Sarah Collister is a writer, teacher, and Anglican who lives in Cambridge with her beloved husband, Clinton.
IV. Classical Christian Education in the 21st century: A Radical Return to Christian Humanism Not long after Irving Babbitt’s death, the cataclysmic cultural shifts following two world wars encouraged influential writers and thinkers to take up, once again, the torch of humanism as a means to reform higher education. English writers like Eliot, Lewis and…
III. Old and New Humanisms A. The Rise of Renaissance Humanism In order to understand the effects of humanism on the classical Christian curriculum being implemented in schools in 2023, one must examine the methods, texts, and program of study commended by Renaissance Humanist thinkers. Craig Kallendorf highlights the unique role that Renaissance humanism had…
II. The Humanist Roots of Christian Education If humanism is to be primarily understood as a return to the classical sources, then the life, conversions, and writings of St. Augustine provide an interesting case study of an individual whose classical education was fully realized in light of the Gospel. Many Christian parents may pause at…
Fare forward, you who think that you are voyaging; You are not those who saw the harbour Receding, or those who will disembark. Here between the hither and the farther shore While time is withdrawn, consider the future And the past with an equal mind. -T.S. Eliot, “The Dry Salvages” I. Introduction The world of…
“As runs the glass Man’s life doth pass.” New England Primer, 1690 The little couplet neatly tucked in the first few pages of Marly Youmans’ novel Charis in the World of Wonders haunted me as I read her tale, spun from the threads of history and fiction, Puritan mettle and poetry. I know Youmans firstly…
Three days before the mystery of Whitsun A large tree across the road cracked in half The wind too much for its dried trunk As two men brought hedge clippers and a saw, Insufficient in tackling the mess, Looked for some time but finally left it Branches loosely strewn, uncut and ungraved Like an homage…