Beyond Accord: Can ‘Spiritual Development’ Move us Forward?

THIS PAPER GIVES an account of some aspects of Christian education that are emphasized in Lutheran thinking on education. One of these aspects is a focus on education for everybody, not only Christians, another is the place of paradox and polar structure both in the theology and in the educational thinking. Maybe the most important paradox in this context is what Luther called the model of the two governments. The paper also mentions human finitude as a strongly emphasized aspect, and finally there are some thoughts about how a Lutheran perspective influences the curriculum.

A Lutheran Perspective on Education

Sandsmark¹

2002

Identifying Christian Schools: How do you tell when you've found one?

Smith¹

1998

recent discussions of the biblical wisdom literature present wisdom as multidimensional, timed, relational, focused on connections, open-ended, trustful and playful. This paper surveys the use made ofthe idea of wisdom in the educational writings of John Amos Comenius. It is suggested that while there are inevitable differences in terms ofphilosophical framework, there are significant similarities between Comenius' emphases and those evident in Blomberg's work. Blomberg on WisdomIn several recent papers, 1 Doug Blomberg has explored the question as to what view of knowledge is appropriate to a Christian viewof education, and has highlighted the relevance of the Hebrew wisdom tradition for an understanding of the educational process. He suggests that it might offer a more biblicaland more fruitful alternative to currently prevailing paradigms. The sacred story of Western culture has, he suggests, sown a number of tares into the field of education.f These 'tares' are as follows: a technical rationalityfocuses on the solving of discrete componential problems at the expense of an adequate realisation of the interconnectedness of creation; a economic rationalismuniversalises the economic mode of human existence, subjecting education to its goals and thus doing violence to the educator's broader calling; a scientismexhibits a confidence in the abilityof scientific investigation to unravel all mysteries given time, yet breeds fear as historical reality refuses to be domesticated by would-be autonomous science; and a the dominance ofthe (Greek) theory-into-practice paradigmimposes a bias

Christians Teaching in the Public Schools: What are some options?

Schwartz¹

1998