Darrell Furgason, PhD, has been involved in Christian education for more than 20 years. He has taught in Christian high schools in Australia, Canada, and the United States, and he was the dean of humanities and international studies at the University of the Nations in Canberra, Australia, from 1984 to 1987. He teaches political science part-time at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia, and lectures extensively in North America and overseas on the topics of thinking biblically and developing a biblical worldview. Currently, Dr. Furgason serves in Vancouver as the director of the Center for Worldview Studies, which provides seminars and courses in biblical thinking for Christian teachers and Christian schools in Canada and the United States.
One of the most pressing needs today in the body of Christ is to develop a biblical worldview, that is, a biblical perspective of the world. To this end, Christian school leaders, principals, and board members must view this development in their students as a top priority. Such a focus does not mean that the heart is unimportant. We must never move away from developing humble, teachable, and righteous hearts in our students, for we are commanded by God to love Him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). However, since God has commanded us to love Him with our minds, Christian educators who focus their efforts primarily on teaching students to love God with their hearts have simply not gone far enough. They have focused largely on process, which entails molding the heart, but not on content, which refers to informing the mind, or intellect. When their minds become developed, students can see God more clearly and thereby come to love Him for who He is. To reach this goal, Christian schools must equip the minds of students with truths in every area of academic inquiry. Only when we have a true picture of God, which includes an understanding of His will and ways for every area of life, can we view the world from His perspective.
This article focuses on three steps that Christian educators can take in setting the intellectual climate to ensure that their schools, including teachers and curricula, are moving toward the goal of developing in their students a robust, inquisitive intellect and a comprehensive biblical worldview. Authentic Christian educators first identify the current questions of the world, then ask them, and finally answer them.
The first step requires schools leaders to instill in students a hunger for truth. To do so, we teach students how to identify the questions presently being asked in our culture and other parts of the world. Francis Schaeffer (Reclaiming the world 1983) once remarked that it is not that Christians do not have all the answers since they have the Bible but that they do not know the questions. Christian schools must create an atmosphere that fosters intellectual inquiry, not dogmatic doctrinal adherence. It is important to encourage young minds to inquire about life, including every aspect of the world. If Christian educators do not encourage students to identify questions in every area of life—including, for example, politics, economics, law, morality, science, and philosophy—then they are teaching by default that Christianity applies only to certain areas of life, such as the family, church, home, and soul. By identifying the questions that are being asked in our culture, we are saying that God is concerned with every part of our life, society, nation, and world. Only then can we confidently claim that He is Lord over all of life.
To accomplish the second step of developing in students a biblical mind, Christian educators can implement curricula and teaching methods that ask the currently circulating questions. Roughly 10 areas of academic inquiry form the foundation of education in the Western world and thus generate the questions being asked. They are theology, philosophy, biology, psychology, ethics, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history. These areas raise questions such as, What is God like? (theology), What is real? (philosophy), What is the origin of life? (biology), Who is man? (psychology), What is moral? (ethics), How should society be structured? (sociology), What laws should society have? (law), What should government be like? (politics), How should we make and spend money? (economics), and Where have we come from? (history) (Noebel 1991). Within each of these 10 disciplines, many other questions are arising, questions that Christian educators need to ensure their students hear and then answer. A sampling of these questions includes the following:
1. Theology
- What is one specific action that God did today in your city?
- What is the cause of sickness and evil?
- How should we view Sept 11, 2001?
- Was it a judgment of God?
2. Philosophy
- What is truth?
- How do I know something is true?
- Which philosophies are biblical?
- What should we think about them?
3. Biology
- What is a person?
- Is theistic evolution biblical?
- What is the relationship between our biological nature and our behavior?
4. Psychology
- What is the cause of evil behavior? Where do choices originate? Are we free? What shapes human nature?
5. Ethics
- What is morality? Should criminals be put in jail?
- Is capital punishment biblical?
- Is pacifism biblical? Is killing the same as murder?
- Since God flooded the earth and killed everyone (Genesis 6:7),
- is He guilty of murder?
6. Sociology
- What is a family? What is its purpose in history?
- Who is responsible for social problems?
- Should drugs be legalized to help the addict?
- Should all cultures be treated as equal?
7. Law
- What is the purpose of law?
- How do we know when the law is right?
