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The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What it Means to Be an Educated Human Being
Frustrated with the continuing educational crisis of our time, concerned parents, teachers, and students sense that true reform requires more than innovative classroom technology, standardized tests, or skills training. An older tradition—the Great Tradition—of education in the West is waiting to be heard. Since antiquity, the Great Tradition has defined education first and foremost as the hard work of rightly ordering the human soul, helping it to love what it ought to love, and helping it to know itself and its maker. In the classical and Christian tradition, the formation of the soul in wisdom, virtue, and eloquence took precedence over all else, including instrumental training aimed at the inculcation of “useful” knowledge.
Edited by historian Richard Gamble, this anthology reconstructs a centuries-long conversation about the goals, conditions, and ultimate value of true education. Spanning more than two millennia, from the ancient Greeks to contemporary writers, it includes substantial excerpts from more than sixty seminal writings on education. Represented here are the wisdom and insight of such figures as Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Cicero, Basil, Augustine, Hugh of St. Victor, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Erasmus, Edmund Burke, John Henry Newman, Thomas Arnold, Albert Jay Nock, Dorothy Sayers, C. S. Lewis, and Eric Voegelin.
In an unbroken chain of giving and receiving, the Great Tradition embraced the accumulated wisdom of the past and understood education as the initiation of students into a body of truth. This unique collection is designed to help parents, students, and teachers reconnect with this noble legacy, to articulate a coherent defense of the liberal arts tradition, and to do battle with the modern utilitarians and vocationalists who dominate educational theory and practice.
Edited by historian Richard Gamble, this anthology reconstructs a centuries-long conversation about the goals, conditions, and ultimate value of true education. Spanning more than two millennia, from the ancient Greeks to contemporary writers, it includes substantial excerpts from more than sixty seminal writings on education. Represented here are the wisdom and insight of such figures as Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Cicero, Basil, Augustine, Hugh of St. Victor, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Erasmus, Edmund Burke, John Henry Newman, Thomas Arnold, Albert Jay Nock, Dorothy Sayers, C. S. Lewis, and Eric Voegelin.
In an unbroken chain of giving and receiving, the Great Tradition embraced the accumulated wisdom of the past and understood education as the initiation of students into a body of truth. This unique collection is designed to help parents, students, and teachers reconnect with this noble legacy, to articulate a coherent defense of the liberal arts tradition, and to do battle with the modern utilitarians and vocationalists who dominate educational theory and practice.
500 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 26 reviews
November 23, 2021
Best read in community and discussed.
Worth the work.
Worth the work.
June 3, 2025
Discussion questions here. Related post by Eric Hutchinson here (Twitter conversation here).
Read the section on Hugh of St. Victor in Aug. 2018.
I mentioned to Richard Gamble that some of my students and I would be reading through this book, and he offered to set up a Zoom meeting (which we held on Oct. 29, 2020).
For Fall 2020, we read selections from Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and Quintilian.
For Spring 2021, we read selections from Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil the Great, Jerome, Augustine, Alcuin, Hugh of St. Victor, John of Salisbury, Aquinas, and Bonaventure. Jerome's letters were fascinating. I had heard of the "more Ciceronian than Christian" vision, but it was good to read the letter itself; and another letter contains the analogy (mentioned here) of how the use of pagan literature to serve Christ is like David's use of Goliath's sword to cut off his head.
For Fall 2021, we read selections from Erasmus, Luther, Zwingli, Elyot, Melanchthon, and Calvin. We meant to get to Milton and Burke but ran out of time.
And for Spring 2022, we read selections from Newman, Sertillanges, Weil, Lewis, Sayers, Eliot, Oakeshott, and Voegelin. That same semester, the editor, Richard Gamble, came to Regent's campus and gave a lecture on Cicero's Legacy on Feb. 9.
Read the section on Hugh of St. Victor in Aug. 2018.
I mentioned to Richard Gamble that some of my students and I would be reading through this book, and he offered to set up a Zoom meeting (which we held on Oct. 29, 2020).
For Fall 2020, we read selections from Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and Quintilian.
