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The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education
This new book introduces readers to a paradigm for understanding classical education that transcends the familiar three-stage pattern of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Instead, this book describes the liberal arts as a central part of a larger and more robust paradigm of classical education that should consist of piety, gymnastic, music, liberal arts, philosophy, and theology. The book also recovers the means by which classical educators developed more than just intellectual virtue (by means of the seven liberal arts) but holistically cultivated the mind, body, will, and affections.
A must-read for educators wanting to take a second big step toward recovering the tradition of classical education.
''The foundational distinction between traditional education and modern education is that the ancients believed that education was fundamentally about shaping loves.''
'' Just look at this book's table of contents to see how much is included in this. It's more than the old 'seven liberal arts,' but it builds on them. It is an education of the whole person, not just the calculating intellect. But it is not less 'intellectual' for that, but more so. . . . This little book is a description of that educational program. It's precious because children are precious.''
-from the foreword by Peter Kreeft, Boston College
Classical Academic Press
Educators will find all curricula by Classical Academic Press to be created with four important attributes. Each product is classical, creative, relevant, and easy to use. As our company name implies, you will find that we publish classical books and media, seeking to acquaint students with the best that has been thought and said.
We also design and present our products with creativity and zest, from beautiful illustrations to engaging storytelling, ensuring that the classical subjects being taught are anything but boring.
Areas we publish in include:
-Latin
-Ancient Greek
-Logic
-Bible, Old & New Testament
-The Art Of Poetry
-Spanish
-Classical Education Resources
A must-read for educators wanting to take a second big step toward recovering the tradition of classical education.
''The foundational distinction between traditional education and modern education is that the ancients believed that education was fundamentally about shaping loves.''
'' Just look at this book's table of contents to see how much is included in this. It's more than the old 'seven liberal arts,' but it builds on them. It is an education of the whole person, not just the calculating intellect. But it is not less 'intellectual' for that, but more so. . . . This little book is a description of that educational program. It's precious because children are precious.''
-from the foreword by Peter Kreeft, Boston College
Classical Academic Press
Educators will find all curricula by Classical Academic Press to be created with four important attributes. Each product is classical, creative, relevant, and easy to use. As our company name implies, you will find that we publish classical books and media, seeking to acquaint students with the best that has been thought and said.
We also design and present our products with creativity and zest, from beautiful illustrations to engaging storytelling, ensuring that the classical subjects being taught are anything but boring.
Areas we publish in include:
-Latin
-Ancient Greek
-Logic
-Bible, Old & New Testament
-The Art Of Poetry
-Spanish
-Classical Education Resources
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 24, 2013
218 people are currently reading
1508 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
December 30, 2020
What I understood, I loved. What I didn't understand ... well, another read will help.
This is not the exposition I expected
This is not the exposition I expected
December 31, 2022
True, Good and Beautiful, but not easy to read! I will definitely need to re-read this book many times but I learned a lot and am very thankful for the footnotes. Worth your time and effort!
June 27, 2024
For one beginning a career in classical education, this was a fantastic resource on the liberal arts tradition. The majority of the book outlined the history and significance of the Trivium and Quadrivium in education by tracing their development from Ancient Greece to the present age. It also contained segments on the three branches of philosophy and theology proper.
I was quite surprised (and pleased) at how intellectually dense this book was. The authors (quite impressively) expounded and cited numerous thinkers throughout, including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Hume, Descartes, Étienne Gilson, Charles Taylor, Lewis, Alasdair MacIntyre, Oliver O’Donovan, James K. A. Smith, and many more. The authors weaved these thinkers into their arguments throughout, sometimes to support their claims and other times to offer commentary and critique on modern epistemology, anthropology, or education.
Although experiencing much of the liberal arts tradition at Bethlehem College and Seminary, I found this book so helpful in solidifying my understanding of classical education as connected to the history of the Christian Church. I greatly appreciated their definition of Christian classical education as “the transmission of the culture of the Church.”
