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Lesson OneAn Introduction and Overview4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoThe Big Questions of Life3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeBasic Philosophical Categories and Their Relationship to Education3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FourCentrality of Scripture3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FiveA Biblical Worldview3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson SixThe Importance of Parents3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson SevenThe Importance of Teachers3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson EightNurturing in the Christian School3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson NineResponsive Discipleship in the Christian School3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TenThe Importance of a Coherent Curriculum3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ElevenChristian Philosophy Under Attack3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwelveChallenges and Opportunities for Christian Educators6 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion2 Activities1 Assessment
Participants 605
Discussion Questions
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The lecturer states she “would contend that only a believer is able to truly love wisdom as God created us to love.” Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
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The lecturer states she “would contend that only a believer can truly love wisdom as God created us to love.” I agree with her statement because internalizing scripture provides the knowledge that God has given as a guide in everyday life experiences, and reading scripture or quoting scripture shows that we treasure the words and wisdom that God has shared with us. He did this because he loves us, and we demonstrate appreciation for this gift by passing it on as we would a family heirloom. As Christian educators, our enthusiasm and passion for scripture fill a classroom as we infuse scripture into our lessons, conversations, and relationships.
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The lecturer can back this statement with scriptures. I am reminded of James 3:13-18. “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” In sum, God as the author of love demonstrates to us that wisdom that causes strife and is without love is not of His origin. But true Godly wisdom is an expression of his nature (fruits of the spirit) and his all-encompassing love.
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Yes, believers, who accept and follow the teachings of their faith, are in a better position to understand and love true wisdom as God intended. Believers may contend that spiritual discernment is necessary to grasp the deeper, spiritual dimensions of wisdom, and only those who have faith possess this discernment.
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Agree. God is the author and provider of truth and the giver of wisdom. We must seek Him and He will give us wisdom if we ask.
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I would agree if I were referring only to Biblical wisdom.
I do think non-believers can appreciate wisdom, philosophy, and education without God. I’d even say, many use that as their god/self-sufficiency.
However, back to Biblical wisdom, of course you can’t truly appreciate it without a love and understanding of God. You can’t truly love a masterpiece of art if half of the piece is missing—to understand all the intricacies every inch of the artwork must be there. As our love and understanding (wisdom) of Christ grows, our appreciation of all he does and creates grows.
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What do you hope to gain from this course? In what specific areas do you hope to grow as a Christian educator?
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I hope to gain more knowledge and help my students to be better in every aspect of their lives.
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I hope to gain a better understanding of living out my Philosophy in every aspect of my life. To incorporate it even more into my teaching so that it just flows naturally in every interaction I have with my students.
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Ideas and knowledge.
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Open my eyes and heart to what the Lord is trying to tell me. and make sure I am doing what I can for his kingdom and our students.
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I would like to know how I can explicitly integrate the Bible into my day-to-day teaching practices. This way, I can guide my students to have a biblical worldview of the subject that I am teaching, science.
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Why is it imperative that Christian educators have a Christian philosophy of education?
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Christian educators must have a Christian philosophy of education because it is a clear directive from God in his Word. In multiple places throughout Scripture, God instructs us to instruct children. The context of these statements is not limited to a family or church setting, but instructions for training the next generation are to be applied in all areas and in every environment. It is the responsibility of Christian educators to teach students how to think Christian-ly. Proverbs, Romans, Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak to this implicitly. Although they may not address this directly, there are numerous places within Scripture where the impact can be seen by a lack of Biblical or Scriptural teaching about God. In the context of Christian education, a Christian philosophy acts as the guardrails for our teaching. We exist to point our students to Jesus, whatever the subject we happen to teach. We exist in our classrooms to point our students to the supremacy of the Christian worldview.
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A philosophy is the foundation of any enterprise. Christian education cannot be defined by what it is not, nor by what it stands against. We must have a Christian philosophy which stands on the Word so we are defined by what we are, so it is clear who we are and what we do. That will keep us from wandering astray when faced with alternative ideas.
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Without a philosophy it is impossible to create an effective context for Christian Education. Christian Education must stand firmly on Christian wisdom. It is difficult to ensure that we do not conform to the world unless there is a strong philosophy of guiding principles.
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A Christian philosophy is needed for Christian education to exist, like was stated in our lecture. An educational philosophy is the basis for everything that occurs in your classroom, from how you interact with and treat your students, teach your students, what they learn, etc., so basing your philosophy off God’s word and teachings helps integrate God throughout the classroom, which helps students develop Biblical worldviews and knowledge from a Christian perspective.
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What we bring to the classroom impacts our students. If we do not have a Christian philosophy of education we are not keeping Christ in our classroom and our students are not learning our Him through us.
