Dorothy Sayers and the Lost Tools of Learning

Dorothy Sayers gave a talk in 1947, "The Lost Tools of Learning," which has proved to be seminal to the renaissance of classical education in the USA during the last 30 or so years. 

It is a wonderful read.  She was not giving a detailed outline on how to recover true education.  Nonetheless, it was a provocative talk, and it deserves repeated readings.

Here is a PDF of this classic the essay.  Happy Reading!

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Category: Recommended Reading Recommended Reading

Published: 07 September 2010 07 September 2010

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The Joy of Latin

The above picture was taken this week when I was working with the fourth grade Latin students at Augustine School.  I had made up this fun story, and then the class translated it (not really a "story," but some sentences utilizing vocabularly which the students know!).  Then we labeled every word, clause, etc., in the sentence.  When I stood back and looked at it, I thought, "My!  This is a real joy, and these students are actually doing some neat Latin work!"  For those who are interested, the "method" is rather basic.  We put all the verbs in "boxes," we put prepositional phrases (including words in the genitive case) in brackets, we underline remaining words, and then we label each and every word.  Watch out for the Augustine fourth grade students as they progress this year!

This is one of our "silly sentences/stories" and can be translated as follows:

"The happy students of the small town love to go to the good school.  They were walking to the large island, and the boys and girl go in front of the silent road, and will look at the old teacher, and were fighting the high, large, tired wolves."

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Published: 03 September 2010 03 September 2010

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Beginning with Moses . . .

One of the most exciting and promising areas of study in the world of biblical and theological studies during the last several decades has been the world of "biblical theology."  Some good folks have revamped their web site, "Beginning with Moses," a wonderful resource for those wanting to explore biblical theology.  With good folks like Graeme Goldsworthy on board, this web site will undoubtedly provide many wonderful resources.  The name of the web site is taken from Luke 24, where Jesus begins with Moses and shows how the Old Testament is ultimately a book about Jesus.  Even though two of the founders of the web site are Irish, I would still give it a look :)  (Hi Jonny).  If you have not begun to think of the Bible as one big coherent whole and coherent story, Beginning with Moses is a good place to begin the journey.

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Published: 30 August 2010 30 August 2010

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There is no understanding without the cross

On Monday August 16 I had the honor of giving the fall convocation address for Augustine School.  This is Augustine School's tenth year.  We started with 13 students in 2001, and we started our tenth year a few days ago with 113 students.  My.  My address was titled "'Nullus Intellectus Sine Cruce' Revisited: Thoughts on Augustine School's Motto After Ten Years."  The address is posted on Augustine's web page here.  I will soon have it posted on my web site.  We are very thankful for all of Augustine School's successes!  Augustine School's motto, "Nullus Intellectus Sine Cruce" is translated, "There is No Understanding Without the Cross".

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Published: 20 August 2010 20 August 2010

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