One critique would be that I thought their segments on metaphysics and theology could have been more robust. They had excellent sections, however, on natural and moral philosophy.
I was quite surprised (and pleased) at how intellectually dense this book was. The authors (quite impressively) expounded and cited numerous thinkers throughout, including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Hume, Descartes, Étienne Gilson, Charles Taylor, Lewis, Alasdair MacIntyre, Oliver O’Donovan, James K. A. Smith, and many more. The authors weaved these thinkers into their arguments throughout, sometimes to support their claims and other times to offer commentary and critique on modern epistemology, anthropology, or education.
Although experiencing much of the liberal arts tradition at Bethlehem College and Seminary, I found this book so helpful in solidifying my understanding of classical education as connected to the history of the Christian Church. I greatly appreciated their definition of Christian classical education as “the transmission of the culture of the Church.”
One critique would be that I thought their segments on metaphysics and theology could have been more robust. They had excellent sections, however, on natural and moral philosophy.
September 21, 2024
Read slowly with great series of blog posts by Karen Glass https://www.karenglass.net/blogging-t... and Brandy Vencel https://afterthoughtsblog.net/2015/06.... They brought out the similarities between this book and Charlotte Mason’s educational philosophy and principles. I really like the correctives this book brought to our current neoclassical models, but found the book to be incessantly complicated and repetitive. So 4.5 stars for that but really, really valuable. And I loved all the footnotes which makes me want to read John Seniors work and research his IHO project next.
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December 29, 2024At times insightful and even profound—but overall very, very nebulous. It's not clear from the book either how or why these pedagogical approaches lead to the desired results, or even what the desired results exactly are—just, vaguely, that the student will be a fuller (somehow) person. It really is true that I found certain passages, certain ideas, inspiring and interesting; but overall the book leaves me in a fog.
Read
October 15, 2017I can’t rate this book yet. So many people much more intelligent than I am love this book and it’s content. While it had some great things to say to me, I’m pretty sure I need to reread it to fully comprehend the entire message.
May 8, 2014
This book gave me a lot of new thoughts, particularly about music in a classical education and about situating science and history in the classical tradition.
For me, it has been easier to teach philosophy, literature, history, logic, rhetoric, debate, and composition classically. I'm now inspired to equip myself to teach science and math classically.
Perhaps we can inspire our students to be Euclids, Pascals, Newtons, and Einsteins!
For me, it has been easier to teach philosophy, literature, history, logic, rhetoric, debate, and composition classically. I'm now inspired to equip myself to teach science and math classically.
Perhaps we can inspire our students to be Euclids, Pascals, Newtons, and Einsteins!
November 29, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed all the information in this book! I feel like this whole new understanding has begun to open up to me. The bibliography and footnotes have led me to add many more books to my to-read list. I’m very thankful these two men took their time to write this. More than likely I’ll not ever use this information to start or administer a Classical school, but these principles are foundational, I feel, to home educating and generally raising children.
March 19, 2023
I'm giving this 4 stars because it is a powerhouse of theory on the subject. However, it is almost completely lacking in application, and I was disappointed with that. Yes, it is called "A Philosophy of..." but I think it would have made for a stronger presentation of the material to include examples/suggestions/templates of implementation.
July 14, 2025
I loved this book. It calls students, teachers, parents, schools, and communities to more than what modernity will ever have to offer. It calls us all back to truth, goodness, and beauty because theology is the queen of the sciences and apart from theology the sciences lack their telos/ end. This book brings out so much unity and complementary in Christian classical education and truth. If you want a greater vision for education and to think about some hard questions on education, pick up and read.
Here are some of the numerous thought provoking quotes:
“Against the tendency towards independence and autonomy that has arisen in the modern period, most ancient and medievals believed that man both constituted the community and the community in turn made him into a true man.”
“We are left adrift in a sea in which truth really is the will of the strong. Metaphysics defend the culture from this philosophical collapse into relativism and nihilism. It recognizes that this world is a reflection of the heavenly realms, and that through Christ, the two can be rejoined. It allows for a recognition that the mundane can still participate in the divine.”
