Steve Jobs life and impact is a great argument for classical Christian education—an education with encourages the students to think through what it means to be human.

Let me set aside a few objections at the start. Of course, Jobs was not a believer. He was in fact an amalgamation of a 60s radical flower child (prone to some of the weirdest diets and fads and superstitions believing in them to the obvious harm of his body at points) and an Islamic Imam who was only content with ultimate and absolute control. He was not orthodox in any way. His treatment of people was at points reprehensible, rude, and unrighteous—and necessary in order to achieve the results he desired. His life and beliefs were far from the faith.

How then, you might ask, can his life and work form an argument for classical Christian education?!?! Here is how! He was conscious of why he created such earthshaking products. He was a good engineer. He was not a great engineer. Steve Wozniak, with Jobs the co-founder of Apple, was much more of an nuts and bolts (or RAM and circuit) engineer. Jobs surrounded himself with the best engineers, but his talent was in having the vision to see how products must be made in order to work well for humans. He humanized products. He demanded that they be usable and even intuitively usable by regular human beings. He pushed his engineers and designers past their ability and into their imagination to produce machines that fit humanity. In this way, his closest analog is a guy like Frank Lloyd Wright—another genius whose brilliance grew from an understanding and rabid commitment to building human-useful buildings.

What is very interesting is that Jobs, who lived in and transmitted a sort of distortion of reality (called by friends and foes the “reality distortion field”), knew why he could create better, more useful products than his competitors. It was because he understood the Liberal Arts. He knew that by asking the question: “How will a human use this?” and “Can a human use this intuitively?” He was bound to outstrip (by miles) what others who mainly focused on technology and only secondarily on the interface of technology and humanity. He was self-aware of this difference and gloried in it.

This is exactly the sort of education that we hope to give to students. Not all will receive all that we wish to give (more on this later) but it give them a chance and pushes them toward the junction of the liberal arts and whatever else they are producing. Who knows what the future holds? We can know this, however, if you have a good grasp on what humans are and have a deep commitment to creating products that are winsomely useful for real live humans. If you are able to win people over rhetorically by the intuitive feel of your products, you have a great advantage over your competitors…and you have a better chance of creating something that reflects the glory of God because it will reflect the glory of image of God.

Here are a few Christmas wishes for 2011.

1. To Albert Pujols: I hope that all the money makes up for the fact that you had the opportunity to be the greatest sports icon in the most positive and rabid baseball town (Philly is more rabid, but negative) in the world. You left because they did not respect you?!?!?! C’mon man! They loved you. Good luck with this in an invented place. Coal for you!
2. To Jimmy Rollins: Love for you in the city of brotherly love. May your commitment to stay be as blessed as possible. Maybe another ring under the tree?
3. To Wendell Berry: Recently reading some of your best paragraphs. Brilliant! May you have a quiet and peaceful day with your family gathered round…and a good walk through a familiar and thick woods.
4. To Peter Leithart: Your blog is a blessing to read, but I fear that you might be reading, thinking, and writing too fast. You’re both and inspiration and a mystery. My wish for you is a long night’s sleep. Enjoy.
5. To the United States: A new government. This one is broken and its pettiness (on both sides) is making me sort of dread opening the paper in the morning. We borrow 40% of every dollar we spend. 40%!!!! We need an intervention. Hope it comes in 2012.
6. To my faculty and staff: Good work this year. Sleep soundly over break.
7. To my students: Drink deeply from the fountains of life. Christ Himself is the deepest fountain. Love God first with all your heart and do whatever you please with all of your heart!

I am going to try to go without my computer for a few days—this will feel like Linus without a blanket. See you in the New Year!

Concerning Halloween by James Jordan 

Also, whether you celebrate Halloween or not, you should celebrate the Reformation today. This morning we sang Luther’s great hymn “A Mighty Fortress” in devotions and remembered that 494 years ago, on this very day, a brave monk nailed a list of debating points to the door of the church in Wittenberg. He was not trying to start a movement or split the church. He was aiming at starting a discussion about whether the church in his day had misread the Bible. The Reformation divided the church (and the reformation churches have divided again and again). We pray that God would end this division by drawing all His people closer to His truth. We should be thankful, Protestants of all stripes and even Catholics, that there are people like Martin Luther who challenge us with the Word of God and who will not back down without an answer. Today, as believers, we need to pour ourselves into the study of God’s Word. We need to be re-formed as people in Christ’s image by it. Open our eyes Father!

