Hello Fellow Educators,

Welcome to podcast #23. This is part 8 of a series on the integration of our Christian Worldview into everything we teach. It is based on a paper I wrote several years ago on this topic entitled; All Truth is God's Truth. You can find the complete article at our website: www.thechristianeducator.org.  I also want to remind you that we are still sending out free copies of my book, Disciplining this Generation for a Digital World, to anyone that sends us an email. I will have the details at the end of the podcast.

I received a great response to last week's podcast from a parent of our one of our Comparative Civilizations students. If you listened to podcast #21 we did an extensive interview with our teaching team who had just returned from a whirlwind tour of France, Italy and Greece. The Comp Civ project has become an excellent example of successful Christian Worldview Integration. Our home educator, Koreen, empathized with the difficult process of bringing Christian truth to the present context of education. Here are her comments: "The pressure that I felt as a home school mom must be greatly magnified for youáat a Christian School.á You talked about the pressure to "compare" well with other schools, parents wanting their children to score well on these tests because they are in a private school, and of course the hoop jumping you have to do as a school outside of the box of the system, but still very much in the system. Any time we take money we are to some extent being controlled, but I won't open that can of worms. I guess more than anything I wanted to let you know thatáon a smalláscale, I know some of the challenges you face and as a fellow Christian I pray for you and the school. Perhaps we can also challenge each other, sharpen each other's sword a bit as well. What I saw with my daughter in the public school system was a cookie cutter system that now teaches to government exams so the students will pass them and make the school and teachers look good. It is not about the freedom to challenge and educate children. It is about passing an exam that "someone" decided was important information that our children should be brain washed....I mean educated in. My daughter's grade 11 Socials class never had a class discussion or lecture. They only watched movies (like Al Gore's The Inconvenient Lie, I mean truth), read a text book and filled in work sheets. For the entire course! But, she did score above 80% on the provincial exam so everyone looks good, right? Let me compare that to the Comparative Civilization's 12 course she is taking with Heritage. Although she is finding it a lot of work and very challenging, it is full of discussions, hands on experiential learning, depth, and best of all God.(and yes, my daughter was also excited about no final exam) They are not studying world civilizations and trying to squeeze God in somewhere.á God is the root of this course. This is an example of the kind of education I believe our children need; to learn about the world around us through God's truth and wisdom, otherwise weájust become wise in our own eyes. I completely agree with Koreen, particularly in her observation regarding Christian School institutions. She also pointed out that the home educator really faces the same issues as well. Are we bringing to our children the truth and understanding about the world from a Biblical perspective or are we just meeting government outcomes and prepping our kids for the competitive exams. Can we do both? This remains our biggest challenge in Christian education today. Let's look at how Integration can work in the Applied Disciplines or subjects.

Applied Disciplines are those fields of study that focus more on skill development, natural aptitude and career focus in such subjects as: foreign language studies, physical education, music, drama, art, journalism, information technology, etc. Our pedagogical approach to these disciplines concentrates more on skill development rather than theoretical knowledge though we cannot avoid the theory in the application. Good music theory can do much for a musician but without the constant development of the student's musical skill they will not grow into an accomplished musician. One could argue that they might become a good musician without the theory but it is equally arguable that they could not become a great musician without it.

Every applied discipline still has basic philosophical presuppositions. Like the theoretical disciplines these are shaped by worldview perspectives. We can never stop asking the questions of why something works or what was it intended for. There is no such thing as neutral disciplines for every activity comes from our view of the world. Our judgment of the value of the discipline comes from our presuppositions. An easy example of this is found in our approach towards the arts. The idea that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is a humanistic idea that breeds a sense of relativism in the arts. God created beauty in the universe and this has a definitive context in the scriptures by the repeated statement in Genesis 1, "And God saw that it was good." God created and defines aesthetics, thus the arts have an absolute standard by which they can be judged. This is why a photo of excrement is offensive and a sunset is beautiful.

As educators we must search out the often hidden presuppositions in the applied disciplines. Like the theoretical disciplines these presuppositions are often prevalent within the disciplines themselves. Common theoretical ideas must be rooted out and exposed. A similar process to the theoretical disciplines must be undergone in the applied disciplines where anti-Christian ideas are most prevalent. Physical fitness curriculum can often deify the human body. The overdependence and beliefs in technology reign in the computer world. These ideologies must be addressed as we instruct students in these disciplines.

Applied disciplines often "borrow" the philosophical ideologies from theoretical disciplines such as education often "borrows" from psychology or journalism "borrows" from sociology. As educators we have to go deeper into these borrowed disciplines and see the presuppositional ideologies. These biases will show up in every aspect of our teaching experience. Think of how the reshaping of the definition of family in sociology will affect our home economics curriculum or how extreme environmentalism in our geography curriculum (a form of pantheism, the worship of the creation itself) can affect our views of woodworking or auto mechanics. There is no discipline that is completely neutral or secular. Worldview invades everything in life. What about the attitudes, ethics and values in applied disciples?

Whenever we are concerned with skill development, practice or action we must give substantial consideration to attitudes, ethics and values. Hasker is helpful here, "The assumption, common in secular education, that one simply equips students with neutral tools or skills which are to be used purely according to their personal whims and desires, is just not acceptable in a Christian education."

In any aspect of Christian discipleship attitude is always at the core. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"(Phil. 2:5 NIV). We have all been the recipients of service or work done in a generous and godly attitude and the contrasted negative, complaining attitude that pervades many in this world. One might make the case that attitude really doesn't meet the criteria of Biblical Integration in the context we are speaking. But in the words of one of my former professors: "We cannot be found preaching Christ crucified in an uncrucified manner." If we follow the Integration model that all of school and life itself must be filled with His presence and His Word we cannot leave our attitudes unchecked. Much of our task is to prepare students for their vocations and clearly one of the most important aspects of employment preparation is a Christ-like attitude. Much of our culture teaches extreme individualism which translates into a self-centered approach towards many community activities. All of our goals in Christian education should reflect the nature of community in all that we do. Attitudes can be both taught and caught.  