“In the broadest sense of the term, theology is the telos of the Christian classical curriculum— its end, not merely it’s culmination, but it’s purpose. As Aristotle pointed out, the end of a thing is the most important, for it is toward the end that all actions are directed.”
“Those who seek to renew the Christian classical education tradition must keep this full -orbed understanding of education in mind, understanding that transmitting culture is a central aspect of the educational task. In order to pass on a culture there must be something of substance to transmit. Thus, a Christian classical school will not thrive without developing and embodying a proper school culture. If the curriculum forms the trunk and the branches of the tree, then the culture of the school— the multitude of intangible attitudes, relationships, and habits, which undergird the entire process— is the soil from which the curriculum draws its life.”
“The whole school community— teachers, administrators, and even the parents— must be marked by the quest for wisdom as well.”
“And finally, the mystery of the incarnation of Christ the eternal Logos, the word made flesh, truly man and truly God, repudiates any privileging of matter over spirit or spirit over matter, but rather affirms the real union and dignity of both.”
“Reading Plato‘s dialogue, we find that the key to success in reasoning is the ability to ask the right questions. Socrates models for us this notion of dialectic as the art of asking good questions in his relentless, practice of refining and reframing the question.”
“Art imitates nature.”
Here are some of the numerous thought provoking quotes:
“Against the tendency towards independence and autonomy that has arisen in the modern period, most ancient and medievals believed that man both constituted the community and the community in turn made him into a true man.”
“We are left adrift in a sea in which truth really is the will of the strong. Metaphysics defend the culture from this philosophical collapse into relativism and nihilism. It recognizes that this world is a reflection of the heavenly realms, and that through Christ, the two can be rejoined. It allows for a recognition that the mundane can still participate in the divine.”
“In the broadest sense of the term, theology is the telos of the Christian classical curriculum— its end, not merely it’s culmination, but it’s purpose. As Aristotle pointed out, the end of a thing is the most important, for it is toward the end that all actions are directed.”
“Those who seek to renew the Christian classical education tradition must keep this full -orbed understanding of education in mind, understanding that transmitting culture is a central aspect of the educational task. In order to pass on a culture there must be something of substance to transmit. Thus, a Christian classical school will not thrive without developing and embodying a proper school culture. If the curriculum forms the trunk and the branches of the tree, then the culture of the school— the multitude of intangible attitudes, relationships, and habits, which undergird the entire process— is the soil from which the curriculum draws its life.”
“The whole school community— teachers, administrators, and even the parents— must be marked by the quest for wisdom as well.”
“And finally, the mystery of the incarnation of Christ the eternal Logos, the word made flesh, truly man and truly God, repudiates any privileging of matter over spirit or spirit over matter, but rather affirms the real union and dignity of both.”
“Reading Plato‘s dialogue, we find that the key to success in reasoning is the ability to ask the right questions. Socrates models for us this notion of dialectic as the art of asking good questions in his relentless, practice of refining and reframing the question.”
“Art imitates nature.”
August 12, 2019
The Christian classical education movement is growing and showing no signs of slowing. But it’s new and many of us are just beginning to discover the heritage we are attempting to recover for the coming generations. This work by Clark and Jain offers a more wholistic, deeper, and better researched explanation of what Christian classical education can and should be than any I have encountered. I heartily recommend it.
July 19, 2024
3.5 stars rounded up because I'm nice I guess
This was the assigned summer read for all the upper school teachers at Dominion Christian. It was overall quite helpful and insightful. I enjoyed it and wrote many margin notes.
The Good:
-An excellent synthesis of thoughts on education from the whole western tradition from Plato to Lewis.
-Busts some myths by re-situating ideas in their historical context (Particularly with regards to Sayer's Lost Tools of Learning and the trivium)
-In fact, by far the strongest and most helpful section of this book was section 2, which synthesized Plato's ideas about education in music and gymnastics with the medieval trivium and quadrivium and explained the definition and importance of each of the classical liberal arts.
