A History of Christian Education

I find it breathtaking that the handful of reviewers who reviewed this book have given it high marks. People, it's pretty bad. It's not even a history of Christian education. At best, it's a succession of micro-bios of important figures in the history of Christian education, or obliquely connected to the history of education, with a few high school-level papers sifted in. There is no overall narrative or thesis. It's not about the development of a Christian philosophy of education. It's not about the development of institutional models for Christian education. It touches here and there on what the content of a Christian education should be, but sustains no discernible argument. There is honestly more material in this book reflecting the authors' views on feminism (they are ardent fans) than there is on the evolution of Christian educational thought.Indeed, it's bit puzzling what the authors even mean by "Christian education." At points they seem to be thinking of theological education; at other points, they seem to be thinking of "Sunday Schools." And at other points they seem to be addressing the contributions of people who happened to be Christians, to the prevailing secular educational systems. There was not one chapter--not a single chapter!--on the rise and development of the Christian school in America. Instead, there is a one-and-a-half-page section embedded in their final chapter, in which they basically assert that the modern Christian school movement is the child of racism and white flight from the public schools, give it a spanking, and move on to other topics. My word, this is supposed to be a book about Christian education! The history of the modern Christian school movement should have been given at least a full chapter, if not two or three. Whatever valid observations about racism needed to be made might have been made briefly without displacing the substantive discussion of Christian schools.There was precisely zero discussion of the home education movement, a baffling omission. Much of the Christian education occurring since the 1980s has been through families teaching their own children, or Christian co-ops and programs designed to accommodate the needs of independently educating families.I've read several dozen books on education--higher education, secondary and primary education, educational theory, theology, history, policy--some written by Christians, some not. (Ringenberg's excellent history of the Christian college, for instance, is well worth the read.) All of them, even the more boring and pedantic ones, were more informative than this one. I started to give this feeble attempt two stars, rather than one, because all of the little biographies of key figures were at least somewhat informative, in a random, rambling sort of way, though they in no way constituted a coherent history of Christian education. On rethinking it, though, i honestly can't justify the two stars. I am bitterly disappointed to have wasted valuable hours reading the book.

Informative book about Greek influences in the Educational structure.

This was a great read. I'm a Christian Education student and It helped me understand so much about how education has a whole got started in the world.

really GOOD!!!

Very good book!

It was just what I needed

Reed and Prevost have written an excellent story on how Christian Education has changed and improved over the years.The writing style is engaging and easy to follow. The book is divided into 7 major parts:1. Education in Ancient Societies.2. Ancient Christian Education.3. Christian Education in the Middle Ages.4. Christian Education in the Renaissance and Reformation.5. The Beginnings of Modern Christian Education.6. Americans and Christian Education.7. Christian Education in the Twentieth Century.Since the 1993 edition is newer than Kenneth Gangel and Warren Benson's 1983 book on Christian Education: Its History and Philosophy, this title compares favorably to the latter.Read and enjoy. Highly recommended!

This book is an excellent source as a survey of the various methods in Christian Education from ancient secular and Christian contexts through 20th-Century philosophies. The writers show great brevity and erudition throughout, something very difficult to achieve.The book is certainly a ready-made handbook on historical Christian education, but it also brings in other secular philosophies which have made in-roads into various forms of Christian educational methods. The book is a quick read and easily digestible - highly recommended.