Wisdom and Eloquence

If there is a more important book on Christian education than Robert Littlejohn and

Charles T. Evans’ Wisdom and Eloquence written within the last 20 years, I have yet to discover it. In Wisdom and Eloquence, Littlejohn and Evans lay out a “Christian paradigm for learning,” based in large part upon the experiences of Littlejohn’s Trinity Academy in North Carolina.

The book, which has been nominated for several awards, is a clear, succinct, and compelling case for a Christian classical education. Arguing that “wisdom and eloquence” are the purpose of education (based on Augustine’s writings), Littlejohn and Evans lay out the historical importance of a Christian liberal arts education, pointing out the failings of John Dewey’s progressivism on the public school system, and making the case for a form of education that has endured for nearly 2500 years.

Spanning the philosophical and the practical, Wisdom and Eloquence brings at least three weighty contributions to the conversation on education. First, it outlines the liberal arts curriculum, including the planning processes, the curricular priorities, and the teacher requirements necessary within the Christian classical school. Covering the Trivium (Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric), the Quadrivium “Expanded” (Arithmetic, Geometry, Natural Sciences, and Music), and the True Sciences (Theology and Philosophy), Littlejohn gives readers a practical outline for a classical education. Tested by millenia of experience, and adapted to our modern situation, the liberal arts curriculum outlined in Wisdom and Eloquence is being imitated by the best classical Christian schools in the country.

Second, because Wisdom and Eloquence is written by a deeply experienced leader, it is devoid of the “heavenly musings” of most involved strictly in the humanities. Instead, it gives practical principles to everything from student behavior and co-curricular activities to admissions and the central importance of strategic planning for the effective operation of any school. In sum, after reading this book, one knows “what to do.”

Finally, it firmly establishes the classical Christian school as an intellectual and educational force within the world of 21st century education. Although there are elements that need to be addressed later (i.e. Is this education only for the wealthy “free man,” or is it truly for all?), Christians of all stripes should pay close attention to this movement. If modern public education is really built on the three-fold foundation of skepticism (not faith), evolutionary psychology (not redemption of sinners), and subjective values (not eternal truth), Christians need a response.

To my knowledge, this book is as good a response as a contemporary American Christian has produced to date.