The Heart of Culture: A Brief History of Western Education

by Habiger Institute for Catholic Leadership, Michael J. Naughton (Foreword), Jonathan Reyes (Contributor)

The Heart of Culture is a succinctly substantive history of Western education and a profound witness to the necessity of maintaining tradition. The West is the product, not of geographic, ethnic, or political forces, but of a dynamic educational tradition. When that tradition breaks down, the culture suffers a crisis of identity. Today, the West is undergoing just such a crisis, as the perennial wisdom of its tradition is ignored, misrepresented, or outright rejected. This short book confronts that crisis, bringing to light the living, intricate educational tradition that built the West, from the Greek ideal of paideia to John Henry Newman’s idea of a university.

First developed for course use in the Catholic Studies program at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), The Heart of Culture provides a unifying perspective and a clear historical understanding of the lifeblood of Western culture, and is certain to aid teacher and student alike in the pursuit of excellence.

Genres: Education, History, Nonfiction

142 pages, Paperback

Published January 14, 2020

Reviews

[Grace Snakenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great brief history of education in the West! Reinvigorated hope in me as an educator and the importance of remaining close to the Church. Reminded of the reality that almost all universities were initially founded by different Christian denominations— founded on reason AND faith. Without one, we will not survive. There is a renewal and there is hope!!

[Sydney Routh]

Bishop Conley gave to me… hope to read at some point

[Connor Kmiecik · Rating 5 out of 5]

the enlightenment was so cringe

[Jarrett Vandiver · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a short introduction to "western education." I felt that the authors excellently and succinctly hit all the high points on what makes a Christian and western education what it is: the providential synthesis of universal Greek philosophy and the universal faith of Judaism. This happy marriage of views has created a dynamic and continuous stream of thought that created the western world as we know it.

They review the history of the classical world from ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, Renaissance humanism, showing how all of these periods reformed and refined the classical and then Christian approach to true education: the complementarity of faith and reason. Education is, as the Greeks called it, "paideia," which is a training in both moral and intellectual excellence. It is more about who you are becoming than what technical skills you will learn for a job in the future. We call these studies "humanities" today because it is through this type of education that a person becomes fully human.

Then comes the Enlightenment, which the authors show to be a rupture. As my students would say, the Enlightenment is quite "cringe." It sought to break with the past and remove any sense of faith from meaningful discussions of truth. The Enlightenment sought to create a perfect utopia by man's reason alone. It is the heresy of sola ratione. The sola ratione heresy resulted in a total loss of meaning, no hope for shared vocabulary in moral discussions (see After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre), and political regimes that systematized terror (don't go to Paris in 1789!).

In spite of the Enlightenment cringe, Christian education and the western worldview lives on. The book reviews some of the great educators form Jean Baptiste de La Salle to St. John Henry Newman's Idea of a University. The book ends with a call to hope in the future of Christian and Catholic education; it is a call to not only retrieve the best of the classical tradition but also to refine it for the 21st century. There were three general pieces of advice for 21st c. Christian educators:

1) Promote and preserve faith and reason in a school's mission and curriculum: students today need to understand that to seek truth by faith alone or by reason alone is a losing battle.

2) Integrate moral and intellectual formation: modern education treats learning as a primarily intellectual endeavor that is separate from a student's "personal life" and moral choices. Nothing could be further from the truth. Education is more of a heart issue than a head issue. This is why I would argue that teachers should focus much more on Aristotle's "intellectual virtues" than on the progressive "Bloom's Taxonomy." Blooms Taxonomy is a utilitarian product of the 1950s which tried to separate the mind as an isolated and "measurable" entity, but Aristotle understood perfectly well that if a student is trained in excellence of virtue, it will affect his mind and his heart. Aristotle's method embodied the age-old saying that if an economist is not trained in virtue, he will know the cost of everything but the value of nothing. Making education to where an economist only studies his technical field makes for worse economists, not better ones.

