Lucien Foucachon

Five years ago today, my grandfather, Lucien Foucachon, was gathered to his people. He loved to write poetry and wrote the poem below for our wedding in June 2008.

I miss you Papy!

L’Ouest américain les a fait se rencontrer
Et la vie qui parfois sait vous jouer des tours
Sous le ciel d’Idaho, ils se sont bien trouvés
Pour conjuguer ensemble ce que l’on nomme l’amour.

Daniel et Lydia

Edifier un futur c’est là leur avenir
Des coeurs pleins de projets, une période heureuse
Vécue dans l’allégresse, une vie à bâtir
Un chemin de bonheur, une route joyeuse

Daniel et Lydia

Construire une famille sur un modèle ancien
En être héritier, ne pas rompre la ligne
Aspirer à poursuivre pour unique seul bien
Le désire de savoir et d’en demeurer digne

Daniel et Lydia

Chemins riants ou sombres, ils la parcourront
Cette vie de bonheur parfois semée de peines
Mais quelqu’un leur dira qu’il leur fait tenir bon
Quelqu’un qui les chérit et quelqu’un qui les aime

Daniel et Lydia

L’océan nous sépare des êtres qui nous sont chers
Cette lointaine Amérique qui pourtant les enseigne
Voyageurs en recherche, ils sont loin de leurs pères
Consolation pour nous car là-bas la foi règne

Daniel et Lydia

—Lucien Foucachon, June 2008.

Here is an English translation which does not do it justice by a long shot. Some of the poetic turns-of-phrase are very hard to translate. They are beautiful in French!

The American West brought them together
And life, which occasionally throws you curveballs
Under the Idaho sky, they found each other
To come together in what we call love.

Daniel and Lydia

Building a future, that is what’s in store
Hearts full of projects, a happy period
lived in joy, a life to be built
A path of happiness, a road of joy.

Daniel and Lydia

Founding a family on an ancient model
To be an inheritor, to not break the line
Aspiring to pursue as unique only good
The desire of knowing and staying worthy [of that heritage].

Daniel and Lydia

An ocean separates us from those whom we cherish
That faraway America, which, however, teaches them
Voyagers in search, they are far from their fathers
A consolation for us, for over there, the faith reigns.

Daniel and Lydia.

 

Lucien Foucachon, holding up a photo of himself as a young man.

Foucachon Farmhouse

We’re building a house!

Last year we sold our home in Moscow and moved into a rental. It was kind of a crazy move, but we wanted to take advantage of the very hot seller’s market in Moscow. The house sold fast — big thanks to Mike Church at Kestral Realty Group for helping us! After almost ten months of waiting on financing details, digging a well on our land, and tweaking plans designed by the AFC team, Anderson Family Construction finally started building our home in March!

I’ve been very busy with my work at Roman Roads during this whole time. Lydia has been an incredible woman, and the very incarnation of Proverbs 31, not only working part-time in Customer Support for Roman Roads while homeschooling four children at home, but also overseeing so many of the logistics of selling, setting up home in a rental, and now preparing to move a third time in 12 months. In a very literal way, this would have been completely impossible without her!

I plan to write and post more about the house but have limited time right now. This is the high selling and conference season for Roman Roads, on top of the normal production and publishing tasks, and we are publishing new curriculum at breakneck speed. This has certainly been an exciting year!

I’m using the ease of snap-n-upload that Facebook offers, posting a decent amount “in real time” to the Foucachon Farmhouse Facebook page. So, if you’re interested in following our build which is advancing VERY fast, follow us there!

First floor walls up!