-Many inspiring thoughts about education, virtue, the good life, and all that jazz. I'll definitely be reviewing my annotations throughout the coming school year.
-The authors quote extensively from other works, some of which I had not heard of before and now am absolutely convinced I need to read.
The not-so-great
-I wish this book had been more up-front about what it is. It is not THE SINGLE classically-based formula for thinking about teaching. It is the authors' own synthesis of the great books and ideas. Sometimes (as with the analysis of Sayers) they ground their arguments in some kind of historical context, but other times it really just came across as the authors cherrypicking. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that (they are heirs of a long, long tradition of synthetic analysts of western thought who have all done pretty much that), but I would trust them more if they were a bit more forthright about it. Many passages in the book read like: "Some have said this and others have said that, but the correct perspective is actually the other thing." [Block quote explaining other thing] [End paragraph] And I pretty much always agreed with what they said the correct perspective is and I am generally well-read enough in the source material they were pulling from (Plato, Augustine, Hugh of St. Victor, C.S. Lewis, and of course scripture) to know that their perspectives were generally accurate, but something about their method still rubbed me the wrong way, especially because...
-While the philosophical arguments were (for the most part) thoroughly researched and cited, the authors made at least a couple of odd/sweeping historical claims that I really wish had been cited, or at least qualified. It's a good philosophical framework as far as that goes, but a lot of the sell of the classical method is that it is rooted in history, and the actual history in this book was kind of sloppy.
-I felt the authors should have distinguished more between Ancient/Pagan systems of thought and Christian ones (and that's coming from ME)
-The authors occasionally fall into what I think of as the "etymology trap," that is, thinking that word origins can give us some special insight into what the word should mean to us today. And while that is sometimes the case, it really needs (again) deeper historical analysis to back it up. The most egregious instance of this was a section on teaching and discipleship, where the authors relied on the Greek μαθητής to argue that students of Christian schools should be discipled. Which is fine, but the way they phrased it was something like
Authors: "COULD IT BEEEEEE that there is some SPECIAL CONNECTION between being a STUDENT and being a DISCIPLE?!?!"
Me: Its- that's literally just what the word actually means-
Authors: "AH the WONDROUS MYSTERIES THAT GET REVEALED WHEN YOU READ THE ORIGINAL GREEK!"
Me: You could have made this argument way more logically by just leaving etymology out of it
AHEM Anyway overall this was a good and valuable book, but mostly within the context of me already having enough background knowledge on many of the topics addressed to discern when the arguments were sound and when they were a little off. Which basically puts it on par with the Classical Stuff You Should Know podcast, another great resource that I always recommend along with the caveat that they sometimes get some details wrong.
I feel like there should probably be a more succinct way to explain whatever problem I actually have with this book but IDK what it is, so I am looking forward to meeting with my fellow teachers and discussing it with them and maybe one of them will explain it to me.
This was the assigned summer read for all the upper school teachers at Dominion Christian. It was overall quite helpful and insightful. I enjoyed it and wrote many margin notes.
The Good:
-An excellent synthesis of thoughts on education from the whole western tradition from Plato to Lewis.
-Busts some myths by re-situating ideas in their historical context (Particularly with regards to Sayer's Lost Tools of Learning and the trivium)
-In fact, by far the strongest and most helpful section of this book was section 2, which synthesized Plato's ideas about education in music and gymnastics with the medieval trivium and quadrivium and explained the definition and importance of each of the classical liberal arts.
-Many inspiring thoughts about education, virtue, the good life, and all that jazz. I'll definitely be reviewing my annotations throughout the coming school year.
-The authors quote extensively from other works, some of which I had not heard of before and now am absolutely convinced I need to read.
