Framing Our Teaching with a Biblical Worldview

By Roslyn Barnes

What is education for?  For educators, there is perhaps no more important question than this one.  Our answer defines what we believe our profession is about and frames the way we teach and how our students learn.  For Christian educators, our understanding of the purpose of education needs to be framed by a Biblical worldview.  A helpful way to represent the Biblical worldview is the four-part outline of the Biblical narrative: Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration. Taking each of these parts in turn, we can think about how the Biblical worldview can help us frame our teaching in ways that shape how our students view the world and their place in it.  This provides a comprehensive vision for describing what education is for.

Creation: Learning to hear God’s Voice

In Genesis 1, we are introduced to God who is good, and creates a good world.  The design and purpose of God in everything that He creates is good.  Humanity, men and women, are a unique part of that creation charged with the role of developing the creation in line with that good design and purpose.

In order to do that, men and women need to listen to the voice of God.  The powerful voice of God brought the creation into being and continues to be heard from within the creation. In the words of the Psalmist, “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). This is the creation, both physical and cultural, that we study in our schools in the form of Science, Mathematics, History, Music, Technology and so on.

As we study these subjects we want our students to learn to recognise the good design and purpose of God present within the lesson content, and to love what they find there that is good, true and beautiful.  We also want them to respond to God in worship, giving Him glory, and making wise choices that promote His good design and purpose.

Fall: Learning to Cry God’s Tears

Unfortunately, humans don’t tend to listen to the voice of God very well. In Genesis 3, we learn that the first man and woman chose to listen to the voice of evil instead, and as a result the good design and purpose of God has been taken in an evil direction.  The good design and purpose of God still exists,

but now it is damaged and distorted. In the words of the apostle Paul, humans have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25).  In Genesis 6, we learn that God’s reaction to this is to be grieved.  For sure, He is angry - Genesis 6-8 is about God’s judgement in the form of a flood – but God’s first response is to be grieved. One of the unique things about the Judeo-Christian faith is that we worship a God who has tears.

Studying academic subjects in school can be an opportunity to learn to cry God’s tears with Him, to let the things that break the heart of God to break ours also. We can help our students recognise where the design and purpose of God have been damaged and distorted, and to lament what we find in the academic content that is bad, false or ugly.  At times, we may also need to repent where we recognise that we have contributed to the evil direction.

Redemption: Learning to Participate in God’s Work

The good news of the Gospel is that God is at work in our world reversing the evil direction and re-establishing His good design and purpose. It is God’s work. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, He has worked redemption for us. However, throughout history, God has invited redeemed people to join Him in His work.  In the words of the apostle Paul, God “reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… we are therefore Christ’s ambassadors” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).  How great is the goodness and kindness of God! He has not only saved us, but also given us an identity and purpose with such great value and dignity.

It is also a responsibility.  In the academic content that we engage with in our classrooms our students are gaining knowledge and skills that they can use, now and in the future, to fix the brokenness and distortion they encounter in their world. Having experienced the privilege of education, our students have more with which to fulfil what Jesus called the greatest commands: to love God and serve their neighbour (Matthew 22:35-37). Students can discover in our classrooms the joy and dignity of redemptive work, and walk in obedience to the call of God on their lives.

Restoration: Learning to Hope

Another aspect of the good news of the Gospel is that this story has an ending.  It is an ending that involves a full restoration of the good design and purposes of God.  The tension between the evil direction and the redemptive direction that are a constant part of our experience of the world will not go on forever. The final chapters of the Bible (Revelation 21-22) provide us with a vivid and beautiful picture of this ending.

God also gives us glimpses into this ending in the here and now, including within the academic subjects. It could be in the form of a beautiful piece of music, the example of a courageous and peace-making leader in history, or medical technology that saves lives.  Like signposts, these things point us to the way things will be in the end. The writer to the Hebrews encourages us to “hold unswervingly to the faith we profess, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).  The faithfulness of God to His promises, which we can learn more about through the academic subjects, encourages us to persevere.

However, there are times where we see no such signposts in our academic content. The news is all bad. In those moments we still turn to the Gospel for our hope.  The justice we long for is coming, even when it is hidden from us.  This hope includes our own transformation, the forming of our character to be more like Christ. Sometimes it is in the process of learning, rather than the content itself, that this character is formed.  As we and our students exercise diligence, perseverance, and humility in our academic work we see glimpses of the character that God is going to fully form in us in the end.  “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

So, what is education for? The Biblical narrative gives Christian educators an answer to this question that is both inspiring and practical.  It doesn’t result in adding “religious” content to our academic subjects, but engaging our students in their study in a way that is consistent with the plans and purposes of God for the world. Teachers can explore these ideas one lesson at a time, developing an awareness of how the content they are teaching can equip their students to hear the voice of God, cry His tears, participate in His work and live in the world with hope.

References

• All scripture quotations taken from Holy Bible, New International Version. (2011). Zondervan.
• Erdvig, Roger C.S. (2020). Beyond Biblical Integration: Immersing You and Your Students in a Biblical Worldview. Summit Ministries, Manitou Springs, CO.
• McCullough, Martha E. (2016). Undivided: Developing a Worldview Approach to Biblical Integration. Purposeful Design Publications, Colorado Springs, CO. 
• Pearcy, Nancy R. (2004). Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity. Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL.
• Wolters, Albert M. (2005). Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, 2nd Ed. Wm.B.Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, MI.