Why Christians are returning to learning lists, Latin, literature and the liberal arts: the astonishing revival of classical education

Schools have become a political battleground on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years and are often perceived to be hostile to faith. Increasingly, Christians are responding by choosing a very different kind of education for their children.

Parents are motivated by research that suggests graduates of what’s known as ‘classical education’ are more likely to grow up to be practising Christians, show tolerance and kindness, and succeed in important areas of life such as family and career.

“Our students are part of nothing less than a civilizational renaissance, the revitalized intellectual tradition of a distinctive and vibrant Christian culture,” says one classical teacher and theologian, Steve Turley, writing in the Imaginative Conservative.

The goal is to return to a style of education that was used in the West for centuries. Typically, students learn Latin, ancient Greek philosophy, memorise facts, recite poetry, read literary giants like Shakespeare, as well as studying what’s called the “trivium:” logic, rhetoric, and grammar. There is a deliberate attempt to nurture Christian values, too.

“The ancient world has much to offer us today in thinking about how we might best teach and encourage young people toward virtue, wisdom, and truth,” says the Society for Classical Learning website, a Christian organisation that supports and encourages classical education.

The number of schools and home educators using the classical approach has surged in America over the past 15 years, especially since the pandemic.

This radical kind of education is becoming more popular in the UK, too. This weekend classical educators are gathering for a conference in London. A group of British state school teachers plan to open several classical schools in the next few years, such as St Anselm’s in Cardiff.

“Our mission is to partner with families to form students who think with depth, believe with courage and serve with compassion,” headteacher Jamie Burns told Christian Today. “We have been really encouraged by the reception from the church community in Cardiff.

“God is quite clearly moving people in His church to push against the ways the education system has let our children down, and it is a joy to be a part of that.”

The classical style is already popular with British home educators. An increasing number of Christians are making the choice to homeschool their children due to concerns about political ideologies being passed to school children, including radical gender theories. There is also concern about a failure of schools to pass on the Christian faith.

Classical schools can be secular, too. However the classical Western tradition is infused with the Christian faith, and its teachers argue that it has a deeper impact on how a student views the world.

“To restore a Christian paideia [worldview], we want to restore the patterns of thought and life that have enriched lives in all times and places,” says the website of the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS).

“We study all things, using scripture as an interpretive lens. Music, art, entertainment, culture, history, science, and much more is within our scope.

“We ‘pillage the Egyptians’, in the words of Augustine, by reclaiming all earthly treasures in subjection to Christ. You might see students debating environmental law, or considering excellence in pop music, or studying the insights of Steven Hawking. We promote learning that is Christ centred, but not isolated from the world and the culture around us.”

Research conducted by Dr David Sikkink at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA, showed that ACCS graduates had better outcomes in educational attainment, church attendance and involvement, spiritual life and educational success. This effect was demonstrated even when compared to other forms of alternative education, including homeschooling and private Christian schools. Even when adjusting for other factors linked with better outcomes, such as family income, classical education showed benefits.

Although state education in the UK is very different to public schooling in the US, Burns believes that there are particular advantages when comparing classical education to a standard British school.

“A classical Christian education begins with the end in mind: the formation of a whole human being,” he said. “It seeks to educate to form someone who will mature, flourish, and bear fruit, not merely achieve qualifications and go onto the next stage of education.

“This is, of course, in contrast to so much of what we see in modern schools. All too often school has become about collecting as many GCSEs as possible and everything is oriented in that direction.

“Whereas modern education seeks to maintain curricular relevance, classical education pushes against that and instead says that the content our children learn should be the best that has been thought and said – what is known as the ‘Great Conversation’.

“Classical Christian education teaches things because they are true, good or beautiful, and not because they are culturally relevant or fashionable.”

Despite its popularity, the movement has been associated with some controversial characters such as conservative Reformed pastors Voddie Baucham and Doug Wilson. However there are a number of proponents who are centrist or progressive, too, such as Jessica Hooten Wilson and Anika Prather.

Professor James Hankins, a historian at Harvard University, rebutted claims that classical education is a “right wing” project.

“Almost everyone I have met in the movement avoids making political statements and wants to keep contemporary politics out of the classroom; that, in a way, is the point,” he wrote in the Christian publication First Things.

“They want their students to be able to receive the deep humanity of Shakespeare and the glorious music of Milton without having to negotiate political minefields.”

The London conference is being hosted by Memoria Press, a publisher that specialises in classical education. Its website says it aims to “promote and impart the classical heritage of the Christian West” with a curriculum that “encourages the development of wisdom and virtue through a pursuit of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.

“Our motto is ‘Saving Western Civilization One Student at a Time’ and expresses our passion for defending and transferring the culture of the Christian West through classical education.”

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