In classical Christian education, we, like Luther, go back to the sources (the cry of “Ad Fontes” which means “back to the source or the fountain”) is heard around school from time to time. We want to have truth. Without it all is window dressing without hope.

“Governor Corbett, thank you for your commitment to help students trapped in failing schools. We all applaud this desire and we are ready to work to work with you or anyone else to rescue people trapped in cycles of poverty, sin, and brokenness. We know that the problems that you face regarding our budget and especially educational funding are more than challenging. We pray that God would give you wisdom as you make these crucial decisions.

 “When challenges face us, we need first to see them clearly and to recognize their gravity. Here are a few parts of the challenge that we face. These facts are not in dispute:

• We have made promises to retired teachers concerning their pension and benefits—promises that we do not have the funds to keep. These promises are going to result in higher taxes or in significant cuts in present spending for education (and other programs) so that we can fund the pensions and benefits of retired teachers.
• By any measure, some of our schools are failing. They are not producing students that are employable because they do not have skills necessary for employment (solid reading and math skills). By many measures, most of our school are sliding backwards. We are spending on average over $13,000 per student.
• These issues are not JUST educational issues. They are, in fact, societal issues. The educational disaster students face is tied inextricably to a moral crisis—a moral apocalypse—in our culture. It is not just that many of our students do not know how to read, but we, as a society, are having problems explaining to them why they should learn. Our best attempts are often pointing them toward the job that they can get or the money that they can make. These goads are insufficient to motivate true dedication. They are, in fact, dead ends. If we are to motivate our students, we need to give them a vision of that shows them that the good life is not made up of only material possessions, but of things like love, commitment, service, and sacrifice.

As we approach this problem, we have to recognize that small solutions and tiny fixes are not going to be helpful. The system is broken. Its failure is obvious. The cost of maintaining the present system can be measured in dollars and cents (dollars and cents that we do not have!) but the human cost of failure in this area are even more terrifying and more expensive. If we do not effectively deal with this problem we should not dare to hope for our Commonwealth or nation to long survive.

Seeing this crucial problem you have offered a response. I applaud parts of this response. I am concerned about some of the direction. Most Christian schools in our state exist on very limited funding. Many are desperate for money. Many of the proposals that you have made will help students and will allow families to choose schools that are accountable to the market and to the parents in ways that the public schools are not. The programs that you offer will enable some students (students in the worst schools) to have a way to escape. My heart goes out to these students and I have spent many hours considering how Christian schools like mine can be part of serving and rescuing these students.

The danger is dependency. Christian schools have a lot to offer needy students. They typically educate more efficiently (at a lower cost per student). They are able—unlike public school presently—to cut to the heart of the matter. Christian schools can openly proclaim the truth that is so deeply needed by these students. Christian schools can give students reason for living that points above ambition and possessions. We call them to lay down their lives for others; because Christ is Lord. He has conquered death and He has made a way of forgiveness for you. In light of His sacrifice and in light of His promises, we can boldly lay down our lives for others. This message is crucial if we want to provide hope and guidance for our charges.

I believe that you would affirm the value and power of this message. I think that in your proposal concerning vouchers you are trying to help these students escape a failing system and you are doing something that is helpful (financially) to Christian schools. The dependency that this can and will cause is terribly dangerous. I do not believe that you will tie any sort of restrictions that would keep us from proclaiming the truth of the gospel to the voucher. You can, I hope, see that this string can and no doubt will be tied in the future. When that happens, many Christian schools will face a terrible choice: fail financially or stop proclaiming the truth. The first choice ends your existence; the second ends your reason for existence.

But can’t schools simply budget for the voucher and protect themselves against these future problems? No! Voucher money pollutes the main stream of income for schools—the stream of tuition funds. These funds make up the bulk of most operating budgets.

You are working to expand the Educational Improvement Tax Credit which enables some businesses to support scholarships for needy students. Thank you for working to expand this program. We believe that it serves the tax payers well and helps some needy students get a better education. Dependence on this program can endanger the future of schools, but we can budget against it. Setting aside funds to protect our schools if and when this program ends can and should be done. Ending the program would harm particular students, but schools could survive and remain independent if they are careful.

