Worldview 10

In my last blog in this series I concluded with the thought that worldviews are not birthed in only one moment in time. They come from a rich heritage of either truth or error. Let me give you another graphic to help you understand what I am trying to say.



Greek Education comes to us from Aristotle and Plato. Hebrew ideas of education come to us from Moses and Solomon. Greek education is centered on building the man. Hebrew education is based upon building the kingdom of God. Greek education comes from an inner faith that is based in reason. Hebrews put their faith in God's revelation to man. The Greeks tried to develop good citizens. The Hebrews tried to develop character and virtue in the man and thus you would have good citizens. Augustine once said, We are to be the best of citizens because we do out of our love for God what others do only because they are required to. The Greeks were focused more on looking good. Style and form at all costs. The Hebrews were focused more on the content or the essence of life. The Greeks thus developed an humanistic worldview. A view of life with man at the center.
The Hebrews developed a Biblical worldview. A view of life with God at the center. These differences lead to two different cities. Only one is the city of God.

It is interesting to note that humanists always delight in showing us the external glories of Greece but they never bother to mention the infanticide, abortion, homosexuality, inferior status of women, and slavery that their society was built off of.
But lets look at how these two worldviews affect the way a person reasons or thinks.



Greek thought reasons from life to the truth. Hebrew thought reasons from the truth to life. Greek thought understands in order to believe. Hebrew thought believes in order to understand. Greek thought puts self and independence at the highest source. Hebrew thought puts authority higher than itself at the highest source. The Greeks see education as teaching. The Hebrews saw education as training. To the Greeks the purpose of education was to lead oneself to gain. (Ask most college students why they study and they will answer so that they can make more money) To the Hebrews the highest reason for education and the highest purpose for thoughts were to comprehend God and to thus be transformed in order to serve others more lovingly.

I will cover some of the historical progression of these two paths in the personalities and processes of American education in my next post.