Basic Commitments[1]

Spartanburg County Bible Education in School Time (SCBEST)

As a Christian organization, Spartanburg County Bible Education in School Time (SCBEST) consciously exists to glorify the Triune God of the classic orthodox Christian faith. Therefore, we strive to insure that every minute detail of who we are and how we operate is conducive to that end. Thus, all of the philosophical commitments that under-gird our program are not rooted in the latest research, or trends, or in that which is measurable and “effective”. Rather, our commitments are rooted in careful theological reflection about what it means to be a thoroughly Christian educational organization. Michael Peterson states our concern very well, “What we need is a systematic and well-rounded Christian understanding of reality, knowledge, and value, that can direct our thinking about curriculum structure, methods of teaching and learning, and instruction in morals and values.”[2]

It is not our hope that we will achieve “success” in the normative sense of that word (i.e. having ever increasing numbers of students enrolled in our program). Although if this happens we obviously will not shun it. Rather it is our hope to be found faithful in the all-important endeavor of being authentically Christian. We will always strive to faithfully proclaim the scandalous message of a God who volunteered to be crucified, and we will trust God to handle the results. We will conduct ourselves as those who are aware that they must eventually give an account of their stewardship at the Final Judgment.  When that day comes, to have been faithful will be to have been successful.[3]

Christian Education

In the late modern era, the church has often had an acrimonious relationship with the academic establishment. This historical anomaly has sadly achieved the status of normalcy. SCBEST proudly embraces the church’s historic concern for the overall well being of humanity, which certainly includes their mental well being, and we hope to do our part to revive the great tradition of Christian intellectualism.[4] Orthodox Christian theology has always taught that we serve a God who is excellent in all that He is and does. Thus, it is simply common sense that we owe nothing short of excellence in our service to Him, and this certainly applies to our academic endeavors.

The idea that a Christian education is in any way, shape, or form second rate ought to be a misnomer. If it so happens that the church has given the world good reason to think otherwise, SCBEST will strive to do our part to correct this problem. Our primary goal is to help the students worship God with all their minds by becoming outstanding Christian thinkers who naturally extrapolate from the basic tenets of Christian theology and apply these to any given question or circumstance. In order to achieve this goal, we will endeavor, so far as in our power lies, to provide them with a truly excellent Christian education.

Pedagogical Considerations

Education always necessarily serves certain ideals. As a result of this, “Education requires some organizing principle, some dominant vision to give meaning and direction to its pursuit”,[5]or else it will serve the wrong ideals. Because our organizing principle and dominant vision is to develop people who live their lives in accordance with the Christian worldview, our modus operandi will itself be shaped by the Christian worldview.

As a result of this, we will not use any means that are contrary to the Christian worldview while seeking to achieve our goal.  Thus, there are certain practices, which are considered perfectly normal in contemporary society, in which we will not engage. For example, M. Robert Mulholland aptly points out, “our general mode of reading is to perceive the text as an object “out there” over which we have control. We control our approach to the text; we control our interaction with the text; we control the impact of the text upon our lives.”[6] The result is that students are encouraged to consume as much information as possible, but their relationship with it is essentially promiscuous. That is, they learn what they need to learn to pass tests, but their knowledge is propositional as opposed to relational, transformative, and ongoing.

As a Christian educational organization, we will not encourage the students to be information consumers. That is, our goal is not to stuff as many ideas as possible into their heads so that they will be able to regurgitate information or feel “smart.” Rather, we will encourage them to work hard but also to go at a pace that is commiserate with their current level of development and their limited status as creatures. The goal is for them to thoroughly digest the material so that they will be able to use it well as they go about the difficult task of bearing a faithful witness to the Christian gospel.

