Too many Christians have bought into the distortion that learning or the acquisition of knowledge can somehow be spiritually neutral. Many times that is how Christians view academic subjects—as merely a body of neutral, observable facts. Because of this belief, many Christians put their children in secular, public education programs.
Those Christians believe that their children are getting only facts in secular programs and thus that those programs are good and safe. The thought is that the home and the church are where children learn faith and values. It sounds as if Horace Mann did an effective job when he sold the concept of the common school on this very premise.
At a Christian school, there is a held premise that God indeed created all things—including math, science, and language— and that all things have meaning beyond simply the intellectual realm. Romans 1:20 tells us that by studying God’s creation we can know and understand God’s eternal attributes. Connecting knowledge and learning to a Biblical worldview framework allows God to reveal His true nature to students. They are not merely increasing their knowledge base, but are actually being led through a process that develops wisdom and understanding, two qualities that the book of Proverbs emphasizes.
The integration of faith and learning is not a process that is strange, quaint, unusual, or unique to Christianity. It is an activity performed by everyone who understands the need for a coherent worldview, by everyone who knows that believing conflicting claims is not reasonable. Further, if we understand “faith” to be the set of basic beliefs, preferences and presuppositions that guide our lives, then everyone – religious or not – practices the integration of faith and learning. The seminal question to be asked is, “What faith is being integrated into the learning of your student?”
We can see that Christian educators must be able to address not only the issues of life from a Biblical perspective, but each and every subject they teach at school as well.
For more information on Christian education for your child, from grades K through 10th (soon to be K through 12th), contact Trinity Classical Academy at 661-296-2601 or visit www.TrinityClassicalAcademy.com.