Classical Education

An Intro to Classical Education

When the term education is searched on Google the following definition is given, “The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.” While this definition is technically accurate in a modern sense it falls severely short of what education has historically been understood to be. In our present culture education has often been reduced to intellectual performance. However, a person formed only in the mind results in an incomplete person. C S Lewis describes this imbalance in The Abolition of Man as a humanity reduced to pure calculation.

The goal of this article is to show that anthropology (the study of man) determines how one pursues education. In other words in order to educate man we must understand what he is. I will give my view that Christian Classical education understands that man is made of mind, body, and soul therefore educating man as he needs to be. Modern education on the other hand is hindered due to its improper understanding of what man is, due to the denial that man is made in the image of God. Education often therefore turns into something for the mind alone, and emphasizes a utilitarian model for utilitarian ends. 

In some cases education is reduced to technical skill and information transfer. What this reveals is simple but important. Every educational system is built upon an anthropology, an understanding of what a human being is. When that anthropology is distorted education becomes distorted with it. Some systems deny transcendental truth altogether. Others reduce truth to abstract facts disconnected from moral and spiritual formation. In both cases education fails to educate the whole man.

So you may ask, what makes classical education distinct and better than modern approaches to education? Below I discuss the distinctives. There you can consider why this model has been used for millenia and has shaped culture and society and produced men and women who have shaped helped western civilization; and why a return to it is better for children and society at a large.

What is Classical Christian?

First, it is important to understand what Classical Christian Education is. It is primarily and most importantly Christian. The chief reason for this model is to know the Triune God in a fallen world so that we may live in communion with Him and interact with those around us in a Christ like manner. It is not simply about religious content added onto schooling but about the whole vision of reality being shaped by Christ. At its center is the belief that truth, goodness, and beauty are not abstract ideals but reflect the very character of God Himself and therefore undergird the pursuit of all knowledge.

The classical aspect means that education is rooted in the long tradition of the great books tradition that shaped both the Church and many of the great civilizations of history, especially in the Greek and Roman worlds. Classical education is structured around the great books that teach the student what it means to be part of the human experience. These great works push students to engage philosophy, theology, morality through stories that communicate all aspects of life. They are encouraged to use their moral imagination as they are invited through to consider what is true, good, and beautiful, therefore forming not only the mind but their soul towards virtue.

Classical education has also historically been structured around the trivium and quadrivium; i.e., the seven liberal arts. The trivium consists of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, which train students to understand language and how it is formed, logical inference and how words relate to one another, and speak truthfully and persuasively. The quadrivium consists of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Arithmetic studies number in itself, geometry studies number in space, music studies number in time through rhythm and harmony, and astronomy studies number in time and space through the ordered motions of the heavens.

Together these disciplines aim not merely at information, but at the formation of the mind, body, and soul. This prepares students for wisdom, virtue, and the pursuit of truth by pointing to the fountain of all order, namely the Triune God.

These emphases. are distinct from modern progressive models because they are not primarily focused on utility or specialization but on formation of the mind toward wisdom. Although classical education takes formation of the mind seriously and teaches the rigor of what is involved in the seven liberal arts it also is concerned about forming the habits of the heart that they may continue in this pursuit of education for all of life. For example, information separated from the habit of fortitude and discipline leave a student stagnant. Classical education makes it a point to cultivate such habits that they not only learn but exit their education knowing how educate themselves in wisdom.

Education in this model is also ordered toward rest. That may sound odd to you but let me explain. In Greek the word for leisure is σχολή (scholē), which is where the word school comes from. Originally school did not mean constant productivity or endless activity but leisure or rest, meaning rest in the freedom to pursue higher things. Education was never meant to be only preparation for work but preparation for the life of wisdom, virtue, and contemplation.

Why a Biblical Anthropology and Classical Education Go Hand in Hand

Genesis 1–3 provides the foundation for understanding what the human person is and therefore what education must become. Man is created in the image of God: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). God then declares creation to be very good: “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). In the Christian understanding, to be made in the image of God means that the human person is created for communion with God, for growth into His likeness, and for a life ordered toward truth, goodness, and beauty. The image is not static but dynamic, a calling toward transformation in God through knowledge and participation.

The human person is therefore not merely intellectual or merely physical, but a unified being of body and soul created for communion. Knowledge, virtue, and holiness belong together in the proper life of man and are meant to mature in harmony.

Yet Genesis 3 reveals the rupture of this order. Man turns from God and introduces death and disorder into human nature and creation itself. The result is not only moral failure but fragmentation of the human person and the distortion of the mind, the will, and the desires. The question then becomes: how can education help re-order man toward his true end?

To answer this, we return to the roots of education in the classical world. The word philosophy, as used by Plato and in the earliest Greek tradition, was understood as the pursuit of wisdom and the good life. Philosophy comes from the Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), meaning love of wisdom. It is made up of φίλο (philo), meaning love, and σοφία (sophia), meaning wisdom. In the Christian classical tradition, philosophy is not merely an academic subject but the pursuit of all knowledge that leads to living well before God. To pursue philosophy through the seven liberal arts is to pursue a rightly ordered life and the formation of the whole person.

In this sense, philosophy is not one subject among others. It is the end toward which all true education is directed. To be educated is to become a lover of wisdom, and therefore a lover of what is true, good, and real.

This vision was not abandoned when Christianity entered history. Rather, it was received, purified, and directed toward Christ. In both the Christian East and West, education continued to be understood as the formation of virtue and the healing of the human person. In the East, Basil the Great and the Cappadocian Fathers were deeply trained in classical Greek learning. Basil, in his letter To Young Men on the Right Use of Greek Literature, teaches that pagan learning may be useful when ordered toward virtue and fulfilled in Christ. John Chrysostom was likewise formed in rhetoric, yet used that training not for worldly acclaim but for preaching, repentance, and moral formation.

In the West, Augustine of Hippo followed a similar path. Trained in rhetoric and classical philosophy, he turned his intellectual gifts toward God. In Confessions, Augustine teaches that wisdom is not mere intelligence but rightly ordered love, loving God above all things.

For this reason, biblical anthropology and classical education naturally belong together. If man is made in the image of God, fallen yet capable of restoration, then education must aim higher than utility. It must seek the renewal of the whole person: mind, body, and soul.

Why This Matters for Education Today

This brings the question into the present reality of parents and teachers. If man is created for truth, wisdom, and communion with God then education must serve that end. It cannot be reduced to credentialing and information delivery. A system that ignores the soul of the child cannot fully educate the child. This is why Classical Christian Education offers a different approach. It is not simply an alternative curriculum but a different understanding of what a human being is. It seeks to form the whole person, mind, will, and affections, ordered toward truth, goodness, and beauty, and ultimately toward God Himself.

In contrast many modern public education systems are structured around getting good grades, performance, and future job pursuits. Although these are good pursuits, it should not stop there.

If man is only a thinking animal education becomes information transfer. But if man is created in the image of God then education must be the formation of the whole person toward that image.