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Educational Philosophy Statement

What is the ultimate authority for content and methods in education?

As attested in II Timothy 3:16, the Bible claims authority as the ultimate source and arbiter of truth for all of life, including educational content, teaching methods, child and adolescent psychology, classroom discipline, and parent-teacher-administration relationships. The extraordinary breadth of this assertion is justified by the divine origin and accuracy of the Scriptures, promised by God himself in II Peter 1:20-21. Ephesians 6:17 calls the Bible “the sword of the Spirit,” making this the only offensive weapon a Christian has in the war against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Furthermore, God assures us of Scripture’s efficacy in Hebrews 4:12, which declares that the Bible is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Scripture alone is the Rock of our faith and practice (Jn. 17:17).

What is the nature of truth?

Truth is absolute; truth is knowable and discoverable; human perception of truth will be skewed by sin and human fallibility. (Jn 1:17; Jn. 16:13; Ps. 86:11; Jn. 17:17)

What is the nature of education?

  1. Education is the process of attaining knowledge, a goal that God repeatedly praises in the Old Testament (Pr. 18:15-24; 15:14; 2:6; 1:7). The Scriptures assert that the highest form of knowledge is to know God himself (Jer. 9:24), and Christians pursue this end above all else (Phil. 3:7-9). Christian education pursues this goal by helping students see the manifold glory of God expressed in his creation (Ps. 19:1, Ps. 66:4) and man’s works (Is. 43:7, Rev. 21:26).
  2. The Bible also commands God’s people to exercise and train their mental faculties. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus affirms the primary directive to God’s people in the Old Testament to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This command to love God with the mind entails training of one’s mental faculties, a command reiterated in I Peter 1:13. Furthermore, in the economy of the spiritual world, the key to the heart is the mind, or