“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.“
This is a quote by John Milton’s On Education, to which I have referenced many times because of its clear articulation of the purpose of education in light of the biblical worldview. In other words, if the Scriptures are true then this quote must accurately communicate the purpose of education.
Some may say that education should be held in a separate bucket than one’s faith or purpose for existence. However, if education did not have correlation to the truth of who God is, the truth of who man is, and the truth of their relationship/responsibility to one another then we devalue education and render it pointless. I would also declare this approach to be comfortably embracing a cognitive dissonance that aims for no target. Seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and the rest will be added to you. Keep the main thing, the main thing.
This is why we champion discipleship at Providence Preparatory Academy. Christian education must first acknowledge both our Creator and our need for reconciliation to Him.
If God is in fact sovereign over all creation then education must fall under His absolute reign and sovereign purpose. If we are created in His image and for His glory and yet live in a state marred and depraved having broken our relationship with our Creator, then it is reasonable to view education as a means to lead to the appropriate restoration and reconciliation of said relationship. And education becomes the noble call to which we have been called. Certainly not as something we can abdicate to someone else. Though difficult, though time consuming, though exhausting and at times discouraging, this is the work we have been entrusted with. Should we be lazy or should we abdicate our responsibility, then we sacrifice faithfulness and the next generation.
To do the work of discipling and shepherding well, we have to acknowledge it is too big for us. We are shaping hearts and minds, and this requires the Lord’s help. What we seek to do is to be faithful, and to therefore educate and communicate in accordance with what He has declared to be true.
That is the cost, and that is the calling.
Should we be lazy or should we abdicate or should we prioritize something else, then what is sacrificed is our faithfulness and the next generation.
According to Milton’s quote, what results from a restored relationship is a knowledge that transforms the affections of the student. This love for their Creator will translate into the imitation of our Heavenly Father. As we grow in our beholding Christ and our practice of Christ-likeness, we find that the Holy Spirit begins a transformation which resembles the image of our Savior and even further a fulfillment of the purpose for which we were created, to bear the image of God. This only happens as we grow true virtue, or in Christ-likeness. This type of authentic sanctification can only happen through the uniting of ourselves to the Christ by grace through faith.
I have watched this happen. Most children do not want to walk onto a stage in front of their peers, their parents, and a panel of judges, and yet every year at speech meet, ours do. What I have seen, again and again, is the moment a child stops seeing the stage as a place to put themselves on display, and begins to see it instead as an opportunity to put on display the gifts God has given them, for His glory. When that shift happens, they take the stage with a God-founded confidence and courage that was not theirs a year, or even a month, before. And their affections grow, not for the stage, but for the God and the parents who encouraged and sustained them through the trial. This is knowledge transforming affection. This is what Milton is describing, and it is not theoretical. It happens at Providence.
This worldview is as inseparable from the education of an image bearer of God, as the creation is as inseparable from its obligation to bring glory to its Creator.
As a Christian school, Providence operates from the premise that Christ is not just of great significance, He is preeminent in all things. We value the perspective and philosophy and pedagogical approach of Classical education. However, we recognize that classical pedagogy seemed to ask all the right questions, but missing Christ it missed all the right answers. Therefore, we champion Christian classical education, where truth, goodness, and beauty all have their existence and substance in Christ.
With this perspective established, our end goal is that these students be able to reason and communicate the truth of God’s word bolstered by a character and reputation which is above reproach, having been molded and being molded by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ. This is what we promise to labor for.
