A Biblical Vision of the Purpose of Education
By Rod Dreher
Rawlings School of Divinity
CLED 800: Biblical & Theological Foundations of Education
Genevieve Hamer
July 3, 2022
We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character – that is the
goal of true education.’ – Martin Luther King (Brain, Malcolm & Clarke, 2014, p.183)
Most educators today agree that education involves more than just the transmission of
knowledge and skills in relevant subject areas. It is a form of preparation for life and citizenship
in a particular society. This was similar in early Greek society. Teaching was much broader than
content and subjects. It meant simultaneously providing 'schooling', 'culturing' and 'character
formation’. It involved a process of leading a student from boyhood into manhood, and helping
him to find his true humanity and become a citizen (Cairney, 2011, p.65).
The following three definitions are expressions of current thinking about what education
involves:
1. ‘The purpose of education may be defined as preparing students for life in the world.’
To achieve this end, it may include studies or experiences relevant to personal intellectual,
social, physical and spiritual development, work, vocation and employment, citizenship and
community involvement, and creativity, aesthetic appreciation and cultural awareness (Goodlet
and Collier, 2014, p.43).
2. Lawrence Cremin defines education as ‘the deliberate, systematic and sustained effort
to transmit, evoke or acquire knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, or sensibilities, as well as any
outcome of that effort’ (Pazmino, 2006, p.85).
3. ‘To educate is to teach at every point the complex web of religious, moraland
intellectual values which ultimately define the arrangements of any community and society’
(Pazmino, 2006, p.98).
In summary, these definitions agree with Goodlet and Collier when they say: ‘an important
aim of education is the full and balanced development of persons, equipping them with the
wisdom to live well’ (Goodlet and Collier, 2014, p.25).
So, we may ask ‘Why should the church be involved in education?’
Centuries of Christian involvement in schooling has been based on a fundamental Biblical
understanding that the God of all creation is concerned with everything related to education –
wisdom, truth and knowledge; the learning and teaching of understanding, virtues and habits
that shape individuals, families and communities; the worth of each person; what is passed on
from one generation to another; in whom and what people trust; what people hope for; and
more (Church of England Vision for Education, 2016, p.1). The Bible teaching that the world is
ultimately God’s world, means that Christian education should be preparing students for life in
God’s world. Because the Bible also teaches that all people are made in the image of God, so
have ultimate worth, Christians are called to responsibility towards others and to contribute
responsibly to their communities – to serve the common good. Providing education has been
an important way of making this contribution.
Wisdom is about ethics as well as cognition, values, purposes and facts, and above all tries
to make sound judgements that do justice to the whole ‘ecology’ of life (Church of England
Vision for Education, 2016).
Christian education recognises that all truth is God’s truth no matter what the source
(Goodlet & Collier, 2014, p.42).
While knowledge, that can also be seen as factual or true, is far broader than that
contained in the Bible, the values that underpin and are explicit in Christian Education are
Biblical values. The Bible teaches the uniqueness and value of each person as they are made in
the image of God, and that humans are relational, having a measure of freedom and
responsibility, yet they are affected by sin and in need of redemption and restoration both with
God and other people. This process of redemption and restoration involves healing, repair and
renewal which all require generosity, compassion and hope. It builds trust and meaning
between people and within the community. These Biblical values should be explicit in Christian
Education.
No knowledge is values free. Don Carson says humans may know objective truth in the
sense that they may know what actually conforms to reality, but they cannot know it
objectively, that is they cannot escape their finitude and their fallenness, and therefore the
limitations of perspectivilism, and thus they cannot know anything completely or from a neutral
stance (Anglican Education Commission, p.23). Values are not only then embedded in the
knowledge, but also in the structure of classroom learning or the pedagogy, the teacher’s
preferences and behaviour, and the culture of the school. Rarely are these values made explicit,
explored and questioned as part of curriculum in schools.
A Christian Education will focus on the whole person’s development – physical, intellectual,
social, emotional, moral, spiritual and aesthetic (Goodlet and Collier, 2014, p.22). It should have
an impact on people’s lives and should enable them to grapple with the practical consequences
of the truths studied; the social, political and economic consequences of Biblical values and
faith (Pazmino, 2006, p.30); and with the fundamental questions about the meaning of life such
as ‘Who am I?’, ‘Why am I here?’, ‘What do I desire?’ and ‘How then shall I live?’
The Christian educator must not view the individual student as a blank slate on which he or
she might draw. Each student is unique and brings with them their own culture and experience
and needs to be understood and respected. As multiculturalism increases, our classrooms will
become more ethnically and culturally diverse and rich. Speaking God’s truth in the classroom
becomes a cross-cultural exercise which crosses not one but many cultures. We have much to
learn from our students and we must learn to hear their stories if we are serious about them
really hearing and understanding the story of Jesus. It involves genuine listening, understanding
people’s needs, acknowledging their fears, hearing their questions and demonstrating one’s
love and compassion for them (Anglican Education Commission, p. 20). Then we must
contextualise Jesus’ story by communicating the external and unchanging truths of the gospel
in understandable and appropriate terms for our students without changing it (Anglican
Education Commission, p.23).
