Does anyone teach christian history?

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  • June 3, 2009 at 3:53 pm
    Mamasong
    Member

    This is a difficult idea to express, but I’ll try my best. I am wanting to teach our dc christian history along with the flow of world history. By “christian history” I don’t necessarily mean “church history” although some of that will definitely be important in the overall spectrum of history. What I’m interested in is the history of the followers of Jesus, not simply the man-made power structures that were built under the banner of Jesus. I am wanting to do this for our dc because ultimately, their citizenship is in the Kingdom of God and the history of believers is their Spiritual history. I will teach them US history, of course, when it enters the flow of our history studies, but I almost want to de-emphasize US history in favor of the history of christ-followers. Is anyone tracking with me here? What I experienced in my education was so incredibly lop-sided in glamourizing the United States it’s almost laughable, it instilled an unhealthy nation-worship that took years to set right. I’m wondering if anyone else de-emphasizes US history and focuses on “christian history”? Sorry if I’m not communicating this idea very well, I know it’s a bit odd so feel free to ask for clarification. Thanks!

    Rachel

    June 3, 2009 at 5:08 pm
    missceegee
    Participant

    Rachel,

    I understand where you’re coming from and think this is an interesting idea.

    I’ve not done it, but would lots of biographies of missionaries, publications like Voice of the Martyrs, Operation World, etc. help in this endeavor.

    Our family is very involved with missions – praying, supporting and going – and these things help my dc to have a greater understanding of believers the world over. They understand that the majority of the world doesn’t live as we do and the struggles Christians face in other places. I see in them an appreciation of their freedom in America with great sympathy and concern for Christians world-wide.

    Blessings,

    Christie

    June 4, 2009 at 3:24 pm
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hi Rachel,

    I teach Christian history. I don’t live anywhere near DC, but I do have a web site at http://www.christian-history.org that I believe focuses on the followers of Christ, not just whatever calls itself a church.

    I’d be glad to help in any way I can.

    I’ve only had the site up since February; so, it’s still growing. However, I can direct you to resources and maybe save you a lot of time.

    I may also be able to help you avoid invented history. There’s a lot of “history” out there that isn’t true, as people try to justify their own church’s stances.

    Paul “Shammah” Pavao

    June 4, 2009 at 4:49 pm
    missingtheshire
    Member

    Paul, what a wonderful site you offer – I have obviously not had time to really study it, but from what I skimmed, it looks like a very informative, and useful site. I have put it in favorites so that I can really study it. Thanks for the post – I especially like the fact that you don’t focus on various church doctrine, but on real research and fact, even if the fact is sometimes uncomfortable – I think that is brilliant. So again, thanks. Linda

    June 4, 2009 at 5:30 pm
    Mamasong
    Member

    Paul,

    I’m really diggin’ your website, thank you so much! By the way, “dc” here on this forum stands for “dear children”, not the nation’s capitol (it took me a bit to figure that one out 🙂 ). I really appreciate all the work you’ve put in to your site, it is very clear and really covers the bases. I love your storytelling approach, it’s utterly compatible with a Charlotte Mason education (plus who doesn’t like a good story?)! Thanks again for the recommendation 😀

    Rachel

    June 5, 2009 at 12:19 pm
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Lol. I was pretty confused yesterday, apparently. Now that I realize I have to say that I live very near dc. I have six of my own, and our community has around 100 that I know by name. (Nowadays, I can’t seem to keep up with the new babies’ names. Only when they start talking to me do I start remembering their names.)

    My wife and I have been home schooling for about 14 years now, and I’ve never heard of Charlotte Mason till today. I saw “simplycharlottemason.com” and “SCM Community Forum,” and my subconscious mind decided this was a web site focused on Charlotte, SC.

    I found it from a Google alert on Christian history. (Google knows about your post!)

    So now, while you’re learning church history, I’m learning about Charlotte-Mason. I’m in a Christian community of about 250 people, about 100 of those of school age, and we just ended the first year of an innovative cooperative home school approach.

    Basically, we teach the little ones, but once they’ve got the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, we switch to “guiding” them. Our goal is to instill a love of learning in them, feed their natural curiosity, and teach them how to research on their own, integrating all their subjects–as much as possible–into that research.

    It went amazingly well despite some problems, especially considering none of us are professional educators.

    The core philosophy of Charlotte Mason, according to one web site, is: “Education is a life; that life is sustained on ideas; ideas are of spiritual origin, and that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another. The duty of parents is to sustain a child’s inner life with ideas as they sustain his body with food.”

    Yeah, that’s what we’re trying to do.

    June 6, 2009 at 3:50 pm
    Betty Dickerson
    Participant

    I use TruthQuest history and started with creation a few years ago, then covering Egyptians (not in too much detail), the Greeks, the Romans, and now the Middle Ages. It is VERY easy to combine the events of the Bible along with what’s going on with the Greeks for example. Mystery of History is pretty helpful for that too. Heart of Wisdom incorporates that too. I haven’t looked at the SCM guides, but I’m sure they probably incorporate alot with the history as well.

    But what has helped us most recently is a series of books titled History Lives. It traces the history of the church through events and people. It is really bringing it all to life for us. You can read more about them at http://www.historylivesseries.com Hope this helps.

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