Saving Western Civilization One Student at a Time

[These are the notes from the talk given at a Redeemer Classical Academy Open House on March 14th, 2025. The Audio Recording has more content than the notes below.]

The title for my talk tonight is Saving Western Civilization One Student at a Time. Full disclosure, I thought that I came up with that on my own, but apparently it's been used before. It is actually the motto of a classical Christian publisher, Memoria Press. And there's a good chance I had heard that once upon a time! Be that as it may, it is my title for tonight's message:

Saving Western Civilization One Student at a Time.

It's my title because this is what we are doing. This is our aim and our goal. Now, first let me get something out of the way. That title seems bold doesn't it? Maybe even a bit proud? Pompous? Grandiose? Megalomaniacal? If I say that is our aim does that mean that I have a bit of what some call a saviour complex?

No. Nothing of the kind. And here is why. Big dreams are not necessarily more proud and self-sufficient than small dreams. The problem isn't the size of the ambition – the problem is self-sufficiency and self-praise. One could aim low in his own strength and for his own glory. And one could aim high in his own strength and for his own glory. Both are proud and arrogant. The problem is related to the source of strength behind the ambition and the telos, ultimate goal or end for the ambition.

You see, if you are connected to the one true God, and your aim is to serve Him in the strength that He supplies (1 Peter 4:11), and to give Him all the glory in everything (1 Corinthians 10:31) – then you can, like Paul, aim high. Like, really high.

And that's what we are doing here at Redeemer Classical Academy. We have been dreaming a big dream these last 5 years. And working hard to achieve it. And yet it has been all God – It has been all from Him, through Him, and to Him.

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36)

Romans 11:36 has become our motto for this very reason. We give God the glory for the founding of this school, we give Him the glory for strengthening us in the daily operations of this school, and it is ultimately for His glory and His alone that we keep pushing this school forward into the future.

If it is done in His strength and for His glory – you can't aim too high! In fact, aiming low very well might betray a lack of true spiritual vision. That we don't understand who our God is. There's a poem that comes to mind on this theme – mainly regarding our prayers:

Thou art coming to a King
Large petitions with thee bring
For His grace and power are such
That none could ever ask too much (John Newton)

But let's get back to that title now. Saving Western Civilization.

What could I, (and Memoria Press), possibly mean by that?

I mean this is the work we are doing – saving. Let me borrow Dorothy Sayers' phrase – Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning.  And she too was speaking of recovering the tools of education in Western Civilization. Another phrase that gets at this idea is that of Repairing the Ruins.

Now before we go much further – what do we mean by Western Civilization? Here is Classical Christian Educator Martin Cothran's wonderful definition:

"Western civilization is the culture of Athens, the culture of Rome, and the culture of Jerusalem—transformed and perfected by Christianity. It is what has come down to us since roughly the fifth century A.D., preserved (mostly by Christian monks) through the Dark Ages, and restored to civilization in the High Middle Ages. It was what nourished Europe and was transplanted to America by, among others, the Puritans. It was what education was until approximately the 1920s." – Martin Cothran

There is a lot in that definition that is profound, and would take a long time to unpack. But Cothran is right. Western Civilization has been this grand story that weaves in the Greeks, the Romans, the Hebrews – and finds fulfillment and cohesion in Christ. Western Civilization used to be called Christendom for that very reason. Europe and North America carried this torch for Centuries and even Millenia. Part of what kept things together was a shared history, shared stories, common faith, a common education and a common enculturation.

This has been almost entirely destroyed in the 20^th Century. The average man on the street in Germany, in England, in Canada or in America doesn't know his roots. He has been uprooted. The strength and intelligence of the Ancient Greeks is foreign to him. Who's Plato? The order and piety of the Romans is a lost world. Who's Aeneas? What does piety even mean? And the faith and obedience of Abraham and the Apostle Paul exist in another world.

But not here. Not where Classical Christian Education is thriving. School's like this one, all around the world, are perhaps one of the only places that carries the torch.

