Dante in the Schoolroom of the Stars: Toward a Doxological Pedagogy

A faithful doxological pedagogy seeks to establish and foster in the heart and mind of the student fealty, adoration, and cheerful obedience to Jesus Christ through a biblically-grounded curriculum and atmosphere built on the understanding that apart from right worship, right thinking and right feeling can never lead to right action. This is built on the fundamental worldview assumption that Christ is Lord, that man was created by Him and for Him, and that true human flourishing can only be experienced with all of life lived in concert with His design. Man was created in the image of God, the God who is love; therefore man essentially is homo amans, loving man. What we think, how we feel, what we do ultimately stems from and reenforces the supreme object of our love. Danteâ s journey through the heavens provides a perfect metaphor for the nature and trajectory of education. The telos of man is wisdom. But this is a wisdom defined not by skill, or practical know how, or the summation of years of study. No, true wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. True wisdom is worship. With the worship of God defining the center of what man is for, education can be seen as the training ground of worship. Parents and teachers shape and influence their children and students to think and to feel in everything they do, regardless of intention. The doxological pedagogy these pages have laid out seeks to place a biblically-grounded philosophy of education, as well as practical steps for implementation, in the hands of parents and educators, training them to see their students as homo amans, and their own role as shepherds, guiding them to a full life of worship and allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, a life dominated by a love for Him and all He has done.