How important is reading in becoming an educated, wise, and thoughtful person? Many educators identify reading as the foundational discipline to all fields of study. For example, leading American educator E. D. Hirsch says, “We all know that reading is the most important academic skill.”1 Distinguished philosopher and educator Mortimer J. Adler summed it up as “reading is learning.”2 To illustrate how reading…
On my Facebook and Twitter pages I have implemented a weekly segment called #WednesdayWisdom, where I provide quotes from significant scholars from various disciplines. Education is a subject that I return to often because I think evangelical Christians need help in learning how to love God with their minds. One of my favorite educational change agents and political philosophers is…
Learning to think for oneself is one of the most important intellectual duties in life. Truth needs to be pursued and apprehended by each individual person. And one of the great benefits of being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27) is that human beings have been given the faculties to hunt and gather the truth. As a logic…
I interact frequently with parents who are looking for resources to help their teenagers transition childhood faith into adult conviction. RTB is glad to develop resources—such as the Through the Lens video series or the Impact Events study guides—that help support those efforts. However, the foundational step in a teen’s discipleship is for the adults in the teen’s life to…
The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used. Atrophy of the mental muscles is the penalty that we pay for not taking mental exercise. And this is a terrible penalty, for there is evidence that atrophy of the mind is a mortal disease. — Mortimer J. Adler1 Mortimer Jerome Adler (1902–2001), one of my intellectual heroes,…
Our family has started a new tradition: end-of-the-school-year blowouts. A few weeks ago we left on the first day of summer vacation for the Grand Canyon. None of us had ever seen this natural wonder so we were all very excited to go. Sure, we’d seen it in pictures and on The Brady Bunch (which surprisingly was part of our…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year if you’re a homeschool parent. As the school year comes to a close, many homeschoolers are already looking down the corridors of time preparing for the fall—and, before next year, one of their first stops will be a local homeschool convention. Reasons to Believe (RTB) is excited to participate in five education…
During our latest trip to London, I realized how deeply rooted British culture is in their rich and extensive history. It seemed like every street we turned on held a historical landmark, which was labeled and maintained accordingly. Though it has a considerably shorter history as compared to London, Southern California (where RTB is headquartered) offers a variety of historical…
Before I became a Christian I had little motivation to excel in the classroom. Education was more about receiving a passing grade and less about a genuine understanding of the material. It wasn’t until I read C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity that I was prompted to pursue Scripture’s truth. Soon after becoming a Christian in my early 20s, my passion…
I first heard the expression “renaissance Christian” from apologist and attorney John Warwick Montgomery in the early 1980s. Montgomery gave a lecture at the former Simon Greenleaf School of Law on the importance of developing the Christian mind. The lecture left a deep impression on me.
Reflections 