All Scripture is self‐attesting and being Truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts, culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation, we affirm these additional essentials of our faith:
- We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory, and praise forever!
- Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins, according to the Scriptures. On the third day, He arose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.
- The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives us new life, empowers us, and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth and seals us for the day of redemption.
- Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God’s grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justifies them in His sight.
- We believe that (a) salvation is by grace, a free gift of God apart from works, (b) salvation involves repentance, a change of mind in respect to God and thus turning from one’s own way to God’s way, (c) salvation is through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Christ alone, (d) all who receive Jesus Christ are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become the children of God, and (e) true salvation will be manifested by a changed life.
- The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the return of her Lord.
- Jesus Christ will come again to the earth— personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).
- The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self‐denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
Source: Classical Conversations, Inc.
Christian World View
The true purpose of education is to know God fully through our studies of His creation and to build the skills needed to make Him known to the world.
Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
— Matthew 22:37 (NKJV)
When we study with the purpose of knowing God more fully through a subject, we are loving God with our minds. When we see God’s hand in history or science, or discover His wonderful complexity and grace, we love Him even more.
The classical model that we use as a guiding principal is usually credited to the ancient Greeks, but references to this style of learning can be found in the Old Testament, which leads us to believe that God created us to learn this way.
In the book of Proverbs, you’ll notice three words are repeated often: knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, which correspond to what the ancients called grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric:
Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
—Proverbs 24:3-6 (NKJV)
The classical model could therefore be called the Christian Model because it uses this blueprint for learning. Once educators try it, they realize that it is like “teaching with the grain”: simply put, it suits our nature.
Subject Integration
Have you ever contemplated the symmetry in a sentence construction? Have you noticed what the Bible says about government? Have you considered science fiction’s ideas of government and weighed them against the U.S. Constitution? That’s just a sampling of the integration our students enjoy in one year of our Challenge I (9th grade) program.
Classical Conversations seeks to present knowledge in its proper context: every subject was created by God. Every law of science, every detail of biology, every aspect of art, every man in history — all created by God. We also show students that every created thing has a purpose: to glorify God. Psalm 19:1 says: “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the works of his hands.” Not only do the skies proclaim the glory of God, but the symmetry in an orange slice and the intricate contours of a sea shell do the same.
Other subjects reveal God’s glory, too! Literature is often the story of how Man responds (either rightly or wrongly) to results of the Fall. Our discussions revolve around the big questions: “Should he have done that?” and “What should we do, if we are in a similar situation?” Great literature and great historical figures show us how Man can find redemption in a fallen world. Our studies should lead us to ponder the mysteries of reconciliation with God. Our upper Challenge courses lead high school students in discussions of this type in small groups with their tutor-mentor (and with parents at home).
We also show our students how all subjects relate to each other. Modern education divorces each subject from its context so it can only be taught by a subject matter expert. In Classical Conversations, we integrate each subject by having one tutor teach all subjects to one group of students, spending the whole day together discussing literature, government, history, geography, math, and Latin — and delighting in the overlaps.
Imagine a handful of colored glass pieces. Each piece of glass is interesting to look at on its own, but is fairly meaningless. If you knew that each piece of glass had a unique place and purpose in a grand stained-glass window of a great cathedral, that piece of glass would suddenly be more meaningful. You would want to know how it fits in and what image it forms with the other pieces. That is the discovery our students experience when we show them how the subjects they are studying fit into God’s grand scheme. It is something we learn and discover with our students. Together we enjoy seeking out God’s hand in everything we study as lifelong lovers of learning.