Great Classics: Exposing the Emperor Even More
I covered this topic in my book and on various places on the Internet but I received this question via email this morning:
You give some great advice on how to find the living books but I noticed on your list that most of those books are not the classics. Is there another list where you include the Great Classics?
So I feel the need to shed more light on what I feel is a dangerous trend in homeschooling.
The Emperor is Naked
I need a megaphone! The emperor is as naked as a Jay bird. He is shower ready, wearing his birthday suit, streaking in the buff, buck naked, au natural.
There are no “new clothes” and the “Great Classics” is a just a list!
There is nothing special about the emperor’s clothes or the list. This list was developed by Mortimer J. Adler and Britannica Editors (created as a marketing tool to sell books to business men). Who are they? What are there standards? Why should I teach my children what they think is important?
Why do Christian homeschoolers avoid much of what is found in public education reading lists (Daddy has a Roommate, Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King, etc.) yet jump on board the “Great Books” list?
Who is Mortimer J. Adler?
The founder of the “Great Books of the Western World” reading list considered himself a pagan when he wrote How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan
Ken Myers interviewed Adler after his book was published. Myers said, “During that interview, I asked him why he had never embraced the Christian faith himself. He explained that while he had been profoundly influenced by a number of Christian thinkers during his life, … there were moral—not intellectual—obstacles to his conversion. He didn’t explain any further.”
In 2000, Adler became a Roman Catholic (about 50 years after the Great Books list was published.)
What kind of author was Adler? Dwight MacDonald criticized Adler’s writing style by saying “Mr. Adler once wrote a book called How to Read a Book. He should now read a book called How to Write a Book.”
Was Adler a racist? In 1990 interview why his Great Books of the Western World list did not include any black authors, he simply said, “They didn’t write any good books.”
Robert Maynard Hutchins also helped with the list. What do we know about him? He is listed as most influential members of the school of secular perennialism.
God’s Standards
I will rely on God not a man like Alder or a book like “The Well Trained Mind” for what my children should put in their minds and hearts.
God gave us standards on how to judge what we put in our mind and hearts in Philippians 4:8:
Most of the books listed in the Great Books of the Western World (GBBWW) the were written by non-Christians, men like Aeschylus, Apollonius, Aquinas, Dewey, Euclid, Euripides, Freud, Hippocrates, Homer, Marx, Plato, Ptolemy, Muhammad (the Quran or Koran), Thoreau, etc.
Did I mention emperor is buck naked? Take a look at some of the books on the list here. Click through to see what the books are about.
Classics According to Heart of Wisdom
Heart of Wisdom’s suggested books lists include models of excellence or works of enduring cultural relevance and value, and do not include mythology nor books by the ancient Greek philosophers.
Free Choosing and Using Resources Booklet (31 pages PDF)
Includes Classics (my list) by Grade Level
Erica Williams-Abcunas Woo! You’re so right! We’ve delved into some of ‘the classics’, but only if they fit with our curriculum and specific lessons! You’re SO RIGHT!!!! Thanks again, Robin!
If a book elevates man as god or promotes any form of humanism, it doesn’t cross the threshold of my home. And I don’t care how old (or new for that matter) it is or who thinks it’s a “classic”.
This is a struggle for me. So many of the books that are recommended are so questionable. I found some of the themes in the Golden Goblet to be very disturbing, yet it’s a “favorite”? More often than not, I just don’t know what really qualifies as a good recommendation anymore.
our wood stove has gobbled up many a book i bought and brought home, only to read it before the children and open the oven door
My dh and I were just talking about this again this morning, that just like, in real life, NOT just any Joe on the street can become president of the US, a book doesn’t even make it into print with the “biggies” anymore if it doesn’t follow a prescribed set of ideals..if it doesn’t follow their ideals you have to self publish and self promote or go with a small publisher…..we decided that the Government will never burn books, as so few that don’t fit their agenda are even printed anymore…so instead, we burn theirs lol…….2nd Kings 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
I have to say that I have wondered the same thing…I do want my older children to read some of the “classics” so that they have the ability to know what the world thinks and how to “answer anyone [who puts a question to you]. ” Col 4:6…when they are old enough to reason and understand…
But I am trying to be very careful about my young children. I just wish I could find more worthy classics…
AMEN! We need to focus on THE living book- The Bible. We don’t need Homer and Plato answers to life without God.