I’ll post a few images and videos below, but I want to give a shout-out to Daniel and Austin Anderson and their team at Anderson Family Construction. From initial idea, to design, to execution, they have been amazing to work with. Our home is designed in such a way that we can maximize square footage within our budget while allowing for future expansion (like a garage), and the proportions of each room are beautiful, symmetrical, and classic. We are calling this “Foucachon Farmhouse” because the design–while incorporating some modern aspects–is based on a traditional farmhouse design, which we love. It will beautifully suit the scene upon which it is built, nestled between two creeks, with view on the rolling fields of the Palouse. This home is an incredible blessing to us as our family grows, and we’ve always wanted to live on land. I’ve owned this land for a little over nine years, when I bought it from my father as “ag land” for very little. The zoning change was an answered prayer, allowing us to build, as well as giving us downpayment in the form of (greatly increased) land value. I proposed to Lydia on this land with a ring and a 400lb Cornerstone upon which was inscribed, “The Cornerstone of the future home of Daniel and Lydia Foucachon.” Ten years later, that cornerstone is fitted into the corner of our new home!

Except the Lord build the house,
they 
labour in vain that build it:
except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain.
Psalm 127

May Primary Election 2018 Endorsements

We have an important Primary coming up!

I have been unusually busy over the last few months, and have therefore had less time to look into each candidate. But many of these names are not new, and I’ve recently had some confirmations on those I knew less about. My friend Gresham Bouma, who ran for Idaho Senate (District 5) a number of years ago, put together his list of endorsements which lined up exactly with mine. I have not had time to create notes for each candidate, so with his permission, I am including his notes below.

Here is how I’m voting this May 15th. Notes by Gresham Bouma.

Continue reading

A Waldensian Confession of Faith

This confession of faith, from 1655, is found in Jean Léger’s, Histoire Générale des Vaudois (1669). Here is my rough translation, taken from the old French.

We Believe:

I. That there is only one God, who is a spiritual essence, eternal, infinite, all wise, all merciful, and all just; in one word, perfect. And that there are three Persons in that one and simple essence: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

II. That this God manifested himself to man by his works, such as Creation, such as Providence, and by his Word, revealed in the beginning by diverse strong Oracles, and then composed by writing in Books which we call the Holy Scripture.

III. That just as we must receive the Holy Scriptures as Divine and Canonical, for the rule of our life and Faith, [so also we receive] that it is filled with Books from the Old and New Testament. From the Old Testament only those Books which God committed to the Judean Church, and those that have always been recognized as Divine: to receive: the five Books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles or Paralipomenon, 1 of Esdras,[1. “Protestant writers, after the Geneva Bible, call I and II Esdras of the Vulgate respectively Ezra and Nehemiah, and III and IV Esdras of the Vulgate respectively I and II Esdras.” Source: Catholic Encyclopedia.] Nehemiah, Esther, Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the four major prophets and the twelve minor. And in the New [Testament]: the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul, one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, the epistle of Hebrews, one of St. James, two of St. Peter, three of St. John, one of St. Jude, and the Apocalypse [Revelation].

IV. That we recognize the Divinity of the Sacred Books, not only by the testimony of the Church, but primarily by the eternal and indubitable truth of the Doctrine which are therein contained, [by the] excellence, sublimity, and majesty of everything Divine which are therein, and by the operation of the Holy Spirit, who makes us receive with respect the testimony which the Church gives us, who open our eyes to discover the rays of celestial light which burst in Scripture, and who rectifies our taste in order to discern this meat by the Divine savor that it is.

V. That God made all things from nothing, by his entirely free will, and by the infinite power of his Word.

VI. That he leads and governs all by his Providence, ordaining and addressing all that comes about in the world, that without being neither the author nor the cause of evil done by the creatures, or that culpability be able, or ought in any way to be imputed [to him.]

VII. That the Angels having been created holy and pure, some fell in a corruption and irreparable perdition, but that the others persevered by an effect of Divine goodness, which supported and confirmed them.

VIII. That man, who was created pure and holy, in the Image of God, deprived himself by his own fault of this happy state, giving his sentiments to the captivating discourse of the Devil.

IX. That man lost, by his transgression, the justice and holiness that he had received, incurring, with the indignation of God, death and captivity, under the power of him who has the empire of death, that is to say the Devil, to the point that his free will[2. Franc arbitre] became serf and slave of sin, so much that by nature all men, Jews and Gentiles, are the Children of Ire, all dead in faults and sins, and consequently incapable of having any good movement towards salvation, no even [able] to form any good thought without grace; all their imagination and thought are but evil at all times.

