Biblical Perspectives on Education
By Rod Dreher
Rawlings School of Divinity
CLED 720: Biblical & Theological Foundations of Education
Genevieve Hamer
July 6, 2022
Biblical Perspectives on Education
[1] I have been invited to draft an essay regarding biblical perspectives on education. The
specific context for this essay is the preparation of a social statement on education by the
ELCA. Two qualifications need to be stated at the outset. The first qualification is that the
communities that formed the Bible did not share our modern idea of the separation of "church
and state" or a split between "sacred and secular." This is the sort of qualification that has
been expressed so many times that it may sound almost pro forma. However, when
considering how the Bible should shape Christian thinking about education, this qualification
cannot be stated clearly enough. Precisely because the education system is one of the
flashpoints in the current wars over how the sacred and secular should interact in our society-
just think of current and recent debates over prayer in school, how biology and sex education
are taught in schools, or vouchers-we need to be aware that any explicit passages the Bible has
about educating the young may assume a marriage between government and faith that our
society does not accept.
[2] The second qualification is that the people that formed the Bible did not differentiate
between different types of knowledge in the same ways that we moderns do. Today, we divide
knowledge into different domains such as science, social science, the humanities (of which
religion is considered a part), the arts, modern languages, vocational studies, and so on. Within
these domains, knowledge is pursued by a set of rules particular to each domain-for the study
of ethics, for example, data is processed under a different set of values and processes than in
the study of economics. Even within Lutheran theology (a fairly specific sub-domain to begin
with), we differentiate into Old Testament, New Testament, Theology, Ethics, and so on-each
discipline with its own rules and processes for pursing truth. The ancient biblical communities
certainly had categories into which they divided knowledge, but their categories were different
from ours and they did not have particular rules that were different for the investigation of
knowledge in different domains. To make a distinction between theology and ethics, for
example, would have baffled the ancients.
[3] The challenge that these two qualifications presents should be obvious. On the one
hand, as Lutherans, we are called and pledged to be faithful to the biblical witness and to be
formed and informed by it. On the other hand, the context in which we live assumes basic
stances that present problems for those who wish to be shaped by the biblical witness. First,
our modern idea about the separation of church and state in public institutions-educational
institutions are public institutions-presents a challenge. Second, our modern ideas about how
to pursue and divide knowledge-and knowledge is the subject matter of education-presents a
challenge. I was tempted to essay an analogy and say that we must attempt to "translate" the
biblical witness into our own context. But this analogy fails, because as any student of a second
language knows, one always loses something in translation. Rather, what we must do is let the
biblical witness speak out of its context and we must hear it in our own context. Neither
context should silence the other.
I. A Concern for the Common Good
[4] So what is the biblical witness when it comes to education? One place to start is with
the canon itself. The canon, after all, was collected to educate. Because we are a people
surrounded and bombarded with the written word, it is hard to appreciate properly the daring
and creative act that it took to assemble a "book" in witness to God's presence. But if we
stretch our imaginations and cast ourselves back to a time when the written word was as rare
as visions from God, we realize that the formation of the canon was itself brave and
revolutionary action. But toward what end? The biblical collection-these many scrolls, poems,
prayers, genealogies, stories, and letters-betrays a significant concern for the common good.
[5] Within the Old Testament, there are key passages that shed light on the formation and
purpose of the Scriptures. Three of these passages are the story of giving of the law at Mt.
Sinai, the story of King Josiah's reform, and the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem following
the Exile. In each of these stories, several elements occur: the Scripture is either given newly or
in a renewed fashion; communal worship takes place; and the Scripture is either forming or
reforming the people. In the story of the Exodus, what is given is the law, especially the Ten
Commandments, which are the center of Israel's law and the center of its Scripture. Following
the Passover and the escape through the sea, the people go to worship God at Mt. Sinai. God
enters into a covenant with the people and makes this promise: "You shall be my treasured
possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a
priestly kingdom and a holy nation" (Exod 19:5b-6a). Then God gives the law, and the crowning
jewel of the law is the Ten Commandments. But note the focus on the people. The law is not
given primarily for individual holiness or personal morality. Rather, the law is given as the
means for the rescued mass of Israelites to become a community, a nation, a people.
[6] The two other passages mentioned betray a similar pattern. During the reign of King
Josiah, c. 620 BCE, a scroll was found in the temple. Scholars believe that this scroll was what
we know as the central portion of the Book of Deuteronomy. Apparently the scroll had lain
neglected in the temple for some years. Upon finding the scroll, King Josiah put in place legal
and religious reforms and he commanded that the festival of Passover be celebrated: "No such
Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of
the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah" (2 Kings 23:22). Following the Babylonian exile, after
the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, the scribe Ezra brought "the book of the law of Moses"
before the assembled people. "And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people. . . So
they read from the book, from the law of God. . . ." (Neh 8:6a, 8a). Scholars believe that this
book of the law of Moses was what we know as the Pentateuch-the first five books of the
Bible. Following the reading, the people celebrated the festival of Booths. Notice especially the
concern in these two accounts for the formation of the people. In the first, account, the
religious and ethical reforms were put in place to shape the people as the people of God.
Likewise, following the return from Exile, the people needed to be formed-this formation was
provided in part by the reading and interpretation of the law.