Nor do we need the modern tracher of the classical approach (author of The Well Trained Mind) Susan Bauer’s ideas (rigid, stifling, harsh, severe, and downright boring) zapping all the fun out of learning.
Philo of Alexandria (and many others), a Hellenized Jew merged Hebrew mythical thought with Greek philosophical thought in the first century B.C. which resulted in almost 2000 years of pagan Christianity for the Catholics and a very distorted view for many protestants. Bauer doesn’t really try to merge the Bible- she just ignores it or misquotes it.
Thank you so much for allowing God to use you to help lead Gods people OUT!!!
Getting out of Egypt seems to be the story always told, but getting Egypt out of us is the ongoing saga of the wilderness!
Seems like every year the pressure to go back and conform to the pagan model of education places such pressure on us. Fear that our children will not measure up to the education system and standards (standards, yeah right!!) of this world is a fear most homeschool parents go through time after time.
Again, I must repent for “respecting” the educational gods of this world and allowing them to intimidate me back to the pagan pattern.
All over the country, even the world, God is calling HIS people OUT. He is calling us out of the murky waters of compromise and syncretism found not only in education but in churches that are becoming more and more liberal, corrupt politics, immoral entertainment… all over the world!
Does anyone else hear the cry of the spirit that we are hearing?…. “Who is on the Lords side, come out from among them and be ye seperate!” I believe its getting louder and louder.
Your website and articles have blessed us beyond words as God continues to confirm what we are hearing in our spirits.
Thank you!
Oh, goodness, I needed to hear exactly this today. Thank you!
Your post reminded me of when a few years ago & I became aware for the first time the many different methods of homeschooling. The classical approach seemed interesting to me so I did some research. I was co-leading a group of homeschool moms with a friend that was very structured with a classical curriculum. So I dealved more deeply & kept trying to implement it, but something just kept stopping me. I tried to read books on the classical approach & it just didn’t make much sense to me. Everytime I would share some it with my husband he was quick to say, “I don’t want my kids taught like that, go back the scriptures.” His wisdom saved me so many tiems from going the wrong direction in our school. Now, we are firm in our “approach”. IT is all based on the word of God and teaching our children how to live an abundant life based on His precepts. Thanks again Robin!
I absolutely agree that the Bible should be the foundation of our children’s education and that we are to be separate from the world while living in it. However, I believe there is value in reading some of the classics, and more modern classics. I want my kids to study history including the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I was watching a Pleasing God DVD tonight by RC Sproul and he was contrasting the “separateness” of the pharisees from the non-conformity we’re called to. Theirs was external, not of the heart. They had the hand washing and tithing down, but neglected the weightier matters of the heart. He makes the point on this DVD that an excellent Christian education is not an education of only Christian works, but an excellent education from a Christian worldview. I agree with you absolutely on the Twilight series. I don’t think Christians have any business reading that stuff. But, I see Greek mythologies and some exposure to the “classics” as part of my children’s education. No, we don’t believe in them any more than we do Santa Clause, but these crazy myths have helped shape our Western culture, albeit for the worse. I want my kids to know where certain expressions and literary allusions come from. The Bible is our standard of truth and history is His story, all of it. His Providence takes the bad and works it for His glory.
I also think the critical point of view you mentioned is very important for older students. I will always be grateful that my dad read Darwin’s Origin of the Species with me when I was in 8th grade. I was persecuted by my science teacher for believing in a literal 6 day creation and rather than just thump his Bible, my dad suggested we look at it critically and helped me to discover the false presuppositions and irrational leaps of faith in the theory of the evolution of species. I was able to go on to earn a PhD in a science with my faith only strengthened in every class, because again I see science as the discovery of God’s creation and not in any way contrary to the Bible.
Thank you for sharing your list of books. I had many of the titles already and purchased several more. I studied Hebrew in college and am very interested in the Hebrew language and the connection between the Old and New Testaments. I can’t wait to get my new books!
Celee