X. That all the posterity of Adam is guilty, in him, of his disobedience, infected by his corruption, and fallen in the same calamity, all the way to little Children, starting from the womb of their Mother, from where comes the name of Original Sin.

XI. That God withdraws from this corruption and damnation those persons whom he elected by his grace, in his Son Jesus Christ, leaving the others [in their corruption & damnation] by an irreproachable right of his liberty and justice.

XII. That Jesus Christ, having been ordained by God in his eternal decree to be the only Savior and the only Head of his Body, that is the Church, bought by his own Blood, in the accomplishment of time, and offers and communicates to us all his benefits by the Gospel.

XIII. That there are two natures in Jesus Christ, the Divine and the human, truly in one person, without confusion, without division, without separation, without change; each nature keeping its own distinct natures, and that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man all together.

XIV. That God so loved the world that he gave his Son to save us by his very perfect obedience, namely by that [obedience] which he showed by suffering the damned death of the Cross, and by the victories that he won over the Devil: sin and death.

XV. That Jesus Christ having accomplished the entire expiation of our sins by his very perfect sacrifice, once offered on the Cross, it [that expiation] cannot, nor should be reiterated under any pretext whatever.

XVI. That the Lord Jesus having fully reconciled us to God by the Blood of the Cross, it is by his merit only, and not by our works, that we are absolved and justified before him.

XVII. That we have union with Jesus Christ, and communion to his benefits by Faith.

XVIII. That this Faith comes from the gracious and effective operation of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens our souls, and brings them [our souls] to press upon the grace of God, in order to apply the merit of Jesus Christ.

XIX. That Jesus Christ is our true and only Mediator: not only of Redemption, but also of Intercession, and that by his merits and mediation we have access to the Father, in order that we might invoke with the holy confidence of being answered, without needing to have recourse to any other intercessor than him [Christ.]

XX. That since God promised regeneration in Jesus Christ, those who are united to him by a lively Faith, ought to give themselves, and give themselves indeed, to good works.

XXI. That good works are so necessary to the faithful, that they cannot reach the Kingdom of Heaven without doing them, being true that God prepared them in order that we might progress in them, that therefore we ought to flee vices and give ourselves to the Christian virtues, employing fasts and all other means which can serve us to a thing so holy.

XXII. That just as our works cannot merit [Eternal Life], our Lord will not let go [forget] to recompense them with Eternal Life, by a gracious continuation of his grace, and in virtue of the immutable constancy of the promises that he made in our regard.

XXIII. That those who posses Eternal Life following their Faith and their good works, ought to be considered Holy and glorified, praised for their virtues, imitated in all the beautiful actions of their life, but not adored, nor invoked, since we ought to pray to only one God through Jesus Christ.

XXIV. That God gathered one Church in the world for the salvation of men, that it has one Head and foundation, which is Jesus Christ.

XXV. That the Church is the company of the faithful, who having been elect of God, before the foundation of the world, and called by a holy vocation, unite to follow the Word of God, believing what he taught us, and living in his fear.

XXVI. That this Church cannot fail, or be destroyed, but that it must be perpetual.

XXVII. That all must put away [“ranger” – not sure about translation.] and stand firm in their communion.

XXVIII. That God teaches us not only by his Word, but he also instituted the Sacraments in order to join them to his Word, as means to join us to Jesus Christ, and to communicate his benefits, and that there are but two common to all the members of the church under the New Testament, that is Baptism and the Holy Supper.

XXIX. That he instituted that of Baptism as a testimony of our adoption, and that we are all washed of our sins by the Blood of Jesus Christ, and renewed in holiness of life.