The not-so-great
-I wish this book had been more up-front about what it is. It is not THE SINGLE classically-based formula for thinking about teaching. It is the authors' own synthesis of the great books and ideas. Sometimes (as with the analysis of Sayers) they ground their arguments in some kind of historical context, but other times it really just came across as the authors cherrypicking. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that (they are heirs of a long, long tradition of synthetic analysts of western thought who have all done pretty much that), but I would trust them more if they were a bit more forthright about it. Many passages in the book read like: "Some have said this and others have said that, but the correct perspective is actually the other thing." [Block quote explaining other thing] [End paragraph] And I pretty much always agreed with what they said the correct perspective is and I am generally well-read enough in the source material they were pulling from (Plato, Augustine, Hugh of St. Victor, C.S. Lewis, and of course scripture) to know that their perspectives were generally accurate, but something about their method still rubbed me the wrong way, especially because...
-While the philosophical arguments were (for the most part) thoroughly researched and cited, the authors made at least a couple of odd/sweeping historical claims that I really wish had been cited, or at least qualified. It's a good philosophical framework as far as that goes, but a lot of the sell of the classical method is that it is rooted in history, and the actual history in this book was kind of sloppy.
-I felt the authors should have distinguished more between Ancient/Pagan systems of thought and Christian ones (and that's coming from ME)
-The authors occasionally fall into what I think of as the "etymology trap," that is, thinking that word origins can give us some special insight into what the word should mean to us today. And while that is sometimes the case, it really needs (again) deeper historical analysis to back it up. The most egregious instance of this was a section on teaching and discipleship, where the authors relied on the Greek μαθητής to argue that students of Christian schools should be discipled. Which is fine, but the way they phrased it was something like
Authors: "COULD IT BEEEEEE that there is some SPECIAL CONNECTION between being a STUDENT and being a DISCIPLE?!?!"
Me: Its- that's literally just what the word actually means-
Authors: "AH the WONDROUS MYSTERIES THAT GET REVEALED WHEN YOU READ THE ORIGINAL GREEK!"
Me: You could have made this argument way more logically by just leaving etymology out of it
AHEM Anyway overall this was a good and valuable book, but mostly within the context of me already having enough background knowledge on many of the topics addressed to discern when the arguments were sound and when they were a little off. Which basically puts it on par with the Classical Stuff You Should Know podcast, another great resource that I always recommend along with the caveat that they sometimes get some details wrong.
I feel like there should probably be a more succinct way to explain whatever problem I actually have with this book but IDK what it is, so I am looking forward to meeting with my fellow teachers and discussing it with them and maybe one of them will explain it to me.
June 6, 2024
This was a paradigm shifting book for me. Reframing the discussion of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric away from the modern interpretation of grammar being the basics, logic one level up, and rhetoric the level after that, to the ancient conception of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric being the language arts. Mastering the arts of speaking. The Quadrivium was shown to be mastering mathematics. If one can master language and mathematics, one can learn any subject they pursue. This is the idea of the "tools of learning" we have all heard but reframed in the historic classical way.
I also appreciated being shown what Natural History and Philosophy historically was and how the first era of Christian scientists were more in line with Natural Philosophy than our truncated view of "science" today.
Highly recommend this book!!!
I also appreciated being shown what Natural History and Philosophy historically was and how the first era of Christian scientists were more in line with Natural Philosophy than our truncated view of "science" today.
Highly recommend this book!!!
February 2, 2025
This is hands down the most thorough explanation of classical education I've come across yet. I spent so long reading it because I read several sections multiple times to get the most out of it. Actually I started reading a library copy and ended up buying a copy to finish it XD.
To anyone looked to learn all they can about classical education, my recommendation is this book along with The Lost Tools of Learning, The Abolition of Man, and Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child.
To anyone looked to learn all they can about classical education, my recommendation is this book along with The Lost Tools of Learning, The Abolition of Man, and Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child.
August 25, 2024
Four stars because there were portions of this book where I was completely lost.
July 20, 2025
Read excerpts for class. This is the classic summary of Christian, classical education. Very helpful as a primer.
June 18, 2025
A very solid summary and exploration of classical education theory/pedagogy.
October 4, 2024
Blimey. Phenomenal. If you are a classical Christian educator, please read this book. If you are a Christian, please read this book so you can appreciate how crucial and how difficult a classical Christian educator’s job is.
