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Rome
absorbed the Greek culture in the second century
and attempted to establish pagan schools
throughout the Empire by way of taxes. The public
school during this time period was primarily literal
in curriculum and rhetorical in content.
Remember during this time the Hebrews continued
educating their children with the foundation
of the Torah (first five books of the Bible).
The majority of the first church was Hebrew.
They taught their children as commanded in
Deuteronomy 6-teaching them the commands and statutes
of God first and foremost.
During the first three centuries of the Christian
church, there was little contact between
the believers (later called Christians) and and
the pagan educational system. The denial
of original sin always leads to disaster.
The classical schools, with their intention
to produce perfect citizens through education,
produced only an artificial and cruel society.
Men still look back on the "golden Days"
of Greece for personal and cultural inspiration,
but they fail to realize that the true nobility
that they aspired to was never obtainable
on any humanistic premise. True nobility, which
the Greek and Roman ideal correctly identified,
to some extent, is only available through the
obedience to the Gospel of Christ, with its insistence
on our recognition and confession of sin
and its promise of containing sanctification.
This is never attainable though education,
but only through the free mercies of Christ
our Savior. (Mulligan)
Next:
Hebrews
Education
This
is an excerpt from What
Your Child Needs to Know When
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