Again, sir, thank you for your effort. May God bless your administration as you serve as Christ’s minister (Romans 13:4).

In the past, the West felt such cultural superiority that it took whatever it wanted when it found it. Thus, the bust of Nefertiti is to be found in Berlin, most of the statues from the Parthenon are in London, and the Zodiac ceiling from the temple of Dendera is in Paris. The West took because it believed itself superior and thought that its citizens should be exposed to all of these past beauties. The West takes, but then displays.

Presently, in an age in which the West is ashamed of its taking of things, many arguments are being made to make the West give back everything it took. Some of these arguments are very legitimate. Some items are actually items stolen from non-Western museums (because of corrupt museum officials or lax security). When items are returned, however, odd things happen. First, no one comes to see them. Many of the countries demanding return are Islamic countries and much of the returned art is considered blasphemous by Islamic authorities. Second, when the art is returned it is often not cared for properly because the countries receiving the returned art do not have the funds or inclination to house it in a manner that preserves it. The questions here are myriad and interesting.

Finally, the book subtly calls into question some of the deeply held Enlightenment assumptions of the West. The entire concept of the museum is questioned. Why did (or does?) the West think that taking art out of its place is good and beneficial? Is this art really “property of humanity” or, if not, whose is it? (Often, the people requesting the return of the art are not descendents of the people who created the art.) Finally, and I am not sure that Waxman even intended this interpretation, the cultural fruitlessness of the modern West is on display in this book. Museums, on the surface places or propriety and snobbish high culture, are too often places where the lines of morality are blurred (or effaced). These museums are, in many cases, laundering items that they know, or should know, to be stolen. They try to hide this, but the three piece suits and affectations are not able to hide what is often just plain stealing. Also, the cultures of museums seem to have a smarmy sexual overtones. This was true of the Getty (where it seems everyone was sleeping with everyone), but it seems broader than just the Getty. This sexuality was not productive family life sexuality, but rather adulterous, rapacious, and homosexual. Instead of doing the work of creating art and culture these folks seem much more apt at thieving it and then sitting around with the artifact, admiring it, and pretending that they have some connection to it. One is reminded of the not-too-Christian Voltaire’s advice “Tend your own garden!” But the modern, “Enlightened” West has hit the end of the tether. We can no longer produce beauty. We can no longer create a culture with goals, objectives, and purpose. We have unwittingly cut ourselves off from the source of life (God) and now we twist in the wind. The best these folks can do is to steal things that other people (Christian and pagan) have created and sit around with these beautiful things attending to their own pleasures. It is pathetic.

If you are looking for a fun read that raises interesting questions, Loot might be for you!

As classical school folks, we should pay attention to how to tell a good story. They are the best at it right now.

Hat’s off.

If we are to survive as a country, we must plan an escape from Nixonland.

This will be challenging and, I must admit, on the surface of things I see only a faint reason to be hopeful that this escape could happen. (I really worry that the forces of deep division, selfishness, and the lust for power in our country will pose frightening challenges for our future.)

If we are to escape, this escape begins with a recommitment to classical Christian education or sometime like it. Here is why:

Nixonland is built on continual sins against truth. These sins are deft misuses of some of the most brilliant tools that God has given us—logic and rhetoric. We are mixing up convincing sounding arguments that move the passions and obscure the truth. This has always happened. Today, however, as a result of our schools ceasing to teach logic and rhetoric (i.e., giving up a classical liberal arts education) most people are duped by slick sounding language. (We have ceased being free men and women and we are now told that we are free even though we don’t have the tools that it would take to be free.) If we would return to classical education—at least for a significant number of our children—there would be more accountability for telling political lies.

Also, classical education connects us to the past and helps us to put issues into some sort of priority list. Today, politicians typically bang the gong in “whatever way necessary” to drum up support, humiliate a rival for power, or, most often, raise money. Nixon was a savant in this arena. He was the “law and order” president approving criminal break ins to get the scoop on his rivals because he was convinced that they were planning to humiliate him. Classical education with its emphasis on the great books frees us from the tyranny of the urgent present and the shouts of the 24 hour news cycle.