XXX. That he instituted that of the Holy Supper or Eucharist, for the food of our soul, in order that by a true and lively Faith, by the incomprehensible virtue of the Holy Spirit, we actually eat his Body, and drink his Blood, and we unite very closely and inseparably to Christ, in him, and by him, we have spiritual and eternal life. In order that all the world clearly sees our belief on this point, we add here the same terms which are embedded in our Prayer before Communion, in our liturgy, or manner of celebrating the Holy Eucharist, and in our public catechism, which are pieces that can be seen at the end of our Psalms: Here are the terms of our Prayer: Just as our Lord not only at one time offered his Body and his Blood for the remission of our sins, but also wants to communicate [these elements] for food into eternal life, give us this grace that from true sincerity of heart and of an ardent zeal we receive of him a benefit so great, that in a certain Faith we enjoy of his Body and of his Blood, or even of him entirely. The terms of our Liturgy are: First of all then, we believe in his promises that Jesus Christ who is truth itself pronounced of his mouth; know then, that he wants us to truly participate in his Body and his Blood, in order that we posses him entirely in such a way that he lives in us, and us in him. Those of our public Catechism are the same in Section 53.

XXXI. That it is necessary that the church have Pastors, judged to be well instructed, and of a good life, by those who have the right, as much to preach the Word of God, as well as administer the Sacraments, and to watch on the flock of Jesus Christ, following the ruled of a good and holy Discipline, together with the Elders and Deacons, according to the practice of the ancient Church.

XXXII. That God established Kings and Magistrates, for the conduct of the people and that the people must be subjected and obedient in virtue of this order, not only because of wrath, but because of conscience, in all things which are in conformity with the Word of God, who is the King of Kings, and Lord of lords.

XXXIII. Finally, that Apostles Creed ought to be received, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Decalogue, as well as the fundamental documents of our beliefs and our devotions.

And for a more ample declaration of our beliefs, we repeat here the protestation that we had printed in the year 1603. Know that we consent to the healthy Doctrine, with all the Reformed Churches of France, England, the Netherlands, Germany, of Switzerland, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and others, as well as is expressed en their Confession of Augsburg, according to the declaration that we gave to the Author. And promising to persevere with God’s help, inviolably in life and in death, being ready to sign this eternal truth of God with our own blood, as our predecessors have done since the times of the Apostles, particularly in these last centuries. And yet we very humbly pray all the Evangelical and Protestant Churches to consider us, with regards to our poverty and littleness, as true member of the mystical body of Jesus Christ, suffering for his Holy Name, and to continue to assist us in your prayer towards God, and all other good offices of your charity, as we have already abundantly experienced, for which we thank you in all humility which is possible to us, and beg from all our heart the Lord, that he be himself the remunerator, pouring on them [the churches] the most precious benedictions of his grace and his glory, in this life and in that which is to come.
Amen.

Translated by Daniel Foucachon in The Sectarized People of God, 2008. Originally a thesis in completion of a degree in Liberal Arts and Culture from New Saint Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho.

“The hammers may hit, but the anvil remains.” The woodblock from the frontispiece of the book depicts the “Tri-fold tyrant” as John Milton called them in his Sonnet on the Waldensians: The priest, the Inquisitor, and the Monk. The hammers of persecution may hit, but the anvil of the Waldensian evangelical faith remains.

Caroling on Friendship Square

I had the privilege to once again film Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church gathering for caroling on Friendship Square.

Previous years: 
Caroling (mall) 2009
Caroling 2011
– Caroling 2012
– Caroling 2013
Caroling 2015

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News ran this article, which quoted me:

Singing in the snow

Christ Church carolers fill Friendship Square for hour of singing, fellowship

By Taylor Nadauld, Daily News Staff Writer

Framed by the branches of a Christmas tree Saturday, carolers sing at Friendship Square in Moscow. Kai Eiselein/Daily News

Framed by the branches of a Christmas tree Saturday, carolers sing at Friendship Square in Moscow.
Kai Eiselein/Daily News

Members of Christ Church gathered in an hour of song for the church’s annual Christmas caroling event Saturday afternoon at Friendship Square in Moscow.

