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)”
Old Western Culture Walk-through: How Does the Curriculum Work?
Daniel Foucachon talks about how the curriculum works, its components, schedules, and how to apply it to various settings. All curriculum & books on sale 25 – 35% off through Aug 14th.
The Mighty Power of Good Friday
According to Dante’s vibrant imagination, Hell is a ramshackle kingdom, broken and falling apart. As the pilgrim journeys through the terrible realm, he sees on every side ruin and decay, and not only in the faces of the damned. The very landscape is full of craggy landslides, crumbled towers, broken bridges, and wreckage. As the downward journey continues, it becomes more and more obvious that the city of Dis, named for the archfiend, was once a staggering achievement, something akin to Milton’s Pandemonium. But now it is a Pandemonium gone wrong. Everything is in shabby disrepair. As the travelers descend … Continue Reading “The Mighty Power of Good Friday”
The Education of the American Founders
“Dad had enough gall to be divided into three parts,” opens one of America’s beloved tales, Cheaper by the Dozen, published in 1948. To the audience of the day, this colorful description would evoke a commonplace pun from the ubiquitously read Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars, which opens “All Gaul is divided into three parts” (or Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres as the Latin student would have had to translate). The chances are, neither you nor your children have read Julius Caesar and his famous Gallic Wars. However, your grandparents very likely did, and nearly every educated (certainly college … Continue Reading “The Education of the American Founders”
Men, Carry Your Father
As a boy I lived for a period in Florida, the capital of retirement homes. As a result, for various reasons, we visited a few of these homes. They were nice. Like little vacation villages. Yet they were also tragic. This is where the most essential members of our society spent their most important years. We were living in Florida because my grandfather was dying of cancer, and we lived with him during his last days. He never lived in a retirement home, and died Christmas morning in his own bed, surrounded by family. What a gift to him, but … Continue Reading “Men, Carry Your Father”
Why Old Western Culture has no self-graded quizzes
Several years ago we produced self-grading quizzes for a unit of Old Western Culture as a trial. They worked great, and demonstrated that students were paying attention to the material. But we decided not to publish them. Here is why. While self-grading quizzes can be very useful, especially for subjects like math and language, we wanted to emphasize the “recitation,” or Socratic dialogue use of the workbooks for Old Western Culture. Ideally, the workbooks shouldn’t be used for mere comprehension, even if they accomplish that, but as a jumping point for discussion. Grappling with the questions from the lectures and readings … Continue Reading “Why Old Western Culture has no self-graded quizzes”