they are Christ-rooted educational institutions focused on religious learning.

Third, Christian education is not a merely “private” education. Christian schools are not meant to be elite enclaves for the wealthy. To the extent that Christian schools become pious renditions of “prep schools,” they fail to appreciate the radical, biblical calling of Christian education.

Read the rest.

We seek to instill these values in the school we are starting in Madison, WI called Charis Classical Academy.

Get Dr. Smith's books here.

Learning To See Beauty and Error

(HT)

The Jesus Storybook Bible Curriculum

Check it out here. Seems like a no-brainer for most churches for the discipleship of our kids.

The New Themelios Journal

You can find it here.  It contains numerous articles that will be of interest to many of you.

I contributed a review of Bill Clem's book, Disciple: Getting Your Identity From Jesus.  You can read that here if you would like.

We Can't Avoid Theological Rigor

Eric McKiddie:

Pastors and congregants alike often use the “we will never fully know” excuse to marginalize the practical value of certain theological topics. This trump card brings to a screeching halt conversations about eschatology or the relationship between divine sovereignty and human freedom.

But just because we can’t fully know something, does that mean we shouldn’t learn as much as we can about it?

Speaking of how the divine Son was able to be incarnated into fallen flesh, T.F. Torrence says, “Here we are faced with something we can never fully understand, but it is something that we must seek to understand as far as we can” (Incarnation, 62).

We must seek to understand it as far as we can.

Even though some theological topics contain more mystery than others, there is always more that we can understand about them.

So let’s bring our theological A game even to the most mysterious doctrines.

Well said. Eric has a great blog that I would encourage you to check out.

On Reading Hard Books

John Piper:

Since wisdom is found in the Word of God, we must apply ourselves in study and meditation to know the Word and do it. "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." (Psalm 19:7). Therefore, we must devote ourselves to know and understand the testimonies of the Lord. And here I commend not only faithful Bible study, but also regular reading of great books on theology and biblical interpretation, books that distill the wisdom of the greatest students of the word over the past 1900 years.

Now, I know what you are thinking: I don't have the time or the ability to get anywhere in books like that. So I want to show you something really encouraging. When this was shown to me about four years ago by my pastor, it changed my life. Most of us don't aspire very high in our reading because we don't feel like there is any hope.

But listen to this: Suppose you read about 250 words a minute and that you resolve to devote just 15 minutes a day to serious theological reading to deepen your grasp of biblical truth. In one year (365 days) you would read for 5,475 minutes. Multiply that times 250 words per minute and you get 1,368,750 words per year. Now most books have between 300 and 400 words per page. So if we take 350 words per page and divide that into 1,368,750 words per year, we get 3,910 pages per year. This means that at 250 words a minute, 15 minutes a day, you could read about 20 average sized books a year!

Mike Horton on Classical Christian Education

Mike Horton gives a plug for classical Christian education.

If you missed my wife's posts on this type of school we are starting in Madison, WI, you can find them here.

Classical Christian Education

STR.org:

On the radio program Sunday, Greg hosted two guests who are headmasters of local classical Christian schools.  The philosophy and vision of this kind of education is inspired by Dorothy L. Sayers' (one of the Inklings and author) essay "The Lost Tools of Learning."  She describes a method of educating children that takes into account three development levels and building their knowledge as their progress like building blocks, from one stage to the next developing their understanding and thinking.  And it's amazing how children can learn using this method. 

What became clear listening to the headmasters is that the goal is to educate clear-thinking Christian students, which is STR's goal focused on adults.  Imagine what children raised to think and communicate clearly can do for God's Kingdom. 

You can listen to the interview. 

The guests were Liz Caddow from Trinity Classical Academy and Devin Smith from Beacon Hill Classical Academy. 

You can find out more about this model of education The Association of Classic and Christian Schools, and from Douglas Wilson's book The Case for Classical and Christian Schools.

My wife and I, plus two other couples, are seeking to start a school similar to this in Madison, WI.  We hope to launch Fall of 2012.  Here is the school that we helped start in Albuquerque, NM four years ago.  We love this model of education and have seen our kids thrive in it.

The Key Trait of Successful Teachers

Very interesting article here.  Here is the conclusion:

In his book Teaching to Change Lives, Hendricks recalls an encounter with one of his own professors who models well the humble service of Christ. The professor’s habit of studying both early in the morning and late into the night piqued Hendricks’s curiosity. When he asked his professor about this practice, the professor replied, “Son, I would rather have my students drink from a running stream than a stagnant pool.” In the same way that Scovel’s account conjures up images of the faithful cobbler searching out the best materials for his shoemaking, this story brings to mind scenes of the committed professor searching through libraries for the finest information to present to his students. 

Therefore, out of reverence for Christ, let us also teach in a Christian way. That is to say, let us teach in a way that corresponds with the true nature of the universe made and sustained by Jesus Christ. Reality mandates that pride destroys and humility strengthens. Anyone who recognizes this law can certainly be a good teacher, but Christians should be be the very best teachers. For only Christ can grant us the true humility necessary to count our students more significant than ourselves, preoccupying us with his glory rather than our own.

Read the rest.