In other words, hopefully our classes will be spiritually formative not only in their content, but also in their modus operandi. As the famous educational theorist John Dewey once wrote, “Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical fallacies is the notion that a person learns only what he is studying at the time. Collateral learning in the way of formation of enduring attitudes…may be and often is more important than the spelling lesson or lesson in geography or history…For these attitudes are fundamentally what count in the future”[7]

Contemporary American society is marked by an obsession with new technology. This obsession has certainly affected the field of education – for better and for worse. While modern technology has certainly brought many advantages, it has also simultaneously brought many dangers, which are often completely overlooked. From the standpoint of Christian theology, perhaps the greatest of these dangers is that many modern technologies inadvertently change our fundamental notions of what it means to be a human being. For example, such natural limitations as the difficulty of conquering time and space, and our inability to remember as many things as we would like are rapidly being eliminated.

While this may be convenient at times, it also makes it more difficult for us to face the reality of our limited status as creatures. The problem with this is that facing our shortcomings and inabilities is extremely beneficial spiritually.  As Peterson rightly notes, “the starting place for a proper view of humanity is that point of similarity we have with all of nature: our status as creatures.”[8] Reminding the students of this fundamental fact is foundational to achieving the goals of this course.

Moreover, technology enables us to live at an unhealthy pace. For example, microwave ovens are much faster than conventional ovens and they are getting faster all the time. Furthermore, many technologies are specifically designed to help us make our lives noisier. For example, ipods can store hundreds of songs so that we never have to go without stimulation. One of the goals of this course is to help the student live a contemplative lifestyle, which necessarily entails a pace of life that is commiserate with our humanity, and periods of silence so that we might hear the still small voice of God.

Therefore, in this class every effort will be made to use technology responsibly. That does not mean that we will not use it at all. It simply means that we will intentionally avoid the uncritical embrace of technology that often leads to it being used gratuitously simply because it exists, when in fact the same goal could be accomplished at least as well, if not better, without the use of the technology. Technology is a good tool, but it is a bad master, and we will attempt to remember this.

This also has ramifications for how teachers and students should interact in this program. In so far as it is possible, it is always expected that the teacher and the student will speak face-to-face. With the exception of superfluous communication (such as passing along email forwards) and emergencies (such as when it would be impracticable to meet in person) technological means of dialogue should be used only to schedule face-to-face appointments. As Eugene Peterson has so aptly said “As the world gets more and more high-tech, the church needs to get more and more high-touch.”

Finally, because technology is a profoundly spiritual issue, and because its influence is so ubiquitous in our society, we will devote a section of our curriculum to articulating a Christian position on such matters in order to help the student cultivate an adequate personal position on this vital aspect of modern life. Lest you think that I am putting too much emphasis on this issue, consider the fact that it is primarily our technology that separates our mode of living from every other generation that has ever existed. Not to mention the sheer amount of time and money we invest in technology, which is particularly true for adolescents.

We are committed to the Socratic method as our primary teaching method because we are convinced that it is the best way to engage the students and help them to think critically. While much of the curriculum, particularly in the first semester, will necessitate a lot of lecturing even the content of these lectures will be Socratic in the sense that it will help the students to raise critically minded questions, and will present material designed to challenge their presuppositions. Obviously we are sensitive to the various ways that students process information, and other teaching methods will be employed as necessary.

      The grading for this course will be primarily based on the student’s ability to express himself in written form. This is due to our belief that most “objective” measures lend themselves to ways of knowing that are very easy to forget, whereas written communication lends itself to thoroughly digesting the material and being able to articulate a position regarding it in a coherent fashion. This is not meant to imply that objective content will not be emphasized or that other means of assessment will never be utilized. It simply means that short answer and essay will be our primary means of assessment.

      Much of the content for our class sessions, including the lectures and certainly the class discussions, will be heavily based on the assigned reading. Therefore, it is imperative that each student completes the reading before coming to class. Every effort will be made to assign only that reading which the teacher deems essential for the student’s development. Thus it is hoped that the student will find the assigned amount very reasonable.

The classroom is fundamentally a place where transformation is supposed to take place. As such, it should be organized in a manner that is conducive to this goal. The SCBEST teacher is encouraged to decorate the classroom with works of art, whose aesthetic beauty will hopefully inspire greatness, and with quotes, pictures, or other symbols, that will provide further encouragement. Everything about the classroom should communicate that what takes place here is serious business, and at the same time the classroom should have an inviting feel, which makes it clear that this is a joyous task.