For Spring 2021, we read selections from Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil the Great, Jerome, Augustine, Alcuin, Hugh of St. Victor, John of Salisbury, Aquinas, and Bonaventure. Jerome's letters were fascinating. I had heard of the "more Ciceronian than Christian" vision, but it was good to read the letter itself; and another letter contains the analogy (mentioned here) of how the use of pagan literature to serve Christ is like David's use of Goliath's sword to cut off his head.
For Fall 2021, we read selections from Erasmus, Luther, Zwingli, Elyot, Melanchthon, and Calvin. We meant to get to Milton and Burke but ran out of time.
And for Spring 2022, we read selections from Newman, Sertillanges, Weil, Lewis, Sayers, Eliot, Oakeshott, and Voegelin. That same semester, the editor, Richard Gamble, came to Regent's campus and gave a lecture on Cicero's Legacy on Feb. 9.
March 4, 2025
This is simply an indispensable treasure trove that absolutely must assume a prominent place on your shelf if you're at all interested in the Western tradition and the history of education. Its greatest virtue is not just that it collects significant excerpts from basically all the essential texts of classical pedagogy (it does do that, but you're going to want to seek out complete editions of most of these texts anyway), but that it also offers many neglected or under-the-radar texts that are critical in the tradition but otherwise difficult to obtain and have fallen off the map nowadays (i.e. Isocrates, Quintilian, Cassiodorus, lots of medieval stuff, Vergerio, Melanchthon). Pair those virtues with some excellent 20th century rediscoveries like Nock, Dawson, Babbitt, and Voegelin, and the result is one of my favorite books that I own. Pair it with Bruce Kimball's Orators and Philosophers and you basically have a complete course.
March 21, 2017
A deep and wide anthology of essays spanning about 2,400 years, from ancient Greece through the 20th century, The Great Tradition is a long but very worthwhile read. And, it’s very helpful that the essays only run from 4-15 pages or so each: these are thoughtful writers, and you’ll want (sometimes need) to pace yourself.
The topic of these essays is education, and what it means to be equipped with wisdom, virtue and perspective, rather than merely facts. As the introduction notes, the Great Tradition is “anchored in the classical and Christian humanism of liberal education” – and you will read much here about the Classics, the Trivium, the importance of history, the influence of Latin and Greek, and the wisdom of the ages.
There are selections here from (among many others) Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Milton, John Henry Newman, C. S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot, and Christopher Dawson. In my view, this collection is a must-read for any educator, as well as college and university students.
I close with a few quotes to whet your appetite:
“I charge you, my student, not to rejoice a great deal because you may read many things, but because you have been able to retain them” – Hugh of St. Victor
“I consider in my mind these admirable gifts of God, namely the study of literature and the humanities – and apart from the Gospel of Christ this world holds nothing more splendid nor divine” – Philip Melanchthon
“For you only severely wound the body with the sword, but with language you pierce even the soul” – Juan Luis Vives
“The welfare of a city does not consist solely in accumulating vast treasures, building mighty walls and magnificent buildings, and producing a goodly supply of guns and armor. Indeed, where such things are plentiful, and reckless fools get control of them, it is so much the worse and the city suffers even greater loss” – Martin Luther
“Nor should we spend our time dipping into just any authors; we should read the best. For what has been sown in young minds puts down deep roots and there is no force that can afterwards pull it up again” – Pier Paolo Vergerio
Enjoy!
The topic of these essays is education, and what it means to be equipped with wisdom, virtue and perspective, rather than merely facts. As the introduction notes, the Great Tradition is “anchored in the classical and Christian humanism of liberal education” – and you will read much here about the Classics, the Trivium, the importance of history, the influence of Latin and Greek, and the wisdom of the ages.
There are selections here from (among many others) Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Milton, John Henry Newman, C. S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot, and Christopher Dawson. In my view, this collection is a must-read for any educator, as well as college and university students.
