The Way We Do It
A passing on of culture
What does it mean to be an educated person? This is a question I have been asking myself lately. And what does being an educated person have to do with the way we do it?
We have chosen classical education because we believe there is something specific we want to give to our children. There is a way we want to educate them. And if we have dissonant ideas of what it means to be an educated person, then our vision, our goal, and our path will be disharmonious.
The word education comes from the Latin educare, which means “to lead out of” or “to bring forth.” What are we leading students out of? What are we bringing them forth into?
In Scripture, we see Paul use a related idea—paideia, a word the Greeks used long before the New Testament. While it does not translate neatly into English, it carries the idea of the passing on of culture. And when I say culture, I do not mean the culture of the modern age or current events, but the culture of our hearts, our homes, and what is worthy of learning.
For the Greeks, this meant forming children until they were ready to deliberate in the city or serve in the military—to participate in and serve the kingdom to which they belonged. Until then, there was a kind of formation being passed on to them.
You may not have heard this Greek word before, but you have likely heard it in English translation. In Ephesians 6:4: “Parents, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” That word instruction is paideia. Paul is saying: Do not exasperate them, but bring them up in the paideia of the Lord—the passing on of His culture, His heart, His ways—the way He does it.
This idea of paideia, this vision of education in Scripture, is far more full-bodied and rich than we often assume. This, I would suggest, begins to approach what it means to be an educated person. Because following Jesus is not merely a set of rules or facts, it is learning His way—a way that is passed on from generation to generation.
Our pastor often says that Judges 2 contains one of the saddest verses in Scripture: there arose a generation that did not know the Lord or His ways, because the former generation did not pass them on. They did not paideia. They did not pass on that culture. And so, we are passing on what it means to follow the Lord.
While the Greeks did not have Christ or access to the Gospel, they were seeking truth. And the early Christians recognized this and said, “Yes—this is what we are doing as well—but Christ is the center of it.” And so they took this word paideia and filled it with greater life.
We want our children—and ourselves—to experience truth, goodness, and beauty so that we may encounter the way we do it. There is a way we do things at Juniper. And we invite you into that way. What is the way we do it? Read the next post to find our seven heart statements.
Painting: The Country School by Winslow Homer