Creating an online Christian curriculum and teaching courses from a consistently biblical worldview isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a daunting enough challenge for any believer.
And the challenge isn’t so much an intellectual or an academic one. It really is a spiritual one.
After all, how do you get a sense of whether or not you are going about it the right way? What guidance or reputable source of scripturally informed wisdom can you turn to for help?
Where do you start?
Thankfully, when Dr. Gary North first approached me about taking on this important, long-term education project, he recommended some exceedingly helpful books and articles for me to read. to help me to, as the warden in the classic Cool Hand Luke movie said, “get my mind right.”
In this series of posts, I want to present some of these helpful books and articles to you. They will, I am sure, help you to get your mind right.
Today, I want to mention and recommend to you the most important of these books.
It was published in 1976. Nearly five decades ago. Sounds old, but it really isn’t. Not by book publishing standards. It is certainly not outdated in terms of what it has to say about laying the foundations of Christian scholarship.
In fact, that is actually its title. Fancy that…
Foundations of Christian Scholarship
It’s a scholarly book, written by scholars, for scholars and would-be scholars. Even for wanna-be scholars.
It’s even a good book for love-to-be-but-never-gonna-be scholars! In other words, the rest of us. Informed, intelligent Christian readers. That’s enough qualification to benefit from it. I speak from first-hand experience.
This is a collection of essays. Hence, the subtitle: “Essays in the Van Til Perspective”.
There are twelve chapters, written by a variety of authors from a variety of disciplines. All Bible-believing scholars.
Because it is a collection of essays, you can pick and choose. You don’t have to read every single one of them. I didn’t. And I probably won’t. You won’t either. Trust me. The ones that you should read are the ones that, (a), interest you, and, (b), pertain to the subject or subjects that you want to teach or are teaching or have taught. The ones that you can relate to the best.
Make sense?
I have read the chapter on Mathematics, for example. Author: Vern Poythress. Math is a subject that I have taught and will be teaching. I also read the chapter on Education, by William Blake. That is a good one. A very good one. In fact, I recommend that you begin with that chapter.
Recommendation
So, here is what I think you should do.
Order a used copy of Foundations of Christian Scholarship. You can find one on Amazon or other used book sites. You can also order a new copy from Chalcedon Foundation.
In fact, Chalcedon will even let you read the book for free right on their website.
Go here to have a look:
https://chalcedon.edu/store/40053-the-foundations-of-christian-scholarship
Read the chapter on Education: pages 103-116. Read the Van Til quote on pg. 102. In fact, read all of the Van Til quotes throughout the book. You’ll find that every section and every chapter leads off with a full page quote from Van Til. These alone are worth the price of whatever you pay for the book.
The essays are really extended applications of Van Til’s teachings on the preeminence of biblical Christianity and the absolute authority of the Bible over every area of man’s knowledge and man’s existence. These really are eye-opening. At least I found them to be so. I think you will, too.
Okay, that’s enough homework for now.
Until next time…