I close with a few quotes to whet your appetite:
“I charge you, my student, not to rejoice a great deal because you may read many things, but because you have been able to retain them” – Hugh of St. Victor
“I consider in my mind these admirable gifts of God, namely the study of literature and the humanities – and apart from the Gospel of Christ this world holds nothing more splendid nor divine” – Philip Melanchthon
“For you only severely wound the body with the sword, but with language you pierce even the soul” – Juan Luis Vives
“The welfare of a city does not consist solely in accumulating vast treasures, building mighty walls and magnificent buildings, and producing a goodly supply of guns and armor. Indeed, where such things are plentiful, and reckless fools get control of them, it is so much the worse and the city suffers even greater loss” – Martin Luther
“Nor should we spend our time dipping into just any authors; we should read the best. For what has been sown in young minds puts down deep roots and there is no force that can afterwards pull it up again” – Pier Paolo Vergerio
Enjoy!
November 8, 2016
When you are done with this book you want to go on a crusade to change education to seek and love the good and beautiful wherever you can find it. This is a compilation of pertinent selections from Ancient Times to Modern times with authors like Isocrates, Plato, Petrarch, Hugh of St. Victor, C.S. Lewis, and more.
October 18, 2021
Incredible collection of great classic literature relating to education. Very accessible and I really appreciated the intros before each author.
March 24, 2024
Read excerpts from this collection for our 2024 honors capstone, tracing the theme of education from Greco-Roman antiquity to modernity.
July 9, 2012
This has a fabulous selection from authors from the classics on. The ECF selections are really helpful in showing how careful the early church was in using pagan classics, and the reformation resources were interesting. Luther, especially. He's always entertaining, and he doesn't disappoint when talking about education (2-3 hour school days, no devil's-dung philosophy, and all for languages and music).
Oh, and it's slightly disappointing that it doesn't have anything prior to Plato, but that's pretty nitpicky, given that it's probably a much wider complaint about "western survey" sorts of books like these.
Last observation: read John Henry Newman's stuff (522ff). Maybe I'm being a little hasty in judgment, but I found it terrible. He essentially argues that liberal arts is exclusively about the intellectual - not virtue, which is defined intellectually for the classics anyway, he says - and specifically intellectual pursuits with no practical benefits. That's exactly what he wanted for British "gentlemen" in the 1800s. Maybe I'm too sensitive to class dynamics, but that really everything he said. It seems a more general problem too with liberal arts education, but rarely ever this blatant and unapologetic.
Brits really do have a remarkable capacity for being total a-holes.
Oh, and it's slightly disappointing that it doesn't have anything prior to Plato, but that's pretty nitpicky, given that it's probably a much wider complaint about "western survey" sorts of books like these.
Last observation: read John Henry Newman's stuff (522ff). Maybe I'm being a little hasty in judgment, but I found it terrible. He essentially argues that liberal arts is exclusively about the intellectual - not virtue, which is defined intellectually for the classics anyway, he says - and specifically intellectual pursuits with no practical benefits. That's exactly what he wanted for British "gentlemen" in the 1800s. Maybe I'm too sensitive to class dynamics, but that really everything he said. It seems a more general problem too with liberal arts education, but rarely ever this blatant and unapologetic.
Brits really do have a remarkable capacity for being total a-holes.
August 4, 2018
Tremendous. This is a comprehensive anthology from Plato to Eric Voegelin on what it means to be educated. This is a great resource that points to authors and documents for further study, exposes the reader to a wide variety of time periods, cultures, perspectives, and, despite the variety of authors and texts, provides a unity to the classical tradition. While it jars modern sensibilities, traditions and terms do mean something. One cannot lay claim to a lineage while rejecting the universal opinion of those who founded and continued it.
Now to start it again.
Now to start it again.
April 22, 2021
An exceptional anthology of excerpts from the classics from Ancient Greece until the present day. Included are familiar selections from such greats as Plato, Augustine, Milton, and Burke. But there are many selections that are worthy entries from authors whose names do not immediately come to one's mind, even if you are well-read. That is what gives this collection a unique place amongst anthologies of great writers and is why I would recommend it to all who would like to extend and deepen their awareness of what it means to be an educated human being.
December 20, 2021
This book was a bit of a beating at times but SO good! I will definitely be coming back to it. Though I think it's a book worth reading again, I'll take it in much smaller doses...reading it in one year was quite the challenge. Having others to read and discuss it with made it more reasonable - I couldn't have done it otherwise. There were many selections that made me realize where my own education has fallen short, and now there are so many more books and authors that I am looking forward to reading!
