Doxological Pedagogy (Part Five)
The Convivio Dante opens the second treatise of the Convivio with an explanation of what has of old been called the quadriga, or the fourfold method of interpretation. This approach seeks to discover (in this order) the literal, the allegorical, the moral, and the anagogical (or eschatological) meaning of a given text (Convivio 63-64 [II, i, 1-7]). This methodology was commonly used to interpret Scripture, and would have certainly been taught at the religious schools Dante attended. But here he applied this method to his own lyric poetry, laying the foundation for its use with any text. In this way, … Continue Reading “Doxological Pedagogy (Part Five)”
Doxological Pedagogy (Part Four)
The Preeminence of Christ A doxological pedagogy begins with a full-orbed understanding of the preeminence of Christ in all things. Unless we see Jesus sitting at the center, unless we acknowledge Him as the integration point, the one in whom all things hold together, we will not properly understand the world around us. As we confess, all things “in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers,” were made “by Him…through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). That confession necessarily shapes what we remember, how we understand, and who we love. But every educational endeavor … Continue Reading “Doxological Pedagogy (Part Four)”
Doxological Pedagogy (Part Three)
A Still More Excellent Way It would be an interesting (even if ultimately infuriating) exercise to imagine Dante, coming out of the wood, meeting either Socrates or Jean-Jaques instead of Vergil. What would his journey have looked like under the tutelage of either of these philosophers? Where would Dante have been taken, if the governing assumption was that Dante was basically good, and simply had misaligned knowledge, or misaligned sentiments, and not (as was actually the case) misaligned loves and a broken will? We will have occasion to return to these deficient worldviews at different points later in our discussion, … Continue Reading “Doxological Pedagogy (Part Three)”
Doxological Pedagogy (Part Two)
Education is a fundamental human experience. Therefore, in order to know what education is we have to know what man is. In order to know what education is for, we have to know what man is for. Anthropology matters, in other words, and is a necessary cornerstone to a cogent philosophy of education. When thinkers and educators disagree about the aims of education, at the heart of their argument are disparate views of humanity. Defining the nature of man differently leads each to define the goal or purpose of education differently as well. It is beyond the scope of this … Continue Reading “Doxological Pedagogy (Part Two)”
Doxological Pedagogy (Part One)
What is Education? What is education? What is education for? How is education to be pursued? And how can Dante’s Paradiso help answer these questions? What I will be suggesting as an answer starts with doxological pedagogy. The word pedagogy comes from the Greek words for “boy” and “guide”; thus a pedagogy is the means by which the child is guided toward a specific end. A doxological (literally, the speaking of the glory) pedagogy establishes the worship of God as that particular end toward which a child is led through every sphere of education. Put simply, a doxological education trains, … Continue Reading “Doxological Pedagogy (Part One)”
We Need Stories
Once upon a time there was a horse that couldn’t be tamed. He was young and strong, nervous and rangy. King Philip wanted to ride him in battle, and every man of the king’s army looked on that beautiful horse with admiration. But man after man could not tame him; with wild, frantic energy he started and bucked at every battle-hardened solder that tried to get close to him. After many men had failed they were about to declare him untamable and send him back into the wild, when the king’s young son stepped forward and said, “Father, I can tame … Continue Reading “We Need Stories”
We’ve Been Schooled: A Short Film on American Education
We’ve Been Schooled: A Short Film on American Education By Scott Postma, of Kepler Education
Why Readers, Scientifically, Are The Best People To Fall In Love With
I recently read an article about why readers, scientifically speaking, are the best people to fall in love with. I agree! I married a woman who loves to read, and loves to learn! She read all the right books while growing up! (Incidentally, she took Wes Callihan’s Great Books courses online in high school). The article points to several benefits that reading will bring a reader. It enables them to speak to someone in a meaningful way. It allows a person to understand other people; it teaches the art of empathy. And it gives wisdom that years of actual experience … Continue Reading “Why Readers, Scientifically, Are The Best People To Fall In Love With”
Introducing Kepler Education
Dear friends of Roman Roads Press, For the last five years we have offered classes through Roman Roads Classroom, a small online live-class service where we used the flipped-classroom model of lecture + live recitation. Many of you used this service and expressed how much you loved the model. Additionally, teachers loved this model. That is why last year we founded Kepler Education, building on the foundation so many of you loved with Roman Roads Classroom. What has changed? The biggest change in the transition from Roman Roads Classroom to Kepler Education is the quantity of teachers who have joined … Continue Reading “Introducing Kepler Education”
The Old Western Culture Great Books List
Old Western Culture is a great books curriculum with a distinctly Christian “great books” reading list. It includes all the famous favorites you’ll recognize from series like the Britannica Great Books of the Western World, but also includes books that are often left out of modern editions for various reasons, most often because they are from the “Age of Faith.” We include more works from the early Church Fathers, Medieval period, and the Reformation. These are deeply influential and formative books on Western civilization, and worthy of inclusion in great books series. These books are part of our Christian and cultural inheritance, and … Continue Reading “The Old Western Culture Great Books List”