Bible Students

Jacob J. Oller

Cornelius Van Til was a philosopher, educator, and Christian apologist in the early 1900s. He studied at Princeton Seminary, where he received his Ph.D. He taught at Princeton, and was a foundational member of Westminster Seminary. His theories on presuppositionalism are foundational for a well-rounded view of Christian education. (Ribera, 2003)

Cornelius Van Til’s Educational Theories (Rushdoony, 2012)

Presuppositionalism as the Basis for Learning Theories

One can not understand learning theories without first understanding what the theories are based in, also known as their presuppositions. The theology of the teacher and student will determine how the individuals are able to learn. A secular humanist who views the learner as an inherently good human will have a different method for teaching than a Reformed teacher who views the learner as an inherently evil human. Inherently good humans will seek to know God through their learning, using their learning to be drawn closer to Him. Inherently evil humans will seek to turn against God in their learning, using their learning to have confidence in themself rather than in God. 

In the eyes of Van Til, the presuppositions of the learner and teacher are the most important aspect of learning theories. This is because, to Van Til, learning ultimately served one purpose: to glorify God. The actions of teaching and learning are both methods of glorifying God through exploring His universe and basking in His amazing works. However, when the learner or the teacher are not doing their respective roles for this purpose, they can not be said to have learned or taught well. Additionally, if the main purpose of teaching and learning is to glorify God, then teaching and learning can not be academic alone. Learning and teaching must focus both on intelligence and virtue. When the purpose is to glorify God, both intelligence and virtue come together. This may be the largest difference between secular and Christian learning: The Christian learner must actively seek to love the Lord their God with their education through gaining both an understanding of God’s universe and seeking to do so with virtue, for His glory. While individual learning theories can seek to improve the abilities of both the learner and the teacher, a focus on the presuppositions of both parties will ultimately determine how all learning theories are applied. The foundation for all learning and teaching lies in God, and both learners and teachers must reflect that in their respective goals. Correctly addressing presuppositions causes both the learner and the teacher to do so properly. Using teaching and learning in the method they were made for will result in the best results. 

Theology of Education

As mentioned before, one of the greatest differences between human secularism and Christian presuppositions is the virtue of mankind. In human secularism the foundation for objectivity lies within mankind. Mankind naturally desires truth and goodness. In Christianity (emphasized especially by the Reformed theology of Van Til) the foundation for objectivity lies in God. Mankind naturally desires evil and falsehood. This is both a nature and desire of mankind. Learners are born with a corrupted rationality, and continue to desire corrupted rationality. Mankind seeks their own subjectivity as if it was objectivity. How does man escape this? 

Teachers must confront students with truth. The only method for discovering the objective value, purpose, and understanding of a subject is through understanding God’s view of it. As objectivity only lies in God the learner must seek, through the instruction of the teacher, to discover God’s view. This is done through two methods. First, the teacher must purposefully uncover God’s view on a subject through relating it to the Bible, God’s Word, which reveals God’s heart on many subjects. For example, the way to virtuously learn about the growth of a bean plant is to understand how God views it. Revelation 4:11 says (NIV), “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” God is worthy of receiving glory because He has created all things and has, in His great wisdom, allowed living things to reproduce, for His glory. Students can observe the growth of a bean plant with awe in the God who has thought up the process of plant reproduction. 

Second, students must purposefully uncover God’s view on  a subject through carefully listening to the voice of the Spirit. This is positioned second because listening to the voice of the Spirit, especially for a child, may be especially difficult. However, as the teacher continues to uncover the view of God through His Word, the student will have an easier time discerning the voice of the Spirit. The Spirit will use the implanted Word to point the student to glorifying God, even without the direction of the teacher. This is the answer to a particularly difficult question: If humans are inherently evil, how can they seek to learn virtuously at all? The work of the Spirit in the Christian, even the child, will constantly renew them to have a desire, however small, for virtuous learning. 