[7] The concern for the communal good to which the shape of the biblical canon bears
witness is also a major concern of the prophets of Israel. As many commentators have noted,
the prophets by and large do not direct their messages to specific individuals or even the
"believer" as an individual person. Rather, their focus bores in on the community, the people,
the nation. We normally associate the prophets with a call to justice. But as the great Jewish
commentator Abraham Heschel noted, the prophetic preoccupation with the larger community
was so intense that at times it was itself unjust: "If justice means giving every person what he
deserves, the scope and severity of the accusations by the prophets of Israel hardly confirmed
that principle. The prophets were unfair to the people of Israel. Their sweeping allegations,
overstatements, and generalizations defied standards of accuracy." But Heschel adds, "What
seems to be exaggeration is often only a deeper penetration, for the prophets see the world
from the point of view of God, as transcendent, not immanent truth."1 That is, if we examine
ethical reality under a statistical microscope alone, then yes, the prophetic accusation that the
community as a whole bears responsibility for social evil is unjust. However, truth cannot be
weighed by numbering predicates or subjects. And the truth is that if the communal good is
the highest value then it is the community that bears responsibility.
[8] It should be obvious that this biblical concern for the corporate good must crowd in on
us when we are thinking about education. Education must be about the common good. If we
think of education only as a means for the young to develop their skills, or to achieve their
potential, or to be equipped to succeed in life, then we have seen only one side of the coin.
Rather, education must do all of that and also serve the entire society. It must be the lungs that
breathe spirit into the whole community, it must serve not just its students but all of society, it
must be as concerned about responsibility to the world as it is about the rights of students.
This, in turn, means that education is by definition a moral enterprise; its focus is on not only
the mind but the heart of the students. One secular reason why for this is that the one thing a
democracy cannot live without is a good citizens-and I mean good in the moral sense. A
government of the people cannot survive without good people. Without them, the body politic
will slouch on the clay feet of its own people. The extent to which education is a moral
enterprise is, of course, a subject where the Bible and the prophets have a witness that our
secular society cannot hear. This is so because for the Bible-and especially for the prophets-
there is no good apart from God, no justice apart from the law of God. This perspective also
continues in parts of the New Testament, as well.
[9] All of this bring us back to one of the original qualifications with which this essay
started, namely the qualification that for the communities that formed the Bible, there was no
division between sacred and secular matters. How should a church-that now exists in a secular
nation-be formed by the biblical witness about the common good, especially when the biblical
witness itself cannot conceive of distinguishing between the common good on the one hand
and the God who creates and sustains on the other?
II. The Wisdom Literature
[10] A second locus within the Bible to which we can turn for insight on matters of
education is the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Specifically, the Book of Proverbs was
explicitly collected precisely in order to shape the young. It may be the only biblical book that
was written for this express purpose. As such, its voice deserves to be separated out from the
choir of biblical voices for special hearing.
A Culture of Respect and Honor
[20] Given time and space constraints, I will curtail my reflections about biblical
perspectives on education to one final comment. Much more could be said, obviously, but at
least one more point screams to be made: the environment in which one learns must be
thoroughly saturated with respect and honor. From the oldest Israelite reflections on teaching
the young (in Deuteronomy and Proverbs) right up through the latest New Testament writings
about the roles of teachers, apostles, and leaders, it is assumed that servant leaders are among
the most honored of professions. Paul and the later Pauline writers unanimously see secular
authorities as agents of God. Consider how Romans 13 sees that state as a hand of God worthy
of respect, how Ephesians portrays familial and economic authorities as extensions of God's
authority, or how 1 and 2 Timothy see ecclesiastical authorities in a similar light. Martin Luther
was summarizing the biblical witness when he interpreted the commandment to honor one's
parents as meaning we "must fear and love God, so that we will neither look down on our
parents or superiors nor irritate them, but will honor them, serve them, obey them, love them
and value them." Luther's interpretation also clearly includes teachers; this interpretation is
faithful to the broader witness of both testaments.
[21] When we compare this biblical portrait of respect for teachers and others in authority,
a stark contrasted is painted between then and now. Think of how teachers are portrayed on
television and the movies. (One of my favorite older movies is "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," in
which the teachers are roundly depicted as fools.) Think of how today's music describes
teachers. Think of how political candidates are eager to make electoral hay by thrashing the
good reputation of teachers. Even churches have been happy to pile on and heap coals of
blame for today's ills upon the educational system.
[22] But if we take the biblical witness seriously, our task includes building up the honor of
teachers in order to make their job (educating our children) easier. Part of the task set before
us, it seems to me, is to help shape a culture of honor for public servants, including teachers. It
is true, of course, that individual teachers and teachers' organizations do not always make this
task easy. Yet there is no alternative. Helping to shape a climate of respect that includes
respecting and honoring teachers should be a priority for the church.
[23] One problem with this interpretation, of course, is that the foundation for honoring
teachers as authorities is, in fact, the belief that these authorities are established by God. In a
secular context, this belief is problematic. This is especially so because the society is
increasingly pushing faith questions to the margins and, in places, is attempting to silence
voices of faith. Yet this problem is simply the reverse side of the issue that we have already
noted several times above: How do we reconcile the irreconcilably spiritual nature of our
biblical faith and calling with the uncompromisingly secular context of our society? This, it
seems to me, is the first and last question that we need to ask when seeking wisdom from the
Bible for thinking about education today.
End Notes
1 Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (New York: Harper & Row, 1962; Perennial classic edition), p.
15, 17.
2 Ellen Davis, Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament (Boston: Cowley
Publications, 2001), p. 92.