Ethics are a crucial part of the educational process in the applied disciplines. David Noebel in his expose' of differing worldviews, Understanding the Times, states, "Christian morality (ethics) is founded on this belief in an absolute moral order existing outside of, and yet somehow inscribed into, man's very being. It is a morality flowing from the nature of the Creator through the nature of created things, not a construction of the human mind. It is part of God's general revelation to man."  Every profession has its written and unwritten code of ethics. As we teach the applied disciplines we must always emphasize the ethical responsibilities embedded in these disciplines; such as the Info-tech teacher who teaches not just the hardware and software but also the moral implications of using technolog. Though it only contributes to the illustration I cannot avoid the opportunity to quote Neil Postman's, Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change: "And so, these are my five ideas about technological change. First, that we always pay a price for technology; the greater the technology, the greater the price. Second, that there are always winners and losers, and that the winners always try to persuade the losers that they are really winners. Third, that there is embedded in every great technology an epistemological, political or social prejudice. Sometimes that bias is greatly to our advantage. Sometimes it is not. The printing press annihilated the oral tradition; telegraphy annihilated space; television has humiliated the word; the computer, perhaps, will degrade community life. And so on. Fourth, technological change is not additive; it is ecological, which means, it changes everything and is, therefore, too important to be left entirely in the hands of Bill Gates. And fifth, technology tends to become mythic; that is, perceived as part of the natural order of things, and therefore tends to control more of our lives than is good for us." What should be our ethical position on such issues as downloading MP3 music or occasionally surfing into a pornographic site? Teaching the ethics involved in such subjects is often the only lasting impression that we will make upon our students. In physical education we emphasize fitness and competition but within these ideas there are always serious ethical issues that cannot go silent, such as ideas like "win at all costs," or the consuming drive towards body-building and the overindulgences of our physical appetites. The teacher needs to teach ethics in such a way that students can learn to make their own decisions though we should not shrink back from speaking to these issues. Moral relativism rules the day in our culture. It has no place in the Christian School.

Teaching values may be the most challenging aspect of our job because it cannot just be taught, it must be displayed over time. Jesus was speaking of values when He said, "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21 NAS) What are my ultimate objectives? What am I willing to sacrifice? How will I distinguish myself and my beliefs in the thing which I am doing? Am I working in such a way as to bring credit and glory to the Lord? These are all questions about values. In the truest sense we cannot really "teach" these into our students but we can constantly remind them to be asking these essential questions. 

Finally let me address the need for significant contributions to the Kingdom of God through the Disciplines we teach.

Education is not an end in itself. The underlying, implicit goal and purpose of school integrates itself into everything and everyday of our teaching. The resounding "WHY?" is asked day after day in each and every class over and over in the typical school.  If you ask this question of those at the helm of the Ministry of Education we would probably hear the distant echo of Eleanor Roosevelt's famous speech on education made in 1930: "the true purpose of education is to produce citizens." Others might propose that education is about economic advancement. Certainly, the social engineers of the past have put forth the ideas that education is about reshaping our society such as John Dewey who believed that what was essentially wrong with America could be fixed by his Progressivist approach towards education. 

Christian Schools also have a social agenda for education. This agenda is outlined in Scripture as the Great Mandates or the Great Commission.  Harro Van Brummelen's four great biblical injunctions of worldview, outlined in his book Stepping Stones of Curriculum, clearly outline our purpose for education: "A Christian school will, in short, consciously ask whether all aspects of the content and structure of its curriculum contribute to helping students be and become responsive disciples of Jesus Christ. The curriculum develops 'knowledge-that' (concepts), 'knowledge-how' (skills), and creative talents. But it does not do so as an end in itself. Through these concepts, skills and experiences, the curriculum develops values, dispositions, and commitments that reflect God's calling for our lives: to obey the Great Mandate, the Great Commission, the Great Commandment, and the Great Community."

The end of Biblical Integration is not just so that our students think Christianly but also that they may act Christianly. We must see our classrooms become effective springboards into doing the will of God in every aspect of our culture. As our students develop in the theoretical disciplines, they become ambassadors of truth (II Cor. 5:20). As they serve within the applied disciplines they become living examples of the redeemed life in Christ (Gal. 2:20).Christianity transforms everything. As our students become disciples of the living Christ they will inculcate every discipline of study and vocation with His presence. It is this transforming power that shaped our western civilization so many years ago. In his book, Building the Christian Academy, Arthur Holmes speaks to the role of reintegration as a means of restoring our Christian cultural foundations: "The integration of faith and learning ("reintegration" may be more appropriate in our secularized culture) involves far more than the conjunction of liberal learning and student formation. The unity of truth (our traditional concern) in the mind of an all-knowing creator underlies the reintegration of Christian beliefs with the foundations, the content, and the practice of academic disciplines. Christian beliefs provide theological foundations for knowledge and art, they reintroduce truths that would otherwise be ignored, and they give coherence to a worldview."

I know I said that we would try to wrap up this series this week but I am going to indulge my desire to see this driven home to our listeners and take next week to summarize my thoughts on this extremely important aspect of Christian Education. 

We would love to hear from you and I deeply value your comments. If you would like us to mail you a free copy of my book simply send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what type of an educator you are, home schooler, classroom teacher, school administrator, or interested parent. Please let us know how you heard about the podcast and, of course, please include your mailing address.

Thank you for listening and thank you for your commitment to discipleship-based Christian education.