THINK ABOUT THIS: If You Attended College, Thank a Jesus Follower
This will undoubtedly come as a shock to a lot of folks reading this post, but an examination at the history of college and university education reveals that Christianity played the key role in the history and development of higher education in the Western world, according to J. Warner Wallace in his latest book, “Person of Interest.”
Wallace is the former Los Angeles Police detective who specialized in cracking murder cases that had defied being solved for decades. He got so good at it that he was often featured on NBC’s “Dateline” new feature program. He’s now the founder and president of coldcasechristianity.org and one of Christianity’s most effective apologists.
With “Person of Interest,” Wallace sets out to demonstrate that without depending on the New Testament scriptures, Jesus is the dominant personality in all human history. That’s saying something, but Wallace does it and in the process compiles an amazing amount of historical facts that demonstrate the profound influence Jesus and Christianity have had on the world we live in today.
Higher education is one of the areas that Wallace focuses on and it is fascinating to see and read these facts, which are rarely, if ever, mentioned in classrooms today. The truth is Christianity sparked “a movement driven by ‘People of the Book’ who wanted to share their book with others. This revolution initiated a series of events that led directly to the creation of humanity’s greatest educational institution, the modern university,” Wallace writes.
Very early in the history of the church, Christian leaders began emphasizing the importance of teaching men and women to read, so they could read and study the Word of God, in both the Old and New Testaments.
“It wasn’t long before Christian students were being taught more than theology and godly living. Ignatius of Antioch [a student of John the Apostle] encouraged teachers in Christian communities to ‘bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and teach them the Holy Scriptures and also trades, that they may not indulge in idleness,'” according to Wallace.
From the Ashes of the Roman Empire:
By the fourth century, catechetical schools were established throughout the Roman Empire. The schools of Edessa and Nisibis were such schools and they developed curriculums that included philosophy and medicine, in addition to theology. For that reason, they are sometimes referred to as “the first universities.”
“Person of Interest” by J. Warner Wallace is available from coldcasechristianity.org.
From there following the fall of the Western Roman Empire came a succession of monasteries, beginning with the Monte Cassino Monastery, that included libraries that preserved the wisdom of the ancient world, including both Christian and non-Christian works.
The monasteries were complimented by Cathedral schools, several of which remain in operation to this day, including those at Canterbury, Rochester and York in England, as well as the Beverly Grammar School. These institutions are the oldest continuously operating schools in the world!
The First Universities:
Within a few more centuries, Jesus Followers established what were essentially the prototypes of what we know today as universities at Bologna, Oxford and Paris. Of these universities, Wallace observes:
“The University of Bologna (established in 1088 CE) till bears the motto, ‘St. Peter is everywhere the father of the law, Bologna is its mother.’ Oxford University (founded in 1096 CE) has a motto that includes the opening words of Psalm 27: ‘The Lord is my light.’ The University of Paris (founded in 1150 CE) emerged from the cathedral schools of Notre Dame and became ‘the most celebrated teaching center in all of Christendom.'”
And it is these institutions “that gave birth to [22] daughter universities from which the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries emerged,” according to Wallace. Among the 22 are the University of Cambridge, University of Vienna, Heidelberg University and the University of St. Andrews, with all of them being founded between 1209 CE and 1413 CE.
Didn’t Go to College?
Wallace also notes that even if you never set foot on a university campus, you’ve been positively impacted by the innovative educational work of Jesus Followers down through the centuries:
“If you were asked the read books as part of your education (at the primary, secondary or university levels), you can thank Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400 – 1468 CE), a devoted Jesus follower and inventor of the printing press.
“If you benefitted from an organized, public education system in your community, you can thank Johannes Bugenhagen (1485 – 1558 CE), a Jesus Follower who pioneered the organization of schools, Phillip Melanchthon (1497 – 1560 CE), a theologian who was also a pioneer of public education, John Comenius (1592 – 1670 CE), a Moravian bishop (considered the ‘father of modern education’) who advocated for universal education, and Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651-1719 CE), a French priest who promoted compulsory education and spent much of his life educating the poor.
Thank the Reformers:
“If you had access to an education as a child, you can thank Martin Luther (1483 – 1546 CE), the German theologian and religious reformer who argued for universal education and literacy for children; John Calvin (1509 – 1564 CE), the French theologian and reformer who advocated for ‘a system of elementary education in the vernacular for all, including reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar and religion,’ and Friedrich Froebel (1782 – 1852 CE), the son of a Lutheran pastor who is known as the ‘father of kindergarten education…”
Wallace continues, citing dozens of Jesus Followers who were pioneers in education for the blind, the deaf, including Louis Braille (1809 – 1852 CE), the Catholic priest who developed a system of reading and writing for the blind and visually impaired.
Finally, he points out this arresting fact – most of the top dozen or 15 universities — including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and Columbia — were established by Jesus Followers primarily for the purpose of teaching Christian principles.
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