Volunteer Curtis Spencer carried a stack of carol booklets in his arms, passing them out to people in the crowd as they sang “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” one of several Christmas-themed hymns in an hour-long lineup of caroling.

“There’s a few scripture readings, passages of the Christmas story from the Bible, and then we’ll end with fellowshiping, drinking cocoa and eating cookies,” Spencer said.

A member came to the front of the crowd in between songs, reading scripture to the audience from a megaphone near a frosted evergreen in the square.

Above the many voices, friends and New Saint Andrews College classmates James Goode and Caleb Harris could be heard belting harmonies during each hymn.

“We were trying,” Harris said with a laugh. “We’re like that in church, too,” to which Goode added, “If you’re going to sing, you might as well sing loud.”

For Harris and Goode, the annual caroling event is not just about singing, but about teachings of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe to be the son of God and whose birth is celebrated on Christmas.

“We are here to spread the news to the world that Jesus is king, that he has died on the cross for our sins, and we can’t keep that in — we’re happy about it,” Harris said.

At the front of the crowd, Daniel Foucachon photographed the carolers with his cellphone. A frequent attendee and unofficial photographer of the event, Foucachon said the church sings in the square about four times per year, but its Christmas caroling event is special, as it includes hymns many passersby will recognize.

“Christmas is a time where just about everyone is happy to talk about something that Christians are celebrating every week, all year round,” Foucachon said.

The carolers wrapped up with “Joy to the World! The Lord is Come,” before ending in prayer and warming up from the surrounding snow with some hot chocolate.

Taylor Nadauld can be reached at (208) 883-4630, by email to tnadauld at dnews.com and on Twitter @tnadauldarg.

Love is a promise kept in action

“The promise, made when I am in love and because I am in love, to be true to the beloved as long as I live, commits me to being true even if I cease to be in love. A promise must be about things that I can do, about actions: no one can promise to go on feeling in a certain way. He might as well promise to never have a headache or always to feel hungry.”
— C.S. Lewis

CMP Undercover Planned Parenthood video (May 2017)

YouTube, Facebook, LiveLeak and other have all removed this video that the Center for Medical Progress released. America needs to see this video. I hope we can continue to host it here. Please share.

Also, please follow the Facebook page, Another Boy for more updates.


Direct download of mp4.

What do we mean by “Liberal Arts”?

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s Christians recover classical Christian education, they are unearthing old treasures, once the possession of every educated man. Some of these treasures are words and descriptions–terms like “Trivium” and “Quadrivium,” “paideia,” and “liberal arts.” Of all these terms, “liberal arts” lays at the heart of what classical education is all about. So what did our forefathers mean by “liberal arts”?

“Liberal”

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he word liberal has nothing to do with our modern use of the word in politics and culture. Liberal means “free,” and historically described the kind of education expected of a freeman–especially one in a position of leadership, like nobility. Our culture has so alienated itself from a historic education that it’s very difficult for us to think of education without thinking of jobs and vocational training.

Dr. Roy Atwood, founding President of New Saint Andrews College, was once asked by a student, “Who are you”? His automatic response was to give his profession: “Uh…I’m a professor.” But the student responded, “No, I don’t mean what you do, but who are you?”[1. Dr. Roy Atwood, Educating Royalty, Reformed Perspective: A Magazine for the Christian Family, Vol. 33, No. 6, April 2014.] We are programmed to answer that question with what we do, with our job title. And we likewise think of education in terms of answering the question, “Will this education prepare me for a job?”. The modern definition of education has the effect of not only defining the education process in terms of pragmatic usefulness, but also defining human beings themselves in terms of usefulness. Like in the world of Thomas the Train which our children didactically watch, our identity is wound up with our usefulness. “Who are you?” asks the modernist? “I do this job” we reply catechetically.

Christians of previous generations viewed education, and themselves, differently. The opening lines of the Westminster Shorter Catechism would have been familiar to nearly every child in early America: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” That is who we are: worshiping beings, who delight in God. Or to use Dr. Atwood’s conclusion to the question “who are you?”, we are royalty, heirs of Christ. And we should educate our children in that light.

