Judah Bible Curriculum Philosophy
JUDAH BIBLE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
When we approach a new curriculum, we are usually primarily interested in the Content of the curriculum and its Methods: “What will I teach and how will I teach it?”
The content and methods are part of our Philosophy of Education. In Christian education, we are primarily interested in making the Bible the source and center of our education. Having a Christian school is not enough; we must have a Christian education.
All education produces Character; therefore we want our philosophy, our content, and our methods to be designed to produce specifically Christian character. There is a preliminary stage, however, that defines our philosophy of education , and that is our Philosophy of Government as follows:
Government-Education-Character-Government
CHARACTER REINFORCES GOVERNMENT
We all have a philosophy of government that guides our mentality. This is usually the philosophy by which we were taught in school or by which we were raised at home. As teachers we also have that which we were taught in our teacher training schools.
Our philosophy of government guides our education in such a way that the content and methods of our education produce individual character that reinforces and aids our philosophy of government.
THERE ARE THREE PHILOSOPHIES OF GOVERNMENT
Our philosophy of government centers on the question, “Who or what is sovereign?” There are three options in answer to this question – God, the State, or the Individual:
If we believe that God is sovereign, our content and methods will produce in our students a character recognizing that sovereignty, a character of dependence on Him, obedience to Him, and of non-dependence on externals such as peers or the state. This non-dependent, Godly character is the basis of true leadership.
If, however, we believe that God does not exist, or if we have not known His reality personally in our own lives, we are left with two other possibilities. If we decide that the State is sovereign (tyranny, socialism), then our education will produce a character of dependence upon the State and external things. On the other hand, if we believe that there is no God and we decide that the Individual is sovereign in and of himself (anarchy), then our education will produce a character that is anarchistic, ungoverned by anything but self, self-actualized.
The question we must ask, then, of our education program at home, at church, and at school is, “What character am I producing in my students?” Godly, non-dependent character will be capable of sustaining freedom without spawning chaos. Dependent character will slide into, even demand, tyranny. Ungoverned character will stumble into chaos, and ultimately be dependent on external governing forces or institutions to control it, yielding tyranny from the other direction.
JUDAH BIBLE CURRICULUM
The Judah Bible Curriculum is based on the Biblical philosophy of government: that God is sovereign and that He rules the individual internally by love. “The love of Christ controls us.” II Cor. 5:14. The content and methods are thus intended to help you produce in your students’ lives character that recognizes God’s sovereignty and is sensitive to His rule personally in every area of life. This is Christian Self-government. This character is self-governed under God (Godly), self-educating (intelligent), productive (responsible), able to reason based on Biblical understanding (truly literate), recognizing servanthood as the basis of true authority (leadership).
CONTENT: THEMES OF THE BIBLE
For our study, the Bible has been divided into five Themes for our study. These themes are chronological and describe what is happening governmentally through the Bible as follows:
First Semester – Old Testament
Theme 1. CREATION God creates man to bless.
Genesis 1-11 Creation, fall , flood
Theme 2. THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION BEGINS God prepares a people for Godly self-government and liberty.
Genesis 12-Ruth
Theme 3. KINGDOM OF ISRAEL The people want an earthly king and slavery.
I Samuel – Malachi
Second Semester – New Testament
Theme 4. KINGDOM OF GOD God’s New Covenant, an internal kingdom.
Matthew – John
Theme 5. EARLY CHURCH The increase of His government and peace will have no end (Is. 9:6)
Acts – Revelation
You will learn and teach the Old Testament first semester and the New Testament second semester. The Old Testament emphasis is on Theme II with the Israelites’ deliverance from bondage, the giving of the Law, and God being their King.
The New Testament emphasizes the establishment (in the Gospels) and beginning expansion (in Acts and the Epistles) of Jesus’ internal Kingdom in the hearts of individuals.
CONTENT: BIBLE KEYS
Each THEME is broken down into what we call Bible Keys. In each of the five time periods, your students will study a few each of the key individuals, key events, key institutions, and key documents for that period. Each Key is studied with a view towards identifying the hand of God, the character of God, and the place of that Key in His purpose for history.
METHODS
The methods used in the Judah Bible Curriculum are intended to help you teach your student to research the text and categorize his findings, reason cause to effect to valid conclusions, and apply Biblical principles to his own life. They include producing a personal Bible notebook, researching the Bible Keys, writing exercises, essay testing, and utilizing various other resources to extend the study. The class activities are more verbal in the lowest grades and more written in the upper grades.
The resulting character we are striving to produce in ourselves and our students will be capable of sustaining freedom without anarchy, order without tyranny, peace and prosperity. See Internal Government for further discussion.