Van Til, the Bible, and Secular Theories

Human Secularism views the learner and teacher as inherently good. Van Til and the Bible view the learner and the teacher as inherently evil. This difference results in an enormous gap between the learning theories of Human Secularists and Christians. 

Foundation for Understanding Reality

Human Secularism and similar secular worldviews understand humans to be a center of reality. The understanding of humanity is determined by mankind. Reality can be understood properly through mankind, without the aid of a Higher Being. Additionally, there is optimism that the whole universe can be understood by humans, at all. 

However, in the view of both Van Til and the Bible, objective reality can only be understood by the mind of God. First John 3:20, for example, claims that God knows everything, even the smallest inclinations of the heart of an individual. God is the only one who can understand reality as a whole. Humans can only understand reality from a limited perspective. This means humans can not depend on their own interpretation of reality as the objective reality, but rather must seek out the objective view of reality which lies in God. 

Morality

Human-centered worldviews would hold that humans are inherently good individuals who desire to learn, for their own benefit. Van Til viewed the human learner and teacher as sinful individuals who did not desire to know God (the ultimate purpose of learning and teaching), until the work of the Spirit began in their life. Education is foundationally a moral issue. Education must be done with a desire to honor God, and so love the Lord their God with all their mind (Matthew 22:37). Education must be done with humility, honesty, and integrity. (Dow, 2013) 

Purpose of Man

In secular worldviews, the purpose of education for the individual is to benefit themself. They learn in order to further their career, or possibly to better society. Other than the usefulness to the individual or mankind, there is not a greater purpose. In a consistent materialistic worldview, the individual would find no use for learning, as there is no lasting value of learning. When the universe dies of heat death or a great freeze, no human achievement will have accomplished anything. A consistent materialistic worldview would see education as achieving nothing, because a consistent materialistic worldview leads to nihilism. However, in the inconsistent worldview of non-nihilistic materialism, such as Human Secularism, education can be used as an advancement for humanity and the individual. 

In the worldview of the thoughtful Christian educator, the purpose of man is a foundational aspect of education. Man was made in the Image of God (Genesis 1:27), and given the divine commandment to subdue creation (Genesis 1:28). The purpose of mankind is to know God and glorify Him forever. Humans can do this through education. The purpose of mankind is to do what God does, bringing order out of chaos, and to be in relationship with Him. Learning happens because mankind should seek to be like God through His gift of education. Humans, in the Garden of Eden, took the knowledge of good and evil for themself, apart from God, in order to be like Him in a corrupted way. Christians today seek to accept the gift of the knowledge of good and evil from God, in order to be like Him. The difference between secularist views and the Christian view is the difference between taking “knowledge” from oneself for oneself, and seeking knowledge from God for God. 

Mixing

In pragmatism, whatever is useful should be used. Pragmatism understands ideal teaching and learning to be a reflection of useful things, as “objective truth” can not be discerned by the individual and so should be traded out for the useful. Christians, on the other hand, believe truth should be taught. Usefulness is not the same as truthfulness. Seeking usefulness means there can be an inconsistency in one’s worldview and how one teaches, depending on what is useful. Seeking truth means there must not be an inconsistency in one’s worldview and how one teaches. Christians must not attempt to teach pragmatistic values, but must teach truth. This means there must not be mixing of presuppositions for Christians. The Christian must hold to the pure presuppositions of Christian education. James 1:27 claims that pure devotion to the Lord must be virtuous and avoid mixing with the world. Christian education is no exception to this admonition. (Putri et al., 2022)

Personal Reflection

I do not call myself Reformed, though I believe the overlap between education and Reformed theology in Van Til’s educational theories is very well-rounded. The depravity of man, the necessity of the work of the Spirit, and the intention to glorify God are all three absolutely essential to me own personal philosophy of education. 