Finally, the skills taught in and the content of a classical education helps people see the shallowness of the great technological catalyst for political lying which is the television. I am not against TV. It is good, but it is only good for one thing—entertainment. It enables political mischief because (like text messaging) there is never time to tell the whole truth. It was TV used thoughtlessly as a political tool that led us into Nixonland. Nixon lost the first presidential TV debate to good looking, articulate, witty JFK. By losing this debate (mainly because he did not understand the medium where his five o’clock shadow had more to do with truth than his arguments), he probably lost the presidency. Nixon learned his lesson. He obsessed over TV, hiring the prodigy Roger Ailes as a 25 year old to run his image (Ailes now runs Fox News). He scripted (or tried to script) everything. He won the presidency and won re-election. Lying on TV is too easy. By amplifying someone’s ethos over a short period of time, or by making one mistake something that can be replayed an infinite number of time, it makes politics inhuman and keeps us from making good decisions.

But, one mights say, “Can’t all of this be done by simply having a classical education? Does the educational reform need to also be Christian?” These are excellent questions. So far, all that I am suggesting could be done at a classical school that is not Christian. An escape from Nixonland, however, cannot happen without a return to Christ and to the Christian ideas that built this nation.

First, we need repentance and forgiveness. This seems like an easy thing. Can’t we all just get along. In truth, we cannot. Only in Christ, in His blood, can wrongs be washed away.

Second, we need to be reminded that it is the thing that counts—not the sound of the thing. God looks on the heart. Slick words and unjust measures are abominations to Him. Politicians weighing out words that they do not believe so that they can confuse or convince or co-opt half the people plus one is an outrage to Him. It must become repugnant to us as well.

Third, we need to have a vision for where we are going. Taking the road out of Nixonland is not an answer. We need to be headed somewhere. (This is the main problem with our present educational system right now, I believe, there is no ultimate aim for students outside of their own personal peace and prosperity.) And we need to be headed somewhere as a people and as a community. This can be found outside of Christ. We could become (and are becoming or are) an economic empire where profits and unemployment rates are more important than prophets and righteousness. We could adopt some other religious vision of life—lslam or Hinduism. It is only upon Christ that an ongoing foundation for civilization can be laid because He is the reason for this world. He created it. It reflects Him. The false gods and our idols (like Mammon) crush and disappoint. Jesus dies to save us from our sins and is raised again to found an order that promises the restoration of the world. In the Lord’s Supper, we see a hint of this coming world (that is already here and is growing). In this service, we offer thanks back to God for the world and for the redemption that He has given to us in Christ. As we do this, the very order that was established in the Garden is restored. Man, with thanks, praises His gracious Father. God with joy pours out blessing on His children.

It is in the power of God that we hope. It is in the power of God that we trust. It is His grace and mercy and power that can bring us out of Nixonland.

During that time challenges that still haunt us today began in our culture (they really started much earlier, but came to fruition then). For a while, maybe since 1824 Western people had been tampering with words. We wanted to break free of their limits—particularly the meaning of biblical words. After we freed ourselves from the Bible, we looked to burn through the restraint of all other binding words. We wanted to keep some words and denude the power of others. The laws and the Constitution were gutted during the 20^th Century. Suddenly, however, the thing turned on us (we should have known that it would). All of our words stopped having force. We had tried to dissolve the chains around our wrists, but we ended up dissolving the wrists and floor and the ground and the world.

As a result of this loss of faith in words, we stopped trying to persuade and started grasping for power using words to shout down and drown out (loud words = noise) rather than speaking to others and trying to earnestly persuade them. Today, we have corrupted words thoroughly. This can be seen in our pulpits where clear biblical condemnation of particular sins (presently in vogue) is obscured by preachers who use their voices to cover the text with an impenetrable fog. We see this in our courts where words are stretched (see “Interstate Commerce Clause”) or clipped to fit our present desire. Finally, we see this in our politics where words are twisted mercilessly on both sides of the aisle to misrepresent and slander the speaker. This trade, however, is deadly. When words lose all meaning, people tend to gravitate toward shouting, sticks, and, eventually, bullets. Thus, the peaceful protests of persuasion gives way to the shouting riots where force is used instead of good reasoning. Our world is darkening because of this failure to protect words.