A Christian school should be an environment in which children from diverse backgrounds
can learn and experience the Biblical values: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control, trust, hope, humility, speaking the truth.
As we grow our students we must prepare them for their failures as much as their
successes, and also prepare them to be inducted into wider Australian society. In doing this we
should not seek to squash individuality, but to cultivate it for the good of others, to the glory of
God (Jensen, 2011, p.52). The practice of treating students as responsible agents but with
forgiveness and reconciliation points the student to those sublimely human acts of
embodiment by Christ himself (Jensen, 2011, p.52, 57). Teachers may be the only ‘Christ’ their
students ever meet.
The nature, climate and culture of the classroom is determined by the teacher’s
educational pedagogy as it reflects the teacher’s knowledge and beliefs, and the goals that
shape their actions. Pedagogy will need to be distinctive and reflect the teachers understanding
of what it means to be part of God’s restoration work in the world (Pietsch, 2018, p.31). Trevor
Cairney claims that it is by changing the pedagogy that we are able to create a distinctively
Christian approach to education and schooling (Anglican Education Commission, p.25). In his
book Character Reborn, James Pietsch has written widely on the intentional use of pedagogy in
the character development of students.
Good schools foster confidence, delight and discipline in seeking wisdom, knowledge,
truth, understanding, know-how, and the skills needed to shape life well. They nurture
academic habits and skills, emotional intelligence and creativity across the whole range of
school subjects, including areas such as music, drama and the arts, information and other
technologies, sustainable development, sport, and what one needs to understand and practise
in order to be a good person, citizen, parent, employee, team or group member, or leader
(Church of England Vision, 2016, p.6).
A Christian school connects truth to Biblical truth, wisdom to God’s wisdom, and meaning
and hope to a loving God who created and sustains the world. Ruth Edwards claims that
Anglican schools provide consistent values that are now fragmented in popular culture and so
contribute to the stability of society (Edwards, 2014, pp.15–25).
Theological foundations
An evangelical approach to education emphasises four distinctives:
biblical authority as normative for thought and practice;
the necessity of conversion (but not indoctrination);
the redemptive work of Jesus; and
personal piety (Pazmino, 2006, pp.55-56).
Truths essential for faith and practice need to be taught and contemporary culture
grappled with in the light of these truths. Christian educators are called upon to raise the
awareness of persons in issues that relate to righteousness, justice and freedom as components
of God’s continuing activity in the world (Pazmino, 2006, pp.55–73).
Aligning faith and teaching
We may ask the questions:
Should my faith change me as a teacher?
What is my faith’s relationship to my knowledge of schooling and its purpose, teaching
and pedagogy? (Cairney, Cowling & Jensen, 2011, p.19).
Can my knowledge of education be supported by my theology or do they sit side by
side?
Does my theology transform me and so impact how I shape my classroom? (Cairney,
Cowling & Jensen, 2011, pp.21-22).
Does my theology act as a critique to help me interpret my experiences? (Cairney,
Cowling & Jensen, 2011, p.22).
To be an Anglican school is to be a different school … in how the very institution is used
redemptively by God … in the lives of students, families and the wider community (Cairney,
Cowling & Jensen, 2011, p.20).
Publication bibliography
Anglican Education Commission. A Vision of Wholeness: Contextualising the Gospel in a
Contemporary Anglican School. Sydney: Anglican Education Commission.
Cairney, T & Cowling, B (2011). 'Understanding the what, why and how of education.' In T.
Cairney, B. Cowling, & M. Jensen (Eds.), New Perspectives on Anglican Education (pp. 7–23.).
Sydney: Anglican Education Commission.
Church of England Vision for Education, Deeply Christian, Serving the Common Good: Autumn
2016 (2016). London: The Church of England Education Office.
Brain, M; Malcolm, M & Clarke, G (2014). The Bible Overview. USA: Matthias Media.
Edwards, R. (2014). Challenge and Choice: Australian Anglican Schools Today. ACT: Barton
Books.
Goodlet, K and Collier, J (Eds.) (2014). Teaching Well: Insights for Educators in Christian Schools.
ACT: Barton Books.
Jensen, M (2011). 'A theological anthropology for Christian education'. In T. Cairney, B. Cowling,
& M. Jensen (Eds.), New Perspectives on Anglican Education (pp. 43-57). Sydney: Anglican
Education Commission.
Pazmino, R.W. (2006). Foundational Issues in Christian Education. USA: Baker Books.
Pietsch, J (2018). Character Reborn: A Philosophy of Christian Education. Sydney: Acorn Press.