Depravity of Man (Graham, 2003)

The depravity of man is an essential aspect of my own philosophy of education. Teachers and students alike do not desire to know God. All people desire to push against God, to run from Him, and to only benefit themself. It is only through the saving work of the Spirit, which redeems the soul of man and renews him day be day, can reverse this effect. This is not to say that the individual completely desires God, as no one desires God with all of their being. If they did, they would no longer sin whatsoever, though everyone continues to sin until glorification. This is important for two reasons: 

First, the teacher must anticipate the depraved nature of the student, and not expect the student to desire to learn for the purpose of glorifying God. In the beginning, teachers should use directed instruction in order to show students what learning for God’s glory means. Then, other theories of edcuation can be employed, such as PBL and question-based methods. These methods can only be effectively used after the students have been shown through direct instruction how to learn for God’s glory. 

Second, the teacher must not be frustrated when students, even those who have clear work of the Spirit in their education, are not completely committed to learning for the Lord. Every saint will fall, and have times of going against God. Teachers should not be overly frustrated at a student who seems to lack in their care for education for a season, but should be gently brought back into the joy of learning for the Lord. In short, teachers should expect students to be depraved in their learning, and continue to be somewhat depraved even after the work of the Spirit in their life. 

The Work of the Spirit

Next, teachers should expect change in the depraved nature of the student only when the work of the Spirit is present. Additionally, teachers must seek to move with the Spirit in teaching the children, and should depend on the Spirit’s leading in order to teach the students well. First, the teacher must trust the Spirit in the education process on the side of the student. If the student is saved, they have the Spirit of God within them. This means the Spirit will continue to lead them to glorify God, which the teacher must make as the primary purpose for educating the student in the first place. Second, teachers must depend on the Spirit’s leading in order to teach the students well, and should use His written Word. Teachers, in order to glorify God, should listen to God’s leading and God’s explicit direction.

The Glory of God

Education must be for the glory of God. The teacher must seek to glorify God in all of their teaching, and the learner must seek to glorify God in all of their learning. When both parties participate in the glorification of God through their learning, they will fulfil the primary purpose of education. When they do not seek to glorify God, they will not learn with virtue (the highest of which is to seek to glorify God). 

Use of Secular Theories

In an ironic turn of ideology, Human Secularism has a greater confidence in the ability of mankind to understand the universe, though they evolved out of a mechanism (natural selection) which favors usefulness over truth. Now, it can be said that many Human Secularist pragmatists do believe that useful is more important than “truth,” since there is no measurability to truth, but only usefulness. This is a more consistent worldview than the optimism previously touched on. On the other hand, Christians who believe humans were made in the Image of God also have little confidence in the ability of mankind to understand the universe. Maintaining either of these views requires a self-awareness of the seemingly-backward view and expectation of mankind’s learning abilities. 

Christians must not seek to use the theories of secularists if the presuppositions are not corrected. When a Christian seeks to understand the learning theories of a secularist, they must do so with the understanding that their presuppositions of secularism are a falsehood which permeates the entire learning theory. The Christian who seeks to grow in their education through the studies of secularists must be able to differentiate the difference between the raw data and the extrapolations made by the secular theorist. This is the same difference Christian teachers of science must make between the raw observations of scientists and the theories attached by secular scientists, which are determined by their presuppositions. 

References

Dow, P. E. (2013). Virtuous minds: Intellectual character development. IVP Academic. 

Graham, D. L. (2003). Teaching redemptively: Bringing grace and truth into your classroom. Purposeful Design Publications.

Putri, I. O. R., Mudjito, Supratno, H., & Woenardi, T. N. (2022). The Concept of Education According to John Dewey and Cornelius Van Til and Its Implications in The Design of Early Childhood Character Curriculum. International Journal of Recent Educational Research 3(3), 269–287. https://doi.org/10.46245/ijorer.v3i3.220

Ribera, D. J. (2003). The Educational Theories of Cornelius Van Til. https://www.academia.edu/8873999

Rushdoony, R. J. (2012). By what standard? Chalcedon Foundation.