Hebrew vs Greek Education
Historians concur that the Greeks were destroyed by moral decay. Pursuing knowledge without God is a recipe for disaster. We simply cannot survive without clear moral direction. Look at the differences in education goals:
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Ancient Greek Education
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Ancient Hebrew Education
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Prepare individuals to serve the state. | Prepare individuals to serve God. |
How
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1) Memorize the laws of Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver. 2) Memorize selections from Homer. 3) Develop physical excellence through games, exercises, and the pentathlon (running, jumping, throwing the discus, casting the javelin, and wrestling) |
1) Transmit knowledge and skills from generation to generation. 2) Increase knowledge and skills. 3) Concretize cultural values into accepted behavior |
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Teach students to trust the state.
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Teach children to trust God in everything.
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| Prepare for the state. | Prepare for eternity. | |
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Examine the world by classifying whole things into parts by removing them from the Creator. Redefine knowledge: Final reality is impersonal matter or energy, shaped into its present form by impersonal chance.
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Look at God’s world as a whole—interconnecting—revealing God in every area. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmaments sheweth his handywork (Psalm 19:1).
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| Immerse students in literature written by ancient Greek philosophers. | Teach children to love learning so they will become self-motivated, lifelong learners. | |
| Focus on self-esteem, emotional adjustment, and external training of the body. Develop endurance, resourcefulness, and physical prowess. | Discover a child’s God-given gifts and talents, and develop them to their fullest potential. Focus on spiritual training. | |
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Self-centered: “My will be done.” Violence, corruption, pornography, racial tension, promiscuity, abortion, infanticide, etc.
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God-centered: “Thy will be done.” Authority with responsibility. Literacy, strong family ties, love of learning, security, independent thinking, high morals and values.
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Humanism
Evolution Social Studies |
Bible
Creation Science “His Story” (true history) Character Self-government (internal obedience to God) |
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Trivium, the three stages:
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The three main orders of study in ancient Israel consisted of:
with the basis of all knowledge being the fear of the Lord (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7). |
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Books by Homer, Aristotle, Virgil, Pliny, Cicero.
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God’s Word. Orthodox schools did not study subjects derived from Classical tradition.
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Homer, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Epicurus, Zeno
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Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua and David (Old Testament)
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Lawlessness:
To each his own. Look out for Number One. There are no absolutes. |
Lawfulness:
Love one another. The last shall be first. Deny thyself. Obey God’s Commandments. |
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That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord (Isaiah 30:9).
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Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well (1 Peter 2:13–14).
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To understand the Early Church we must dig through layers of a mountain of man’s influences shoveling off and discarding man’s traditions, theories, interpretations, and philosophies from Greek and Roman civilizations, Aristotle, Constantine, Marcion, etc., to be able to examine the Early Church.
During the Reformation, men such as Wycliffe and Calvin were digging in the right spot. They dug up and discarded many theological errors and found a view of God’s plan of salvation by grace, but anti-Semitic layers remain and now there are new layers of tradition, interpretations, western thought (a return to the Greek and Roman philosophy) and conditioning that need removal. Only then can we have a clear view of the Early Church.
Greek philosophy between Aristotle and Augustine is the foundation of Western thought (Aristotle tried to merge the Bible and Plato = Hellenistic Philosophy). This is the reason for so much Greek philosophy in the church. Explore the differences between Eastern and Western thinking and how it affects each culture with this Interactive data file at FollowtheRabbi.com – Jesus, our Rabbi and Savior.
For more on Greek vs Hebrew Education see
- My Big Fat Greek Mindset by Tim Hegg, homeschooler speaking on Worldviews.
- The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach: Bible-Based Homeschooling
The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach is for all homeschoolers who want to make the Bible the center of their school day. This giant 500+ page book provides you with the methods, program, and resources for a course of study where students spend half the school day studying God’s Word and the other half studying God’s world (academics). Students study history chronologically and science in the order of the days of Creation. This book will encourage, motivate you and instruct you, step by step, how to give your child a Bible-focused, comprehensive education from preschool through high school; one that will train him or her to read, to study, to understand, to love to learn and, most importantly, to desire and seek true wisdom. This approach can be used for all grade levels.
When homeschoolers are asked about this book, one word continues to come up over and over–Wow! Read the excerpt today to see what all the wow is about.
- The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach (FREE 60-page excerpt PDF File)
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Thanks for this! We’ve been turning more towards the hebrew mindset for several years now, and this is just more icing for the cake! I had looked into the Classical method of homeschooling, but was very uncomfortable with the Greek outcomes and reading material. This is surely something I’ve been looking for. Thanks again!