3). Keep your school in union with the Church: Church-school partnerships are a must because the Church is who keeps the school humble, centered, and mission-oriented. The Church cannot effectively engage the culture without great educators/schools, but schools cannot avoid forgetting their purpose without being intimately tied to a local church.

Overall, this little book is an excellent apologetic for Christian and classical education.

[Father Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a brief but trustworthy survey of the history of education in the West, one can hardly do better than this little volume. It has set out to present in an approachable format a subject that could fill a library, and done so admirably well without silly condescension or any trace of unfairness. Highly recommended for all--for the question of education is a matter that pertains to all of us, without exception.

[Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely brief introduction to the philosophical foundations of education in the nexus of Greek and Judeo-Christian thought, the rupture and departure from that glorious tradition, and how it may be regained.

[Anna Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

“… it is possible to have become a highly distinguished historian, say, or physicist and yet remain a fool”

The enlightenment was the worst, education is meant for forming the whole person (intellectual and moral), faith and reason are good

[Josh Nisley · Rating 4 out of 5]

To compress the Western intellectual tradition into 100 pages without gross oversimplification takes a special kind of precision, but the book mostly delivers. Sweeping yet incisive.

[Suphatra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few years ago, I was lucky that the principal of my child's Catholic school placed this book firmly into my hand. We had coffee in her sunlit office with the sounds of lively classrooms just a soft echo away, and a pretty view of the church through the window. This was the beginning of discovering what a real education should look like, and embarking on giving one to myself, alongside my children.

The Heart of Culture provides a beautiful, thoughtful history of the beginnings of Western education, starting all the way with the Greeks and their philosophy of paideia, how medieval Christianity brought faith into education, how education expanded during the Dark Ages and Renaissance by way of monks, how the Enlightenment and its thinkers divorced faith and reason from education, and how we are living the consequences.

I appreciated the vision it provided for a well educated person: someone not just well read, well written and well spoken, but united by a cultural and spiritual tradition based on universal ideals. I think this is still achievable for American children if their public education is supplemented with a faith-based homeschool education, regular church attendance, Sunday school, great works of literature and faith enriching activities. That balances children's eight hours in school building their capacity to reason, with 16 hours at home home cultivating faith, hope, love and charity.

[Emily Strom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise, readable overview of Western education. A lot of it was review for me, but it was interesting to learn more about Pestalozzi trying to enact Rousseau's educational philosophy and to learn more about the principles which underlie progressive education.

And I definitely need to read Newman's The Idea of a University. I've heard it referenced countless times, and the quotes from that in this book were compelling.

[Travis Vermulm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brief, bias, yet powerful overview of the development and change of Western Education. The authors excel at summarizing the primary points of the theorists and thinkers in educational studies throughout the centuries. Let me be clear, when I say it is bias I do not mean that in a negative sense. This is a book written by and for Christian educators who want to understand the 'story' of how the western world's way of thinking changed.

[Stephanie Flear · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so engaging I couldn’t put it down. It was the best summary of the development of Western education. I also loved the afterword mainly because it mentioned hope and the resiliency of truth. Without the afterword, I think I would have felt pretty defeated.

P.s. The Enlightenment really messed things up.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very clear, concise history of western thought and education, this book highlights both how the Catholic faith has shaped and directed education in the West and the key counter-movements that have opposed the Church’s direction. I found it very helpful in understanding the current state of education and the opposing Progressive and Classical hopes for directing education into the future.

[David Napierkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

So concise, so insightful, so clear. This book makes you appreciate our educational history—especially contributions of Ancient Greece—while also making you aware of how we’ve veered off course in the West.

[Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great look at the history of education in the West - as well as the history of its deterioration and fall. A must-read for those who seek to understand why we think the way we do, and why it’s so radically different from before the Enlightenment.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant summary/overview of the topic from Greek antiquity through Dewey. The suggested reading at the back is a great addition, too.

[Mary Conroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfectly accomplishes what it set out to do: provide a largely unbiased, easily digestible history of western education. Good stuff.