September 3, 2014
Own.
I had high hopes for The Liberal Arts Tradition and Clark and Jain did not disappoint.
I loved the way they made education - paideia - part of an integrated Christian life rooted in piety and fed by music and the gymnastic. The paradigm of Wonder leading to Worship leading to Work leading to Wisdom is one that can be used in all of life. The chapter on Theology is a masterpiece helping me see how Theology, the queen of sciences, undergirds and forms all other elements of education.
This is a book of education philosophy, so while I can catch glimpses of how it all works, its main failing is the *how* ... the concrete is there for the teacher to build on the foundations.
Don't let the length of time it took me to read this concern you, I took a long break from all serious reading for no apparent reason. This book could be read much more quickly. I did bog down in the chapter on Philosophy (Natural, Moral, and Metaphysic) where every sentence was beyond my comprehension, but the rest of the book was approachable and readable.
I loved the two illustrations that bookend the book; a tree (planted by streams of living water?) and the climbing of a hill (to Wisdom, Grace, and Virtue) helped me to see how the ideas built on one another.
Highly Recommended to Educators of all kinds. Be prepared to be stretched.
I had high hopes for The Liberal Arts Tradition and Clark and Jain did not disappoint.
I loved the way they made education - paideia - part of an integrated Christian life rooted in piety and fed by music and the gymnastic. The paradigm of Wonder leading to Worship leading to Work leading to Wisdom is one that can be used in all of life. The chapter on Theology is a masterpiece helping me see how Theology, the queen of sciences, undergirds and forms all other elements of education.
This is a book of education philosophy, so while I can catch glimpses of how it all works, its main failing is the *how* ... the concrete is there for the teacher to build on the foundations.
Don't let the length of time it took me to read this concern you, I took a long break from all serious reading for no apparent reason. This book could be read much more quickly. I did bog down in the chapter on Philosophy (Natural, Moral, and Metaphysic) where every sentence was beyond my comprehension, but the rest of the book was approachable and readable.
I loved the two illustrations that bookend the book; a tree (planted by streams of living water?) and the climbing of a hill (to Wisdom, Grace, and Virtue) helped me to see how the ideas built on one another.
Highly Recommended to Educators of all kinds. Be prepared to be stretched.
June 27, 2019
My first impression was reaffirmed in rereading this book. Top shelf summary and overview of classical curriculum with enough meat to satisfy rereadings. The sections on music, piety, and gymnastic provide a memorable map for elementary school teachers, and the sections on the quadrivium and philosophy provide a fantastic enticement for exploration and recovery in the classical tradition. It's a great conversation starter for how to teach the (modern) sciences with an eye to natural philosophy.
This remains one of my top three books on classical education.
This remains one of my top three books on classical education.
June 1, 2022
Moves between useful and interesting to dry but informative to informative in that someone somewhere is willing to argue for this, huh.
Finishes strong though, and will give you a strong sense of the good things we're trying to do here in classical Christian education.
A worthwhile thing to have on your shelves and a good depository of scholarship and further reading to pull from in future.
Finishes strong though, and will give you a strong sense of the good things we're trying to do here in classical Christian education.
A worthwhile thing to have on your shelves and a good depository of scholarship and further reading to pull from in future.
June 7, 2019
A good survey of the classical Christian education curriculum, especially as conceived of through the author's PGMAPT framework (Piety, Gymnastic, Music, liberal Arts, Philosophy, Theology). Especial attention is paid to the content integration permitted and encouraged by an historical understanding of these subjects - and the integration with faith, indeed the "classical" as the authors understand it really can't be separated from the "Christian". Some comments especially about the way natural science is taught or should be taught were rather disputable I thought, and rushed past very quickly - but it's a survey book, you can't discuss every nuance. A recommended introduction to the classical mindset, with many good thoughts even for "normal" schools not ready to completely overturn the curriculum.