Classical Education is not worship of the ashes rather it is the preservation of fire. We are not cultivating a floral arrangement of dead subjects that we appreciate - we are cultivating a living garden growing and preserving life and culture. In short – we have something worth preserving. Something worth restoring and reclaiming for future generations. This is our task.

That is what we are talking about. That is what we are doing. The work of classical Christian education is the work of repairing the ruins and rebuilding Western Civilization. This means of course that Western Civilization needs saving. She has fallen on hard times. It is in desperate need for a rebuild. And is worth rebuilding.

Now, you have all probably seen instances of renovations and remodelling run amuck. This is especially tragic when the original building was exquisitely beautiful. And yet some modern architect has his idea and so he has some monstrosity made of steel and glass pasted onto the side of the cathedral. Or worse, yet, covering it up! obscuring the cathedral! It's like when you find carpet or linoleum laid over a beautiful, parquet hardwood floor. Frankly, it makes you mad. It certainly makes the carpenter in me mad. Phrases like "Are you kidding me!", and "Unbelievable!" come to mind. The nerve of some people.

Well, this is what has happened in western civilization. The nerve of some people! In the name of progress, we have wrecked the house. Worse still, we have compromised its very foundations. We thought, adding a new wing here and destroying a basement wall here and there would be just great. But now everything is Wibbly wobbly – and people are starting to get anxious. The folly of recent generations has become apparent to all keen observers. This can't hold up forever.

So, what do you do? In a situation like this the only option is to tear it back to the studs. We need to undo the renovations. We want a restoration, not a remodel. Those are two very different things. All of the remodeling over the last two centuries or so has piled up – and it's looking pretty rough. The sixth coat of paint, over vinyl, over aluminum, over wood, over brick, is starting to show. We don't need another coat. We don't need another layer. We need to tear it back and do the long, arduous, but glorious work of restoration.

Enter: Classical Christian Education. Classical Christian Education is the great project of restoration, of repairing the ruins – or to borrow from our name, Redeeming. We are buying back what was lost. We are saving what was destroyed. Classical Christian Education is all about this – restoring, repairing, and redeeming what the so-called progressives have eroded and marred and sullied. it's a hard work.

But are you up for the challenge? I find many Christian families are. Mainly because they have seen this story before in their own lives. This is what the gospel does. This is what God does. God repairs the ruins, redeems the broken, resurrects the dead. All through the glorious work of His Son Jesus Christ. This is the kind of story that we live as Christians on an individual level, and it is the kind of story that we want to be a part of in this world – on a cultural level.

Jesus doesn't just save His people in some spiritual category of their lives – no, he saves us and sets us apart and sets us loose in the world.

The Christian is light and salt in this world. We are called to be salty and bright. His kingdom advances like yeast in three measures of some lady's flour.

He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." (Matthew 13:33)

We are doing kingdom work here at Redeemer. We partner with Christian families, individuals and churches to train young men and women to build and fight. To take up the task of building the future, of advancing the truth, of commending the good, of defending the truth. To be fired into the world as arrows deep into the heart of the enemy. To become mothers and fathers, churchmen, pastors, missionaries, businessmen, entrepreneurs, politicians, leaders, innovators, inventors – Christian men and women – who will build the world. To repair the ruins. To save western Civilization.

This is exactly why Redeemer classical academy exists. Launched in 2020 we have dedicated ourselves to repairing the ruins of western civilization.

I want to invite you to join us in this. Partner with us for the training of children who will grow to become culture-makers, future-builders, Christian heroes for the coming years.

We believe in what we are doing here.

Two of the most important things you can do for your family.

1. Become a member of a biblically sound, spiritually vibrant church.

2. Give your kids a Christian education.

These two things are crucial. Can God work to save your kids and keep them outside of this - yes. I'm living proof. God saved me outside of the church and inside the government schools.

But if you want to give your kids a fighting chance. Become members of a strong biblical church. Give your kids a robust Christian education. - namely a Classical Christian Education.