As we think about building and education, the Christian cathedral provides an especially rich metaphor for those of us teaching in a classical Christian setting. Think about what is needed to build a cathedral:
First, cathedral builders need a plan. Cathedrals have a very specific shape. The floorplan is in the shape of a cross, and the inside typically features high vaulted ceilings (at least in Gothic cathedrals). Both of those elements are extremely deliberate.
A cathedral’s floorplan causes one to enter the building at the foot of the cross and to be seated for most of the service in the nave. Then, worshippers progress towards the center of the building and encounter Christ in communion at the crossing. Communion is brought down from the alter, which is at the head of the cross. The shape of the space is highly symbolic and is meant to provoke contemplation of Christ.
The high vaulted ceilings, often decorated with celestial images are designed to draw the gaze upwards, away from oneself and towards God. An individual feels very small in a cathedral, but he also feels God’s magnificence.
All the structures are unified in their purpose: the goal is to get the focus off humans and to put the focus on God. Similarly, all the structures of our classes have to be unified towards our ultimate purpose. In any educational endeavor, we have proximate goals and ultimate goals. Our proximate goals are the learning objectives – the content our students should know by the end of the course and the skills they should be able to demonstrate. But our ultimate goal is far more important, and it’s the same as that of the cathedral: We want to point our students towards Christ! Every proximate goal and every structure we build to achieve it must be unified towards the purpose of directing the student’s gaze towards Christ. This requires careful planning on the part of classical Christian educators. Just as a cathedral cannot be built haphazardly, neither can a classical Christian education.
Along with a plan, cathedral builders also need the right materials. A cathedral built of flimsy materials could not achieve the soaring heights of Gothic cathedrals; nor would such structures stand the test of time. Likewise, the materials we use in a classical Christian education – the content we explore – must be of the right kind to sustain the weight and height of such an educational project. Paul tells us very clearly what kinds of materials to work with in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” To build a classical Christian education, we need to work with truth, goodness, beauty, wisdom, and virtue. Not surprisingly, the materials we use are those which have been time-tested – the best of what has been thought and written as part of the ongoing Great Conversation in western civilization.
Something else cathedral builders must have is the set of techniques and strategies most capable of achieving the goal. The biggest difference between the earlier Romanesque style cathedrals and the later Gothic style cathedrals is the use of flying buttresses, which are supports on the outside of the structure that allow the weight of the walls to be driven into the ground all the way around a building. This allows for much higher walls and for more windows, because the walls don’t have to be as thick and solid as in an unsupported Romanesque cathedral. The result is that Gothic cathedrals are generally very tall and light-filled, and thus much more effectively achieve that symbolic purpose of taking one’s gaze away from oneself and pointing it heavenwards.
The classical tradition is replete with time-tested techniques for provoking a student’s gaze towards truth, goodness, beauty, wisdom, and virtue and, ultimately, to the source of these. Group recitation and catechisms cause students to regularly proclaim truths. Close-reading and commonplacing promote contemplation of the good and the beautiful. Mimetic teaching builds students’ store of known truths or equips them with the skills to imitate the good. Socratic discussion converses about the good, true, and beautiful. We use these classical techniques – and specifically avoid others in the post-modern education arsenal – because these are the strategies that have been shown to best achieve the goal of helping students know Christ.
Lastly, cathedral builders need time – more time, in fact, than an entire lifetime! A cathedral built by medieval methods took an average of 250-300 years to build. Cologne Cathedral in Germany was started in 1238 and was not completed until 1880! A craftsman could spend his entire life working on a project that he never saw completed. In Teaching and Christian Imagination, David Smith and Susan Felch write, “Imagine having the audacity to think one could build such a thing, especially without modern machinery. What role does time play here? What would you have to believe about the world…how would you have to see your life to be able to labor at a building project that makes the notion of completion in your lifetime not just unrealistic but amusing?”
A cathedral-vision of education means acknowledging that we educators are participating in a project that we very likely won’t get to see completed. Even when students graduate from their homeschools and from Granite’s program after 12th grade, they are still unfinished cathedrals in many ways! We have to trust that God will constantly be building them up in their skills and abilities and in their walk with him.
While that means letting go of a desire for the gratification of seeing the fruit of our labors, it also relieves the pressure from us to finish the work, and frees us up to do our small piece with excellence. The project of education is far beyond the scope of one tutor, or one homeschool mom. Thankfully, we can trust the Master Architect to bring His work to completion! Do your work well, but trust that God will finish the building in his timing.
Parents, tutors, and administrative staff are all part of the cathedral-building process at Granite. And a cathedral vision of education can help us work together to set our sights on Christ as we build on Him as cornerstone and towards the purpose of making Him known to our students.
