An Integral Christian Education

Extract

The Christian religion teaches us that we have been made by God for Eternal Life; that is our supreme and final purpose. Here we have no abiding city; we are travellers on our way to our home, and our journey is designed by God to fit us for our home when we get there. That is why to the Christian this world is supremely important ; not as an end in itself; so considered it is worthless and to be despised; but as the means by which our personalities and characters are prepared by God for the eternal happiness of Heaven. This life then prepares us for Eternal Life and the purpose of education is to prepare us to live this life in such a way that we may be made fit for Eternal Life.

A Christian believes that each human person is specially made by God, specially endowed with certain qualities and capacities; set in particular circumstances, in a particular family, belonging to a particular nation with its own peculiar tradition and culture. That is the Christian doctrine of vocation; the belief that God calls each of us to a particular place and work in his scheme; and that our place and work is of supreme importance because it is the means by which we fit ourselves by the power of his grace for Eternal Life. What that place and work is to be should be decided largely by the circumstances in which God has placed us, and by the capacities with which he has endowed us; our family, the culture and tradition into which we are born, our education in home and in school; all these should play their part in the great decision : ‘What is God’s vocation for me?’