Perhaps the most distinctive quality of the classical model of education is its reliance upon the classical liberal arts as the most effective system for training lifelong learners. Today, people usually think of the term "liberal arts" simply in relation to colleges - meaning that a particular institution focuses on undergraduate studies which require a certain amount of proficiency in all of the basic disciplines of learning (math, science, english, etc.), rather than being a vocational, technical, or strictly graduate school. While this understanding of the liberal arts is not false, it does, however, remove a great deal of depth and richness from the classical understanding and implementation of the liberal arts.
Recently, I have been reading a book entitled
Wisdom and Eloquence (Robert Littlejohn and Charles Evans). In its second chapter, Littlejohn and Evans provide an introduction to a discussion of the liberal arts which I have found particularly enlightening and useful. I thought I might pass a section of this - though lengthy - on to you all.
The liberal arts, as identified for our purposes, were first canonized in medieval times and numbered seven: Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music. However, they had their origin in classical antiquity as a system of educating those who would be political and cultural leaders in society. The expression "liberal" derives from the Latin liber meaning "free," the nomenclature applied to men who were neither slaves nor laborers, each of whom benefited from their own unique systems of vocational training. The evolution of the liberal arts and their application in various cultures had very specific ends in mind. They were preparatory to higher learning and were intended to produce individuals who were skilled, lifelong, independent learners having no further need of tutelage and who, through their continued self-directed learning, would become wise and eloquent servants in their societies.Irrespective of the cultural setting, the crux of the educational paradigm was always the same - i.e., beginning with the end in view and approaching that end incrementally with each art building upon the other and all leading to the apprehension of the "true sciences": philosophy and theology. The medieval scholar's interest was theology, and the classical Greek's was philosophy and what we call mythology, but both were ultimately concerned with cosmic questions of origins and meaning. In today's academic culture, these "sciences" are far less comprehensive and constitute just two of many specialties or "major" areas of study, but in ancient and medieval times they constituted the hallmark of a thoroughly educated person. Such a person was ready to bring the wisdom and eloquence gained through his regimen of study to the pursuit and practice of any specialty such as medicine, politics, or law and to contrubute to his contemporary culture in meaningful ways. Despite what may seem a peculiar collection of disciplines and perhaps even stranger nomenclature, the seven liberal arts focused on mastery of two broadly defined areas of learning: language and mathematics. Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric were the "language arts," which built in the young scholar the skills and understanding of the meaning, structure, and effective use of language. [. . .].Of the "mathematical arts" we readily recognize two as belonging to such a group: arithmetic and geometry. However, at first blush the inclusion of astronomy and music seems incongruous to the modern educator. But the ancient and medieval scholar recognized the interrelatedness of the four, understanding the arithmetic order and rhythm not only of spatial arragenment (geometry) with its implications for the visual arts, architecture, and what we would call the science of natural history, but of the heavens (astronomy) and sound (music). They understood the interrelation of each of the four and the interrelation of these to the order and rhythm of the "language arts" as well. [. . .].What intrigues and inspires me most about the study of the classical liberal arts is this: If the ancient
pagans passionately pursued the knowledge and mastery of each of these subject areas, recognizing the beauty in which they fit together, ascending into knowledge of the purest science of philosophy/mythology (which is concerned with life's "big" questions like "who am I?" "what's my purpose?" "how did I get here?"), how much more should we, as Christians who claim to personally know the creator of the Universe and the author of all Truth, engage in the study and mastery of these liberal arts? We, after all, are supposed to know and believe that creator God has given them to us as a means of better understanding Himself and the Universe which He created by the power of His
word (insert discussion of the incredible power of language here...). Shame on us for being lazy in our pursuit of wisdom and eloquence, so that, in many ways, we have become ineffective servants to our society. May God give us grace to know Him more and to pursue Him more passionately so that we might bring Him glory.