"What might it look like once again to comprehend in a single vision what modernity has separated into the objective and merely quantitative realm of scientific knowledge and the radically subjective qualitative realm of love, meaning, and value? It is time that the West once again had a vision for the whole of reality, in which God, His image, and His creation are the interpenetrating centers."
"What might it look like once again to comprehend in a single vision what modernity has separated into the objective and merely quantitative realm of scientific knowledge and the radically subjective qualitative realm of love, meaning, and value? It is time that the West once again had a vision for the whole of reality, in which God, His image, and His creation are the interpenetrating centers."
August 15, 2023
This is such a thorough overview of Christian Classical Education. The authors clearly have done much research. I learned a lot and would surely learn more with a reread. I appreciate the summaries at the end of each section and loved some of the application ideas in the last section. I could definitely benefit from more of that.
February 19, 2021
Holy cow! What a read. It took me 9 months and still my brain is only grasping the edges. I will need to read it again. But even with the tablespoons that I grasped, this book elevated and expanded my view and vision of what a Christian classical education is and how we go about it as we seek to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Highly recommend to anyone who is pursuing a classical Christian eduction for their children, whether in partnership with a school or fully at home. So good. So much to think about.
October 20, 2024
Excellent and Informative
I did not read this book all at once - but in pieces and let it digest before reading more. Great information and ideas for education. High recommend for all to read and consider when developing an educational course
I did not read this book all at once - but in pieces and let it digest before reading more. Great information and ideas for education. High recommend for all to read and consider when developing an educational course
May 13, 2018
Finally finished this one - and what a book! It held depths of information that I really loved learning about. What a great book!
February 1, 2023
Both soaring in its view of the classical tradition while sticking to the big ideas with clarity and a level of erudite precision that delights the mind.
Read
July 30, 2025It’s always funny when a professor assigns their own book as the class material…but Jain just makes it work 🤷♀️
October 28, 2025
Excellent! The most thorough, insightful, lovely and complete overview of classical christian education I have stumbled upon.
July 4, 2014
First, the positives.
Clark and Jain state in the introduction that their book is extending the bridge that the contributions of Douglas Wilson's book, Case for Classical Education, and Evans and Littlejohn's book, Wisdom and Eloquence, have made toward repairing the ruins of the classical liberal arts education. I think that they have given Classical educators, whether Boards, Administrators, or Teachers, a wealth of material for reflection, integration, and probably reorientation of their classical and Christian schools. Perhaps most significantly is their integration of Piety, Gymnastic, Music, and Philosophy into the pedagogical course that includes the seven liberal arts (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy). They also seek to integrate Theology, but I found their sections on theology (the shortest in the book) to be the least developed and compelling. It isn't that I disagreed with their conception of the place of theology, but they did not bring much clarity to the study of theology as a subject, leaving it to be considered as a discipline that provides the grounds for and permeates the rest of the subjects. On the whole though, this is a delightfully fresh and welcomed addition to the literature on classical education and I hope it becomes a required reading for parents and classical educators in Classical schools and homeschools everywhere.
Second, the things that could be improved. Though this section is lengthier, it doesn't detract from the tremendous value of this book. In fact, it is because I like this book so much that I hope a second edition comes out that improves some of the things that may turn off the reader who isn't immediately excited about it, or has little or no experience with classical and Christian education.
First, a minor quibble. For a book that is outlining a philosophy of Christian Classical Education that values beauty, the layout of the book is underwhelming. The cover is adequate, but inside the margins are too narrow, the blocky highlight quotes that interrupt the text are obtrusive, and the footnotes will be intimidating to anyone who isn't used to reading scholarly literature (or, rather, scholarly literature that uses footnotes rather than endnotes). For the second edition, my humble suggestion would be to widen the margins to at least one inch on the top and bottom, and perhaps 1.25 on the outside edges; eliminate the highlight quotes or relegate them to the margins in a smaller font; turn the footnotes into endnotes, either at the end of chapters or at the end of the book.