The Curriculum

In terms of our educational philosophy, we are staunch perennialists in the sense that there is certain knowledge that is always worth studying because of its foundational nature. This applies in all disciplines. Therefore, the curriculum will be centered on the classic teachings of the Christian faith, which are always relevant, over and against a more pragmatic orientation that focuses on quick fixes and the latest fads.

The curriculum is deliberately structured to help the student develop a Christian worldview. This approach is intended to help the student integrate their Christian beliefs into every minute detail of their lives, instead of compartmentalizing their faith as something that is only relevant every now and then or as something that only pertains to their eternal destiny. The basic goal is for them to have a thoroughly Christian viewpoint on reality and for this to become the lens through which they think. That is, we are trying to produce a Christian mind, which Michael Peterson aptly describes as “a mind marked by the very way it processes information, its fundamental perspective, its guiding ideas, its overall aims.”[9]

Along these same lines, the curriculum is designed to be academically rigorous. That is, we want to give the students every opportunity to worship God with their minds. Therefore, we will take a very intentional and foundational approach to the material. For example, rather than diving directly into the Bible and strip-mining it to extract a nugget of moral truth that the students can easily apply, we begin by raising the foundational issue of why we would even bother to study such things.

Many religious believers of all creeds have no idea why they believe what they do, nor do they understand the vital relationship between their beliefs and their everyday lives. More specific to our purposes, many of the students who will register for our course will probably do so because their parents or youth minister encouraged them to do so, or because it seemed to be the “right” thing to do. To say the least, this is building upon a faulty foundation because it is an inadequate basis for making and sustaining a personal commitment to an all-encompassing life philosophy, which is what we believe Christianity is.

Therefore, we begin by teaching the students to raise the all-important question of why humans are religious. Furthermore, we will articulate a teleological answer to this question. That is, we want to get it deeply rooted in the student’s minds that from a Christian perspective the chief end of humanity is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” as the Westminster catechism so aptly states. Moreover, apart from this goal human existence would have no purpose. Finally, as Blaise Pascal pointed out in his famous wager, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain from believing this.

I share this extended example because it is indicative of our theoretical approach. By taking this approach we hope to help the students to begin the arduous process of cultivating a firm foundation. We hope to never forget the prophetic warning of Martin Luther King Jr. “Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society.”[10] Education is a process not a product.

Furthermore, we will teach the Bible from a scholarly-academic framework. That is not to say that our teaching will be purely academic, for indeed, we regard the Bible as the word of God and will teach it as such. By scholarly-academic framework we simply mean to imply that we will utilize the findings of archaeology and biblical studies in a responsible manner to provide the students with an adequate understanding of the scriptures. 

Our goal is not merely to enhance their morality but also to enhance the caliber of their academic work and to foster a self-concept of healthy intellectualism. It should be noted that the attempt to blend cognitive approaches to God, as embodied in the scholastic tradition, and apophatic approaches to God, as embodied in certain branches of the Monastic tradition, has long been one of the primary burdens of the church. Thus, we are not creating an original effort, but rather we are hoping to simply play our part in this crucial endeavor. As the great hymn writer Charles Wesley once wrote, “Let us unite the two so long disjoined, learning and vital piety.”

Perhaps our meaning will become clearer if we put this into the language of developmental theory. It will be remembered that Jean Piaget noted that as long as the foundation of any given moral rule remains external to the individual their ability to follow the rule will be highly inconsistent. It is only when they internalize the reasoning that under-girds why the rule is what it is that they will begin to consistently follow it. This is precisely what we are trying to do by providing a teleological goal for human existence, namely the glory of God, and by providing an appropriate Biblical framework. It is hoped that this approach will cultivate a more authentic, and profound transformation in the students as opposed to a superficial polishing.

Along these same lines, Christianity is a matter of both belief and practice. Obviously our class sessions, assessments, and reading assignments will provide the students with ample opportunity to develop a belief structure. Since SCBEST strives to conduct a thoroughly Christian class, we will incorporate hands on learning into our curriculum.

