05/12/2026
What is a classical Christian education?
As the 250th birthday of this great self-governing experiment called the United States draws near, we reflect on the gift we have been given and what will continue to sustain this free society we have inherited. A democracy or a republic does not live or die on the peopleās ability to make it to the ballot box, but on each citizenās ability to reason well, act virtuously, and live holy lives.
This kind of citizen doesnāt simply spring out of the ground. One generation must form the next. A democratic society needs an education that does not set its aim on marketable skills, hyper-productivity, or technological savvy, but rather on what kind of soul a person must possess to govern himself well before governing others. How well can that free person discern truth from error or opinion? How can one cultivate a heart to desire what is noble? No amount of electoral procedures, bureaucratic systems, or machinery can make up for this deficiency. It is not in the halls of government where liberty dies, but it is with the formation of each generation.
The kind of education called for here is a classical Christian education. A classical Christian education focuses on the trivium and the quadrivium: beauty of language (grammar), clear thinking (logic), and the ability to communicate truth (rhetoric). This kind of education orders the mind, shapes the soul, and orients the heart toward wisdom and the wisdom giverāGod. This kind of education immerses each student in the breadth and depth of truth, goodness, and beauty. This formation of the flourishing soul is what each citizen needs to steward a democratic society well.
That's a classical Christian education.
"Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" asked Elizabeth Willing Powel.
Benjamin Franklin replied, āA republic, if you can keep it.ā