This, however, points out one of the great tasks of classical Christian education. We believe in rhetoric (good rhetoric not empty “rhetoric”). We believe in words. We believe that they have or can have power. We must—it is an imperative for the survival of our civilization—learn to love and protect and value words. I have been blessed by my interaction with our students recently—particularly our seniors. They speak persuasively. I look forward to seeing what God can and will do with and through them. Please pray that we would again turn our hearts back to words and to the Word, that we would begin to listen to each other, and that we would have good words to speak. Words, persuasion, willingness to listen, and ability to reasons are prerequisites rather than results of democracy.

As I have interacted with them, I see the strengths of Veritas Academy. I also, using them, can see the flaws in educational thinking in our culture. These students were educated in a moral and philosophical environment. This environment was not perfect (at times it was flawed), but they were raised in an environment where many aspects of right and wrong were so deeply engrained that they took them in the air that we all breathed. We (by this I mean more me and my school more than them) did not always live up to our standards, but that did not lead to the abandonment of standards or to despair. Typically, it lead to repentance and new effort. I am very proud of them.

When I measure the education that our culture is giving over and against the education that these students have received, I do despair. We seem to think that education can be transmitted in an environment that is neutral and has no moral teaching or philosophy attached to it. We seem to think that we can provide the facts (something like gray mush) and that children will mix in whatever worldview, philosophy, and morality they like. Sort of like putting ketchup or mustard on non-descript french fries or putting one (or six) of a myriad of toppings on vanilla ice cream. Could anything be more cruel? We, as a culture, have lost faith in the true, the good, and the beautiful. We, now, think that we can educate children without speaking of the things that make life worth living. It is amazing as I reflect on it that the suicide rate amongst teens in our culture is not higher. (Sadly, I fear this is the case because many young people have simply given in to cynicism, to pleasure (in the short term), and to sloth. They have no answer for “why”. We have provided them none and educated them as if there is no answer nor need to answer this question. In truth, we have failed culturally to give them even the rudiments of an education. Recently, I finished reading Anna Karenina with our Juniors and Seniors. In one part of the book, Levin (a nobleman farmer agnostic and the suitor of the orthodox Kitty) must go to the church to become formally Christian by confessing his sins and taking communion. He confesses his doubts about the existence of God to the priest who tells him to pray, and to look at the heavens to see God’s glory. Levin claims that he cannot pray and that the heavens seem mute to him. The priest asks him what he will tell his children when they ask who made the world and all the glories in it. Levin has no answer for this. By the end of the book (some 500 pages later), Levin stares into the night sky knowing some degree of grace and having some part of faith. He now was ready to answer the questions of his children. O, that we as a culture would take this task more seriously, face up to our doubts, and shoulder the responsibilities that are ours!

I have not had any time to pay attention to Mr. Camping’s prophecies (or others), but did read about it in the paper this morning and it was discussed at the All Saints’ Church Men’s Group. I do not believe that Christ is returning today. He is ruling and will rule until His enemies are place under His feet. I am still counting too many enemies to be too hopeful. I would not be sad, however, if I were wrong. Come Lord Jesus!

As I thought about it today, there are some really troubling trends in Protestantism Evangelical (and Reformed—Mr. Camping is from my tradition) today. It is depressing to consider what is going on. We are a body so divided that we have no immune system. Mr. Camping is anti-ecclesiastical (telling people that Satan is in charge of the visible church). He instructs people to leave their local churches and, ironically “turn on, tune in (to the radio), and drop out.” As we listened to Mr. Camping this morning (Dr. Strawbridge, my pastor and technological wizard had a video interview for us to watch) I could feel nothing but pity for this sincere, but misguided man. I also felt sad for all those who will begin this day with hope of seeing Christ and will end it in dissolution. I was despairing concerning a people and a nation that is so tied up in the scandalous, the sensational, and the odd that we cannot or will not do things that are simple and clear. The point of the Christian life is for Christ to live through us as long as we have breath. It is not to figure out when the end of the world is coming. Luther was asked once (in more tumultuous times than the present) what he would do if he knew that Christ was coming again that day. He answered, as only he could, that he would plant a tree. I am going out to mow the lawn now—which today turns out to be an act of faith.

Classical Christian education does not center education on discussion of the end times. It does, however, give a ballast for times such as these. Ideas like Camping’s are prominent today, and they have been at other times in history. They have also all, without fail, been wrong. Knowing this can help people have the stability to live every day faithfully as we await His return.