The Paideia of God

"It is very easy - and very wrong - to say that Christians should study 'just the Bible' or just the 'Bible languages' of Greek and Hebrew. The error is analogous to saying we should not use teachers (or commentaries) to help us understand the text of Scripture. The thinking goes that we should go to the Bible ourselves 'without uninspired teachers.' But if we do go to the Bible alone, we soon discover that the Bible requires us to have uninspired teachers. In the same way, if we study the Bible and Greek and Hebrew in isolation, we will bew very ill-equipped to understand the Scriptures. The Bible is not 'The Book That Fell From the Sky.' The Scriptures assume we know something of the surrounding context. If we do not, then our ignorance is not all ameliorated because we cultivated that ignorance in the name of a high view of Scripture. Saying that we have a view of the authority and inspiration is insufficient. Because the surrounding context of the New Testament was classical paganism, every Christian should know something of it, and every minister of the Gospel should know a great deal about it." - pg 139-40.

A great little book, my only concern was its disconnectedness within itself, and from the typical reader.

Within itself, this book is a collection of essays, loosely based on education. Yet the subjects vary from school dress codes to an analysis of the seminary system of training ministers to understanding math theologically.

Disconnect from the reader: Wilson assumes a lot that the typical Christian reader might not agree with. He starts out at step 5, when those most likely to pick up the book are at step 2. That said, it can be an effective rhetorical tool in writing to assume the argument you're asserting and make the case as you go. Still, he might lose people early on in saying this about ADD:

"Do we really believe that this epidemic of learning disabilities is the result of our superior ability to diagnose problems? Do we think we are better at educating our children than previous generations... which were able to impart near universal literacy? If we really think so, then perhaps we have the learning disability. Consider the fact that our 'better classroom discipline through chemistry' approach has become necessary at just the point in history when parents and teachers en masse have abandoned the biblical view of the nature and necessity of discipline. Consider the fact that the 'medical problems' associated with reading problems have soared at just the point in our history when educators have abandoned... teaching literacy through phonics. Consider the fact that we have adopted the medical model for just about everything that afflicts us at just the time when we as a culture have rejected the importance of personal responsibility and accountability for anything."

I don't disagree with Wilson. But it's an awful lot for people to absorb radical zingers like this every fourth page of such a short and scattered book. We get a brief for 5-point Calvinism in 8 pages, an argument for school uniforms in another chapter, a case against seminaries in another. My favorite was a critique of the naturalistic scientists at Calvin College, my alma mater, through their book, Science Held Hostage.

Anyway, I do recommend the book if you have an interest in culture and education from a Christian, Protestant and Reformed point of view.

Author: Doug Wilson
Publisher: Canon Press, 1999