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Since the publication of the first edition of The Liberal Arts Tradition in 2014, this book has been read and circulated by thoughtful educators around the world who are interested in what great education once was and might be again. Assigned in college classes, read by school faculties, and studied in homeschooling communities, it has been widely reviewed and recommended by many scholars, bloggers, and experts. The authors thoroughly revised the text in 2019, expanding and deepening their presentation of the core elements of the liberal arts tradition, which include piety, music, gymnastic, liberal arts, philosophy, and theology. In this latest release, they have taken a step further, suggesting practical ways to begin implementing the educational philosophy discussed. This is a must-read for educators desiring practical ways to further the recovery of classical education.
“The foundational distinction between traditional education and modern education is that the ancients believed that education was fundamentally about shaping loves.”
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education introduces readers to a paradigm for understanding a classical education that transcends the familiar 3-stage pattern of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Instead, this book describes the liberal arts as a central part of a larger and more robust paradigm of classical education that should consist of piety, gymnastic, music, liberal arts, philosophy, and theology. The Liberal Arts Tradition also recovers the means by which classical educators developed more than just intellectual virtue (by means of the 7 liberal arts) but holistically cultivated the mind, body, will, and affections. This is a must-read for educators who want to take a second big step toward recovering the tradition of classical education.
What’s NEW in the Revised Edition?
Now in hardcover, the revised edition of The Liberal Arts Tradition has been expanded and updated throughout to reflect the most recent understandings and philosophies of classical education. It also includes 40 percent new content, featuring:
- Expanded Trivium pieces
- Expanded "Moral Philosophy" piece, with more nuanced discussions of virtue and the role of the Church
- Completely new "Calling, Culture, and Curriculum" section addressing (1) biblical foundations for classical Christian education, (2) the relationship of classical Christian education to the Church and other cultures, and (3) the relationship between the liberal, common, and fine arts
- Revised "Natural Philosophy" piece
- Updated paradigm of the liberal arts tradition
- Glossary
- New appendices, including one on reading and one entitled "A New Natural Philosophy"
What's new in the third edition with practical application? In this latest release, authors Dr. Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain join with David Goodwin (Director, Association of Classical Christian Schools) to explore and discuss practical ways to implement the educational philosophy discussed in The Liberal Arts Tradition. This update includes practical guides and checklists, insightful essays, and other resources that will aid educators in directing students in the pursuit of the true, the good, and the beautiful!
eBook Formats
Amazon Kindle Format
Apple iBook FormatClassicalU Teacher Training Course
The Liberal Arts Tradition with Dr. Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain
In this seminal course, Dr. Kevin Clark and Ravi Scott Jain (authors of The Liberal Arts Tradition) take us through a thoughtful, clear presentation of a paradigm for the tradition of classical Christian education. Clark and Jain emphasize that the 7 liberal arts are “not enough” to capture the classical tradition of education but that the liberal arts exist within the larger context of a tradition that includes piety, gymnastic, music, philosophy, and theology. Instructional Hours: 6.82
Preview Lesson 1: Introduction to the Liberal Arts Tradition
Preview Lesson 2: Intro to the Paradigm for the Liberal Arts Tradition Hardback
ISBN: 9781600514470
Pages: 416
Dimensions: 6in x 9in
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Dr. Kevin Clark, Author
Dr. Kevin Clark is the president of The Ecclesial Schools Initiative (ESI, esischools.org), an organization he founded in 2019 to help underserved families in Florida receive better access to Christian liberal arts education. Before founding ESI, Kevin served as academic dean of the Geneva School in Winter Park, Florida, where he also taught for fifteen years. Kevin is an Alcuin fellow with The Society for Classical Learning and a member of the teaching faculty in the Master of Arts in Classical Teaching program at The Templeton Honors College. Kevin earned a BA in philosophy from the University of Central Florida, an MA in theological studies from Reformed Theological Seminary, and a DLS from Georgetown University, where he wrote on liberal arts education and interdisciplinary practice.
Kevin is not simply a philosopher, however; he loves stories—especially reading them aloud to his children—and thinks Sarah Mackenzie’s Read-Aloud Revival might save the world. He understands his vocation as a Christian educator to be in service of the Church and the family as they seek to train children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. This means that for Kevin, Christian classical education is not simply a matter of academic preparation; it’s about seeing Christ’s Church flourish as a new generation of men and women bring the wisdom, beauty, and justice of New Creation to bear for God’s glory and the life of the world.
Ravi Jain, Author
Ravi Scott Jain graduated from Davidson College with a BA and interests in physics, ancient Greek, and international political economy. He worked at various churches, received an MA from Reformed Theological Seminary, and later earned a graduate certificate in mathematics from the University of Central Florida. He began teaching calculus and physics at the Geneva School in 2003 and since that time has developed an integrated double-period class called “The Scientific Revolution.” In this class, the students read primary sources such as Galileo and Newton in order to recapitulate the narrative of discovery while preserving the mathematical and scientific rigor expected of a college-level treatment. He also teaches AP Calculus BC, in which the students strive to discover and demonstrate the “most beautiful theorem in mathematics,” and AP Physics C, in which the students encounter Faraday, Maxwell, and Einstein. Ravi has given more than 100 talks and workshops throughout the country and overseas on topics related to education, theology, mathematics, and science. He has served as a deacon in his church and is an Alcuin fellow. He has two boys, Judah and Xavier. After the duties of the week have been discharged (often by about 8:53 on Saturday night), in the few hours that remain, he enjoys spending time with his wife Kelley Anne, whom he met in Japan, as well as with the rest of his family and friends.
