Unveiling Foundations: Analyzing Early History and Philosophical Roots of Christianity in Education - Paper Example

Introduction

The completion of the course would require the composition of a relevant dissertation. The topic of the dissertation is the Foundation of Christianity. Conducting relevant research would include evaluating different books to get the actual content suitable for the discussion. For instance, the Foundation of Christian School Education, edited by James Braley, Jack Layman, and Ray White, is the most relevant article used for the research proposal for the dissertation's composition. The book is explained extensively in a total of nineteen chapters that are categorized in four significant sections. Therefore, to best understand the book's relevance, this paper will evaluate the book's first five chapters. The first five chapters are discussed under the biblical and philosophical foundations.

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Chapter One

Chapter One describes the Introduction to Philosophy by Paul Spears. A couple of pages introduce the ideology of how philosophy was initiated to influence Christian education. The chapter describes how all educators are overwhelmed with completing specific philosophical patterns, limiting the ability to understand and choose the most suitable approach to meet the service delivery (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). The chapter encourages the introduction of educators to the world and promotes their interests and abilities to interact with the world around them. As introduced in the first chapter, understanding the philosophical approaches would be considered a unique system that would not replace other disciplines. An adequate understanding of philosophy can be applied as an instrument used in examining intellectual and academic pursuits in a critical context (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). Even without completing a degree in philosophy, every student is encouraged to understand primary philosophical contexts such as terminologies and principles. Therefore, the first chapter in the book shows the framework used in indicating the ideas about education established in the foundational beliefs leading to human relationships to reality in the world.

The chapter, still an introduction part, is essential in describing the educators' available tools in completing the philosophical details. The approach views the current systems in the world that are instrumental in exposing educators to various data that is mixed up of both true and false contents(Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). Therefore, the teachers in the education sector must be well prepared to direct the students on the best approaches when choosing the information or acting on a specific philosophy. Therefore, the chapter goes further to describe how the Christian church views philosophy. Most Christian churches consider philosophy as a barrier of understanding individuals' obligations as humans. For instance, when relating to the apostle Paul's explanation, an individual must not be blinded by a hollow and deceptive philosophy that depends on fundamental principles and human traditions of the world instead of concentrating on Jesus Christ's teachings (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). Therefore, the chapter introduces the conflicts between Christianity and philosophy as understood in the world.

The chapter also introduces Metaphysics. The term is used to describe the foundation of Christianity. Aristotle is the individual behind the coining of the term Metaphysics. The name mainly evaluates the world's existence by assessing the things that are rarely understood or known, like the world or the general appearance of the world's intentions. Metaphysics, as described by Aristotle, is used mainly in describing mysterious objects that are no longer known or understood through various senses(Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). The freedom of the will and God's existence also question some of the factors that exist in the world.

Therefore, the chapter suggests that education's successful operation depends on the basic understanding of humankind's nature and purpose in describing God's value and presence. When studying metaphysics, various basic knowledge about God is addressed concerning the matters of humanity. However, the world's understanding has grown into the most exciting practices and contexts needed in preparing students for life through the application of metaphysics.

The first chapter also proceeds to describe the logic that is necessary for understanding the foundation of Christianity. Logic is also considered as one of the sensitive categories addressed in philosophy through the study of argument. Logics is described as the ability to construct ideas, thus making man have the capability to communicate various ideas to one another by deducing them from a group of premises (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). The easier way to identify faulty beliefs is achieved by placing the logical flaws within the argument.

The chapter that introduces philosophy applies logic to how to understand God. God is understood as a god of reason, wisdom, and truth. In the Bible, Jesus also involved the use of logic on different occasions. For instance, he applied logic showing values as a necessary tool used in learning and teaching practices (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). Therefore, the first chapter, Introduction to Philosophy by Paul Spears, is used extensively to show Christianity's foundation by describing different points such as logic and metaphysics that are considered valuable tools for educators.