Some may object that this identity is a fine thing, but has nothing to do with education. “How does it help you get a job? How is it useful?” In 1646, the founders of Harvard College defined education in their “Rules and Precepts” in this way:

“Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning.”

Christ is both the source and the goal of education.

“Who are you?” We are liberal (free) Christians, pursuing wisdom and virtue through the interwoven arts of theology (study of the knowledge of God) and humanities (study of ourselves and of mankind). “Knowledge of God and knowledge of self” is how John Calvin sets the stage for his Institutes of the Christian Religion, and is also how Harvard and other universities in the United States prior to the 1900s set the foundation for education.

So the term “liberal” points to the purpose of education and our identity. But what precisely does this looks like.

“Arts”

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f the foundation of education is knowledge of self and knowledge of God, how might the liberal arts help us in this endeavor? The Liberal Arts are an education in first principles–in the foundations of things. The Western heritage is the cultural soil into which Christ was made flesh, and the common inheritance of all God’s people. This specifically means recovering an education which includes Plato and Aristotle, Aquinas and Dante, Augustine and Boethius, Cicero and Plutarch, Homer and Vergil, Milton and Shakespeare. These and many others are so much woven into the fiber of ourselves and our culture that we cannot truly know ourselves without knowing them. It includes the classical study of logic, rhetoric, grammar, and language. These disciplines inform our understanding of the written and spoken word, the means God gave us for understanding Himself and ourselves.

We may have only recently re-discovered this birthright, but it is not presumptuous to receive this rich heritage as our own. Our culture is in full-blown identity crisis. The liberal arts educate our children in their identity, giving them the tools to understand the world around them in wisdom and virtue. And with this education in first principles–these freeing, liberal arts not defined by usefulness–our children will possess tools of learning that are surprisingly useful in a confused world.

This article is an adapted excerpt from chapter one of A Better Admissions Test: Raising the Standard for College Entrance Exams, published by the Classical Learning Initiative and Mudhouse Press. 

family-square-360x360Daniel Foucachon grew up in Lyon, France where his father was an evangelist and church-planter with Mission to the World. He moved to Moscow, Idaho in 2005 to attend New Saint Andrews College, where he graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts and Culture in 2009. In 2009 he founded a media production company, and was the producer of Canon Wired (the media branch of Canon Press) until 2013. His love for classical education and desire to publish curriculum designed for home education led him to found Roman Roads Media in 2011, which has since produced and published award-winning liberal arts curriculum for high school students. He and his wife Lydia live in Moscow, Idaho with their three sons and one daughter.
Follow Daniel: Facebook | Twitter

liberal-arts-daniel-article

Dr. Robert Littlejohn on Rhetoric

“If a collection of good men and women speaking well is the most valuable commodity a culture can possess, then our school must establish eloquence as the goal for every student. As it is, rarely do we coordinate the way students learn and the ways in which they will perform as leaders. Rarely do we connect the things we teach them every day with their responsibilities to seek the greater good and to draw their friends and neighbors after them. How will our students use language to benefit their neighbors? Will words and the ideas embodied in them come easily, or will our students simply be good men and women, possessing discernment but without the capacity to benefit those around them through appropriate speech and noble deeds?”

— Dr. Robert Littlejohn, Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning

Children’s Church

A friend ran into this argument:

“Can you give biblical reasons for not having someone watch your ONE YEAR and 2-month-old child while you’re in church? Come on man. 14-months-old?? Can you tell me exactly what you think you are accomplishing by having a 14-month-old in church?”

childrenschurch

He responded simply with Bible references.

Have you not read?

“Call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants.” -Joel 2:15-16

“And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” -Matthew 21:16

“Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” -Luke 18:15-17

“There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.” -Joshua 8:35

“Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” -Deuteronomy 31:12-13

“Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” -2 Chronicles 20:13

“While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.” -Ezra 10:1

“When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another.” -Acts 21:5-6

Ephesians 6 assumes that children would be present at the reading of the letter to the congregation.

