{"id":940,"date":"2016-11-11T05:42:06","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T05:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/?p=940"},"modified":"2022-01-22T05:04:06","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T05:04:06","slug":"think-bigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/","title":{"rendered":"Think Bigger"},"content":{"rendered":"
by David Goodwin   |   Winter 2016<\/pre>\n
\n
Christian Education as a Conquering Force<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
\"regents_austin_7156_578x429\"
Regents School of Austin, Austin, TX<\/p><\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
That stitch in time that would save nine, for education, was missed a century ago. Christian culture is grasping at threads as it tries to remain relevant. But, there is hope that we can reweave a once great tapestry.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
A PBS feature \u201cSacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler\u201d repeats the common but false claim: \u201cIslam, like Judaism and Christianity, made its early gains through military conquest.\u201d Feiler, like so many in the media and academia today, tells the story he wants to believe\u2014lumping Christianity with Islam because \u201call religions are the same.\u201d But history reveals Feiler\u2019s error. Emperors, kings, and crusaders may have fought wars in the name of Christianity. But this is not how Christianity spread. The leaders of these quests appealed to Christianity because it was already widely accepted and they wanted its support. So how did Christianity, with its ideas, become the world\u2019s largest religion?<\/p>\n
The true story about Christian expansion may surprise you. You are part of this legacy every time you sit in the pickup line at your child\u2019s school. During times of Christianity\u2019s spread, educators fueled the growth\u2014first as classical educators turned Christian (Justin, Clement, Origen, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and others) and then in monasteries across Europe practicing classical Christian education. Ironically, where Anglo-Saxon and continental kings failed to push back Viking invaders, the Norsemen were undone by Christian educators they captured. Monks, captured and enslaved by the Vikings, were taken back to Scandinavia where, as slaves, they taught the pagans about Christ and His world. Alcuin, a monk from York, England, started schools across the pagan Saxon lands. Within a few hundred years, the Vikings quit pillaging not out of defeat, but because their culture had become Christian.<\/p>\n
\"think_big\"<\/p>\n
Christian ideas took hold as Christian parents and educators (often monks, see page 10) cultivated a Christian paideia in children. This thing called paideia is the building block of Christian civility and culture.<\/p>\n
Christianity grew rapidly between AD 40 and AD 310 in the Mediterranean, and from AD 450 to AD 900 in Western Europe. It was the strong, distinct, and set-apart Christian culture that attracted converts and grew the church.<\/p>\n
During Christianity\u2019s early expansion, Christians were attacked by the Roman public as cannibalistic (eating the body of Christ during communion) and incestuous (they married their \u201csisters in Christ\u201d), and because they worshipped the head of an ass (who knows where this came from). Marcus Aurelius (AD 161\u2013180) called Christians \u201cilliterate and bucolic yokels.\u201d We now know that the writings of some of these yokels at the time (Tertullian, Irenaeus, and slightly later, Augustine) have more influence today than Aurelius does.<\/p>\n
Since the early part of the twentieth century, true Christians have been increasingly marginalized. Now, we\u2019re being labeled as homophobes, sexist, haters, silly, superstitious, and weak-minded. And, history is being rewritten to slander our heritage, as Feiler has done. As a whole, we need to hold fast to our tradition and regain our grasp on education so that one day the critics on PBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and the rest will look like the second-century Romans\u2014judged as foolish artifacts of history.\"ACCS_graphic_sm1\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by David Goodwin | Winter 2016 Christian Education as a Conquering Force   That stitch in time that would save nine, for education, was missed a century ago. Christian culture is grasping at threads as it tries to remain relevant. But, there is hope that we can reweave a once great tapestry.   A PBS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[47,14,70,6,34,1,31],"tags":[256],"yoast_head":"\nThink Bigger - The Classical Difference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Think Bigger - The Classical Difference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by David Goodwin | Winter 2016 Christian Education as a Conquering Force   That stitch in time that would save nine, for education, was missed a century ago. Christian culture is grasping at threads as it tries to remain relevant. But, there is hope that we can reweave a once great tapestry.   A PBS […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Classical Difference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-11T05:42:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-22T05:04:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Regents_Austin_7156_578x429.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"578\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"429\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/\",\"name\":\"Think Bigger - The Classical Difference\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-11T05:42:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-22T05:04:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5ed2d53b79f3a36a029f799ac13c675c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Think Bigger\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Classical Difference\",\"description\":\"Bringing Life to the Classroom\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5ed2d53b79f3a36a029f799ac13c675c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/693e939ce4d217c79fb54bd4ce9835ca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/693e939ce4d217c79fb54bd4ce9835ca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Think Bigger - The Classical Difference","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Think Bigger - The Classical Difference","og_description":"by David Goodwin | Winter 2016 Christian Education as a Conquering Force   That stitch in time that would save nine, for education, was missed a century ago. Christian culture is grasping at threads as it tries to remain relevant. But, there is hope that we can reweave a once great tapestry.   A PBS […]","og_url":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/","og_site_name":"The Classical Difference","article_published_time":"2016-11-11T05:42:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-22T05:04:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":578,"height":429,"url":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Regents_Austin_7156_578x429.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/","url":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/","name":"Think Bigger - The Classical Difference","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-11-11T05:42:06+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-22T05:04:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5ed2d53b79f3a36a029f799ac13c675c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/think-bigger\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Think Bigger"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/","name":"The Classical Difference","description":"Bringing Life to the Classroom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5ed2d53b79f3a36a029f799ac13c675c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/693e939ce4d217c79fb54bd4ce9835ca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/693e939ce4d217c79fb54bd4ce9835ca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1201,"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940\/revisions\/1201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicaldifference.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}