Chapter Two

The second chapter, Early History of Educational Philosophy by Jack Layman, still falls under the first section which is Biblical and Philosophical Foundations. The chapter presents some of the early and exciting chapters used in describing the actual history of educational philosophy contexts as applied to the understanding of Christianity. Layman discusses various philosophers' contributions and how they helped understand the church (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). For instance, the history of Thomas Aquinas, a significant philosopher contributing to the understanding of Christian development, describes the church in a different account.

Thomas Aquinas describes the situation where the church recognized the realism of Aristotle. He develops a real context and structure mainly used in building the synthesis in the Roman Catholic, biblical revelation, and science relationships. Therefore, the philosopher's history is used in composing the application of history in understanding the development of Christianity. The foundation is understood in the context that God is pure. Thus the universe should be displayed in the context where it portrays God (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). By reflecting on God's mind, it is essential to detail the fundamental approaches that could be used in the general understanding of Christian society. The investigations on the creation present the history where God and his ways are portrayed. The nurture is indeed perceived where theology is produced in harmony with how the church interprets the Bible.

The second chapter, Early History of Educational Philosophy by Jack Layman, presents adequate information to understand Christianity's foundation by identifying all truth to belong to God. The Christian curriculum should be considered and included in natural sciences because it contains various facts, and felt God's truth. However, some truths as God's truth should be addressed with caution since they present some rough ideas on the natural sciences (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). For instance, the first truth about God is that all human beings are fallible and finite. Human beings can understand the secrets in nature, partially and slowly. The secrets in nature are valid and later develop into an incomplete nature, wrong and misleading. Therefore, the study of nature depends significantly on humility. One concludes the scientific evidence to support the world's actual appearances and character (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). Therefore, the foundation of Christianity features in the contexts where the Christian realists assume the truth in scriptures beginning from the revelations in the Bible that embrace nature and scripts being complementary.

Similarly, the truth in the Bible is evident in the foundation of Christianity in the same way humility is applied in the bible study. A straightforward thought is used when evaluating the truth in the Bible that turns out unclear. Caution, however, is applied to address the Bible's theories when the teachings in the Bible fail to present evident logic when used. Therefore, most of the truth in Christian contexts is considered God's truth as they are known in the Christian context but incomplete in the real application (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003).

Therefore, the church leaders extend God's truth in the Bible by stretching the Bible's infallibility to the church's pronouncements. For instance, the church leaders improved the natural theology beyond the initial scriptures' teachings, as evident in Galileo's catholic roman church conflicts.

Throughout centuries, realism also described the early history of educational philosophy used to dictate Christianism's foundation. After Thomas Aquinas, realism gained magnitude in education and Christianity. The dominance of Augustinian idealism and deterioration in the roman catholic church's confidence showed some unique contexts that showed variations in the trust of God's truth in sustaining Christian ideologies. The educational norms and religious faith were much more applicable in dictating revelations of the bible theories compared to the scientific inquiries. For instance, Francis Bacon presented some significant ideologies and approaches used in appreciating God's truth in the Bible and the world introduced in the creation form (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). Bacon advocated for several emphases on the inductive learning used in examining the relevance and passion for inclusive understanding instead of blind acceptance of the traditional authorities being credited as the nature of the modern scientific ideas relating to Christianity.

Another educator, John Amos, presented some ideologies used in understanding the foundation of Christianity over the century. John was a pastor in Moravia and a teacher who experienced difficulty in educating people on Christianity's relevance concerning the modern world contexts and ideologies. He became an influential pastor and writer despite being in exile with the Moravians (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). He was very interested in the way students learned, thus promoting the context and history of how Christianism became relevant in the world.

Comenius initiated some relevant frameworks used in education that applied sense and methods built on nature's principles. According to Comenius as a teacher and philosopher, nature is one of the codes used by God to pass the information needed to founding a more robust understanding of nature and applications of God's ideologies (Braley, Layman, & White, 2003). For instance, the character used a specific approach that would encourage the generation of teaching principles to understand the foundation of Christianity.