Second, a second edition should go deeper into explaining the role of theology as a subject at the end of the course of education. If there are implicit theological elements throughout, what sort of "catechetical" knowledge of the Bible, if any, should classical educators provide, and how should theology capstone the entire endeavor at its end? What sort of theological study did the medievals employ?
Third, a second edition should expand the appendices. The first appendix was little more than talking points for what promises to be a much more detailed explication of a recurrent theme in the whole book, which is how the late medieval shift in philosophy opened avenues into modernity. The claim is probably an overstatement, or at least needs to integrate other factors, but as it stands in the book, the reader is just left wondering why such an important historical shift is only getting two pages of summary. Appendix II requires explanation. It was not clear to me how exactly the features of the chart were to be used, or what made the chart's contents a narrative. Appendix IV, like Appendix I needs to be expanded, and perhaps integrated with Appendix I since there seems to be some connection between nominalism, voluntarism, and the rejection of two of Aristotle's four causes. Appendix V looks great, so great in fact that it might be better put in the introduction to help the reader see the whole in one image before diving into each particular.
Clark and Jain state in the introduction that their book is extending the bridge that the contributions of Douglas Wilson's book, Case for Classical Education, and Evans and Littlejohn's book, Wisdom and Eloquence, have made toward repairing the ruins of the classical liberal arts education. I think that they have given Classical educators, whether Boards, Administrators, or Teachers, a wealth of material for reflection, integration, and probably reorientation of their classical and Christian schools. Perhaps most significantly is their integration of Piety, Gymnastic, Music, and Philosophy into the pedagogical course that includes the seven liberal arts (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy). They also seek to integrate Theology, but I found their sections on theology (the shortest in the book) to be the least developed and compelling. It isn't that I disagreed with their conception of the place of theology, but they did not bring much clarity to the study of theology as a subject, leaving it to be considered as a discipline that provides the grounds for and permeates the rest of the subjects. On the whole though, this is a delightfully fresh and welcomed addition to the literature on classical education and I hope it becomes a required reading for parents and classical educators in Classical schools and homeschools everywhere.
Second, the things that could be improved. Though this section is lengthier, it doesn't detract from the tremendous value of this book. In fact, it is because I like this book so much that I hope a second edition comes out that improves some of the things that may turn off the reader who isn't immediately excited about it, or has little or no experience with classical and Christian education.
First, a minor quibble. For a book that is outlining a philosophy of Christian Classical Education that values beauty, the layout of the book is underwhelming. The cover is adequate, but inside the margins are too narrow, the blocky highlight quotes that interrupt the text are obtrusive, and the footnotes will be intimidating to anyone who isn't used to reading scholarly literature (or, rather, scholarly literature that uses footnotes rather than endnotes). For the second edition, my humble suggestion would be to widen the margins to at least one inch on the top and bottom, and perhaps 1.25 on the outside edges; eliminate the highlight quotes or relegate them to the margins in a smaller font; turn the footnotes into endnotes, either at the end of chapters or at the end of the book.
Second, a second edition should go deeper into explaining the role of theology as a subject at the end of the course of education. If there are implicit theological elements throughout, what sort of "catechetical" knowledge of the Bible, if any, should classical educators provide, and how should theology capstone the entire endeavor at its end? What sort of theological study did the medievals employ?
Third, a second edition should expand the appendices. The first appendix was little more than talking points for what promises to be a much more detailed explication of a recurrent theme in the whole book, which is how the late medieval shift in philosophy opened avenues into modernity. The claim is probably an overstatement, or at least needs to integrate other factors, but as it stands in the book, the reader is just left wondering why such an important historical shift is only getting two pages of summary. Appendix II requires explanation. It was not clear to me how exactly the features of the chart were to be used, or what made the chart's contents a narrative. Appendix IV, like Appendix I needs to be expanded, and perhaps integrated with Appendix I since there seems to be some connection between nominalism, voluntarism, and the rejection of two of Aristotle's four causes. Appendix V looks great, so great in fact that it might be better put in the introduction to help the reader see the whole in one image before diving into each particular.
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