- If atheism is a religion, can religion and law be kept separate?
- What is the main purpose of a jail?
- Should judges be free to decide what is morally right for a nation?
8. Politics
- What is the purpose of government?
- Are all governments and political leaders from God?
- Can and should religion and politics be kept separate?
- What is a Christian view of the role of the military?
- Should Christians serve in government?
9. Economics
- What is the purpose of an economy?
- What is economic progress?
- What goals should businesses have?
- Should there be absolute free trade?
- Should health care be provided by the government or the market?
10. History
- Is there a direction to history?
- Should the world be getting better or worse?
- Why are there countries? Did God create them all?
- What is the role of the United States in history?
- Why do countries collapse or disintegrate?
If these and other current questions concerning life and society are not identified and then asked within a Christian educational environment, students will be forced to answer them on their own. In doing so, they may well encounter other worldview perspectives. As Richard Baer (1984) explains, Education never takes place in a moral and philosophical vacuum. If the larger questions about human beings and their destiny are not being asked and answered within a predominantly Judeo-Christian framework (worldview), they will be addressed with another philosophical or religious framework—but hardly one that is neutral. As Christian educators, then, we must ensure that our students are able to think critically and present effective biblical answers to the questions being asked. If we do not, whatever philosophies and paradigms students happen to encounter will shape their minds. Avoiding the tough questions of our day cannot be called authentic Christian education.
Christian educators can take the third step in developing a biblical intellect in students by answering today’s questions within the framework of a biblical worldview. The Bible is the comprehensive Word of God, and as such it provides answers to all life’s questions. For Christian educators who claim that all truth is God’s, it is intellectual suicide—not to mention academic fraud—to claim that Christianity is true for every area of life, not just the soul, and then refuse to address legitimate questions. Even if we personally do not know the answer to a certain question, we must inform students that the Bible, as the authoritative Word of God, does indeed have an answer regarding that particular issue. And we should then encourage students to seek the answer to their question within the framework of a biblical worldview. It is not acceptable to syncretize nonbiblical ideas, such as Marxist economics, with the Bible so that the students receive not so much a biblical Christian education, but, for example, Marxist economics taught as Christian economics at a Christian school or university. Examples of this kind of syncretism abound in many other academic disciplines in Christian schools and universities.
While there may not be a specific verse in the Bible that answers questions such as, What rate of income tax is biblical? and Should the government fund Medicare? students need to understand that the Bible does speak to these and other questions and that God desires for us to find answers to them. God wants us to seek answers to these questions because we are called to live every part of our lives in obedience to Him. We are called to please God, and pleasing Him means that we are to live in harmony with His will and ways in everything we do—whether in marriage, family, business, law, politics, or international relations. If we say there are no biblical answers to these kinds of questions—that the Bible does not speak in the area of economics, for instance—then we are saying to our students that Christianity is not a comprehensive worldview and that God is not Lord over all of life. Students will then need to seek answers to economic questions from some other worldview.1
In conclusion, Christian education today must focus its attention on its primary task—the development of students who love God with all their being, including their mind. Effective Christian educators, whether they are teachers, principals, administrators, or board members, have the responsibility of setting in their schools an intellectual climate that enables and encourages students to think biblically. Educators must teach their students to identify, ask, and answer the pressing questions of life within the intellectual framework of a biblical worldview. Only then will our Christian schools produce world changers—those who understand God’s will and ways for every area of life and who see their task in life in terms of Christ’s command to "make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 28:18–20, NASB).
Endnote
1. Although the Bible addresses economic issues, no single verse proposes a specific rate of income tax. The Bible does speak, however, of the need for lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in all things, including the structuring of government, law, and society (Jeremiah 9:23–24, NASB). Therefore, the income tax for a specific era and situation should be a loving, just, and righteous rate, one reflecting the fact that taxes are meant to cover government expenses and responsibilities domestically and internationally.
Reference List
Baer, Richard A. 1984. They are teaching religion in public schools. Christianity Today (17 February): 15.
Noebel, David A. 1991. Understanding the times: The religious worldviews of today and the search for truth. Manitou Springs, CO: Summit Press.
Reclaiming the world. 1983. Produced by Schaeffer V. Productions, Inc. Video series.
Authentic Christian Education: Identifying, Asking, Answering Life's Questions 6.4