What Would Abbot Suger Say Today?

"The dull mind rises to truth through that which is material. And, in seeing this light, is resurrected from its former submersion." ~Abbot Suger

I'd like to thank you for meeting with me Mr. Warbucks, and I'm glad to hear that Peter, Edmund, and Lucy are all enjoying the school year so far. I enjoyed watching you quaff a pint of fresh brewed root beer with Peter at our Medieval Feast earlier this year--it is one of my favorite events of the year. 

As you know, our school hopes to renovate our downtown property, including a 120-year-old Gothic-style church honored with a state historical marker. There are many practical benefits the school hopes to achieve with this renovation, such as bringing our entire student body together in one building, reducing the burden on our local Church ministry partner, and returning a historic landmark back to its former glory in our city. But I want you to see the grander vision behind and beyond these modest aims, because I'd like you to be a cornerstone donor of this restoration project, contributing the first 15% to the $1.5 million budget; $225,000. I know that's a lot to ask, but let me put it into perspective.

Perhaps you've seen the Abbey of St. Denis in France, renovated by Abbot Suger in the 12th century? Suger raised an enormous amount of wealth to build the basilica of the Abbey--money that could have been allocated toward the feeding of the poor or the relief of widows or a host of other humanitarian needs surrounding him. Why did he build a basilica? He wanted there to be a place where Divine truth could be discovered and contemplated for generations--a symbol of Christ's glory and His glorification of His Bride. 

You and I both believe that the Classical Christian Education Veritas provides your grandchildren is the richest inheritance they could receive, and it is no less true for the other members of Christ's body and our neighbors in this county. Like the Abbey of St. Denis, the church we want to restore will serve as a symbol for our current families, and for their children and their children's children for generations to come--a symbol of the wisdom and virtue of men passed down through the ages and brought under the banner of aegis of Christ and His Church. The vision of Classical Christian Education will become more visible, more tangible, more glorious to those who are looking for something better for their own children, and I hope you can see the value of it too. Are you willing to set this first cornerstone of the vision into the earth?

My Attempt at Branding

In preparation for answering a hypothetical scenario, I wrote the following "sales pitch" to parents in the Bible Belt who might inquire about Classical Christian Education. Despite being a student of rhetoric for half of my life, I don't think persuasion is in my blood. 

Why Classical Christian Education?

 

Why do we educate our children? What do we hope it will make of them? If our education is for acquiring college scholarships, job placements, career paths, and stability for the future, what makes us different from the atheist who denies God, the soul, and life after death? If we make no distinction, our children won’t either, and when they enter a world where remaining faithful to Christ threatens the things we’ve taught them to seek they will jettison Christ for earthly success. Our children will gain the whole world and lose their souls.

 

Paul put it this way to the Corinthians, who were also tempted to seek the wrong things:

 

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

 

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

 

20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 answer the question, Why Classical Christian Education?

 

Wisdom shows us how to live well in the world. Education offers wisdom to its students. At least that’s what education should do. Acquiring wisdom requires more than being around kind people who will keep us safe and provide us with facts and skills. Paul says the message of the cross is the power of God, power that “will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” In other words, those who don’t learn according to the message of the cross will find their “wisdom” brought to nothing. To learn Christ’s message of the cross requires more than learning its truth. It includes learning how to abide in the truth. What is the message of the cross? In 1 Corinthians it is chiefly acknowledging that human weakness—a humble, poor spirit we might say—is God’s chosen vessel of demonstrating His wisdom and power. In one sense education according to the cross is a revelation of man to himself to humble him—I am a mortal, full of vice and corruption. We approach learning in the double darkness of sin and ignorance. In another sense education according to the cross is a revelation of God to man to glorify him—God became man to transform my mortality into immortality, my vice and corruption into incorruptible virtue. We approach learning in the hope of becoming divine.

 

Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. The Jews are the people of God who have rejected the message of the cross in hopes of earthly gain, though they possess the oracles of God. Greeks are those who long for knowledge and experience of the divine, but cannot submit their “wisdom” to the “foolishness” of God’s revelation in Christ, the God-man. Classical education, in its most basic form, is remembering; guarding the memory of man’s best efforts—honoring our forefathers that we may inherit God’s promise. We guard the people of God’s best efforts to preserve the Way of Christ against the temptations of the world. We guard the City of Man’s best efforts to “seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him” against the despair of pride. If we want to go further up and further into the wisdom and power of God, we must stand upon their shoulders. And isn’t this what we should want education to make of our children?