That is, each student will be required to participate in experiential learning opportunities, such as picking up trash on the roadside or volunteering at a soup kitchen. These experiences will help them to put what they are learning into practice and will give them opportunities to serve their community by embodying the Christian worldview. Moreover, it should be noted that each of these opportunities will be accompanied by reflection assignments so that the academic nature of the class will be naturally intertwined with its practical components. Furthermore, the entire second semester of our curriculum is devoted to the practical aspects of living a Christian life. We provide an overview of spiritual discipline, and articulate Christian positions on various contemporary topics.

Parenthetically, it should be noted that the above comments regarding the specific content of our curriculum pertain to the high school level. The comments regarding the nature of our approach are also relevant to the junior high level curriculum, but in terms of content, that level focuses solely on cultivating a basic understanding of the Bible.

The Teacher

The SCBEST teacher is expected to be of the highest caliber in every conceivable way. SCBEST seeks to demonstrate excellence in all of its endeavors. Therefore, it is a profound honor to teach for this organization. Furthermore, it must be remembered that the position of teaching the Christian worldview is a calling, not a vocation. Thus, the SCBEST teacher ultimately works for God, not our organization. It is necessary for the teacher to maintain this awareness at all times in order to have the highest level of motivation in all of their tasks.

In terms of specific qualities, first of all the SCBEST teacher must demonstrate a thoroughly moral lifestyle that is beyond reproach. They must have a passionate personal relationship with the Triune God, which should be manifested in an exemplary devotional life, acts of service and social justice, and active participation in Christian ministry. That is, it is imperative that the content of the teacher’s life matches the content of the message that they will be proclaiming in the classroom. Their life should embody an unadulterated commitment to Christian discipleship. As Abraham Joshua Heschel so aptly put it, “What we need more than anything else is not text books but text-people. It is the personality of the teacher which is the text that the pupils read, the text they will never forget.”[11]

Secondly, the SCBEST teacher should demonstrate excellent scholarship. They must possess superior academic preparation and ongoing commitment to growing as a teacher and as a student. They must epitomize a love of learning. Third, they must have a passionate desire to see the students grow both academically and spiritually. That is, they must truly love the students and be willing to do whatever it takes to help them reach their potential. It is expected that this will certainly include an active involvement in the lives of the student’s outside of the classroom (such as attending student athletic events, school plays, other school functions, and having the students in their home). As the “hardwired to connect” research has demonstrated, the crisis in adolescent development is based on a lack of connection to nurturing adults.[12] Part of the teacher’s role is to help solve this crisis. Fourth, they must carry themselves in a professional manner at all times. Fifth, they must be committed to faithfully teaching the SCBEST curriculum and carrying out all policies and procedures.

The Student

The student is to be treated with the utmost sacredness. That is, the teacher must never forget that each student is an embodied soul, created in the image of the Triune God. As such, each student inherently merits respect and dignity. This does not mean that the student should not be disciplined for misbehavior. On the contrary, precisely because we have such a high regard for the student, it is imperative to exercise discipline as necessary in order to cultivate the student’s ultimate best interest.

At all times it should be remembered that the SCBEST class is not an abstract academic exercise. Rather, the student’s current well being and eternal salvation may very well be on the line, and thus we must endeavor to love each student, to view them as a unique and valuable individual, and to view them as a whole person, rather than as merely a member of the class. Every effort should be made to get to know each student and to support them in every imaginable way.

            It is assumed that the students have decided to enroll in this elective class because they have a high level of interest in the serious matter of cultivating a viable life philosophy. Therefore, we expect them to commit themselves to this class and exert the effort that is required to think through the complex material we will be discussing. Life is a serious matter, and it is our opinion that adolescence is an excellent time to begin taking it seriously.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, SCBEST exists to glorify the Triune God of the classic orthodox Christian faith, and it seeks to do this by forming the minds of young people so that they can live their lives in accordance with the Christian worldview. It seeks to achieve this goal by orchestrating a thoroughly Christian educational program. This includes both a scholarly and practical approach to the Christian life. It is our desire to serve God with excellence in every minute detail of our program. We will strive to perpetually concentrate the full strength of our resources to serve this endeavor.