HomeArticlesEducation: A Brief History and Cause of Decadency (Part 1)

Education: A Brief History and Cause of Decadency (Part 1)

The Lord Jesus Christ gave His “great commission” to His apostles, “ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Surely this entails more than just preaching the gospel, but also “teaching.” For those who have faith in the true and living God have always had an emphasis on education.
The first command God gave to man was to pursue the study of natural science (Genesis 1:28). As Dr. Henry Morris explained, “In order to subdue the earth, we must first understand its processes. Thus, research is the foundational occupation for fulfilling the divine mandate. Then this knowledge must be applied in technology (engineering, medicine, agriculture, etc.). It must be implemented for use by all (business, commerce) and transmitted to future generations (education).”1)Henry Morris, Dominion Mandate, http://www.icr.org/article/dominion-mandate/ (accessed 4/19/2-015) The very expression of intelligence presupposes a theistic universe. As Dr. Jason Lisle evaluated, “But according to Scripture, only the Bible can do this successfully; only the biblical God can be the foundation for knowledge (Prov. 1:7; Col. 2:3). No one has ever been able to come up with another ultimate standard that can account for rationality, science, and morality.”2) Dr. Jason Lisle, The Ultimate Proof of Creation, Master Books, 2009, p. 157 Indeed, one cannot accurately assess what is observed in science without recognizing that the hand of God is “clearly seen” throughout the intricate order of creation (Romans 1:20). The intellectual dishonesty of all atheists can apply the theoretical ideology of evolution to such things as geology, biology, or astronomy, but who has ever heard of “evolutionary math?”3) See Dr. Jason Lisle, Evolutionary Math?, http://www.icr.org/article/7098/ Numbers are abstract and conceptual in nature. Were the evolutionary paradigm true, how could random electro-chemical impulses of the brain responding to physical stimuli make sense of immaterial abstract concepts such as numbers? Math is not made up by man. Math is discovered by man as it truly is a reflection of the nature of an invisible, omnipresent, absolute intelligence; since numbers are conceptual and remain absolute in all places and can only be determined by intelligent personal beings. Atheists invoke the Creator when they claim evolutionary processes in geology, biology and astronomy, over billions of years. The word “math” is derived from the Greek word mathetes, which is commonly translated “disciple.” The etymological link points to the implication that all our academic pursuits, even in the discipline of math, should be under the tutelage purposed for the training and preparation of the child’s future of serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prior to the Christian era God’s people focused on reading and writing as they were the recipients and guardians of the divine oracles (Romans 3:2). As children they were learned in the Holy Scripture (literally “grammar”) (2 Timothy 3:15). An illiterate Jew was a rare thing contrast to pagan societies of the past which only educated their elite higher class. The rich Jews could read (Luke 16:29, 31) as well as the poor (Luke 16:5-7). The “fathers,” “young men,” and “children” could read (1 John 2:1, 7, 8, 12-14, 21, 26, 5:13), as well as the women (2 John 5, 12-13). “They [i.e. the women] were even advised to know the Law well so that they might instruct their sons and urge their husbands to the fulfillment of their religious obligations.”4)Henri Daneil-Rops, Daily Life in the Times of Jesus, Servant Books, 1980; translated by Geoge Weidenfeld and Nicelson Ltd., 1962; first published in France under the title La Vie Quotidienne en Palestine au Temps de Jesus Christ, 1959, p. 129 In Deuteronomy 6:1-9 we find the Jewish parents commanded to teach their children in their homes and by the way. Verse 9 implies specifically the capability of the parents and children to read. Fred Wright related “The duty of the education of the youth was delegated by the Mosaic law especially to the Hebrew parents.”5) Fred H. Wright, Manners and customs of the Bible Lands, Moody Press, 1953, 1983, p. 113-114 Jewish author and historian Max Radin expressed the mode of education found in the Old Testament: “But the teaching was not done in schools, but at home by the father and the mother, the duty evidently devolving upon both of them in equal measure.”6) Max Radin, The Life of the People in Biblical Times, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1929, 1948, p. 76 He indicated that even the slaves know how to read, stating, “Children were either educated by their parents or by trusted slaves.”7) Max Radin, The Life of the People in Biblical Times, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1929, 1948, p. 52
During the Babylonian captivity the synagogue system was developed and became schools.

