Goodness

“God is not a symbol of goodness. Goodness is a symbol of God.” - G.K, Chesterton

“Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” - C.S. Lewis

“The world doesn’t need more smart people. It needs more good people.” - Rebekah Merkle.

 Classical Christian education is often described by a pursuit of the true, the good, and the beautiful. This distinguishes it from other options available in our day by its aim. Other options might prioritize student interests, test scores, college readiness, or vocational training. A classical education seeks to orient the student’s affections toward what is traditionally understood as true, good, and beautiful.

However, one could also legitimately say that classical Christian education is a movement to remember what was once simply understood as “education.” If you were a nobleman’s son who was expected to carry on the family name responsibly or you wanted to pursue the priesthood or law…you got an education. Not everyone got one. Most people simply learned a trade.  However, because the vices that afflict common man are most devastating when they control him who carries great societal influence, it was understood as beneficial to civilization to have a mechanism that transferred timeless wisdom to those who carried the most societal weight. These people received a “Liberal Arts” education so that they could be effective leaders and pass along the traditions of the past and the culture of their parents to future generations. This education was liberal in that it liberated them from the snares of sin and evil by passing along timeless “arts” (skills) that the Western world had gathered and honed over thousands of years. Education, with its focus on truth, beauty, and goodness, sustained civilization.

“The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established forever.” Prov. 29:14.

“For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.” Prov. 28:2

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Prov. 29:2

This three-fold focus of education at Knox Academy is truly counter-cultural. Truth, goodness, and beauty are all integrated and interdependent, and not matters of personal preference as modernity would have us believe. Christ, in the eight beatitude, declares that goodness can provoke uncomfortable earthly consequences. He blesses this, of course, but makes clear that a good life is one lived for the Kingdom of Heaven. A study of Scripture and history leaves us with little doubt that choosing to live righteously cannot be measured by earthly gain or rewards. Grades may, or may not, measure goodness. Wealth may, or may not, measure goodness. Even friendships and health are not true measures of goodness. One can attain “friends” or “health” by unrighteous means, and one can live a lonely or sickly righteous life. God is the author of all of these things, and He does not give us a promise of earthly success for righteous living – at least not success that is evidently and immediately quantifiable, as are expected in a fast-paced scientific age.

God does, however, provide sufficient guidance for those who seek Him. While we may not easily measure goodness by its quantifiable gains, we can know joy in sorrow, have hope in despair, and live a life that is blessed. We can know that we are living by faith and storing up treasures in heaven, in spite of what persecution or suffering may follow a pursuit of goodness. This is what a liberal arts education brings into perspective, drawing from the profound philosophical well that is Western culture. As Scripture and ancient Hebrew writing and culture are foundational, so also proven Greek and Roman writings form a powerful foundation for forming the affections. It is this tradition that gives us the muses and music as classically applied. The Greek progymnasmata was a writing curriculum that taught Greek students to discern and defend virtue and attack vice rhetorically through analysis of historical narratives and figures. Plutarch’s “Lives” compares and contrasts the great Greek and Roman leaders with a focus on the consequences of good and bad leadership.

Early church and medieval scholars, pivotal in developing the liberal arts, examined and expounded on these works and contributed their own scholarship that also deserves our humble consideration. It is within this tradition of ethical analysis that our own students engage stories and literature in all grades, from fairytales, myths, and folk songs to the great literature of Humane Letters classes with books like “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Great Expectations.” In this tradition, we discuss works like Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” itself an important part of Western literature with themes of greed, power, and ambition, contrasted against self-awareness and self-sacrifice. Your students are scholars in this educational tradition, the tradition of the liberal arts, the education of kings. It is in this tradition that they learn first to rule themselves. This is what is meant by the classical pursuit of goodness.

As always, we are looking forward to being together this next month at the St. Patrick’s Day Chapel and Feast and at the Speech Meet.

May the Lord bless you all this weekend.

Sincerely,

Ben McReynolds