Children were present at Jesus’ preaching (Matt 14:21).

Keep your kids in Church! The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. The elements of a service are didactic even if they don’t have full comprehension. What they will quickly gain is the knowledge that “these are my people, this is where I belong, this is the Body of Christ where I worship God.” It may take years for them to put that into words, but they understand it as surely as they understand that they belong at your dinner table. Have you ever tried removing a one-year-old from a dinner table full of older siblings?  They know to whom they belong. They have an incredible ability to discern the Body.

A Better Admissions Test: Raising the Standard for College Entrance Exams

a-better-admissions-testIt was a real privilege to contribute to A Better Admissions Test: Raising the Standard for College Entrance Exams by Classic Learning Initiatives! It was especially delightful when my search for a primary source brought me to the University of Idaho special collections, and the inaugural address of Frederick Kelley, President of the University of Idaho in 1928. Kelley, the original creator of the standardized exam in 1915, changed his views with age and wisdom, and spent the latter part of his career advocating for classical liberal arts.

My chapter (Chapter 1) gives a brief history of entrance exams in the United States, starting with an overview of the classical liberal arts, a needed foundation to understand the change brought about by standardized testing.

Robert Bortins of Classical Conversations said it best about this book: “A must read for anyone in education or admissions who is brave enough to admit that things aren’t quite right in higher education any more.”

2016 Liberty-minded Voting Guide

For the past several elections, I have released a “voter guide” for my friends who ask me who I am voting for.
 

For those living in District 5 of Idaho (Latah and Benewah County), here is how I’m voting:

 

carl life quoteLOCAL ELECTIONS MATTER! PLEASE VOTE!

Print-friendly PDF: http://bit.ly/Voting_Guide_Print

English and the Latin Question

“We are all—more or less deliberately—students of English; we all recognize the value of accurately expressing our ideas and of exactly understanding the ideas of other. Now, though the notion has never dawned upon the large, good-humored, unenlightened public opinion which indirectly shapes our educational policies, to the serious student of English some acquaintance with Latin is not merely convenient, not merely valuable, but quite literally indispensable. At every onward step towards the mastery of his own language and literature he must use his Latin lamp if he has one, or stumble and go astray in the darkness if he has not. In this position the value of Latin is unique.”

—The Classical Weekly, Vol. V, No. 26. May 1912. Full column HERE (highly recommended!)

classical-weekly

Teaching to Tests

Quote

“If the unhappy day ever comes when teachers point their students toward these newer examinations, and the present weak and restricted procedures get a grip on education, then we may look for the inevitable distortion of education in the terms of tests.”

—Carl Brigham, creator of the SAT recanting his invention, and arguing against its advancement.
From The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy, by Nicholas Lemann

Education as a lifelong process

“Education is a lifelong process. How well any of us becomes educated does not depend essentially on how much he comes to know in his school and college years but rather upon how effectively he has come to be imbued with the spirit of study in school and college years so as to assure his remaining a student throughout life. It is amazing how general the notion seems to be that we study only when we have teachers who require it. Learning is the result of study! Teaching is not a substitute for learning but is only a stimulus to it. Teaching, then, should be confined to those fundamentals which serve best as a basis for subsequent learning. College days should not be wasted on those highly differentiated aspects of subjects, the mastery of which will naturally follow if genuine intellectual interests are created or stimulated during college years…College is a place to learn how to educate oneself rather than a place in which to be educated.”

—Frederick Kelly, The University in Prospect, Inaugural Address as President of the University of Idaho, 1928.

Hilary’s quote at the debate

Hilary commandeered this quote during the #debate (2nd Presidential Debate – Town Hall), but in great irony, neglected the context. America is not good. America has ceased to be both good and great. Let’s make America great again: fill our churches.
#SackclothAshes2016

“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fiertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville, attributed