After the downfall of Israel in 722-721 BC and Judah in 586 BC and their subjection to foreign rule, Jewish education became characterized more and more by this religious orientation. The synagogue in which the community assembled became not merely a house of prayer but also a school, with a “house of the book” (bet sefer) and a “house of instruction” (bet ha-midrash) corresponding roughly to elementary and secondary or advanced levels of education.8) The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 1988, Vol. 18, p. 17

Max Radin further records, “Jewish tradition asserted that the first school in Palestine was founded by Simeon b. Shetah about 75 B.C.E. Elsewhere it is said that Joshuah b. Gamala in 60 C.E. provided a great many schools for the whole country. The tradition seems in both cases to be based on authentic records and is quite consistent with the facts that we know.”9) Max Radin, The Life of the People in Biblical Times, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1929, 1948, p. 75 In fact, in 64 A.D., the high priest Joshuah ben Gamala passed the first legislation of parent’s obligation to send their children to schools with punishment for them if their child was absent far too often. Thus it was for the people of the Bible, that academia was intertwined with the training of spiritual truths and the houses of religion were converted into schoolhouses throughout the weekdays. “The primary school was connected with the synagogue, just as it was, in the medieval West, with the parish church. The children, both those of the poor and the rich, were taken there at the age of five. The master was none other than hazzen, the guardian of the sacred books and the minister of the synagogue… The teaching profession had a very high standing; indeed, it was currently said that a schoolmaster was ‘the messenger of the Almighty’.”10)Henri Daneil-Rops, Daily Life in the Times of Jesus, Servant Books, 1980; translated by Geoge Weidenfeld and Nicelson Ltd., 1962; first published in France under the title La Vie Quotidienne en Palestine au Temps de Jesus Christ, 1959, p. 110-111 Phillip Schaff, a Christian historian documented “…the Rabbi sat on a chair, the pupils stood or sat on the floor at his feet. Knowledge of the Law of God was general among the Jews and considered the most important possession. They remembered the commandments better than their own name. Instruction began in early childhood in the family and was carried on in the school and the synagogue. Timothy learned the sacred Scriptures on the knees of his mother and grandmother. Josephus boasts, at the expense of his superiors, that when only fourteen years of age he had such an exact knowledge of the law that he was consulted by the high priest and the first men of Jerusalem. School master were appointed in every town, and children were taught to read in their sixth or seventh year…”11) Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Hendrickson Publishers, 1858, fourth printing 2011, Vol. 1, p. 151 This would be succeeded by the Christian schools under the local church. God forbid that the spiritual instruction should be neglected from the child’s learning.

1. We find the prophet Samuel instituting “Schools of the Prophets,” out of which grew the synagogue system supplying the Rabbinical education to Israel, and furnishing chiefs to the synagogues. See Acts iii. 24; and compare 1 Sam. x. 5, xix. 20, and Chron. ix. 22. …
4. The reading of the law and the prophets was now set in order; and not only was the Temple supplied with teachers, but also the villages in every tribe.
5. Thus the Christian Church was provided with a system of worship from the hour of its institution, the synaxis succeeding the synagogues; the “ministration of the word” being enriched by Gospel and Epistles, by psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and by “the prayers”… which now began to be composed and multiplied in the churches.12) The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson; 1885-1887, Hendrickson, 1994, Vol. 7, p. 531-532

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Heath Henning
Heath Henning
Heath heads the Set Free addictions ministry on Friday nights at Mukwonago Baptist Church and is involved in evangelism on the University of Wisconsin Whitewater campus, offering his expertise in apologetics at the weekly Set Free Bible Study every Tuesday evening. He currently lives in East Troy, Wisconsin with his wife and nine children. Read Heath Henning's Testimony

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