August 13, 2022
The book was good on breadth! But by including so many authors the reading of any individual author ends up feeling superficial. I suppose this book is a good jumping off point for this vast list of authors. I didn’t get through the entire book yet, it’s pretty big. I’ll pick it up again for sure but again more as a jumping off point.
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May 23, 2025You should see my crazy whiteboard on liberal arts education!!
I only read the excerpts from Plato, Seneca, Plutarch, Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Augustine, Aquinas, Erasmus, John Milton, John Henry Newman, Simone Weil, C.S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers,T.S. Eliot, and Eric Vogelin
I only read the excerpts from Plato, Seneca, Plutarch, Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Augustine, Aquinas, Erasmus, John Milton, John Henry Newman, Simone Weil, C.S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers,T.S. Eliot, and Eric Vogelin
June 22, 2019
I can't praise this book enough.
May 22, 2023
A really excellent collection of passages on the Western tradition, rather Christian-centric but still quite good.
June 20, 2023
This is hands down the most boring book I have ever read. If you like philosophy then you might like it.
November 28, 2024
I really want this done on a thousand other topics.
Bravo, Gamble!
Bravo, Gamble!
December 28, 2024
really helpful collection of readings on the history of the liberal arts.
June 9, 2012
I have read various selections. This is a great resource for Christian teachers. A wide variety of known and unknown authors, from Plato to Rhabanus Maurus. Much of this stuff is about a Christian view of pagan literature. Two specifics:
Basil's Sermon (To Young Men, on How they might Derive Profit from Pagan Literature): timely, insightful, and very helpful for me as someone who teaches pagan literature to young people. Basically, he says that we should be bees, moving from pagan flower to pagan flower, getting nectar to turn into good Christian honey for our souls.
Melanchthon's Preface to Homer: disgusting, ridiculous, and just plain embarrassing. He says that Homer is the most divine work apart from Scripture, that we should worship it with our words, that if we think it is bad then Satan has lied to us. Reading this Preface is like listening to a teenage girl rave about Twilight. I like Homer, but don't tell this:
"Just as great deities are sometimes worshiped with sacrifices of coarse grain and salt, so we bestow upon the praise of such a great writer what little we can in our insignificance."
Basil's Sermon (To Young Men, on How they might Derive Profit from Pagan Literature): timely, insightful, and very helpful for me as someone who teaches pagan literature to young people. Basically, he says that we should be bees, moving from pagan flower to pagan flower, getting nectar to turn into good Christian honey for our souls.
Melanchthon's Preface to Homer: disgusting, ridiculous, and just plain embarrassing. He says that Homer is the most divine work apart from Scripture, that we should worship it with our words, that if we think it is bad then Satan has lied to us. Reading this Preface is like listening to a teenage girl rave about Twilight. I like Homer, but don't tell this:
"Just as great deities are sometimes worshiped with sacrifices of coarse grain and salt, so we bestow upon the praise of such a great writer what little we can in our insignificance."
June 26, 2016
Out of the handful of 'Western Readers' I've used as a resource, "The Great Tradition" might be the best. Gamble has painstakingly arranged selections from Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Cicero, Basil, Augustine, Hugh of St Victor, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Erasmus, Edmund Burke, John Henry Newman, Thomas Arnold, Albert Jay Nock, Dorothy Sayers, C. S. Lewis, and Eric Voegelin (to name a few) in an appealing format. As Gamble notes in the Introduction, "this collection from what has been called 'The Great Tradition' is intended to supply an arsenal of the liberal arts for those who would wage war—covertly or openly—on the side of an education rooted in the classical and Christian heritage."
January 15, 2009
An anthology of the greatest Western minds on education and pedagogy. The crunchy con's answer to what ails modern education?
July 10, 2009
Great selections and good introductions!
December 29, 2012
The selections are comprehensive and well-chosen, and the intros/commentaries are helpful. I particularly appreciate the many selections from church fathers and medievals.
March 12, 2012
A most excellent compilation of essays on the subject of education.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 26 reviews